Inspiration

Crystal Grid for Love

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I love spending time every month setting an intention and creating a crystal grid to reflect that intention. I have my grid in a center location in my home so that each time I walk by it I see not only its beauty but I am reminded of the intention. 

This particular grid is for bringing the emotion of love into the space and everyone who lives in the space. This can be self-love, love for others, and everything in between. Unconditional love is such a beautiful feeling to experience and the stones chosen in the grid are perfect for that! 

Crystal Grid for Love

Rose Quartz is the center stone in my grid and it is the stone of universal love. It restores trust and harmony in relationships, encouraging unconditional love. Rose Quartz purifies and opens the heart at all levels to promote love, self-love, friendship, deep inner healing and feelings of peace. 

The next stone is Amethyst. Amethyst is one of the most famous and prominent crystals because of its beautiful purple coloration as well as its spiritual and literal meaning. The spiritual meaning of Amethyst is groundedness, tranquility, and calm. The literal meaning of Amethyst is “not intoxicated” – its name translates from the Greek word améthystos. To be tranquil and calm is a great way to invite in love. Amethyst is used often in dealing with addictions…and that can be of any type. I like to use amethyst when working with love because it helps to ward of the patterns that we can slip into that do not promote self love. 

The next layer out is alternating green aventurine and clear quartz. Green aventurine  comforts, harmonizes, protects the heart, and can help attract love in life. It is one of the premier stones to attract luck, abundance and success and lots of LOVE. The meaning is also linked with the heart plexus chakra, which makes it a powerful gem for calming negative emotions that often gets stuck in the heart center.

The Clear Quartz crystal meaning is known for its high vibrations. By clearing your mind, body, and spirit of any clutter, clear quartz can help you align with your highest self and live at your highest potential.  Clear Quartz is known as the “master healer” and will amplify energy and thought, as well as the effect of other crystals.  It absorbs, stores, releases and regulates energy.  Clear Quartz draws off negative energy of all kinds and is perfect for promoting love.

The final layer is alternating more rose quartz and clear quartz points aiming outward..

This brings all the goodness and energy of each of the other stones and energetically sends it outward. 

Words Have Power

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The words we speak are so powerful.

Not only can our sharp tongue be hurtful to others but also the words we choose can have an effect on how life unfolds for us. Remember, the two most powerful words we say are “I AM”, and whatever you say after that you’re welcoming in. Also, choosing certain words can have a subconscious effect to our minds and then our outcomes.

Many years ago when I was struggling to shed some weight, someone told me to stop saying “lose” (I want to lose 10 pounds), because our subconscious mind hears the word “lose” and that indicates we must go find it again. Swap out “lose” with “letting go” and the mind hears it as a finality rather than a go find. Cool, huh?

Another wise person taught me a powerful lesson that I still try to catch myself practicing. When I was struggling with hip pain between surgery two and three, I would often say “I am dying of pain…or my hip is killing me”. This beautiful man who had suffered two horrific brain injuries spoke quietly and said “Ms. Stacie why don’t you say instead ‘my hip is reminding me that I am alive’”. Boom!

Words are so powerful. Be mindful of how you speak them.

Unconditional Love

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This blend works so beautifully to tap into the space of unconditional love. Apply to the heart, the wrists or along the spine to bring out all the good feelings.

Unconditional Love Blend

  • Rose: Opens the heart chakra and allows you to feel unconditional love. Creates a sense of well-being and calmness while awakening your ability for self-compassion, nurturing, and love.
  • Lemon: Opens the heart chakra to self-love and self-nurturing. lightens while uplifting your spirit and bringing clarity into your life.
  • Neroli: A natural tranquilizer and regulator of the nervous system that opens the heart chakra, uplifts your spirit, and encourages confidence, joy, and peace.
  • Marjoram: Restores warmth, self-compassion, and self-nurturing when feeling lonely or isolated.
  • Lavender: Helps you to relax, let go of the stress, and release fear, which fosters connect with the heart center and opens you up to more love.
  • Jasmine: Uplifting and joyous oil that balances the emotional system, soothes anxiety, and helps with depression and apathy.
  • Geranium: This emotional healing oil restores confidence and trust in others. It can help to heal a broken heart and open one up to love.
  • Ylang Ylang: This is a powerful remedy for the heart and releasing trauma from the past. This oil helps to release bottled up emotions that weigh heavy on the heart which allows for a more playful, carefree, emotionally connected and loving experience of life.
  • Tranquility Blend: Encourages individuals to first reconnect with themselves and discover peace that lies within, and then to reconnect with the humanity in others. This brings a calm, tranquil, peaceful, relaxed, compassionate and connection person.
  • Rose quartz: Rose Quartz is the stone of universal love. It restores trust and harmony in relationships, encouraging unconditional love. Rose Quartz purifies and opens the heart at all levels to promote love, self-love, friendship, deep inner healing and feelings of peace. Calming and reassuring, it helps to comfort in times of grief. Rose Quartz dispels negativity

Grab yours here!

Essential Oils and the Brain

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Do you ever wonder what people mean when they say “aromatic benefits”??

Your sense of smell is much more accurate than any of your other senses.

Your ability to smell comes from sensory cells called Olfactory Sensory Neurons, found in a small patch of tissue very high in your nose. Those cells connect to your brain.

Each of those sensory neurons has one odor receptor – and molecules released by substances around us stimulate these receptors. Once your neurons detect your molecules, they send messages to your limbic lobe of your brain.

Our sense of smell is 10,000 more sensitive than our other senses.

Scent travels faster to the brain with smell than it does with sight, or even sound.

The limbic lobe is a group of brain structures that is below the cortex of the brain – it includes the amygdala and the hippocampus. Your limbic lobe (system of brain structures) is directly connected to the parts of your brain that control many aspects of your body – hormone levels, stress, memory, breathing, heart rate, and more.

The only way to stimulate the emotional brain is through your sense of smell – which is one of the reasons why Essential Oils can work so incredibly well. Feelings of depression, fear, anger, happiness, joy and even anxiety all originate from the limbic lobe of the brain.

Essential Oils can help alleviate symptoms at a cellular level through their therapeutic properties. The stimulation of hormones and chemicals can drastically affect physiology and behavior.

Essential Oils responses are varied. They be stimulating (Peppermint), or calming (Lavender). Some are sedative (Cedarwood) and some balancing (Frankincense).

My Top Five for Emotions:

  • Roman Chamomile: Helps support feelings of peace, love and acceptance.
  • Cedarwood: Helps support healthy focus and encouragement while also grounding.
  • Lavender: Helps support relaxation and calming. This one also helps with communicating feelings.
  • Bergamot: Uplifting and will help support healthy confidence levels. This one also helping foster self love and self worth.
  • Frankincense: Powerful cleanser of the spirit – grounding and can help during times of negativity.
REFERENCES:

How do Essential Oils Affect our Mind and Our Emotions. Retrieved from http://www.biospiritual-energy-healing.com/essential-oils-affect-our-minds.html

You can learn more about the basics of essential oils here.

The Journey

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I had a wonderful day turning 50 filled with love and goodness. I woke up with a sense of wonder and excitement for this beautiful next season. And the journey continues..

One day you
finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice—
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do—
determined to save
the only life you could save.

Yoga, Essential Oils and Gratitude

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I have been spending a lot of time in recent weeks looking at my business and figuring out what matters the most to me.

Yoga is my heart and soul.

The practice goes far beyond touching your toes. In fact, I won’t focus as much on the physical aspect of the practice as I will on how we actually show up in the world. We use the physical stuff to help us see areas that might offer growth and healing.

Essential oils are a beautiful compliment to the deeper states of awareness that yoga offers.

Plus they are a natural, safe and effective way to treat our mind and body. You can also clean your homes in a non-toxic way. And, they bring people together in a beautiful way. I have met some of my dearest friends through sharing essential oils and helping others see their is a choice to their families well-being.

Gratitude is at the heart of who I am and something I teach other people to practice.

Developing a formal gratitude practice can be an amazing way to transform your life from a place of not enough, to more than enough.

This is my year of refining my business (and myself) and focusing on the areas that bring me the greatest joy. I realize I need to let some things go, and adjust slightly what is proving to work well. You know, take all that is good and sand off the rough edges to make it all great.

Want to be part of something I might offer? I’d love to connect.

Refinement

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Refinement. noun. the process of removing impurities or unwanted elements from a substance, the improvement or clarification of something by the making of small changes.

Each year for the last eighteen years I have chosen a single word. I like to think of the goals, resolutions and dreams that I have and funnel them down into one powerful I AM statement. Then I shave off the I AM and use that word to become the thread it which I plan to weave it into my life.

I intend to refine my business by eliminating the aspects that do not light a fire for me.

I want to teach in ways that I know are in alignment with who I want to be, not the outcome in which I think I want.

I intend to refine my personal life by learning to say yes to me.

I will say no to the things in my life that drain and exhaust me. I also intend to look closely at what I consume and make it even better.

I intend to refine my personal relationships by connecting on a deeper level to those who fuel and feed my soul.

I want to make time for those who give me something powerful to use to better myself. I want have a more refined outlook to my connections and make time for those who are deserving.

Years ago I decided that I did not like the job title of Yoga Teacher. I knew that I was much more than that so I began to refer to myself as the ‘Giver of Goodness”.

This is the year that I will refine that and become the “Giver fo Greatness”.

Release

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I love mindfully crafting essential oil blends together for an emotional purpose. Last month I wanted to offer one that could help facilitate a release of the years emotions. It smells heavenly and as apply it to my hands and take in three full complete breaths, I can feel the tension escape my body.

This RELEASE blend that was offered last month isn’t just for the year end. This is a blend to use anytime life shows up and becomes stuck in your body and heart.

Check out what is included in this RELEASE blend.

  • Thyme empties the soul of negativity, leaves the heart open wide. This oil helps with emotional release.
  • Lemongrass is the oil of cleansing. It helps us let go of toxic energy and negativity. It helps release limiting beliefs. It allows us to move past old trauma and to gain clarity to move forward.
  • Cypress is the oil of motion. Ever feel stuck? Cypress will help you let go of worry and the need for control, and help you have trust in the flow of life. It will help with getting unstuck and moving forward.
  • Peppermint is the oil of a buoyant heart. It is a very invigorating oil to both mind and body. It is an encouraging oil that helps us rediscover the joy of life and being alive!
  • Basil essential oil is helpful in dealing with feelings of anxiety, panic, or apprehension, and has been said to be the oil of “renewal”, both emotionally and spiritually. It provides strength and tranquility to the heart and mind, making it perfect for overwhelm, stress, fatigue, and may even assist a person in their efforts to overcome addiction–which makes it a great choice for overcoming ruminating thoughts and self-sabotaging behaviors that often result from toxic relationships
  • Cedarwood oil is a great oil for times of crisis or sudden change, such as when there is an adjustment in households, jobs, and/or relationships. These events often lead to feeling isolated or knocked off balance. Cedarwood provides feelings of stability and grounding when external circumstances threaten your feelings of stability. It also helps lessen fears that deter your ability to realize your potential.
  • Bergamot helps us transfer love back to ourselves. We can be so fixated on wanting other people to make us happy that we forget we can do that for ourselves. Bergamot is uplifting, has natural anti-depressant properties, and helps us to relax and regain self-confidence again. Bergamot oil helps us in the areas of self-love, self-worth, self-acceptance, self-judgment, and self-loathing. It instills validation within, allowing us to accept our own authenticity, and not spend so much time worrying about the opinions of others.
  • Frankincense. In addition to alleviating and eliminating depression, Frankincense is known as the “Oil of Truth”, revealing deceptiveness and false truths. It invites the individual to let go of lower vibrations, insults, and negativity. This oil helps create new perspectives based on integrity and enlightenment. Frankincense is a powerful cleanser of the spirit. It assists in removing malevolent energies attached to a person, allowing them to open to enlightenment. Addresses the emotions of abandonment and spiritual disconnectedness.
  • Lemon. In addition to its bright aroma, lemon is also a great cleanser and purifier. This is a perfect choice to bring clarity, focus and brightness to the end of the year.
  • Smokey Quartz–The Smoky Quartz crystal is a grounding stone known for its ability to help you move on from difficult or painful experiences. It guides you to a higher state of being, a place where you can let go of the past and welcome in the future.

2020 Year in Review

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Ahhhhh.the final day of 2020. It has been a transformative year for me in so many ways. When I pulled up my #bestnine photos I was happy to see that two of my favorite quotes made the cut.

Mindset IS everything.

Like so many people, my life that I knew came to an abrupt stop March 7th—my studio closed, the gym I taught at closed, the long term care centers and clinics I saw clients in closed, and my daughters adult day programming closed.I needed to generate an income to sustain my life AND meet the needs of my kid. Within 36 hours my entire business went online and I was again navigating meaningful and purposeful activities for my girl to do while at home, and still maintain her social skills, advocating skills and navigating the community.

My mindset HAD to shift, and shift quickly. What once was daunting to me, has now become second nature. I actually like the camera! And the growth I have seen in my daughter these last nine months has solidified my belief that the services in the community need a serious overhaul before I would consider putting her back in a program.

The other quote that popped up inspired me to be open to anything…to allow myself to become what I want by moving through the challenges with grace, hard work and a bunch of faith.The cute little gal in the photos showed up so much because my life changed SO much this year, I was able to spend weekly time with my little mini-me. The special bond that we have developed would not have happened if not for the major changes to my work schedule.

A major ankle surgery and looking forward to the next season of my life inspired me to practice radical self-love. To say no when I needed to, to take extra long bubble baths and be willing to receive help and accept a pace of healing that has been incredibly slow. I recognized the boundaries that were needed to keep my heart in a good space. I learned to let go.

For me, 2020 has been remarkable.

My word for 2020 was REVERENCE—a deep honor and respect for all things and experiences.

I’d say I embraced it beautifully.

Gratitude Practice

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I am a huge believer in a gratitude practice. A real, honest to goodness, emotionally charged gratitude practice.

Even though this has been a tough year, I think we always have something to be grateful for.

Need some help feeling it? Our sense of smell is directly tied to our brain, so a quick sniff can influence how we feel. This gorgeously crafted blend may be just the thing you need. It’s perfect and works wonderfully with your emotions and your brain to bring out a thankful heart.

Gratitude Blend

  • Siberian fir; breaking negative emotional and spiritual patterns
  • Frankincense; raise awareness, shine your bright light
  • Grapefruit; appreciate who you are
  • Wild Orange; abundance and bright future, gladness to the heart
  • Geranium; heart opening, realize security in what you do have
  • Clove; instills power, sense of protection, integrity
  • Amber chips—A fossilized tree resin, amber radiates laughter, vitality, and courage. This stone holds the protective energy of our beloved trees, the guardians of Earth.

Before these sell out, you can grab yours here! If you want to learn more about the basics of using essential oils, enjoy this free ebook.

Supporting Small Business

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When you donate to my yoga classes, buy essential oils from me or hire me to share yoga in your rehabilitation center or with a private client, you are supporting ME in my small business. YOU are helping me sustain my purpose and my livelihood.

I am content with what I have, however, securing a financial future for me and my daughter is why I work tirelessly most days of the week. When you look to buy gifts this year, think about the small businesses in your life and support them. You can buy essential oils anywhere, but if you choose to buy them from me you are supporting me and not the big box chains and you are getting top quality oils that are safe. Choose small this year because really you are choosing to make a difference in someone’s life.

I am a yoga teacher and mindfulness coach. I am a wellness coach. I am a doterra leader and essential oil advocate. I am a mom. I am a CNA to my disabled daughter. I am the voice for others. Thank you for supporting ME this year.

If you’re ready to change your life, perhaps I can help. Check out all my offerings.

Acknowledging the Goodness

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In recent weeks I have been coming up with strategies to ease my aching heart about the obviously very different Thanksgiving celebration that this year will hold. On one hand, I am incredibly grateful for the health and happiness within my family and close friends, but I am also allowing myself to feel the very real disappointment and sadness that is present when I face the grim reality that I won’t be spending this years annual holiday surrounded by food, festivities, and of course, family.

In the big picture I realize that it is just one day. One measly 24-hour period that can easily be made up when this all passes with a bounty of food and connection.

And yet, I also have a strong need to acknowledge the sadness and emptiness that the lack of tradition brings to my heart. There is in fact a hole that is empty of the connection that regardless of how busy our lives are, people come together for one day of family.

I will miss that.

I have given myself a few days to notice the missing parts of the tradition that I love so much. I love the hectic amount of cooking, the matching orange, brown and red table decorations, and even the ridiculous turkey shaped salt and pepper shakers. I love to see my sons interact and jive each other while their sister tries to sheepishly engage. I love to see the history of our lives be woven together again for a few short hours.

Now that I have had my time to feel what I feel, I am ready to rumble with making new traditions. I decided to switch up my classic food items a bit and prepare a few new dishes. After spending some time prepping yesterday I came to the realization that cooking for two is much easier than fourteen, so there is some beauty there. I also realized that my kids are making their own traditions and that is what I always wanted. I had always hoped that they would grow up to truly own their life and create experiences for themselves that nurture their unique spirit.

As the turkey gets put into the oven today, I am reminded of all the good. I have raised two fantastic men, I have a warm ad cozy house, my career fulfills me and I am truly loved. Those are the things that matter. The memories and traditions will be locked into my heart space with fondness, and today I choose to take abundant breaths and soak in the quietude of the day knowing that all is well.