Dry January. Eat healthier. Workout more. Sound familiar? These are the top New Year’s Resolutions year after year, but according to a study by U.S. News, 80% of New Year’s Resolutions fail by February. Don’t let it happen to you!

Wanting to learn how to balance your resolutions with your love of wine? Hear from a few of Paso Wine’s fitness professionals, Katherine Daou, Daou Vineyards & Winery, Scott Cleere, Templeton Tennis Ranch, and Cristina Averseng, Paso Terra, who spend time in the studio or on the courts and surrounded by wine!

Yoga Instructor

What is your favorite fitness/health activity? If a fitness instructor, what do you teach and where? Yoga, hands down. I am a 200 hour RYT Yoga Teacher trained in Power Yoga as well and I currently teach at Paso HOT Yoga in downtown Paso Robles.

Through both wine/food and fitness, you are helping to boost people’s moods. How is the gratification from each similar or different? Wine, food, and yoga is an experience of the senses. When a guest is going through a tasting with a guest and pairing it with food, they are stimulating all the senses to create a memorable experience. They will open up that bottle of wine they tasted that day and be taken back to that single experience. Yoga is the same, but different. In yoga, we learn how to use breath to move through our flows, tune out thoughts that don’t serve us and help physically calm the body. When you are in a situation where you anxious, stressed out, nervous, or on edge, using that breath to come back to a calm mind and body is like re-creating that soothing experience over and over. It becomes a significant memory.

How did ‘working out’ turn from a hobby to a passion you wanted to pursue? Practicing yoga brings me so many positive benefits like body admiration, physical & mental strength, calm mind, bliss, and a feeling of being centered & grounded. Once I knew that yoga was a kind of “work out” that I wanted to do for my well being for the rest of my life, I started feeling inspired to give that back to others. Practicing yoga is one thing for yourself, but teaching yoga has brought out a side of me that wants to give back.  I wanted to help guide people towards self-love, body acceptance and admiration, courage to do an arm balance, peace of mind, subsiding of anxieties, and all the other wonderful things that one can experience in yoga.

With the start of the new year, how do you recommend balancing your new fitness resolution and love of wine? In yoga, we talk a lot about balance; like yin & yang. My view on fitness and wine is moderation. Don’t give yourself ultimatums. Don’t tell yourself you want to go to yoga just because you ate too much pumpkin pie during the holidays. Don’t look at working out as a way to combat the times where you let loose, had some wine and lived life. So try to look at working out as a means of improving your life and a way to cultivate a better relationship with yourself! And drink that glass of wine…

There is research that red wine can actually help you keep the fat off when combined with exercise (click to view article).  What’s your perfect workout and wine pairing? Tree pose! Take a glass of wine (empty or full…most likely full) and place it in the center of your left palm. While balancing the glass, bring the sole of your right foot to the side of your calf, creating a triangle shape with your right leg. Press the sole of the right foot in the left calf muscle to find stability. Once you’ve found your center of gravity and a focal point in front of you, raise your right hand in front of you, grab the glass of wine, and sip ????

What is your number one tip to maintain your fitness goals? Take it day by day. I’m somewhat of a planner and I love to use the MINDBODY app to book classes I’m going to take during the week, but I take it day by day. I feel like when I plan too much, I set high expectations for myself. Life happens and sometimes you don’t get to meet all of them, and that’s OK. So when I take it day by day, it’s not only beneficial for mentally, but I also feel more motivated to make it to a yoga class because I feel less pressure.

Director of Tennis

What is your favorite fitness/health activity? If a fitness instructor, what do you teach and where? I’m the Director of Tennis at the Templeton Tennis Ranch.

Through both wine/food and fitness, you are helping to boost people’s moods. How is the gratification from each similar or different? Like a cool glass of white or a room temp glass of red, a good clinic or rousing set of tennis elevates the mood and mind. We play to expand our capacity, to increase our appreciation and enjoyment of our time on this precious earth. We do the same when we have a glass of wine paired with perfect meal, this sets the stage for a moment of indulgence and reward.

With the start of the new year, how do you recommend balancing your new fitness resolution and love of wine? Resolutions are important to help set our North Star. Balancing my ambition to improve as a coach and player requires not just the physical elements of strength and conditioning but equally important is to let your imagination run a bit, without limitation or constraints. Sharing a glass of wine with friends and talking about what is possible is where goals are made and dreams are cast out loud. All in moderation and grounded in realistic expectations.

There is research that red wine can actually help you keep the fat off when combined with exercise (click to view article). What’s your perfect workout and wine pairing? My perfect workout pairing wine and play would be three sets of doubles on a beautiful north county evening followed by a picnic with a beautiful tablecloth, a delicious Cabernet, a baguette, some gouda, green grapes and cold crisp apple wedges.

What is your number one tip to maintain your fitness goals? Be kind to yourself, set high but realistic goals. A quote from my winemaker friend Tommy Oldre always jumps out to me when evaluating our exercise habits. Tommy says, “the best exercise is the exercise you do”.

A full wine bottle can weight 3+ pounds. Ever use in lieu of a dumbbell? (Or other wine-related fitness ideas)? To help build hand, wrist and arm strength take a bottle of wine (full of wine for my risk takers) and attach a 2′ long string or thin rope to the top of the bottle with duct tape, at the top end of the string attach to the center of a stick (this will be a handle). Then roll the string up onto the handle until the bottle and handle are touching. Repeat 3 times or as comfort dictates. Your forearms will be screaming.

What wine is your reward after an intense workout? After an intense workout, I reach for a cool Chardonnay to wet my whistle and celebrate another workout in the books.

Zumba Instructor

What is your favorite fitness/health activity? If a fitness instructor, what do you teach and where? My favorite fitness is Zumba. I take class or teach 5 days a week as well as take adult ballet once a week. I teach Zumba Gold at Class Act Dance on Friday mornings at 9:30 a.m. and team teach on Tuesday evenings with Tiffaney Henry at Centennial Park.

Through both wine/food and fitness, you are helping to boost people’s moods. How is the gratification from each similar or different?  A regular healthy diet will absolutely give the proper fuel to the body to achieve whatever goal one sets out for themselves. A glass of wine after a good workout is always appreciated. Probably not a good idea on the onset of a workout..need I say more!

How did ‘working out’ turn from a hobby to a passion you wanted to pursue? I have been an athlete of some form or another all of my adult life. In my corporate days, years past, the stress level was very high..so at around 4pm, I had the choice of a hard workout or going to the bar. I chose the workout and ALWAYS felt so stress relieved… not to say that glass of wine is also so very appreciated!

How does working in the wine/hospitality industry allow you to partake in your fitness activities? As a business/restaurant owner, I make my own schedule which includes my morning workouts. Since I work at night, those workout times are not part of my routine.

With the start of the New Year, how do you recommend balancing your new fitness resolution and love of wine? Like everything in life, most particularly as we get older, the balance of fitness and food/wine consumption is all based on one’s priorities. For me, while I do love my wine, the fitness aspect of my life is very, very important to me, thus I curtail the wine aspect to a moderate level.

What is your number one tip to maintain your fitness goals? Number one fitness goal for all: Take one hour, three times a week to exercise. It won’t impact your schedule at all!