Are you listening?

Helping people learn to LISTEN and understand their body is what I am deeply passionate about. So many people, men and women, are completely disconnected from themselves, they don’t even know their body is talking more or less what it is saying when it does! When the body speaks there is always a physical, emotional, spiritual connection, ALWAYS.

Are your habits, thoughts, daily practices an expression of self-love? Are they an expression of your worthiness to create optimal health for yourself? Are you creating an environment for yourself that allows you to maximize your potential, to be the best version of YOU possible?

Reconnect with yourself, choose to create an intimate relationship with yourself.  Start by just being quiet and LISTENING to what your physical body is telling you, are you struggling with your weight? Are you overwhelmed with life, “running from the tiger” all day and stressed to the max? Do you have the “busy disease”? Are you exhausted, experiencing pain, stagnant in your relationships? PAY ATTENTION!! Live life on PURPOSE, be INTENTIONAL, don’t let life live you.  Your nutrition, thoughts, movement choices, relationship choices, they each matter 100% when it comes to creating a healthy lifestyle.

Live…Love…Be ALIVE!

Do you have a healthy perception of food?

The more I discuss what a “healthy lifestyle” looks like with people the more I realize how very far we have strayed from understanding what real, true health is.  We live in a world where the majority of people count calories (still!?!?! This is so 1980s!), think they can workout/go to boot camp/run on the treadmill for an hour to compensate for the crappy food they eat, or that there is one way to eat for everyone (low fat/low sugar/low protein/high protein…). The biggest tragedy of it all is our own intuition, our connection to ourself, our body and it’s voice is being silenced by the voices of the masses, and look what this is doing for us, for our nation. For starters, we have the highest childhood obesity rates in history, highest rate of cancers, heart attacks, diabetes, mental diseases, the list goes on and on and on.  Something isn’t working, and the only place we can start is with ourselves.

There are many misconceptions of food and health, either conscious or subconscious, that are believed as truth (even though they’ve been long proven not to be). These beliefs are ultimately detrimental to your health now and later.  Don’t think that just because you’re skinny or have no issues at this point in your life that you can continue to abuse your body and get away with it, your unhealthy habits will eventually catch up with you.  I hear it all day long from my clients, they hit a breaking point in their health and now have no idea how to reverse what they created. So I offer a challenge to change your perception of food.

New perception: food is life-giving or life-depleting.  It’s really pretty simple, your body is made with the foods you consume, the food being life-giving or life-depleting. Every cell in your body is programmed by the foods you eat, regenerating every 7 years. Healthy cells create a healthy body, about 80% of your gene expression is determined by how you eat. Processed foods, life-depleting. Organic vegetables, fruits, fermented foods/beverages, wild organic seafood, healthy fats..these give life, these assist the body in balancing hormones, healthy weight, strong immune system, and most importantly, don’t switch on disease genes in the body.

New perception: Food is fuel. Proper nutrition fuels brain function, creates energy & stamina throughout the day, produces a healthy metabolism, balanced gut and restful sleep (to name a few). The key is learning the quality and quantity of fuel that is best for YOUR body, to understand your daily requirements based on your lifestyle.  There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all diet!  I hate the word diet, there’s nothing empowering about being on a diet….it’s all about sustainable lifestyle change that allows you to live life to the fullest!

New perception: Food is something to be enjoyed! So many people relate healthy eating to something akin to eating cardboard every day and this couldn’t be farther from the truth! When you’re healthy you CRAVE life-giving, healthy foods!  Alive foods nourish you mentally, emotionally and physically! I feel like every morning when I drink my greens every cell is my body is having a party!  I LOVE IT!  I love nourishing my body through proper nutrition and it takes GREAT! When your body is alive and nourished through nutrition that’s right for you, this is what your body asks for.

So I’ll end with this, I want you to think differently, to bring awareness to how you nourish yourself every day. Listen to your body and it’s voice (symptoms) and learn how to honor it’s needs. The body follows the lead of the mind so a healthy perception is the first step in creating positive SUSTAINABLE change. Remember, the goal is a healthy LIFESTYLE, not a temporary diet change.  Every choice you make dictates the future state of your health, if you want a long, happy, successful life then understanding how to properly nourish your body is required!

Live…Love…Be Alive!

Will 2015 look that same as 2014?

It’s the new year and I think we are all blasted with ‪emails, articles, and publications giving us options, opinions and ideas of how to get ‪healthy‬, ‪skinny‬‪, lose weight, eat this- not this, ‬do this exercise, 8 min abs, 10 minute slim down, etc. But who is teaching you to listen to your own body’s voice? Who is coaching you through the uniqueness of your lifestyle and showing you how to create a healthy balance for YOU? How are you learning to listen to your own body and determine what your body is saying? What remains absolute with every client, friend, family member I talk to is that everyone is unique. Their environment, stress level, assimilation of food, toxicity, sleep patterns, etc. is always specific to each individual and creating health is also extremely individual.

January is always a busy month for me as everyone is ready to start their year off doing something healthy. I love all the conversations and inquisitions this desire sparks, I love when people truly desire to make change and are willing to put in the work to do so, unfortunately not many follow through. One thing that has been absolute in my own research and experience of working with clients is there is no one size fits all diet or health plan and my passion is motivating people to create a LIFESTYLE which takes determination, commitment, perseverance and focus, to say the least! What works for one will not work for another and research shows 80% of those that lose weight dieting “find” that weight and more within a year. Forbes just came out with the statistics for weight loss resolutions saying only 8% follow through and attain their new year’s goal. Until you change your ‪lifestyle‬ and implement ‪habits‬ that create YOUR BALANCE, YOUR HEALTH, learn YOUR BODY, then success won’t be sustained. It’s not only about weight loss, it’s about creating ‪healthy HABITS‬ for yourself and your family, setting an example and inspiring those around you, being able to make it through the day with energy and emotional stability, leaving a legacy…it’s about so much more. A lifestyle is very individual and learning about yourself and your environment is what allows you to create the ‪mind‬, ‪body‬ and ‪‎soul‬ you desire.

If I can support you in learning your own body’s voice, helping you create a healthy lifestyle, then contact me, I’d love to assist you on your journey!

Live…Love…Be ALIVE!

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This is who I am…..

This is who I am- I am a passionate being with an intense desire to help people connect to their God-given divine intuition, to intimately acquaint themselves with their body to make choices that are optimal for them, to nourish their mind, body and soul as none of these operates in isolation. I desire to help others understand that the quality of their nourishment does matter, that they can heal their body, that they can feel better regardless of their starting point. If you already feel “good”, let’s work on feeling “great!”, if you’re exhausted all the time let’s find out why, if you’ve manifested a dis-ease lets find ways to heal your body however that looks for you, if you are overweight, let’s get to the root issue. If you’re embarking on a new phase of life, ready to start a family, menopause, let’s find ways to make that transition smooth, optimal, enjoyable!  If implementing these changes are initiated by a cleanse, or by learning how to grocery shop or eat better, choosing to eat paleo, raw food, ketogenic, whatever the catalyst, this is my passion, and there is no one size fits all. It’s not about pushing products, supplements, essential oils, “my plan is the best plan”, “do what I say, I know what’s best for you”, it’s about supporting clients, friends, family, to find what works for them, what can be used as their catalyst, and creating an environment for rejuvenation from there. Yes, I believe in the products I support and their powerful benefits to the body, but I support them because they are in alignment with my purpose and passion. No matter what you choose to create health and well being, whatever your catalyst, I celebrate YOU because ultimately it’s about creating a community of people that are on their own unique journey and this will look different for everyone.  I am daily inspired by every person I cross paths with that takes a step towards maximizing their own potential! This is what I’m truly passionate about!
@livelovebealive

My TRANSFORMATION was a catalyst for growth…

This was my facebook post today:

I think one of my biggest personal challenges is trying to find the balance between my passion for people’s health and creating the environment for them to be responsible for the choices that they make. Sometimes I wonder if my passion is misunderstood or taken the wrong way… But then I realize that this is my issue and not someone else’s. Sometimes I want so desperately for clients or friends to see what their choices are creating, to help them heal their body or make healthy choices in general, but then I must understand that they’re not ready for this and it’s not my responsibility to make them healthy… Which could never happen anyway, The choice must be theirs. To be passionately excited and inspired by those that create health in their life can also have a dark side. I am learning to trust the true intention of my heart is seen by those that desire to see it, and not take personally the choices and projections of others. I live to inspire not by coercion but by the magnetic pull of living passionately, by creating environments for others to maximize their potential and purpose however that looks for them. This is my work and I take full responsibility for my creation…but not yours. 

I love how life gives us many opportunities to continue personal growth and transformation once we’ve set it in motion.  Just because my catalyst was a 10 day cleanse doesn’t mean this wasn’t connected to other areas of emotional, mental and spiritual growth.  I think blogging of my 10 day journey was pretty clear on the experience being spiritual for me.  As the transformation continues I’m being given the opportunity to create space and environments for people to choose their own path in life and not taking personally when they choose dis-ease over health, fat over fit and healthy, tired over vibrant, sleepless over restful, moody over stable.  My passion is so strong, my beliefs so powerful in how I feel about holistic, total, WHOLE, health that when clients, friends, family, kids, choose to abuse or neglect their body and then complain about the results, I desperately want to “fix it”.  I want to yell, “I have the remedy, I know what you need, let me help you!!”, when in fact it’s their journey not mine, and not my burden to carry.  We all have choice, our choices create our reality, and we are always given the power to choose something different if what we are creating isn’t working for us.
So my work, what I take responsibility for, is continuing to focus on my own personal growth and making sure my choices are in alignment with who I am, with what I’m about, and allowing those around me to do the same.  It can be a blessing and curse to want true health and wellbeing so badly for people, I would be one to do grocery shopping and dinner planning for everyone if I could.  I would put everyone on a cleanse so matter what their diet looks like to reboot and rejuvenate their body because we are all bombarded with toxins every day no matter how clean we eat.  I would passionately talk to children about how precious their body’s are, how it’s truly the Temple of God, and how what they put in it matters because one day these children will be adults wanting to maximize their potential and leave a legacy worth leaving, and this can’t be done sick, exhausted, stressed and strung out.
So for today, my personal growth is not to take things personally, not to take on what isn’t mine, live authentically and trust the rest to fall into place.

Live…Love…Be ALIVE!

The TRANSFORMATION continues….

I’m 11 days removed from the end of my cleanse and I feel the impact and shift in my being is still as powerful as when I was going through it, I have truly allowed this process to transform me to shift my BEing.  I continue to find myself very conscious and mindful of my hunger, my choices, my thoughts, my connection to my body and mind is very strong, sensitive, palpitable.  And what I love most is this experience, for me, has been transformational in the small, moment to moment daily grind.  I didn’t release a ton of weight, I didn’t have much to release, (I don’t say lose weight, one tends to find what was once lost), although 6.6 pounds on my frame was a lot!  But what I did release was mindless and bored eating and regimented, subconscious programming that put me in a rut not creating the space for me to flow with life and transition through this phase I’m currently in.  I released an idea of what my body “should” look like at 39, which is certainly not what it looked like at 25 or even 30.  I am allowing this process to reacquaint me with who and what I am now.  I have certainly been addicted to controlling my weight and body through the years, there was a time (years!) when I obsessed about maintaining 12% body fat,  measuring myself multiple times a month, eating so rigidly and regimentally that food became more of a means to an end, something to control, rather than something to enjoy.  I’ve worked very hard to balance this over the last 8 years but still a work in progress.   I have always been “healthy” but very out of balance at times to the point of creating dis-ease in my body.  My mom always said too much of a good thing isn’t always a good thing….

So here I am, reinventing myself as I’m getting very intentional about doing in my “old age“.  I’m asking myself where I am now, where I want to be moving forward, if I’m creating a powerful legacy, am I living passionately….? I’m asking myself if I’m spending my time and energy on things with permanent value, like my family, myself, my friendships, my legacy…?  For me, life is to short to be redundant, habitual, rigid, stagnant.  I want to dance, learn, grow, evolve, shift, renew, rejuvenate!  How awesome that a 10 day cleanse was just the catalyst I needed.

Live…Love…Be ALIVE!

Follow up to my 10 day cleanse….

It’s Wednesday afternoon and I officially finished my last Power Shake Sunday at 6:30pm. I found myself Monday listening to my body to see how it would respond, if it would become ravenous for foods I don’t normally eat (like french fries- gasp!) or if I was just going to devour everything in my pantry due to 10 days of lack, and neither happened, I really wasn’t hungry at all.  I think in a previous post I talked about having an intimate connection with my body being a blessing and a curse and this is another one of those situations.  I know my body has been transitioning lately, even before the cleanse, and I was using the cleanse to reconnect with my body and really pay attention to what my body needs for optimal nourishment, to maximize my physical, mental and emotional needs at this time in my life.  As I come out of the cleanse I find that I’m catching myself going toward my habitual routines which is now causing pause and allowing me to assess the situation to see if I’m choosing something out of habit, what my thoughts are around the situation, and where I need to relax and allow in order to evolve and grow.  What does this mean?  It means that my thoughts and emotions were all over the place, from “get me some food, I need to eat” to “I need a salad to maintain my results” to “I need more protein to maintain my results” to “I miss cleansing”. “What if I get fat?”, “what if I get to skinny”, “what does it matter if I’m to fat/ to skinny”…. Read these again and you might think I’m schizophrenic, but I think if we all paid attention to our thoughts they are very similar.  For me, I try to converse with the “voices” or “thoughts” that are in alignment with who I am, my personal mission statement, and what I am looking to create rather than the many disempowering, frantic, disorganized, uncaring and unkind thoughts/ voices that like to push their way through and get noticed and fed.  The battle is always in the mind.  A great friend in the most beautifully perfect timing sent me a reminder today saying, “…you win in the mind first and then you win in life.”

So I’m learning, and I really really love to learn!  I love to learn about myself because it helps me be better, it helps me become more sensitive and aware of my surroundings, my environments, of others.  It allows me to maximize my ability to  assist and support others on their journey to creating the life they desire.  Health and nutrition is what I was put on earth to use to leave my legacy, my conduit to personal growth and evolution, my way to support, encourage and create environments for others to maximize their potential, to leave a mark on the universe no matter how small.  All I know is I’m enjoying the ride!

Oh, the beautiful (internal) conversation that can be sparked from a 10 day cleanse…

Live…Love…Be ALIVE!

My amazing 10 day journey, Day 10, Grand Finale!!!

Well, I did it!  With passion, purpose and intention I completed the 10 day transformational cleanse! I found the process to be spiritual, emotional, physical, and mental, everything I’ve been blogging about since the first day.  I’m excited for my accomplishment and deeply thankful for the experience.  I would do this again in a heartbeat!

I’m curious how my body will adjust as I start integrating food back into my routine.  My mind wants a steak but my body has zero desire, I’m still not hungry! ha!  I’ll ease back into eating as I eased into the cleanse, I’ll let my body tell me what it wants.  With the same ease and grace that I allowed this process to flow is the same ease and grace I will find a new rhythm, continuing my new connection to my body and mind and allowing the growth that I’ve put in place to evolve and unfold.

So let’s talk strictly physical for a moment.  I’ve put my emphasis and focus on the mental and spiritual aspect of the cleanse because this was my personal purpose in completing this.  But for those curious of my results, here they are….  I lost a total of 6.6 pounds which is a lot for me, I’m not a big person to begin with.  Don’t get me wrong, I definitely had more “fluff” than usual due to my fun travels this Summer but still nothing out of my normal healthy range.  So I went from 126.6 to 120.o when I weighed this morning (I’m 5’5″).  I lost 1 inch in my waist, 1.5 inches in my hips, 2 inches in my bust, and 1 inch in my thighs. Maybe I was carrying more fluff than I realized!  ha!  Either way, my body clearly shifted during this 10 days! My eyes are so clear, my skin looks amazing, and what I’m personally excited about- my eyelashes grew!!  So silly and small, I know (I’m human!), but it always bugged me my lashes were so short, I had no idea I was going to get longer eyelashes from this but I did!! YAY! Thank you aminos!!!  😉

It’s 9am on day 11 and I’m still not hungry so I’m drinking the Purium L.O.V.E supermeal shake and taking my aminos.  I’ve been
taking the aminos and drinking L.O.V.E for about 7 months so that will continue to be my routine.  My usual routine is L.O.V.E in the morning with my aminos along with Reviv-It-All and Bee Energetic which is a great energetic start for me since I’m usually hitting the ground running first thing in morning.  With a job and 4 kids to take care I’m a busy girl!

If you’re ever considering a cleanse, a total body reset, a deep spiritual practice, a mind-body rejuvenation, I’d love to support you on your journey.  My passion is to assist and support people on their journey to health and wholeness, however that looks for them. I am inspired every day by the men and women that choose to create a thriving, healthy, vibrant, passionate life!

Live…Love…Be ALIVE!

Almost there! Cleansing, Day 9

Wow, what a day!  Let me start with last night….my energy continued to tank as the day progressed.  I’ll say this again, the interesting thing about this cleanse, for me, is that even though my physical energy might be low my mental energy is high and clear!  So I’m able to focus on my clients and their needs, take care of my family, as well as write this blog with ease (but I would never claim to be a writer so take it as it is!).  🙂   As I was getting ready for bed I was trying to figure out why I was so exhausted, why my body was warm for the first time since being on the cleanse, why the sudden shift?  And then it dawned on me!  At my 4pm flex food I had cucumber slices with copious amounts of cayenne pepper  (I love cayenne!).  I know cayenne is detoxifying but wasn’t really focused on that at the time.  It was after that I became so tired I fell asleep on the couch!  I was exhausted! After I realized what I had done, I reconciled myself to bed and knew tomorrow (today) would be another day.  I write about this for education, understanding that everyone is different and will have their own unique experience.

Ok, back to today….I woke up much better and rested, excited for my Qi Gong session at a local studio (Brookhaven Fitness) with Mauro,  a close friend and deeply spiritual being.  He runs the studio with his beautiful wife Rachel and I have known and loved them both for many years.  Anyway….my session was powerful and cleansing, I absolutely loved it and was so excited to incorporate this healing modality into my transformation cleanse.  Throughout the session I could feel the energy shift and move through my body, my intention was to “cleanse and release energies that no longer support my highest and best good”.  It was a deeply moving experience for me and one that I hope to incorporate into my regular routine.  I have been familiar with the benefits of Qi Gong for decades but had only done it a few times, none recent.   Qi Gong is deeply healing and a very powerful way to connect with the body.  I would HIGHLY recommend this, especially during cleansing, for it’s healing benefits.

After my session the best way I can describe myself was “cleansed”, I felt light, clear, grounded.  My energy today has been good, not as high as previous days but definitely not as low as yesterday!  Perhaps nine consecutive days with no food has caught up with me.  Today I found myself craving variety and tired of the redundancy of the cleanse protocol.  These were just thoughts I observed but nothing that I gave energy to, nothing I fed.  I don’t know that I necessarily miss food as much as I miss the rituals around it.  But again, for me it’s important to implement balance and taking a break from eating for 10 days out of the year is necessary for my own personal and spiritual growth.

So this concludes day 9,  one day to go.  I don’t feel I’m limping to the finish line, I’m sprinting with great ease, focus and commitment.  I was talking to a friend today that has been following my blog and said because I’m such a positive person I made this cleanse sound easy and joked that I needed more drama in my posts! Lol! The truth about me is that I approach things with a strong, positive mind and am very focused on my intention.  I write like I talk, I’m sure you’ve picked up I’m not the next Ernest Hemingway, but my heart and passion is to help people see a new perspective, show that there is amazing power in the mind and what you focus on you create.  My focus and intention all along was to have a spiritually cleansing experience, to finish as strong as I started, to allow my body to flow through these days with ease and grace, to release toxins that no longer supported health in my body, to rejuvenate and reset my DNA, and I have accomplished this all.  Its easy to be successful in an action that is in complete alignment with my soul’s passion and purpose.

Live…Love…Be ALIVE!

 

Interesting Day 8, Cleansing

After my highly energetic day yesterday I had high hopes for today.  I was so energetic last night I had to make myself go to sleep at 11:30pm because I knew I needed the rest.  As always, I slept great and woke refreshed and energized.  I expected a repeat of yesterday so petal to the metal and I’m out the door ready for another productive day!

I did my weight and measurements this morning, I’ve been logging this for myself along the way, and I’ve lost inches (total) in my thighs, waste and hips, exactly where I wanted to.  Weight was never my goal or purpose but I was definitely excited to see the results of my Summer vacations vanish!  🙂 Sometimes I feel being as connected to my body as I am can be a blessing and a curse, I feel all the slight shifts and am still working on accepting this and allowing my body to ebb and flow through these cycles.  But this is for another blog…. My weight is down 5 pounds which is too low for me so I’ll be intentional to balance this out by continuing to increase my muscle mass after the cleanse (why I love the aminos!!).

I started today with a bang then hit a wall about 2pm and became tired.  I’ve been slightly “hungry” this afternoon, the hunger I get when my body is looking for energy, so I ate a small cucumber at my 4pm window and felt a little better.  Obviously my body went a little deeper in my cleansing and asked for rest in order to do this which I obliged.  It’s not a sleepy, take a nap tired, for me it’s more of a slow down and rest your body tired.  Luckily my schedule this afternoon allowed me this rest and I was able to do work from my computer.  Tonight I’ll be retiring early, continuing to honor my body through this process and give the rest it needs.

This entire process continues to bring me to an awareness of my “food story”, of how I view and relate to food, what my thoughts are about it, how my willpower and discipline play into this.  I’ve always had a certain level of self-control so years of practice being a mindful eater, not choosing foods that didn’t feel good, and observing the chatter in my head has created a strength I’m thankful for.  But no matter how long I’ve been practicing health for myself I always have the opportunity to grow, to learn more about who I am, what shapes my thoughts which shapes my actions, and to let go of old patterns and idea that no longer serve me.  This is why I cleanse, I stay in a place of acceptance and allow the process to strengthen me, mind, body and soul.