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Mariel Hemingway: Living from the Inside Out |
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by Lyle Hurd, editor
Photography: Brian Nice
Mariel Hemingway
Healthy Living from the Inside Out
A few months ago our friend Krista Holstrom at Harper Collins sent us an advance copy of a new book titled, Mariel Hemingway’s Healthy Living from the Inside Out. Her note included the following quote from the book: “The fact is we’ve strayed too far from simple principles of looking after ourselves well…the result is that it sometimes feels like our lifestyles are controlling us, and not vice versa.”
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Krista went on to comment that for a significant number of us it is not just sometimes that our lifestyles are controlling us, it is most of the time and that Healthy Living From the Inside Out lives up to its promise to be an “Every Woman’s Guide to Real Beauty, Renewed Energy and a Radiant Life”. Then she added while the statement says “Woman’s Guide”, most of the information applies to everyone and men will benefit as much from her program as women will. She then suggested if after perusing the book we were interested in interviewing Mariel, she would be pleased to arrange an opportunity for us to
meet her.
Krista also added, “I’m sure once you read the book and speak with Mariel, you will find she would be an ideal person for the cover of totalhealth. Obviously we agreed.
An actress, model, yoga instructor, mother of two teenage girls, wife and granddaughter of the illustrious author Ernest Hemingway, Mariel was destined to be in the public eye. When she was only 13 years old, Mariel became famous in her own right for her part in the feature film Lipstick. Four years later, she earned an Oscar nomination for her role in Woody Allen’s film Manhattan.
On her journey Mariel faced many personal challenges. She has also experienced living and working in Hollywood, with it relentless focus on external appearance. Though she experienced fad diets, too much or too little exercise, and other alternative remedies, Mariel found nothing to satisfy and sustain her. She began to develop her own methods of living healthfully and consciously and sought out ways to achieve calmness and balance, and enjoy her experiences.
After years of application Mariel has now honed her practices into a program that she can share with others—Healthy Living From the Inside Out offers a fresh new approach to total body health, achievable by everyone. The strength of Mariel’s “30-Day Quick Start Program” focuses on living a balanced life from the inside out. A program, which focuses on four simple avenues that we face every day: food, exercise, silence, and home environment.
TH: Mariel, welcome to totalhealth magazine.
MH: Thank you.
TH: Please give us a overview of your program.
MH: Most significantly, this program is a guide to building your own individualized lifestyle. I am not an authority on everybody’s life; I’m the authority only on my own. The goal of this program is to help you become intimate with your needs, your tastes, and your interests. As a result, you will find your own tools. Nobody’s downward dog will look quite the same as yours. Nobody’s meal will taste the same as yours. Nobody’s bedroom will feel the same as yours. And therein lies the beauty of this program. When you truly observe what works for you and what pleases you, rather than just following a bunch of laws that a book dictates, you prove to yourself that the capacity for greatness lies within you. You become empowered.
TH: The introduction to your book begins with two sets of questions:
Question: Which of these things have you done this week?
• Switched on the TV news within five minutes of waking up.
• Eaten lunch while driving.
• Taken your cell phone into the bathroom.
• Used a cup of coffee as a pick-me-up.
• Looked in the mirror and had a mean thought about your body.
Question: Which of these things haven’t you done this week?
• Laid the table for breakfast.
• Noticed what time the sun set.
• Driven with the radio and the cell phone switched off.
• Exercised.
• Looked in the mirror and had a loving thought about your body.
I have shared these questions with a number of people in discussing your book and the answers, including my own, are pretty sobering.
MH: The answers to these questions most likely reveal the biggest challenge most of us face in today’s hectic world. How do we do it all? We all want to eat right, workout regularly, and be able to relax and find peace at the end of the day. But it just seems that life gets in the way. Well, now it doesn’t have to.
I believe we all have the same problems; they just come in different wrapping paper. And the more I talk to people, not just on movie sets but also to my friends, colleagues, and even my children’s acquaintances, the more it’s clear that below the surface of our very different appearances, lifestyles, and interests lie some universal concerns. At the start of the 21st century, the desire to stay well and find some kind of inner peace is becoming more urgent. The rapid and often relentless pace of life has delivered unprecedented opportunity, but its also brought on exhaustion, and what many of us want most is to redress the imbalance. We want to feel more rested and restored and to reconnect with lives that seem to be getting away from us. Above all, we want to learn how to live in balance: to be less susceptible to stress and sickness and to have health and peace of mind as the norm, not the exception, in our lives.
TH: Please describe the principles in Healthy Living from the Inside Out.
MH: Healthy Living from the Inside Out is an individualized program that teaches us how looking and feeling great are just a few simple choices away. No more bossy diets or impossible exercise routines. Instead, the program divides healthy living into four foundational areas where we can isolate the issues we all face and start making the best decisions for our life.
Exercise: Exercise is not just to stay in shape but also to stay connected to ourselves. By putting the emphasis on quality not quantity, we learn to nurture ourselves, stay grounded, and transform our mental, emotional, and physical state a little bit every day. We’ll end up looking and feeling better than ever.
Silence: In our super noisy world, bringing quiet reflection into our lives slows down the rush, helps us learn the empowering skill of observation, and ultimately can guide us into healthier habits and behaviors. Learning to go to a quiet place inside is one of the best gifts you can give yourself. When you turn down the volume, or even press pause on your day for a short while, you slow down the rush, enjoy more of your life, and find more fulfillment.
Home: Too often the home in which we live echoes the clutter and chaos of the outside world. Learn how to make home a place where we can rest, recharge, and refocus—a haven for the balanced life we (and our families) seek. Making your home environment right is integral to your journey toward health and balance.
Food: What we eat and drink affects every part of our lives, from our energy level to our body shape. By making us conscious about our everyday choices, we learn to use food in a positive way to boost the body and mind and correct imbalances of weight, mood, and energy. I also provide some of my favorite recipes to help integrate a flavorful yet super nutritious diet into our regular lives.
In order to encourage us to listen to ourselves and do things differently, we present a unique Quickstart 30-Day Program for discovering real beauty, renewed energy, and a radiant life. We can all look amazing and feel fantastic from head to toe. The results are immediate and will last a lifetime.
Making changes is an experiment, not an exact science. It’s an art, not a how-to. You become the creator of your own journey to wellness when you listen to what you need. You become the artist of your own life when you discover routines and rituals that reflect who you are and what you believe. You become the sculptor of your own body too. When you are eating and moving and behaving with more awareness of your body’s needs, you naturally shed the extras that you no longer need—weight comes off the body takes its shape, stress leaves tight muscles, the skin glows, and you smile a lot more. People will ask you, “What are you doing differently?”
Of course, when you embark on this journey, it helps to have a map. That’s why you start with this four-week program, with exercises and routines to complete each day and week. Commit to doing them on this schedule for the first four weeks; you can get free form later. Having guidelines to follow at first is helpful because we are training the body and the mind to try new patterns and break old ones that no longer serve us. That’s how we absorb new habits into our lives. It’s how the new behaviors become second nature.
TH: Mariel, thank you for sharing your program with us. We encourage our readers to consider your program and for more information visit your Web site www.marielhemingway.com. Also, for a more in-depth description of the program visit
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