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At Play
Pg 46 - AT PLAY WITH Trish Sare
An adventurous spirit and a love of movement keeps this fitness enthusiast motivated.
Who: Trish Sare, passionate outdoor enthusiast with 20 years experience as a world traveler and expert guide
Where: Owner of BikeHike Adventures in Vancouver, Canada, an adventure-travel company founded in 1994
Why: Because her lifelong quest is to bring together like-minded travelers to hone new skills and experience different cultures and customs through physical activity
Organic Spa: What does “play” mean to you?
TRISH SARE: Living life with a sense of enjoyment and inquisitiveness about the world around you. I feel playful when I ride my bike to work every morning, and I pedal right along the sea wall into my office, which is an island. My office is casual, and I surround myself with happy people. Toxic things in your life poison you—they literally make you ill. Leading a life that’s positive and happy ensures a healthier and more playful lifestyle.
OS: How do you encourage your clients to be more playful?
TS: Spending any amount of time participating in sports and reveling in the outdoors is true playfulness. We regularly sea kayak, hike, snowshoe in winter, trail run, and rock climb. I’m all about having fun and meeting new people. We do a Yeti Race, which is a nighttime snowshoe race along the Cypress and Whistler Mountains. Total joy. We backpack for five to seven days in wilderness along the West Coast Trail off the coast of Vancouver island. This is a spectacular and vibrant city.
OS: How important is fitness in your life?
TS: I would like to say I’m more into activity than pure exercise, although I love yoga and Spinning. I take belly-dancing classes right now because I took a group to Turkey and became fascinated by the true art of the belly dance! When it gets really torrential rainy in Vancouver, I will head inside to a gym and take a fitness class of some kind. There’s a particular energy to good gyms. I started off as a fitness trainer many years ago, and this interest in the outdoors and a healthy lifestyle all morphed from there. Plus, I have to do something active every single day of my life. If nothing else, I may walk to work sometimes (almost three miles along the Pacific Ocean). Doing something I love to move my body takes care of weight issues or thoughts of fitness in my life. It can help other people, too.
OS: How can we fix this country’s obesity epidemic and sedentary ways?
TS: Encourage people to begin by simply walking outside so it doesn’t feel like bonafide exercise—it just feels like moving around. At BikeHike, we try to avoid making exercise be hard work although we burn countless calories. Many participants in our trips start off pretty sedentary but get fitter quickly with easy rafting trips because the endorphins and pent-up energies get released on the trips. When a group of people are rappelling together or shooting rapids or whatever, we all need to connect for safety, companionship, and comfort level. Easy connections are made through physical activity and many people stay in touch long afterwards. There have been at least two marriages and countless romances on my trips!
OS: Where is your favorite place on earth?
TS: I might love Vietnam the best because of the genuineness and gentility of the people. When I lead a group there, around every bend in the road, each scene takes my breath away. It is a colorful, fun-loving beautiful place. Undulating hills of misty mountains and hilly rice patties, chaotic marketplaces. And you can get pampered inexpensively in Vietnam! I walk into a little shop and get a massage, facial, manicure, and pedicure and it costs about $100 dollars; and the therapists are incredibly nurturing.
OS: What’s next for you?
TS: I am developing total wellness trips—multi-sport trips with hiking and biking, some spa treatments, maybe a cooking class. We’ll gradually add empowerment training and guest speakers who can motivate my groups to further greatness and personal power. We’ll write down all of our goals at the beginning of the trip, and break through emotional barriers, accomplish something revolutionary on the tour—and then bring that playfulness right into the world. www.bikehike.com —N.D.S.