Cheryl’s View – Page 3 – Cheryl Ilov International

From Czechoslovakia to United States Navy

Written by Cheryl on July 1, 2020. Posted in Cheryl's View.

It’s Veterans Day, and a time when we celebrate our veterans, and taking the time to thank them for their service. After all, freedom isn’t free, and on this Veterans Day, I would like to share a story about why Veterans Day is so important to me, and so near and dear to my heart. And the story begins with a little boy. The little boy was born on a small farm in Czechoslovakia in 1927. One year later, he and his parents left their farm and traveled across the Atlantic to begin a new life in a small steel town in Western Pennsylvania and pursue the American Dream. That dream turned into a nightmare one year later when the little boy pulled a pot of scalding chicken soup over him, severely burning himself over 90% of his body. He spent the next six months in the hospital, with...

Swimming With Sharks and Taking a Risk

Written by Cheryl on May 20, 2020. Posted in Cheryl's View.

When the movie Jaws was released in June of 1975, everyone was terrified to go in the water. It wasn’t safe. So, instead of going for a refreshing swim in the ocean, beach goers sat immobilized in the sand and sweltered in the hot sun, dreaming of the day when it would be safe to go in the water. If ever. The following summer, people began to dip their toes in the water. After all, you can only be immobilized for so long before the desire to return to normal becomes overwhelming, and you’re willing to take a risk. Eventually, swimmers went deeper into the water, and they survived. The water was filled with happy swimmers, bobbing in the surf. But, just when we finally forgot the horrors that lurked just below the water’s surface and began swimming again, Jaws 2 was released....

The Eyes Have it

Written by Cheryl on April 22, 2020. Posted in Cheryl's View.

Making eye contact with another person is crucial to the human connection and establishing a relationship. Averting one’s eyes makes you appear suspicious, furtive, unapproachable, and even dangerous. Or it can communicate to strangers that you are insecure, vulnerable, and an easy target for perpetrators. However, when you look someone in the eye, there is an immediate connection, and an exchange of information. Your brain processes this information, sending electrical, chemical, and hormonal signals through your body how to react. Eye contact gives you an instantaneous respond as to whether this person is a friend or foe, safe or threatening. That’s why it is so dangerous to walk around in public with your head buried in your cell phone. First of all, it’s not safe. Second,...

Patience, Perseverance, and Number #1 Best Seller

Written by Cheryl on February 27, 2020. Posted in Cheryl's View.

Patience and perseverance are two valuable principles I learned in my martial arts training. It means that our focus is on the journey, rather than the end result. And it explains why the students that come to our dojo with their primary goal of becoming a black belt are usually gone in just a few months. Because everything takes time and effort. The same applies to every aspect of life. Focus on the journey, put in the time, the effort, and see what unfolds. That’s exactly what happened when I published my first book. I just focused on the journey, even though it was incredibly labor intensive. When I heard that the “real work” in writing a book begins after it’s published, I found it hard to believe. After all, it took me two and a half years to write it. In reality,...

Groundhog Day–Again

Written by Cheryl on January 30, 2020. Posted in Cheryl's View.

It’s Groundhog Day. Again. It always reminds me of the movie with Bill Murray where he finds himself living the same day over and over again. Repeating the same day and the same patterns drives him bonkers, until he sees a way of turning the situation to his advantage. Quite simply, he changes his patterns, and magic happens. We all get stuck in habits and patterns that aren’t serving us well, and we end up getting stuck in a rut. The good news is that we can crawl out of that rut with just a few simple changes. Here are a few tips that sound really easy and downright silly, but trust me, they work. 1). Sleep on the “wrong” side of the bed. It might sound strange, but it can give you an entirely different perspective on bedtime. You might even sleep better. 2). Change...

Writer’s Block

Written by Cheryl on January 8, 2020. Posted in Cheryl's View.

Writer’s block. Two words that can strike fear in the heart of every writer. And, like every writer, I have experienced it before, but nothing like I did over the past few months. It was so bad that I couldn’t write anything, not even my grocery list. I would sit at my kitchen table, pen and paper in hand (yes, I am that old-fashioned), and stare off into space. I even tried to get some inspiration by flipping through a few of my favorite cookbooks. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. The blank paper seemed to mock me as I tapped the pen to my head trying to get some creative synapses firing. And still, I had nothing. Great. My Red Booth Writer’s Group was getting ready to rally and come up with another four new articles to submit to The Pueblo Chieftain, and I couldn’t even come...

Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot, or Not?

Written by Cheryl on January 2, 2020. Posted in Cheryl's View.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot? What exactly does that mean, anyway? When Harry met Sally they pondered that very question one New Year’s Eve. Sally said it was about old friends. After extensively researching the topic, I discovered that she was right, but to me it represents something more than old friends. It’s about saying goodbye to the old and ringing in the new. And a lot of us are ringing in the new year with New Year’s Resolutions firmly in place, which I think is a bad idea, for many reasons. But the main reason is that we all have a tendency to set goals that are way to ambitious which sets us up for failure. That’s an awful way to start a new year, a new decade, or even a new day. I have another idea. Instead of looking ahead at what you are hoping...

What We Believe is What We Become

Written by Cheryl on September 1, 2019. Posted in Cheryl's View.

One of the most valuable lessons I learned from my Feldenkrais Training is that what we tell ourselves really does matter. Our mind (our brain and our nervous system) is constantly listening and processing the information that it receives. What we tell ourselves is what we believe. And what we believe is what we become. This became quite obvious during ballet class a few days ago when I listened to several of my barre buddies beat themselves down with negative self-talk. Our teacher had just given us a challenging and complex combination. A group of dancers stood around discussing their limitations, their short comings, their injuries, the reasons why they wouldn’t be able to do the combination and what would happen when they tried. It was fascinating to see all of their dire predictions...

Freedom Isn’t Free

Written by Cheryl on May 27, 2019. Posted in Cheryl's View.

When I was a little girl, we always recognized and celebrated Memorial Day. As a child, I thought I knew what we were celebrating, even though my focus was on one event that was the most important to me. Which was the end of the school year. I hated school. I always did, which is ironic that I ended up being a life-long learner as well as earning a Master’s Degree in physical therapy just 3 months shy of my 40th birthday. But as an adult I fully understand the incredible sacrifices that have been made by ordinary people who did extraordinary things to allow me the freedom and the ability to make some of the choices that I have made in my life. The freedom that we so often take for granted. The kind of freedom that people have fought and died for over the course of over 243 years. It...

Hairless At Twenty-Five

Written by Cheryl on March 18, 2019. Posted in Cheryl's View.

Imagine a young woman waking up one morning, getting her coffee, having her breakfast, and then taking her shower. It’s just an average day in the life of a twenty-five year old. Until she gets out of the shower and begins drying her hair. She notices a small bald spot at the top of her head, and her boyfriend confirms what she sees. Instead of going to work she heads straight to the dermatologist. She is diagnosed with alopecia and told not to worry about it–it was probably a temporary situation, and isolated incident, and the hair would grow back. Five months later she was completely bald. Now imagine that young woman is you. You have just begun living a nightmare that just won’t end. You try every treatment that is recommended, no matter how painful and/or expensive....

All of her experiences, training and practice contribute to a truly customized workout/core-strengthening program for each of her clients.
-Claudia D.
She not only helped alleviate the pain, she helped me regain flexibility and got me back on my center.
-Misti M-K
She gently guide you so that ultimately you understand your body better and are able to move with greater ease and less pain.
-Gwendolyn P.
Some of the numbness around my knees has subsided and I’ve regained some feeling as well as had deep joint pain reduction. Flexibility and overall strength has increased.
-Melinda C.
Her gentle, loving approach is just what my body needs to fully recover from a recent car accident. I leave each session with a slight tingling sensation and movement seems much more fluid.
-Shannon G
Cheryl’s background in physical therapy, dance, Pilates, Feldenkrais, and martial arts make her very capable of not only understanding movement but helping others achieve their goals!
-Sheila S.