Jump Out of a Plane

Today at the hospital I saw mass amounts of suffering.
The man in the room next to us, moaning, not able to lay down because he was in a body/neck brace and could not move. His mother sitting across from him not hiding her tears.
The doctor that walks into another room and asks "what's wrong today sir?" "Everything!" he says with pain in his vocal cords.
Someone I love writhing around in bed, not able to get comfortable because of the tumors in her belly.

I realized something walking the halls of the hospital today. There are more people suffering in the hospital than enjoying the day at a park. Or taking lunch outside. Or turning on the sprinkler for their kids and running through it with them. Or turning on the sprinkler for themselves and enjoying the feeling of water on their skin. There are more people suffering everyday at a desk, staring at a computer screen wasting their lives on a job they despise so they can keep up with a house they can't afford to keep.

So, this is my advice - because one day we will end up in the hospital either watching someone in pain, or in pain ourselves, regardless we will suffer.

If you want to:
Jump out of a plane
Quit your job if you don't like it
Smell the roses, peonies, gardenias and a fresh picked tomato
Let go
Stop comparing yourself with others
Feel your emotions, stop stuffing them down with food, alcohol or work
Close your eyes and listen to the birds
Live life without a script
Drive with the windows down
Stop being a harbor for negative thoughts
Dance on tables
Cry, scream and let it out
Dance on bars
Dance naked in your living room
Kiss your friends, children, parents and lovers
Give free hugs regularly
Turn the computer off and turn on your imagination
Paint
Love yourself, be kind to yourself, say nice things to yourself
Play
Sing
Create
Play the guitar
Unplug your TV
Eat a chili dog
Go vegan for a day
Take the grocery cart in for somebody in the parking lot
Spend less on jeans and spend more time outside
Give something away to a stranger
Leave a big tip for a waitress even if its a bad service
Smile
Stand on your head
Be nice to others
Feel the rain on your face
Climb a tree
Sit in the grass if it feels good
Read
Cook a meal for someone you love
Throw a party
Quit whatever it is that is holding you back from the life you truly deserve
Bake bread
Say yes
Love
FOLLOW YOUR BLISS

Zumba!

I LOVE ZUMBA.
My first love was dance, so Zumba fits in with my child like energy to move and shake. However, Zumba is a far cry from the controlled moves of ballet, tap and jazz in my childhood. In Zumba you are free to cut loose, shake it, shimmy your shoulders and have FUN moving. What? Oh, I am exercising? Did I just burn 700+ calories - yes you did.

We are blessed at Soul Shine to have our own hot tamale, Maria Cardarelli teaching two times a week. Tonight is Zumba night and it is always a latin flavored, loud, sweaty, amazing night.



Even Hollywood celebs have jumped on the Zumba train - click here to read more about how Zumba is heating up Hollywood.

Also, Maria was honored with 3rd place in Project Safe's Athens Dancing with the Stars, see the video of her ballroom dancing here. 

Aiiiiieeeee!

Love your belly

I really don't think I can add anything to the article in the link below. Many of you have had the treat of learning dance from Oracle at Soul Shine and her "love your belly" speech changes the way you view and treat your pooch. I needed to read this today. I woke up and put on a tight t-shirt and said to myself "no, not yet - wait to wear this shirt until you have a flat belly." Then a beautiful voice in my heart said "what if you never have a flat belly again?" and I thought to myself...so what? I am pretty healthy, I have a strong back, strong abdominal muscles and a six pack is truly not what I desire. Be stong in your core, but recognize your potential for beauty without six pack abs. You will breathe better, practice yoga better and perform hotter belly dance moves. Soul Shine's new core strength class will teach you all about how to be strong in your core, move from your core and possibly lose a few inches if you need too - all without cruches or compressing our diaphram/breath.

Click the link below to read the article below by Oracle and learn more about loving your belly...the center of LIFE.

http://www.examiner.com/belly-dance-in-atlanta/love-your-belly?CID=examiner_alerts_article

Lunch Time!

Avocado Sandwich with Veggies

I have a slight obsession with avocados. They are so tasty and good for you. The only thing I don't like is when you cut into one and its brown and mushy, or hard as a rock. My secret is to buy them when they are green and gently press the tip of the avocado. When the avocado is really dark green (but not black) and the tip gives a little bit - its avocado day! Eat it, today. It may not be good tomorrow and that $1.00+ is in the trash.

This is one of the yummy things I like to do with avocados. Make a sammy!




Avocado Sandwich:

1 perfectly ripe avocado
1/2 lemon
2 slices of sprouted bread (my fav is Ezekiel bread, find it in the frozen section)
bell pepper
tomato
lettuce

Mash the avocado in a bowl with lemon juice and salt. Toast bread
Spread avocado mash on both slices of bread
Add slices of veggies (get creative - cucumbers, squash, hot peppers) to the sammy
top with lettuce

Eat your veggies and love it!

Letter to a new meditator

Dear friend,

You are looking for a way to calm your mind. You have admitted and realized that your mind is like a spinning top and it only stops when it hits a wall. Congratulations - you have made the preverbal first step - admitting you have a problem.  So, what do you do? How do you meditate? You have heard the word but what do you actually do? Sit down and clear your mind, right? Sounds easy enough...until you try it. The spinning top is more prominent than you thought and you give up. That sucked. Game over. Lets get back to doing the dishes, or was it the laundry....mmmmm peanut butter. Oh, crap, we were talking about meditation...

Well, I have some words of hope and wisdom for you.  You need tools. 

First, you need to realize that if you know how to worry, you know how to meditate, or at least focus. You are just focusing on bad things.  The past, future and the past again - then the future... worrying about things that don't matter and will probably never happen. 

Second, you need a place. Find a quiet spot in your home (this can be the bathroom with the door locked and the fan on - I promise nobody will bother you).  Sit, relax, be comfortable and take a short 10 minute break. 

Third, you need to breathe. Deep, long inhales (let your belly go!) and longer exhales are key to quieting the mind.

Next (tired of counting now!) you need to focus on something. One single thing. What is this object of attention? It is not your to do list honey, you can count on that. The object is up to you. What is the basis of choosing the object? Choose an object with an appreciation of your potential at the present moment. Begin with a less complicated object - then as time goes on you can focus on something more complicated. 

Are you able to contemplate an ocean wave? A tree? A candle flame? A simple mantra such as peace?

At the heart of it all this is what we are seeking - peace. So focus on what brings you peace. 

There is much more to this subject, so dear friend, I will continue this letter to you later.

I am off to my quiet place for about 20 minutes.

Namaste,

Heather 

I hate my butt

I hate my butt, I hate my arms, I hate my legs, I hate my pinky finger...the list goes on and on, and its silly. My butt allows me to walk, my legs keep me standing, my pinky finger can reach small things that other digits can't. 

As a yoga teacher I hear all kinds of body image issues. When will this madness stop???? Last night while I was teaching a private lesson, I had a long time student sheepishly tell me that she did not understand what I meant when I said "tuck your hips/butt/booty/tailbone" under. OK - so I will show you - stand in the mirror, put your hands on your hips and tilt the pelvis back and forth.

She could not do it.
Why? Its because she admitted that she hated her small tushy and that she is so used to sticking it out that she could not tuck under. First I told her that this is a samskara, or an habit that is so stuck we are going to have to work on getting it out of her system. Then I coached her through tucking her butt under and she said "This feels great!!" Yea! A long spine, not a crunched up, unhappy lumbar and SI Joint. Whooo hoooo! Freeeeeedom on more than one level! That is why I love yoga. Love love love yoga.
Her lack of booty love is not only a self esteem issue (I also told her that I would happily give her some of my booty, so I need to work on this as well) her negative body image was also hurting her in almost every pose she was practicing in class. She thought that the pain was because she was "old" and "it was just too late for her to be pain free" and "she would never look like taller people in class."

Oy! Yoga is not a competitive sport. The competition is in your head. You are battling yourself here. Your EGO tries to stay in control. And do not be fooled, the ego is not just the voice in  your head that tells you that you are better than so and so, but its also the nasty voice that tells you "don't tuck your butt under, everyone will see that you don't have a banging booty."

At the end of this class, she said that she felt better than ever before at the end of class. The pressure is off and she can now start really tasting the freedom of yoga.

Shew....Stinky!

Nobody wants BO
Nobody wants cancer either or to stop our bodies from detoxing the way mother nature intended. I have am sure you have heard that traditional deodorant is not good for your bod - but what are you supposed to do? Run around smelling like a dirty hippie? What, am I supposed to give up lip gloss too?
No way beautiful!
But, honestly, do you like the feeling of chiseling off your deodorant everyday? That can't be good for you. Use natural products, there are more and more out there to choose from and I have finally found a natural deodorant that works! Crystal Essence roll on with lavender and white tea. I have used the rock form of this brand in the past, and it worked for a little while - but after a few hours stinky stinky pits were noticeable, not sexy. Ew. So, I tried this product and so far so good! Give it a shot and give your body the chance to detox naturally! You don't need to clog up your lymph nodes and keep toxins in the body that need to get out.

I love this product!

You can't LIVE without your LIVEr!

On Friday night Soul Shine Yoga & Wellness had our first nutrition workshop with Donna Terrazas. Let me just say she is AMAZING - a true wealth of information. She has been doing the whole natural healing, great diet, and energy healing before it was cool. She used to give her kids "ninja juice" green chlorophyl and juice mixed, named after the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (the 80s version youngins). One of her children was doing his first anatomy project and he was diagraming our insides and she was telling him how important our livers are to the body. He perked up and said "Mommy! Liver, Live! See LIVE. You can't live without your LIVER!" He was right on.
In the West we do not give our liver its due. In TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) the liver is the most important organ in the body. We tend to focus on our hearts in the USA. The liver is the "general" he tells us what to do. Right now its time to create, live, plow the fields and eat greeeeeen.  We also need to eat tart, sour foods like lemons, limes and grapefruit. Herbs that support the liver are milk thistle and dandelion.

Here is a simple recipe for a gentle liver cleanse:
2 beets (raw)
1 - 2 lemons, juiced
1/4 - 1/2 cup of flax oil

Mix this all together and eat 2 teaspoons a day. If you eat more, the cleansing will be more intense. Trust me, beets are very cleansing! I juiced an entire beet one time, added some other stuff like apple and a cucumber. I drank about 5 sips before I had a headache, and then it was off to the bathroom I went!

Take care of your liver - just don't over do a cleanse.
Love & Light
H