Where’s the joy?

Joy. I have really been taking the time to sit with and define what that means to me. It can be a complicated emotion. There are times I will admit where it seems like joy might be a frivolous emotion.

That is a slippery slope to fall down. Joy is just as necessary as all the other emotions. It’s part of the delicate balance of light and dark, good and bad. There is meaning and purpose to celebrating in our lives.

I think part of why I have struggled lately with finding my joy, was like all of us, I was separated from those I most long to share my joyful moments. Thank goodness for video calls, but that human contact definitely has a special spot in our celebrations of joy.

So first and foremost we need to define what joy is? Well that’s an individual as a person’s coffee order. Grab a journal and think of a time you felt joy. What were you doing, who were you with? How does joy feel in your body? Write all this down. Get curious and start uncovering what brings joy to your life.

When you think about times or situations that brought you joy, was there any accompanying shame or guilt? Did you feel bad for having a great day while your best friend or partner had an what felt like their worst day? Maybe joy wasn’t openly celebrated in your house, sit with those feelings too. It may be the start to some answers as to why more joy might be missing in your life.

If you are finally starting to see the picture of what joy means to you take shape, now is the fun part. Start making a list of the activities, people, food, whatever that brings you joy. This list will come in handy when you inevitably have one of those days where the world looks gray.

Listen to the podcast for more!

Please rate and review the podcast so that more people can find it! Please share with those who might need more joy in their lives right now.

Photo by: Noah Silliman on Unsplash

Why challenge is not the enemy.

It’s that sweet feeling of the covers pulled up tightly to your neck. You are warm and cozy and in that wonderful haze between awake and asleep. No alarm clock to wake you up, no to-do list begging for attention, just you, the bed and all the time you need to wake up. That’s how I like to envision my comfort zone. The space I feel safe. The space I feel protected. The space that keeps me small. Comfort zones are just our egos way of keeping us safe. It’s our brain using past patterns and information to guide decisions. Its only job is safety, but are we using that as an excuse to avoid growth? Challenge can have an almost negative feeling to it. Many of the dictionary definitions include words like battle, contest, strength. For me, I hear that and the story I start to tell about challenge is that I don’t have the skills or the strength to handle this. Ahh, the stories we tell ourselves about what we can or can’t do. What story have you crafted about how you face challenges? Do you hide in your comfort zone, content being comfortable? New podcast episode all about Challenge vs Comfort is live. In it I discuss how using the stories we tell are holding us back and how to change that. I challenge you to find ways to celebrate yourself and all that you have overcome.

Please subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and more! Please rate and review to help more people find me! And share! If you know of someone who might enjoy the podcast please share and tag me!👇🏼

Do you dream big?

I was asked recently how it felt to dream boldly. Well apparently I feel a lot.

Now by a lot, I don’t mean a whole bunch of emotions. In this instance it’s probably best to clarify that there is depth to my feelings. I don’t typically let myself dive too deep because well that’s uncomfortable, but this is my summer of healing, so I don’t get to ignore the feelings this time.

Talking about dreams is a sure fire way for me to head straight into Impostor Syndrome. There is a whole lot of “Who am I to dream this.” “Well it’s not what xx thinks I should focus on…” I ‘should’ be dreaming/thinking/working xx.” My ego loves when this happens because it is the best way to get me to back off and retreat back to the safety of what I already know.

Dreaming big has always felt out of my league, something reserved for true entrepreneurs, scary. I don’t have any real proof that I can accomplish these dreams so maybe I should aim lower and be more realistic.

Then I had my coach point something out. She noticed that my dreams and imagination weren’t really about MY personal joy and freedom. My dreams were still firmly wrapped in the judgment and expectations of others.

Well of course they are! I have spent my life trying to fit into just the right box so that I am liked, loved and wanted. I needed the validation of others because I don’t trust myself fully, so how can I validate me. I have not made my dreams personal enough. I have not made it all about me in a way that is beyond the surface and gets to what my heart really wants. If everything is still filtered through what so and so is going to say/think/do, then the dreams will never be my own. And if they aren’t mine, then I will never fight and work for them to become a reality.

What does it feel like when you dream big, dream bold, dream without restrictions? Do you feel any resistance in your body? What stories are you telling about why you are or aren’t allowed to have those dreams?

There is so much more to say on this and luckily soon I will have the platform to discuss this and even more great topics. It will be like having drinks with your life coach!😉

My podcast BYOB (Be Your Own Bliss) is launching July 28th! Join me as I talk about my process to finding more joy and freedom in my life. Each episode will have real action steps so that you too can find your bliss. More details are coming, so stay tuned!!

Hello and Welcome!

Authentic Victories is the only wellness community that allows women to live more
freely outside of the “shoulds” and create health on their terms.
I serve professional women who are high achieving and who may take little time for themselves.
These women are looking for a different approach with no boundaries to where they are physically located.
They desire a feeling of peace, satisfaction and acceptance in an era of being bombarded by “ideal bodies” and diet culture.

Authentic Victories

Only-ness Statement

I made some spiffy new upgrades around here so I figured it was time to reintroduce myself.

About 4 years ago, my sister and I were sitting in a coffee shop talking. I knew that I wanted to be a coach, and I knew I wanted my business and services to be accessible and inclusive. I knew it would be online, but more than that, I had no idea where this would lead.

I didn’t realize it was the first baby steps to creating a community and a safe space to help women unlearn the body hatred, the expectations, and even the limitations they had on how and what healthy is.

A huge part of my vision is the accessibility piece. Jobs, child care, parent/relative care, intimidation of the gym, (you name it I have probably heard it), there are a lot of reasons why someone can’t or won’t go to a traditional gym. I understand that! It’s that feeling of having to get in shape before you are allowed to even step foot into the gym.

Most of us have spent untold years longing to look a certain way. I know you just immediately pictured an “ideal” body. It’s hard to give up that dream. It feels hard wired to our very being. The thought of just living and loving ourselves, just as we are, feels like we have given up.

Well I am here to deliver a bit of good news. It’s not! Breaking free from restrictive diets, punishing workouts, and ditching that continuous talk of self doubt in your head is maybe the dream you didn’t know you had.

I have spent the last 20 years trying and failing just about every diet imaginable. The weirder and more outlandish the claims the better. If it wasn’t going to instantly fix me then I wasn’t interested.

I finally thought I found something that worked. I was eating really “good”, in the gym nearly everyday (sometimes twice a day) and I saw my body changing. I thought I was finally on my way to my dream body and therefore my dream life.

What happened was what always happens when we grip so tightly to control everything around us. The band snaps. I found myself living for my cheat day, which then turned into cheat weekends, etc. Workouts were to make up for my slips in eating. Nothing about what I was doing felt enjoyable. The body I looked at in the mirror, the one I thought I always wanted, the one I believed that once I had, would bring me my dream life, was an illusion. There was always going to be more weight I thought I needed to lose, toned arms, a firmer butt, flatter abs. I was finally starting to see that the “ideal” wasn’t what my unique body was designed for.

I dug into Intuitive Eating and Movement. Started to confront the deeply held beliefs I had about which bodies are worthy of being celebrated (hint it’s all bodies). I started the journey to finding acceptance for my body, appreciating all it does, and working to have more days where maybe I don’t love myself but I am not actively hating myself.

The core of who I help and why has not changed. I am here to help women live their best lives. If anything, my focus has gotten sharper. I am clearer on my ultimate end goal. Helping women like you, like me find body neutrality, body acceptance and body positivity. To create a vision of health that is free from diets, movement that IS fun, to stop avoiding mirrors because you just can’t bear to look. I want you to love the skin you’re in, today.

As I started down this new path I knew I needed a visual that represents all that I want Authentic Victories and myself to strive for. I am and always will be heart centered and heart driven. I care, I care a lot. What once I saw as my biggest weakness, is what makes me such an amazing coach. We need to return to our hearts and find that place of love.

The health goals I made for myself out of love are now the ones I stick to most easily. They are the habits I am excited for because I am in tune and connected to my true self. What I do is for my highest good so that I can serve others, not because some magazine told me that my value was only in looking a certain way.

I am a guide, I can give you the map and hold the flashlight, but ultimately the hard work is yours to do. Speaking from experience, it is sooo worth it. You have chosen a path that leads to freedom. You are choosing to be heard and seen and be unapologetically you. I am here for all of it!

Let me be the first to welcome you to the start of the most amazing journey of your life! Welcome to the club!

When it just feels easier to pull the blanket over our head and hide…

It can be very easy for me to get overwhelmed. I am an internal processor. I like to take my time and think and sit with information. Sometimes that’s helpful, sometimes that just leads to analysis paralysis. It feels like I don’t know how to make the “right” decision.

Anybody else have a tendency to do that? Oh good, I was worried I was alone in that.😉

I talked in a previous post about what I did when big life events threw me for a loop, but sometimes what derails us isn’t something we would necessarily categorize as big. How do we keep moving forward when it seems that life has us down?

Last week was like that for me. I started the week tired and worn out, ended up sick, had something really positive happen and yet by Thursday felt like hiding from the world.

I had a big presentation for my business and I was worried it wouldn’t go well, I would forget everything I wanted to say, people wouldn’t understand my vision. Well it was fine, better than fine actually, but it left me feeling depleted and my energy was lagging.

When I am tired I can get a bit of a f@&k it attitude. I can lose sight of the big picture and to practice a bit of patience. I did not schedule enough me time last week, and it definitely showed.

I scheduled my week based on what I thought I “should” be doing, not on what was energetically aligned for me. I am slowly starting to learn this lesson. Here is another plug for self care.

So in reviewing my past week, I found 3 practices I should’ve made part of my weekly plan (instead of adding them last minute).

Be honest about the amount of socializing/networking I want to do. Networking is an important part of my business. Socializing is good for my personal growth. Both can exhaust me if not done with intention. Big groups are scary to me. There is too much going on and I never know who to talk to, where to go, or how to leave. Same with socializing. I will always prefer small and intimate to big. I can’t avoid all big socializing activities, but I can find balance by having coffee with a friend, game night with a few people, or my favorite Netflix show and snuggles on the couch with my pup.
Make daily meditation a priority. For me meditation is my chance to go inward and be still. For you maybe it’s prayer or some devotional time, however it looks like for you, finding some quiet time to breathe and just be is important. We are constantly bombarded with noise all day everyday, we need to give our brains a break daily. Meditation is going back on my calendar so that I can’t skip it.
Self Compassion. I found myself getting down on myself for what felt like slacking. In hindsight, what I should have been saying to myself is maybe a hard workout is not what you need when you feel sick. Toast for 2 meals in a row is okay when that is the only thing that even remotely sounds appealing to eat. It is okay to go to bed at 8:30 because we need our rest to feel better. I eventually got to that place, but I am working to make compassion my default response. Because just push through can often do us more harm than good.

What also helps is finding something to look forward to. A new movie you’re anxious to see, time outdoors (Spring, hurry up and get here!), or time with the special people in your life.

My dad got to come visit last weekend and we had so much fun getting outside with my niece Olivia, enjoying some good food together, and just talking and laughing. It was rejuvenating to get to connect with my family.

This is not about always having to pull yourself up by the boot straps and put on a brave face. You are allowed to crumble and fall apart and want to throw up your hands and quit, but I hope you have strategies in place to get yourself out of your funk or hopefully you have people to support you as you pick yourself up and get back to being the amazing person you are.

If you don’t have those people yet, I am just a DM or email away. Find your people, and love them hard, for they will be your light when it seems dark.

How are you judging success on your health journey?

Anything that compromises your mental stability in the pursuit of health isn't healthy.

Haley Goodrich

It is so easy to hop on the scale or grab the tape measure and see in an instant whether or not all the new healthy choices we have implemented have brought success.

It can also be equally disheartening to do the exact same thing and not see the results we were hoping for (especially if we feel like we have been “perfect”).

You almost start to feel like the only way you are successful at any health endeavor is by how much weight you have lost or by some dramatic physical transformation. Only once we have achieved those goals can we celebrate. We are told to treat ourselves to a spa day, new clothes, anything that is not food (so as not to undo all the hard work we have already done).

I say all of this from experience. I rewarded myself with everything but what I really wanted, which was probably a cupcake, because that one treat was a slippery slope and I couldn’t be trusted to not completely ruin all my hard work.

Treating every food and workout decision as the life or death of my ideal body dreams was exhausting. I was afraid to eat and afraid to not workout. There was so much disorder in my habits.

What changed was me confronting the real fear, which was of me getting fat. Fat is not desirable to most people. I feel like it would be right at home in most people’s top fears, along with death and public speaking. People in larger bodies are not treated well in our society and it’s a shame. A shame we can’t see past our own biases and see the people.

When I went on this journey to reconnect to my body and myself, I knew I would need different criteria to measure my success. My new journey was about freedom and that is kinda hard to measure definitively. What I did was to list what about my new journey was I hoping to heal. If I knew what I did want, I should be able to see if I was making progress in a better direction for myself.

Food: This is a big one for me. I basically never kept any “bad” food in my house because I couldn’t be trusted to not eat it all. I didn’t see the correlation between my severe restriction and binge eating in response to that, I just thought I lacked willpower. My biggest NSV (Non-Scale Victory) was actually forgetting to eat a cupcake one night because I was comfortably full after dinner. It was ordering the sandwich when I went out to lunch because I knew it would fill me up because dinner was going to be late that night. It was truly feeling the freedom in knowing that no food was off limits to me. When I am free to have it, the desire to eat it all in one sitting is gone.
Movement: This is an area that I still struggle with. I knew food was the battle I needed to fight first and now that I am making progress with that, I am free to focus on moving with intention. I am discovering that I do really enjoy working out. I have found a program that I like, it involves weights (which I love) and there is some structure, but ultimately I have control of what I am doing each session. I love being excited to move and treat my body well.
Mindset: I feel like this might be an overlooked part of any health journey. Our mind will tell us to quit long before our body is ready to. This is not the no pain, no gain mentality. That is dangerous in it’s own way. This is about mentally getting ourselves out of those negative thoughts and learning to reframe them into something more supportive. For me it has been the calm that a regular meditation practice has brought me. The quiet time to focus on my breathing and let my mind be still has strengthened me. I am more resilient after those bad body days.

It’s all about re-defining success. I wanted more freedom from worrying about food and how my body looks. I am getting there. We do not give ourselves enough credit for the little wins we have each day. I am celebrating all of my hard work and I encourage you to do that too. Don’t wait for the big achievements only. Find something each day you can celebrate, I do. And yes, sometimes that celebration involves a cupcake.

If you are looking for more help in re-defining what healthy is for you, let’s talk. My work is to help be that guide to get you to a life you love and help you celebrate all the wins!

It’s about to get real “woo-woo” in here.

Intuition is real. Vibes are real.
Energy doesn't lie. Tune in.

Unknown

I have been a little hesitant to write this post. Mostly because I just don’t know where to start. I can’t remember exactly when or how I became fascinated by things of a spiritual and mystical nature, I just found myself meeting people with new and different ideas and started exploring more.

In college, I studied abroad and my host mom gave me an angel necklace. It’s job was to watch over me and keep me safe. It became a touchstone for me. Every time I needed that boost of confidence, that feeling of safety, the reminder I wasn’t alone I would touch the angel and remember someone was watching over me.

Then I had a long spell of just trying to figure this whole adulting thing, so I wasn’t as focused on my spiritual side. Once I was ready my next spiritual lessons came from my leaders at my yoga teacher training. Most yoga teacher trainings include some discussion about the history and philosophy of yoga. The Yamas and Niyama, the Sutras, the Chakras are all fascinating to me. It was also at these trainings that I started to meet people with varied spiritual practices and my interest was renewed.

I started studying about the Law of Attraction, manifestation, meditation, visualization, anything I could get my hands on in this new (to me) metaphysical realm. I started to look at crystals, using malas, and EFT tapping to help me heal and process.

I’ll be honest, I don’t fully understand how these things work, I just know that for me, they did. I knew my thoughts and my energy needed to change. If I was going to be my best me, find the success I want, I, at my cellular level, needed to change.

There are 3 things that I have incorporated into my life that have brought me the most change and comfort. This is just my experience and there are certainly many options out there, so keep searching until you find what’s right for you. I picked these 3 because, they are accessible, not too “out-there”, and I think you can get the most bang for your buck from these practices.

Meditation: Incorporating a daily meditation practice has brought a sense of peace, focus and clarity in my life. I honestly didn’t know that I could sit still for as long as I do or get my brain to relax from it’s constant chatter. When I feel stuck on what to do next, I turn to meditation. When I let my mind relax (stop forcing the inspiration), that’s when the answer finds me. For the meditation novice, start small, like 5 minutes. Just taking 5 minutes to close your eyes, focus on some deep breaths and let go of the tension in your body is the perfect first step. Like to walk in nature? Guess what, you’re meditating. Forget the idea that mediation is only sitting in an uncomfortable position, chanting, and finding your zen. Meditation can be whatever allows you to find time to slow down, re-focus, and breathe.
Sound Therapy: This can take many different forms. Maybe playing an instrument brings you a sense of calm and peace. Singing in a choir, a band, or by yourself in the car releases those feel good hormones and helps you find your center. I love Tibetan and Crystal singing bowl meditations. If you have never experienced feeling your body awash in the vibrations of the bowls, I encourage you to seek it out. It is truly a transformational experience. It’s like it shakes loose all the energy in your body and you feel relaxed, renewed, and recharged.
Positive Affirmations: Sometimes we need a reminder that we are unique and amazing, especially when it may not feel like it. I have a deck of affirmations and when I feel down, need something to focus on when I meditate or just need inspiration, I pull a card from the deck and make it my phone screen. I need to see it, like constantly see it and have it be a reminder that while things may feel dark now, it will get better. There are plenty of affirmation cards, calendars, etc around so find one that speaks to you and use the cards to help you find some light if things feel dark. Or maybe you just need something to keep those positive vibes flowing, find an affirmation card and be the reason someone smiles today.

I know that this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to woo-woo side of life. I myself am still just slowly starting to explore more. I just had an amazing trip to a crystal shop and will be exploring the power of crystals more. I have been doing energy meditations and clearing, so this is not the last I have to say on this topic.😊

Really this is all about you finding what brings joy to you. It is so important to sneak in those little moments that fill you up so that you can be the best not for your family, friends and work, but be the best you for you. Remember, you deserve to take care of yourself.

How to handle days when your reflection lies.

apologize to your body.
maybe
that's where the healing begins.

- starting

Nayyirah Waheed

Who has happened across old pictures of themselves and cringed. Not just about a hideous haircut (because we should all have at least one of those in our past, builds character), but where you just can’t believe how you looked.

I have a very specific picture in mind. My mind goes straight to how fat I thought I was. It was a family trip to Hawaii. I looked at the picture and thought “Oh My God, look at me!” When I tap into how I was feeling at that time, I didn’t feel fat. I remember being so excited to watch the ocean from my hotel balcony. The feeling of the warm sun as I rocked in a hammock. Of laughing with my family as we enjoyed being in this gorgeous, amazing place.

But gratitude for a body that let me walk, explore and relax was not my first reaction. My guess is gratitude and appreciation for your body probably aren’t your first reactions either.

Body shame is a heavy topic to unpack. It doesn’t discriminate. You see it all the time, celebrities (usually female) talking about how every photo/outfit/moment seems to be photographed and offered up to the masses to pick apart. There is really no way for any of us to win. Too curvy, why aren’t you dieting. Too thin, just eat something already. You can be sure there is an ideal body we all are supposed to have, too bad the goal we are intended to reach keeps changing.

This topic has been on my heart lately because as I am doing the work to heal and unpack my own feelings about my body, I see and hear those around me struggling with this too. I do sometimes wish there was a magic answer. I wish this change was easy, and there would be a point at which I am done and won’t ever have to deal with this again. There are days I am done with this journey, it is frustrating, exhausting and sometimes cruel.

However, on the other side of those days is a freedom that comes with letting go of my thoughts of what a perfect body looks like. Even at my thinnest, I still saw only flaws with my body. So why continue punishing myself for never being perfect enough? That’s a tough question and someday I hope that it’s a question I don’t have to keep answering for myself.

My fear tells me women will see my new stretched and marked body and say,
"Yes! Start the conversation! We need to see more of this!"
But their eyes will say, "Thank God that's not mine."

@thehonestShruth

What helped me start to unpack and confront my own body shaming was the content I was consuming. It can be hard, especially online, to find people who are interested in changing the conversation. The health and fitness world is notorious for shaming people and as a part of that community I wanted to change the conversation to be more inclusive. You can’t shame and bully someone into health and who am I to say what’s healthy for you. My job is to be the support, the mirror, the guide to get you to your best self. However you want that to look like.

Below are 2 books that just blew my mind when I was ready to start the reframing how I viewed and spoke about my body.

🌟 Body Positive Power by Megan Jayne Crabbe

🌟 The Body is Not an Apology by Sonya Renee Taylor

Now books are great but sometimes you need real action steps when you find yourself having one of those days. I love @thebodylovesociety on Instagram. I am slowly weeding out accounts that don’t make me feel good about myself, but this account stays because they have such supportive content.

Let me know how I can support you to take the steps toward loving yourself more. Let’s create a community that supports and encourages each other. The dialogue needs to change, let’s do that together.

Are YOU the one you’ve been waiting for?

If you have the ability to love, love yourself first.

~Charles Bukowski

I can remember very vividly looking at myself in the mirror and telling myself that as soon as my stomach was flat, my arms were toned and my butt perfect I would finally be love-able.

I didn’t use those words, but the sentiment was “look perfect = deserving of love”. Magazines, movies and the internet wouldn’t lie to me.

It’s a very seductive trap to fall into, the promise of the fairy tale. All I have to do is not break the rules. And boy were there rules.

Rule #1: If it has more than 7 ingredients or has ingredients you can’t pronounce, put it back.

Rule #2: Is sugar listed in the ingredients? Nope, don’t eat it.

Rule #3: Did I workout today? Better think twice about that small treat, you didn’t earn it.

I think you guys get where this is going. I followed my rules. I ate clean, I worked out, I got pretty close to what I thought was my ideal body and I was ready to be handed my dream life and…nothing.

Nothing really changed. I was still the same, kind, smart and funny person I always was just in a slightly smaller body. It wasn’t my physical appearance that needed to change, it was my mindset.

So, in maybe a bit of a rash decision I quit everything. If I wanted bread I had it. Feeling like a bit of ice cream after dinner on a Wednesday, yup had it. And yes I did swing all the way over to the other side. Did I go a bit overboard? Maybe. I had spent most of my life with a tight control over what I thought I was allowed to eat and once those reins were loosened, all bets were off (this behavior isn’t uncommon when coming out of diet culture, it can take a while to find your equilibrium).

I am starting to find my happy middle ground with food and exercise, but what was really challenging was flipping how I talked to and about myself when I looked in the mirror. When I got brutally honest about how my body has changed and will continue to change, I realized I was not treating this sacred vessel the way I should.

All this work led to an epiphany on my life’s work. I love helping women get healthy, but what I love more is helping you heal yourself. Helping you find peace with food, and learn to enjoy it again. To look at your body and yes, maybe want some things to change, but also knowing that being a size 2 does not diminish your power, beauty and sex appeal. We can be healthy and strong and fit and it may not look like the “ideal.”

This process has allowed me to fall in love with myself. My relationship with myself is the longest one I will have, I am done fighting. I am done waiting for validation from others. I buy myself the flowers, I take myself on dates, I love myself fiercely so that when someone is worthy of me, they will know how I deserved to be loved.

My dears, you deserve to love yourselves just as wholly.

If you can breathe, you can do yoga

Yoga begins right where I am, not where I was yesterday or where I long to be.

Linda Sparrowe

If you have ever been to one of my yoga classes, you have probably heard me say something like the quote above. In my 200hr training through YogaFit we practice transformational language. The goal, to create a nurturing and supportive environment for everyone in class. So I usually try to incorporate, listening to our bodies, letting go of competition, judgment and expectations into my class intro to give people permission to be kind to themselves and create the practice they need.

Just because yoga has this image of zen and peacefulness, does not mean that everyone walking into class has that mindset. Usually there is a lot of fear, criticism and judgment about what a yoga practice should be.

Alright, who has said:

I have said all 3 of those statements at one time or another. What I discovered is that there is such a vast variety of yoga that with a little looking and curiosity, you can find a style of yoga that you can benefit from.

Asana (yoga poses) are really only a tiny part of a yoga practice. There is a much lengthier post I could write about that, but not today.😉

Today my purpose is to show you that there is a way to incorporate yoga into your life no matter where you are on your fitness journey or in life. I am highlighting 3 poses that I love and that I return to time and again.

*Side note: These are videos I did about 2 years ago, and I honestly struggle with how different my body looks now to how it looked then. There is always a split second where I see old video/photos and I automatically think “Dang I need to get back on a diet.”, but that is diet culture telling me that I am worthy only when I have a smaller body. When I really reflect on that time in my life, and if I am honest with myself I wasn’t really happy. Just a reminder that you don’t always have to live in a place of body love and acceptance. It will always be a process, be gentle with yourself. ❤️

Child’s Pose

I LOVE child’s pose. This is an instant stress relief pose for me. It does wonders to stretch the back, arms and legs. It also allows you to block out the world for a bit and focus on your breath.

Triangle Pose

This is just an ideal stretch for me. I love how there are so many variations so that I can tailor the pose to how I need to move my body on a given day.

Hip Flow

Okay, so this is a bit different in that this is a mini-practice that focuses on your hips. I am usually pretty tight in my hips and I compiled my favorite hip stretches in this quick video. Do all 3 or pick your favorite, and take 5 minutes, focus on your breath and stretch. Trust me, your body will thank you.

So, there you go, 3 ways that if you can breathe you can do yoga. I love answering yoga questions so email me or message me and let me know how I can support you in your yoga journey!

If you have the ability to love, love yourself first. ~Charles Bukowski

Child’s Pose

Triangle Pose

Hip Flow

If you have the ability to love, love yourself first.

~Charles Bukowski