Stiff Neck Frustration

This is what my neck has felt like all day, heavy!
Go away negative thoughts zebra!

As I type here right now, I may as well have one of those huge white neck braces on because I can barely turn my head.  I woke up with a MAJOR stiff neck.  I can easily turn to the left, but forget about turning to the right.  I have to move with my whole body or only turn my eyes towards the right.

Yea, you're reading this right - the limber yoga teacher who stretches, does pranayama and works out each day has a stiff neck.  But, how the heck could that be?  Let me enlighten you...

Last night as I got into bed I was restless after a loooong day at the office.  At the office, even though I'm the wellness director, much of my day is spent behind a desk, staring lazily at my glowing computer screen, typing away while remaining sedentary.  I'm flooded with things to do (aren't we all) and hop from one thing to the next.  It can get pretty hectic, so sometimes my shoulders will shrug up towards my ears as I hunch over my keyboard while my leg shakes for minutes/hours out of nerves.  My commute is a little over an hour and a half (just one way) so I'm in the car for at least 3 hours each day driving on some of the most populated highways in the tri-state area.  Anyway, last night was a beautiful summer night and I'm lying in bed with both windows cracked open to the sound of the crickets.  On any normal night this would lull me right off to a wonderful night's sleep.  However, for some reason my mind was filled with NEGATIVE thoughts.  I was feeling stress in my chest area, couldn't seem to relax my body and certainly couldn't slow down my thoughts.  I try taking some deep breaths...not working.  I catch myself creating these stories in my head about the day...things I didn't do, things I shouldn't have said, blah blah blah.  Finally after tossing and turning, I fall asleep and have a long night of that kind of half-awake state but deep dreaming.  The content of my dreams were uncomfortable.  The alarm goes off at 4:45am and I awake feeling like I didn't sleep at all.  I sit up and immediately grab my neck/shoulders and feel the shooting pain.  I must have slept on it wrong, I thought.

Then I got to thinking.

I didn't sleep on it wrong...last night my mind was consumed by negativity which paraded through the rest of my body creating stiffness, inflammation and stress!!!!  This is the perfect example of what you think, you become.  Well while drifting off to sleep last night my thinking was off in a totally dark direction and my body became a nervous, tension-filled wreck!  

Moral of the story:  Your body hears your thoughts.  It hears exactly what you're saying to yourself and the tone you're saying it in.  Tonight I'll go to bed consciously changing the tone of my (inner) voice. I'll speak only sweet, soft thoughts, while inviting every muscle in my body to relax.
Now, doesn't that sound pleasant compared to last night's rest?!

This blog post was originally posted on Live. Breathe. Grow.'s blog. I'm an Inspiration Nation blogger for them, and so proud of it!

"Releasing" Weight

New mantra: I release my weight, 
I release my weight...

We can't pick up a magazine or even get through an hour of news on TV without something being said about WEIGHT LOSS.  I am eager to read the new book by Deb Cheslow and Angie Flynn, Release: The Simple Success Solution for Real and Permanent Weight Loss.  It goes into depth about how the achievement of our goals depends on the state of our self-image.  In other words, you can force it all you want but the self-image always wins. Self-sabotage is rooted in the incongruency between the self-image and our goals.  I totally love the concept that they introduce about the actual words, weight loss.  

Think about this:  When you lose something, what is your first reaction?  To FIND it!  So all this talk about weight LOSS is actually counterproductive.  All of our thoughts and the way that we think directly impact the way we live.  If we say to ourselves "I'm going to lose weight" maybe we will, but we'll most likely put it back on because after we've lost it, our body will actually search for ways to put the weight back on!  Make sense?  I thought so.

TRY THIS:  Think about the word R E L E A S E.  Ahhhh.  I often use this word while I'm teaching yoga classes because of how lovely the word is and how positively liberating it feels.  Take a moment right now.  Sit up tall and begin to deepen your breathe.  Inhale deeply and as you exhale silently say to yourself, "RELEASE."  Do this slowly, for a good 3-5 breaths...

How does that feel?  Good, right?!  You may feel more relaxed or even lighter.  You've just let go of something through the powerful use of that word, RELEASE!

Now every time I catch my mind saying, "I'm going to lose weight this bikini season" I quickly change the thought to "I release weight to look slammin' in my bikini this summer!"  I confidently repeat it a few more times with a smile on my face and instantly feel awesome!  I also replace any negative thoughts about my body image with a few positive ones (but that's a whole other blog post in and of itself!).  I encourage you to give it a try sometime.

Check out their book, Release, when you have a chance and give yourself some love today!!

This blog post was originally posted on Live. Breathe. Grow.'s blog. I'm an Inspiration Nation blogger for them, and so proud of it!

Spring Cleaning: Out with the old, in with the new!

Every spring we all get that itch (well, at least I do) to clean up our space, go through our closets and toss what we no longer need. I get this bug baaaad every year around this time, but I love it! There is such a sense of pleasure for me to get rid of things that I haven't been using, expired food that is just taking up space in my kitchen, clothes that I haven't been wearing, etc. I get a thrill from the extra space that it creates and enjoy the feeling of "lightness" it brings! 

 I follow a few rules of Feng Shui and create 3 different piles while sorting through my closets/drawers/belongings:
1. things to definitely keep.
2. things to definitely throw away (or give away!)
3. an undecided pile to think about, and/or see if you use within the next 6 months (then purge if not!)

 Then I follow my purging with a quick wipe down of the area with a dampened rag with a little vinegar/water.

The beau, also known as Lammer, is preparing his house to be listed within the next few months. So, my strong desire to purge and clean has been rubbing off on him. This past weekend as we enjoyed the lovely Memorial Day weather we turned up the reggae and buzzed around the house cleaning, sorting, planting, washing, reorganizing, disposing, etc. Gosh, did it feel good!

Later in the afternoon I saw him roll out his ex-girlfriend's pretty pink Cadillac bike that's just been collecting dust in his basement (all while driving me NUTS each and every time I do laundry down there). "Ex-girlfriend's bike, fifty bucks, gotta go! How does that sound?!" he said to me as he was writing up a sign for it. "Love it!" I replied, super excited to get that old thing out of our lives! Within 5 minutes someone was knocking on the door with cash in their hand for the bike, but requested that it came along with the sign since it was so funny! Now someone else can enjoy the pretty pink bike without any of the baggage that it brought the two of us. Feng Shui at it's best!!

Happy spring cleaning to all!

This blog post was originally posted on Live. Breathe. Grow.'s blog. I'm an Inspiration Nation blogger for them, and so proud of it!