PATRICIA MORENO

“May all beings everywhere be happy and free and may I always remember that it starts right here with me”.

Patricia Moreno has been training, mentoring and educating people all over the world for over 30 years.  In an effort to end her own struggle with her weight, eating disorders and body images issues, she created The intenSati Method, a life transforming workout which combines her expertise in fitness, dance, martial arts, yoga, nutrition, meditation and spiritual practices. Encouraged by her own transformation, and the life changing stories of her students, Patricia has gone on to create several other workouts, courses, and workshops including  soulyogaSati, warriorSati, coreSati, danceSati and the Sati Life Institute. She is committed to being a powerful force for positive change in the world, and continues to find revolutionary ways to uplift her students and help them to change, inside and out. Patricia believes that through conscious, intentional living, a commitment to excellence and the power of love, every person is able to live a life filled with peace, happiness and joy.

MY STORY

SEARCHING FOR THINNER PEACE

Throughout my entire life, I have been searching for the key that would open the door to a lifetime of what I now call “thinner peace”.  I am the 9^th of 11 children, 8 girls and 3 boys. Growing up, my family owned Mexican restaurants. Our conversations- both in and out of the restaurants- were always, always about food.  Our meals were either typical Mexican food or typical American food, fast food.  This was all that I knew. Every few months, all of us would go on diets like The Diet Center, or Weight Watchers, take diet pills, or diet shots to increase metabolism. Each of us would lose a few pounds by these “quick fix” methods, and then a holiday, a birthday, a vacation, a graduation or some other opportunity to get off of the diets would present itself and we would all be back to indulging in the foods we were used to, promising that on Monday we would all start again.

ON A DIET IN 3RD GRADE

The first time I was put on a diet was in 3^rd grade. I will never forget the sound of my parents gasping when the doctor told them I was 130 lbs. This is the first of many times I remember feeling ashamed and absolutely horrified about my weight and body.

MY WEIGHT TOPPED 212 LBS AS A CHILD

I knew that there had to be a better way, a better life, a better ME. I imagined that this ‘me’ would be able to eat “normally”.  Not constantly obsessed with food, thinking about food throughout the day. Not being triggered to binge on a whole box of cookies or wondering if today is going to be a “good day” or a “bad day”. The me I longed to be was someone who ate just enough, who left food on her plate sometimes, who could forget to eat a meal once in a while and didn’t try to make up for it later. I would be able to have a bite of a cookie or a bite of birthday cake without the mental war with myself- “just one more bite.. NO don’t do it!”  I would be able to enjoy good food in just the right amounts that would lead to being thin.

I DISCOVERED EXERCISE

As a child, I worked out to Jane Fonda tapes with my mom and sisters. As I got older, I began to spend hours a week taking Jazzercise classes with my older sisters and even began teaching classes of my own. What began as a fun school pastime turned into an obsessive way to stay thin. I was a strong, young dancer and also ate a lot- this new aerobic fad seemed like the key I had been looking for! The answer to my overeating! A direct route to the new ME!

FOUR HOURS A WEEK BECAME FOUR HOURS A DAY

Some days I would double my regime and work out for a full eight hours. As I increased the number of hours I trained and the number of hours I taught, I felt more and more entitled to overeat. My hours at the gym were spent either making up for overeating (the day or sometimes the moment before) or preparing for the overeating I knew was coming. I was out of control. And terrified. Even though I was very fit and winning National Aerobics titles, I was always terrified that the moment I stopped my extreme exercise regime, I would blow up to the 212 pound person I once was. But for how many years would I possibly be able to sustain such a huge amount of exercise?

I hadn’t figured out a healthy eating lifestyle and was not interested in changing my relationship with food. I still wanted to eat whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, and indulge in all of the foods that I craved. I felt deeply deprived if I couldn’t eat what everyone else at the table was eating.

I WAS DEPRESSED, EXHAUSTED AND FED UP

After years spent depressed, exhausted, and fed up with trying to run away from my former 212 lb self, I reached a breaking point. I sought out the counsel of a therapist, Dr. Judith Brissman. With her help, I began to develop a healthier mindset regarding food and exercise.

IT WAS MY DIET MENTALITY

What I came to realize is that the very thing that was keeping me away from this place of thinner peace was the diet mentality. If I was on a diet then that meant that eventually I would be off a diet.  And when I was off a diet, I went back to eating the way I was most used to, a combination of my cultural upbringing and family upbringing.  This on and off way of eating, of living, never led to a sustainable weight loss or thinner peace because I never changed.  I was still that person who ate too much junk food and only ate salads and vegetables when on a diet. Who equated anything “green” with diet food instead of seeing vegetables as the source of the most potent nutrition on the planet.  Who only looked at exercise as a way for “paying” for my overindulgences instead of a necessary act of love and self-care.

IT IS MY MISSION TO SHARE WHAT I HAVE LEARNED AFTER YEARS OF STRUGGLE

I have devoted myself to helping people change the way they look at food, at exercise, and at themselves. To show people that they can develop peace with their bodies. Inner peace. Thinner peace.

Welcome to Sati Life.

OLIVIA, KELLEN and PATRICIA