I envisioned a magazine unencumbered by fluff and fantasy, undiluted by false promises. I wanted to get past obsessions with the hyperperfected body, and get to the heart of whole-life health and happiness.
Against all odds, I found an enthusiastic partner and publisher in what was then a nonpublishing company — Life Time Fitness. And it’s a good thing I did, because no conventional publishing company would ever have let us do what we’ve done. Over the past decade, this wild experiment — Experience Life — has broken just about every rule in the book.
Sensationalized cover blurbs? We don’t do those. Ten quick ways to drop 10 pounds overnight? Not so much. A sea of 100-word blurbs and formulaic sound bites that grab your attention but don’t actually teach you much? We don’t see the point.
There are plenty of magazines out there doing a fine job with that formula, and for the people who find themselves helped and inspired by them, that’s great. But what we’ve learned over the past 10 years is that there are also a whole lot of people (we currently reach about 2.7 million of them) who are interested in going deeper, getting out ahead on important issues, and seeing the bigger picture of what it means to live a healthy, happy, authentic life.
Speaking of life, in honor of our 10-year anniversary, we’ve redesigned the magazine — and as part of that effort, we brought the word “life” out of hiding in our title. We did so because it turned out that our previous masthead logo was confusing the heck out of people. Were we Experience? Life Experience? We think it’s clearer now: Experience Life.
And the exclamation point is not just a fun design element. It’s there to send a message — about the exciting and extraordinary rewards that come from living consciously and well.
Which brings us to our new motto: “Being Healthy Is a Revolutionary Act.” What does that mean? First, it’s an acknowledgment that choosing to be a healthy person is not a small or insignificant thing. On the contrary, it’s a really big deal. It involves bucking all kinds of unhealthy norms and trends, and overcoming all sorts of obstacles.
Every day, health-minded people do challenging, unconventional and sometimes uncomfortable things that most people are unwilling to do. In our minds, that’s revolutionary stuff.
Second, our new motto is intended as an honoring and emboldening mantra. It’s an affirmation of the fact that by choosing to be healthy, you help to make the world a better place. You change not just your own life, but the lives of everyone around you. You are capable of being and giving more. The healthier you are, the more energy and willingness you have to see and be the change the world needs now.
Of course, we’ve made lots of changes inside the magazine, too. You’ll find we’ve divided our content into four key areas (Well Informed, Fit Body, Healthy Eating, Life Wisdom) and that we’ve evolved a number of the departments within those content neighborhoods. I won’t bore you with all the details (many of which our entire talented team sweated and fretted over enough as it is). Instead, I’ll let you discover the new goodies yourself.
What you’ll see is that we’ve done a fair bit of remodeling and reorganizing. But we didn’t mess too much with the DNA of this thing. Because based on what you’ve been telling us — that you appreciate the ways we are different, that we’re helping you make positive changes that matter — we didn’t think we needed to.
So here we go, striding bravely into decade number two. We want to hear what you think, and what you want next. Drop us a line, or get in touch via Twitter or Facebook to give us your two cents. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy this issue and that, like us, you are already looking forward to the revolutionary path ahead.
So happy to be traveling with you!
Having discovered my passion as Nutrition after 8 years of executive life and 4 years as a stay at home mom, I’m working to become a health counselor now and at the same time taking some classes to get my MS degree in Nutrition Education. Last week one of the classmates (around my life stage) has brought this issue to our Anatomy & Physiology class to share the article “Jog your memory” with us and our lecturer who is a doctor. Having worked on the brain subject and learnt that brain neurons are not regenerated, this new study on ‘exercising can help support existing neurons and build new ones’ was a refreshing update for all of us!
One of the best things about this magazine is the dependable info I got -which is totally different than a general research done on internet, where you see lots of misleading articles which do not have much base or research beneath them.
But “the” best thing for me is the sense of refreshment and energy I get while reading it in my quiet time over a glass of tea!
I really liked the new logo & sections (talking as a 8 year+ experienced marketeer here:), logo so simple yet so impactful (exclamation is where the focus should be- perfect) and sections in the departments page makes it much easier to decide which article to read first and find when re-reading
And couple words for the last issue’s Thoughts page: Love it! I was labeling it as Vitamin L, but P works too
Whatever makes us happy!
I love this magazine, reading, re-reading, keeping every issue and sharing what I learn with friends around me! Thanks for having the courage to make your dream happen and share with us & for the great work and energy the whole Experience Life team puts in each issue!
I remember reading your magazine by chance when it first came out, and I recognized its uniqueness and quality of content at first glance. I never copy articles for people, but found myself telling people about free-range chicken and copying the article for family and friends.
As a (somewhat odd) kid, I loved reading ‘American Health’. I love learning about health and your magazine has inspired me on so many occasions.
Keep up the phenomenal work.
Liina