Did you know stress and anxiety can shrink your brain and deteriorate your body?

I have chosen this year to break open my core wounds that have been with me since my childhood.  Not fucking comfortable stuff that is causing me to feel them all over again- creating fear, anxiety, depression and stress on my mind/body and spirit.  This is the “work” many will call it when you decide enough is enough and the old patterns and habits that have “worked” are not working any more.  This is yoga living off the mat.  This is AA’s 12 step process towards healing.  This is in many religions when you take on fully trusting in your higher power and surrendering.  It takes certain characteristics like humility, courage and the will to suffer in order to get better.

Now I am not saying to put yourself through this without guidance, therapy, etc. What I am saying is stress is a very real thing and choosing how to deal with it and how long it will affect you have some serious side effects.

So here is what is going on in your body and mind when you go through something like this.  There is a feedback loop in the brain, the anxiety tells it to replay the memory and in doing so takes over much of the thoughts going on in your mind. The new information coming in doesn't have a lot of space to settle in; therefore, you may even experience not remembering new memories, suffer learning new things, and other functions. That sucks! The fear based memories are so powerful they actually shrink your brain, especially the hippocampus. In turn you suffer from more anxiety, possibly depression, and can lead to Alzheimers in the end.  This is why you and I must not let the anxiety, depression and fear dictate our life and our destiny.

Your body knows when your mind is stressed, happy, angry and all the other emotions you feel.  In fact your body reacts with your emotions releasing hormones to go along with what your mind is feeling. For example, when you feel love oxytocin is released giving you a sensation of feeling good all over like the “chills or warm fuzzies”.  Your body, when feeling love and safety, can even emote with open arms wanting to express with a hug to share how good you feel.  When you are stressed you get the opposite hormones, such as cortisol and adrenaline, causing your heart rate to increase, your blood pressure to rise, your breath to become shallow and the body literally takes on a defense looking posture.

You must MOVE!  Exercise is proven to relieve muscle tension, increase serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine; all of your feel good hormones.  Aerobic exercise lights up all the areas of the brain especially in the frontal cortex and hippocampus, helping you change the memories or feed back loop.  In fact the number one way to get all in one dose is the practice of yoga, a moving meditation with absorption of self at the end.  You see it all comes back to you and being centered.  And it’s a daily practice.

The Right Timing

The Right Timing

The last couple of months I have been struggling with making decisions. Waiting for the universe to give me a sign.  Procrastinate.  Blame it on timing, the moon is, if Mercury is retrograde or if I make a mistake!  Now I ask, is there such a thing as the “right timing”? 

After all that mindless shit I find myself in doubt, fear that it won’t work out or if I don’t act right now then I will miss out.

These all have one thing in common, TRUST.

When you trust the unviverse or God, Spirit, something bigger and greater than you…you just might let go of the intense feelings.

I have had mnay opportunities to try and manipulate “right timing” like:

·      Willing myself to do it.  Pushing the deal to go through like making a wedding happen when I wanted.

·      Freeze: not do anything, no efforts that are even positive, denial.

·      Procrastinating:  fear of failure or success, perfectionism, leading me to not change my career when I wanted to.

These are human behaviors based upon learned or innate characteristics dependent upon core beliefs.

You can change it with some tools with some practice.

TRUST the universe, God, a higher power to help.  Demand it.

Gather resources: educate yourself on the topic or characteristic you are struggling with.  See your strengths and your weaknesses. Books, Youtube, the world wide web where you know you are not alone.

The first step in all of this is positive action by admitting your doubts and fears.

FEARS = false evidence appearing real

Weakness = strength as this a golden opportunity for you to change, grow and evolve.

Meditate on this:

I accept my doubts and fears.

The right timing for “blank” is directly related to my union with universal flow.

See yourself, visualize yourself doing the thing you want with total universal support.

Sit with the thoughts, observe your immediately feelings.  Use your senses like hearing the noises of where you might be in this change, smell the space, sense how others are around you there.

Observe your immediate reactions:

·      Do you feel anthing?

·      Anxiety, fear, sadness, joy, ease, powerful, awesome

The primary feelings you feel come from your highest self and intuition.  These are great gifts so use them.

Trust “right timing” with practice and allow the universe to support your highest good. 

The Philosophy Behind MOVE

The Philosophy Behind MOVE

Our bodies are amazing machines. They are designed to be able to move in all directions, to defend against the unexpected, and to be able to contract force. In addition to all of the work, our body is also designed for rewarding experiences- to be intimate, to express feelings and to sleep for extended periods of time.

In todays’ fast-paced society, it appears to me that we have created a habit of separating our bodies from our minds and spirits, inevitably creating dis-ease and imbalance. Working with my clients and even in myself, I witness breakdowns from the defeats of these imbalances. I feel that we need to get back to making the mind-body connection in order to get real and see real change.

If you want to see real change, it has to start with you. No one can do this for you. So what is it going to take to get you to MOVE? What is it going to take for you to be motivated enough to make changes from the very core values you have and see it as a holistic approach to a lifestyle. Because that is exactly what MOVE is- A holistic approach of you looking at YOU as mind, body, spirit and all the juicy stuff in between. The training never stops and the diet never ends. This isn’t about weight loss or a quick fix. This is about lifestyle.  And your life depends on it.

The honesty and vulnerability it takes to really see through all of your

“stuff”- your denial, your excuses- will show up in your body. Your

body, just like your mind and heart, has a history. The body talks,

stores emotions, and reacts even if you were trying your hardest in

your mind to stop it. Your body hears every word you say out loud

and inside. You have to get real honest with what you are telling

yourself and if it is congruent with your goals. Are you treating yourself the way you want to turn out? If you are telling

yourself often “I am fat” then your body is going to accept it. That’s the truth.

Change doesn’t happen overnight. I like to tell my clients to envision this new lifestyle as a journey. Reflect on a journey you had in the past; something you never thought you could do or get through. It could be marriage, divorce, death of a loved one, having kids, graduating college, or starting a career. Then look at where you are now. You did do it. You were able to get through it. And you can do this as well. It isn’t going to be easy. There will be challenges. You are going to have to dig deep and get honest with yourself. Figure out what you want and go for those deep desires of your mind, body, and heart.  And then, with my guidance and support, we can embark on this journey together.

You Are Truth

You know what is true.

You have people who love you.

You have talents for survival and success.

You can sacrifice to persevere.

Through the struggles are the triumphs

Because,

You deserve happiness, freedom and love.

You are not an object, a subject, or controlled by anyone.

Your life is yours!

Spring brings change. Allow yourself to transition by releasing 

old patterns and behaviors that do not serve you.  

Love and honor yourself always.

Go to the ocean and renew.

Just when I thought I lost myself, I went Full Circle

This summer has made me crazy!!!  I think you all have gotten that from me if you know me and read along. I work hard physically and mentally; the weather issues get me agitated, and life stuff.  All I want to do is escape, fly away, and stop everything at times.  You know what I mean?  Throw the towel in and live on an island.  Now I know that isn’t the answer but at least I am honest about it.  So here is a story on how I flew away to escape and came “full circle” to find my self again.

Journal entry from August 21, 2015

So grateful to be able to come back again and again to Venice Beach, CA and it always feels the same, HOME.  I had a few hours to spend alone so I drove around the neighborhood I used to live in and visited all my favorite little places to shop and eat and ended up on Rose Ave at Cervateca, a fabulous outdoor dining café.  I ate exquisite Peruvian ceviche and a glass of Malbec wine.  In an hour or so I was going to one of my favorite activities to do only in Venice Beach, ecstatic dance with a DJ.  This is what got me into yoga in the first place, dancing and moving for freedom of expression.  I had found my soul again!

My friend and teacher Julian Walker has these movements every week, as I follow him via newsletters etc., as a lifeline to my “people”.  So walking down the street from the café towards the address listed for the event I notice the familiarity and proximity to a place I thought I would never return to.  And there it was!  The Hare Krishna Temple, now redone and new!

The memories flooded through me, good and bad and indifferent.  This was my place of education, yoga, life, stereotypes broken, and eyes wide open.  I started my first teacher training in 2007 with Shiva Rea at Exhale Venice Beach.  Shiva had her students congregate at the temple every day for about 3-4 hours to go over materials and practice teaching with one another.  I thought it was the most disgusting place I had ever been in at the time. 

The floor was filthy, roaches and ants, trash and food in the corners and dirty Hare Krishna’s walking around like they had never seen a shower or laundry machine.  It was fucking disgusting so I went across the street on the 2^nd day of 10 days of training and bought Lysol and antibacterial lotion.  I would spray myself down in a spiral of disinfectant, all my items and mat after each visit.  People thought I was crazy.  I thought they were crazy for lying on the floor, face down practicing cobra pose!  My hope was to NEVER return again.  Well as life goes to show you, “never say never” and brings me back Full Circle, here I am again.  And the best part…it is called Full Circle.  Full Circle is a place to commune, to be free, to practice expression, art, movement, and unity.  All these things I have learned since 2007.  And out of all the places I have traveled to find it, all the time it has been right here!

I walked into the building after donating double the offering, did a face plant onto the floor and rolled all over the place.  I danced and crawled like the primal goddess that I am.  My soul was free to be and my body expressed it with such ecstatic joy.  All feelings flooded me with how life comes back “full circle”.  Life is not full of coincidences; it is full of synchronicity that makes us come FULL CIRCLE.

Namaste