Join the Revolution

“We started to realize that the essential practices to being healthy were to eat well, find ways to quiet the mind and move your body,” says Joan Dwyer, owner of All That Matters. “We we re telling people this all the time.” So, she founded a program to embody that advice: 40 Days to Personal Revolution, an intensive program involving meditation, diet and daily yoga.

“When people commit to it, they see great change and experience more happiness,” she describes. “It fit perfectly with what we saw was essential – and we have all the resources at All that Matters,” the holistic center that has been a fixture on Main Street in Wakefield for almost three decades.

Admittedly, the program takes a serious commitment: yoga at the studio or at home every day, weekly support meetings, regular meditation and the discipline to eat well, with nutritional coaching, the entire time. “Most people think they don’t have time to make change,” Joan says. “My response to that is if you keep doing the same thing, you’re going to get the same results.”

“I give people a lot of credit for being courageous enough to say they’re ready. I encourage people to wait until are,” she continues. “People don’t have to be at yoga every day, just as much as they can. We work hard to make it work for them.” But once people become accustomed to the routine, they want to continue. “Most people, once they’re in it, they’re really comfortable. One of the biggest lessons that you learn is that there’s really no judgment.”

The 40 days are long enough to reset exercise patterns, and through changing their diets, teach people which foods affect them in positive or negative ways. Once the intensive session is over, they can take these lessons and apply them in a less intense way. “On day 41, people should have a better feel of their own owner’s manual,” Joan explains. “With our own bodies, we don’t tend to know our own manual. We hope to move people more into their own bodies so they know ‘this causes me stress, this is bad for my digestion, this is how I can manage stress.’ A side effect of that is that they feel more vitality and feel more alive. It’s fun.”