People will drop over $100 per month on lattes and hundreds more on drinking and eating out, yet not want to spend $80 on a gym membership, or hundreds on therapy or a coaching program.
And then they wonder why they don’t feel good or aren’t reaching their goals.
People spend hours scrolling on their phones or watching Netflix and but don’t have enough time to read, meditate or go for a walk.
Your actions show where your priorities are, not your thoughts and ideas.
If you’re having a difficult time making changes to your health, happiness, relationships, business, whatever, take a look at what you’re investing in. Not just with your money, but your energy, time and/or attention.
The more you give to yourself, the more you’ll get back. You deserve to have everything you desire and nobody else is gonna give it to you but YOU.
If you’re worried about the price of getting started, you should see the cost of staying exactly where you are.
We are in the last few months of 2021 and I am offering this package that is worth well over $500 for a deep discount of just $325.
Time is limited to grab this deal.
This bundle also makes an amazing gift. The awesome thing about this program is some of the content is yours to keep and return to over and over.
•Assessment and Personalized Wellness plan ($125.00) •Two private yoga sessions ($80.00) •Two follow up Wellness Sessions ($80.00) •Seven days of Wellness Program to motivate and inspire you ($125.00) •One-hour body work/energy session. ($50.00) •Crystal and Essential Oil Blend based on you primary wellness goal ($22) •Bonus Self-Care Package ($140) •Essential Oil consultation (free)
You are SO worth it.
Just send me a message and we can roll up our sleeves and get busy! I cannot wait to work with YOU!
“Whoever has learned how to listen to trees no longer wants to be a tree. He wants to be nothing except what he is. That is home. That is happiness.” ~ Herman Hesse
If hugging a tree is good for you, imagine what kissing a tree can do?
Seriously, did you know that hugging a tree increases levels of hormone oxytocin? This hormone is responsible for feeling calm and emotional bonding. When hugging a tree, the hormones serotonin and dopamine make you feel happier. Trees give us hope and insight, and courage to persevere – even in the harshest conditions. They also teach us to stay rooted while soaring to great heights. Trees remind us that letting go is a cycle that must happen in order to make space for the next cycle. A tree teaches us that longing for the previous season or competing with the other trees is a silly and wasteful way to spend our days.
For many years I felt I was I told a story that I was too busy to slow down and soak in the moment. I created a life that was minute to minute chaos. Now, I crave stillness and the result of a calm mind. I long for the smell of leaves that have fallen or the sweet whisper of a breeze along my face. I chose to walk away from the constant hum of a busy and demanding life for a the chance to take long, deep breaths and feel the connection to all that is.
Connecting with nature
By taking the time for my soul to connect with nature, I find myself better prepared to take on the struggles that can come from being alive. I know I am a better human being for choosing to step off the hamster wheel of constant striving and instead step into myself. There used to be something so revered about being busy, when in truth, it was all just a distraction to the inner work that needed to happen.
The tendency to create a busy life still crops up from time to time, but a quick stroll outside reminds me of the happiness that is inside of me. The home that is peaceful and calm.
I get to the feel the benefits of being close to a tree and I like to think that the tree smiles down when she gets a hug and kiss, too.
“All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
One of my favorite aspect to my “job” is helping people feel empowered by learning how to use natural remedies. These can address everyday issues that come up for most of us at some point; sleep trouble, dealing with anxious moments and life stressors, aches and pains, illness, and energy.
One of the things I love to do is send people a little package with samples. The sample pack also comes with information that explains how to use them. Generally, if you use an oil and don’t get the results you’re looking for, that’s OK, we can try something else.
It is always important to remember that using essential oils should be honored much like a medication. It is a remedy that needs supervision, and a little common sense.
Here are few things to remember before using them.
Safety Precautions:
• Essential oils are extremely potent and some should not be applied directly on the skin without diluting them first. (Cassia, Cinnamon, Clove, Thyme & Oregano to name a few).
• All citrus oils are photosensitive and should not be used on the skin for 12-24 hours prior to sun exposure. This means that if you apply to your skin and go in the sun for a long period of time, you could burn your skin.
• Some but not all doTERRA essential oils are safe for internal use. Do not ingest an oil without triple checking if it is safe for dietary use. Also working with someone closely who understand how to use essential oils is key especially when using internally.
• Babies & the elderly are more sensitive to oils and extra dilution may be required. My favorite carrier oil is coconut or jojoba, but I also add to lotion.
• Keep your oils out of reach of children & pets. Remember these are potent and powerful. They need to be treated like a medication with safety in mind.
To see my favorite essential oils and the ones that I use the most often, check out this free downloadable ebook and then let me know which ones you’d like to try!
Just because someone carries it well doesn’t mean it isn’t heavy. I think that it is pretty likely that each day we hold things in our heart, and sometimes these things become incredibly heavy. But also choosing to carry grace sure lightens that load.
It was on this day that my kids lost their dad forever. It was years before that though they also lost him. I realize that he did the best he knew how to do. It wasn’t ideal by any means, but he did what he knew. And that is okay.
I choose grace.
I choose to hold my head up high. Looking at my grown kids I know that the load I have carried for years was worth every single ounce. My kids are remarkable people and that makes the load all worthwhile.
Someone recently asked me how I got to the point in my process of being able to choose to forgive. And to let go. Well let me first say it wasn’t always easy and there are still times when those feelings of anger or disappoint bubble up, but I try really hard to not allow those heavy feelings to take over. I did a couple years of therapy and I dove into working on myself which invited me to not spend my waking hours fuming about what I didn’t get and instead look at what may have been my part in it all and to be able to learn about perspective.
Divorce takes a little bit of your heart regardless of how amicable it is.
Co-parenting may seem like a great idea, but the truth is finding common ground that works for the kids is even harder when you have two households working. It wasn’t many months after my divorce and my three little kids and I were no longer receiving child support. He didn’t think he needed to and so he chose not to. He also chose to have his visits with the kids shorter and few and far between. The raising of the kids landed solely on my shoulders. It wasn’t just the daily grind, but the big picture things that one parent should never be completely responsible for if the other parent is capable. Or so I used to think.
Maybe he wasn’t capable. Maybe he had no idea how to think beyond himself. Maybe his own heart was shattered and he couldn’t access the part of himself to step up. Who knows.
Within a few years he began to slip into a slow, horrific self-inflicted slow death. He chose to neglect himself. He chose horrible things to do to his body. He chose to give up. Or so I used to think.
Maybe he didn’t know how. Maybe he had something inside him preventing him to get and allow help. Maybe he just couldn’t.
I think about my own father in much the same way. Something in him was missing and he wasn’t able to to plug into being a part of my life. Maybe it was his own addiction or his own beliefs that he had. Maybe he never had a father step up in his own childhood. Maybe he didn’t know how.
When someone asks me how I arrived in a place of peace about my kid’s dad (or my own dad), my simplest answer is that I got tired of allowing all of that pain to take up residence in my heart and preventing me from allowing something much better into my heart, like love. I realized that they both probably never had a father that stuck around. I was able to step back and see that my former husband was a young man with a tremendous amount of responsibility and perhaps he simply could not do it. He was giving all he had to his little family that eventually crumbled in front of him, and maybe it broke him.
I chose to see my father as a lost little boy who had no real father to speak of and an abusive mom. No wonder he was disconnected.
I replaced the feelings of anger and disappointment with compassion and love. Then it was really simple to carry on with a little lighter load in my heart. Being able to do that certainly doesn’t lighten the heaviness of raising three people alone and the huge responsibility that I had, but somehow having a heart full of compassion rather than pain, I was able to move forward and feel good about myself and my kids.
The air was difficult to breathe; heavy with tension and with a denseness of uncertainty. The fear of the unknown and the anxiety stifling our very breath. We stood in unity, hands held, watching with anticipation. As the following moments unfolded, I witnessed something so beautiful it is hard to capture in written words.
Yesterday both of the boys were with their dad as he was removed from life support. After each boy said their goodbyes we stood in unison and watched the process through a window in the ICU unit.
As we stood together, I reminded the boys that their father was there to help them enter this world, and now together, we get the opportunity to be there as he exited.
Moments following his head turned, sedated and confused his eyes shifted our way. We all held our breath in stillness.
As if the time has stopped, I watched as my youngest son walked towards the window. He placed his hands on the glass and gazed into the room. With purpose and poise he re-entered his father’s hospital room. I watched through the window as he spoke directly to his dad. I saw his dad look at him. The space became still and light. Slowly my older son joined his little brother. Side by side my two young men comforted their dad. They held his hands. They leaned over the bed fearlessly. With their hearts wide open they spoke to him and they loved him. Completely setting aside any of their own heartbreak that spanned years of disappointments, they gave their father the gift of unconditional love.
I witnessed my two boys elevate beyond any fear and open their hearts–wholeheartedly–to the space of compassion and of love. They each faced this experience with courage and with grace. In the following thirty minutes, I watched as they fully embraced their dad and the experience of death. I felt the lightness in the air. The peace enveloped all three of them and the healing between them happened. I saw with my own eyes an affirmation of each of my boys integrity, love, compassion and true grace.
I watched as they were each heroic in their unwavering support and compassion for their dad, and for each other.
Although I feel like I have spent the last ten years or so doing tons of self-work and unpeeling of the layers and layers of ‘stuff’ that has accumulated in my life, I still love that I am willing to do deep soul work.
A few years ago was a definite year of courage and the willingness to listen to my inner voice. As the dust began to settle from the major changes in my life, I took a month or so off from the heaviness that can come when you are in the labyrinth of self-improvement. Establishing myself into my new home space and adjusting (again) was my focus. It felt so good to pause from the rigorous self development and instead just enjoy myself.
A course on courage.
Not soon after, I began an online course on Courage. Brene Brown has been one of my favorite authors and speakers in the last few years and when the course was offered, I said a gigantic YES. To be guided through courage, vulnerability and shame with a leading researcher and expert was an opportunity I was not going to pass on.
Knowing that I had spent the previous year in the ‘arena’, I was curious as to what I would find I would need to explore in the bravery realm, but willing I was to examine it. Lesson one offered over one hundred values to identify just one that guides your way in life; everything from accountability to balance to faith to humility to love to optimism to spirituality to well-being. Where do you hold your highest regard and when this value is not in place you know you are off your path? In my ego mind I wanted my chosen value to be something easy like compassion or kindness. My soul said go deeper than that and asked what is it that I know for sure, when this is threatened, I am off my center?
Safety.
Safety?? Yea, like in the form of being judged, not being seen or understood for who I am, financial risks, being unorganized and chaotic, feeling unsure of decisions, having people in my life who are disrespectful or threatening, allowing fear to creep in, etc.
Safety.
I wear the armor to protect my safety.
So going into the ‘arena’ again, I had to be open to the rawness and vulnerability of the emotional exposure around this value of safety and to be willing to set the armor down.
The Lantern
Using the metaphor of a lantern, she explains that the flame that burns is the identified value. The glass that surrounds the flame illustrates the behaviors you display and people that you have in your life that protect that value. The handle of the lantern symbolizes when you have set your value down and walked away allowing your ship to get off course.
My flame is safety. My glass (behaviors and people) that keep my flame protected include boundaries, choices, self-respect, meditating, journaling, keeping a budget, being organized, people who support and honor me, a knowing and exploring of self. When I have set this value down I am allowing fear to enter, I take risks, I allow people to speak or treat me in ways that hurt, I am not grounded and I worry irrationally.
Knowing that this value is held in such high regard to me, I can see why some life decisions I have made, and the experiences I have been offered, have caused me to feel such anguish. In addition to better understanding what it is that stokes my flame, I am way more armed with tolerance as to what makes me tick and then respond when the value is threatened.
Safety.
Indeed my highest value for my life is safety. I know when it is threatened or I am off course because of the internal responses that I have that then lead to behaviors that diminish the flame. It is so clear to me now. While compassion or kindness may have been easier, I am so grateful for this new knowledge about myself and can move forward in my life with a strong flame and people and behaviors that will protect that part of me.
Most of you know me as a yoga teacher, but I am also a Healing Touch Practitioner. Awesome, eh? Have you ever had a healing touch session?
In Healing Touch therapy, practitioners use their hands to help restore balance and harmony through working with the human energy field or life force. This is done in a comfortable setting, fully clothed and is a great way to treat unsettled feelings in the mind and body.
Through heart-centered intention and skill, practitioners use their hands to re-establish the natural flow of energy. Healing Touch practitioners do not force or push energy but allow balance and harmony to “reboot” the energy system.
Healing Touch is done without the use of invasive procedures and offers a gentle, holistic way of healing.
•Effective
Research has shown that Healing Touch facilitates the relaxation response and enhances the healing process.
•Non-Toxic
Healing Touch restores balance and harmony to our natural biofield without the use of pharmaceuticals.
If you are feeling stuck or have feelings that just seem off, or are experiencing pain, I would love to see you! It can be done in person or virtually! Schedule yours today!
It is amazing to me how our inner narrative about ourselves can be so negative. Years ago I started a pretty solid affirmation practice and continue to this day. By rerouting our thoughts and words to a positive place, we actually retrain our brain to think and see the good in our lives.
Affirmations are positive statements that can help you to challenge and overcome self-sabotaging and negative thoughts.
When you repeat them often, and truly believe in them, you can start to see positive changes in your life unfold. Practicing positive affirmations can be extremely simple, and all you need to do is pick a phrase and repeat it to yourself.
I don’t know about you, but I have spent many years, speaking things like “I am a mess. I am overwhelmed. I am stressed. I am in so much pain.” I still catch myself and can now rephrase to “I am doing my best. I am handling this with grace. I am feeling my body tell me something”.
Affirmations require regular practice they can help you to make lasting, long-term changes to the ways that you think and feel.
Do you have a list of affirmations? What’s your favorite one? I love having sticky notes and reminders around my house and I even have an app in my phone that periodically throughout the day sends me an I am_____ reminder of something good.
I encourage you to start a 30 day affirmation practice and see what shows up in your life. Need some help coming up with affirmations? I am happy to help!
Have you been hearing others talk about adrenal fatigue but not sure what it means?
What is adrenal fatigue?
The theory behind adrenal fatigue basically says that our body’s immune system responds by revving up when we are under stress. The adrenal glands, which are small organs above your kidneys, respond to stress by releasing hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. These hormones are part of the “fight or flight” response. They increase your blood pressure and your heart rate. When we live in a constant state of stress, emotional/physical pain, we can easily slip into this cycle. Of course, reducing stress and adding in some healthy habits is a great way to stop this phenomenon. Adrenal fatigue is sometimes hard to catch and the symptoms can be vague, but once you know what you are dealing with, it’s fairly easy to treat. Do you feel tired and worn out all the time, even though you’re getting plenty of sleep? Do you crave salty foods and have trouble losing extra pounds? Maybe you’ve been to several doctors and none of them can say what’s wrong with you.
Some signs that your adrenals are working too hard include:
•fatigue
•burst of energy before bed
•low blood pressure
•trouble getting to sleep
•reliance on caffeine
Along with increasing water, reducing daily stress, meditation, movement and eating a healthy diet I have also for many years been using a blend of essential oils to help support my super tired adrenals. Now, we have Tulsi, also known as Holy Basil, which increases this already awesome blends effects on combating adrenal fatigue.
My tried and true blend includes: Clove, Rosemary, Frankincense, Lemon, and Basil (or Holy Basil) and literally lasts for months.
I apply this to my low back along the sides twice a day. I can tell the days I don’t use this…so easy. Of course, reducing stress, eating well, movement and plenty of water are a must too! ?
If you opt to buy these oils know that the oils in this blend have a huge variety of uses beyond just the adrenals, so you’re also investing in natural cleaning, mood support, aches and pains, hair growth, endocrine issues, and sleep to name just a few. If you’d love to try a blend, just reach out to me! I’d love to help you!
Check out this amazing ebook to learn more about how plants can help our body and feel free to reach out to me with questions or if you’d like to purchase a pre-made blend from me!
Are you curious about your energy centers, also known as chakras? Years ago I had heard about them but had no idea what they were. Since then I have spent years studying the chakra system and learning powerful ways to balance them so that my mind, body and spirit are optimal.
There are seven major energy centers in the body known as ‘Chakras’.
Chakra is a Sanskrit word that means “wheel”. Our seven main chakras are connected to our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual levels. Blocked energy in our seven chakras can often lead to illness, so it’s important to understand what each chakra represents and what we can do to keep this energy flowing freely.
There are many ways to go about balancing the chakras but two of the most accessible, effective and relaxing practices are aromatherapy and crystal therapy. When paired correctly, crystals and essential oils can create potent combinations that help to release blocked energy and restore the body to full charge.
Chakras are invisible to the naked eye and yet interconnect our physical and spiritual selves.
Each of the seven chakras is tied directly to a specific region and nerve center of the body. It is believed that each of the chakras absorbs and filters the energy that we emit through our thoughts and actions as well as through the thoughts and actions of all those that we come into contact with. When one of the chakras is out of balance as a result of negative energy flowing through it, it begins to spin too slowly or too fast. When a chakra is not balanced, it can effect that physical region of the body and also effect very specific aspects of our spiritual and emotional selves.
I am so excited to share with you an ENTIRE chakra series ONLINE.
You can choose between investing in the entire series for a discounted bundle rate, or pick and choose which chakra you’d like to focus on. I am happy to help guide you through a quick assessment of which energy center you might want to address.
For each chakra we will focus on the aspects of that energy center and learn how to balance it through discussion, yoga session, a custom essential oil blend with gemstones, and a beautiful crystal. Cost per chakra is $30, or the entire series/blends/gemstones is $197 (valued at $315). Also included is a free downloadable ebook. Once registered you will get an email from me with content and a package in the mail!
Stacie believes that it is her life purpose to share the gift of Yoga with anyone who is willing to say yes. In addition to raising a family and being an advocate for those with disabilities, Stacie is founder of Embracing Spirit Yoga which specializes in bringing adaptive Yoga into community centers and rehabilitation clinics. Bringing her depth of compassion to the mat–or the chair–she offers students the opportunity to grow as an individual in all aspects of their life.
Worthiness is such a tricky beast. It seems this most everyone has at one point struggling with feeling worthy.
Have you?
Have you ever felt so uncomfortable in your skin you avoided really ever looking at yourself in the mirror?
Have you ever been so insecure that the thought of being visible scared you?
Have you ever said things to yourself that you would never say about another person?
Have you ever longed to find out why some people just seem to radiate happiness?
Have you ever been so miserable with your health that it felt like you’d never be any different?
Have you ever had so much bottled up emotion that numbing it was your only option?
Have you ever wondered what you are on this Earth to do?
Have you ever listened the quiet inner voice of yourself BEGGING to be let out?
Me too, friend. Me too.
What if I told you that I used to be an angry, bitter, lonely, extremely heavy (in mind, body AND spirit) person that could not be alone with herself for five minutes without some serious negative self-talk? What if I told you I lost over 100 pounds by changing my mindset about myself? What if I told you that I thought the only reason I was born was to struggle and raise my kids? What if I told you that I have been exactly where you are?
Now, what if I told you I could give you some systematic choices and alternatives that are life sustaining and could possibly change all of your answers to the above questions? What if I was in your corner WITH you as you bravely began to navigate across new territory? What if I held the map for you as you take the first few steps? What if I was in your corner to cheer you on and encourage you to live your best self?
Are you ready?
People will drop over $100 per month on lattes and hundreds more on drinking and eating out, yet not want to spend $80 on a gym membership, or hundreds on therapy or a coaching program.
And then they wonder why they don’t feel good or aren’t reaching their goals.
People spend hours scrolling on their phones or watching Netflix and but don’t have enough time to read, meditate or go for a walk.
Your actions show where your priorities are, not your thoughts and ideas.
If you’re having a difficult time making changes to your health, happiness, relationships, business, whatever, take a look at what you’re investing in. Not just with your money, but your energy, time and/or attention.
The more you give to yourself, the more you’ll get back. You deserve to have everything you desire and nobody else is gonna give it to you but YOU.
If you’re worried about the price of getting started, you should see the cost of staying exactly where you are.
We are in the last few months of 2021 and I am offering this package that is worth well over $500 for a deep discount of just $325. Time is limited to grab this deal. This bundle also makes an amazing gift.
The awesome thing about this program is some of the content is yours to keep and return to over and over.
Two private yoga sessions ($80.00)
Assessment and Personalized Wellness plan ($125.00)
One of my biggest gripes as a Yoga teacher is the assumption that Yoga is about the ability to touch your toes, or gain flexibility, or needing to being “good” at it in order to practice. Truth is it has really nothing to do with that at all..
One of my most treasured aspects of Yoga is how we go about with showing up for ourselves and others.
This is the essence of Pantajali’s non-harming Sutra known as Ahimsa. Pausing to consider kindness (ahimsa) influences the choices you make and how you truly show up for yourself and for others. Ahimsa (pronounced “ah-heem-sah”) literally means “non-harming” or “non-violence” in Sanskrit. In it most basic level, it’s refraining from causing harm. In the ancient time in which the yamas were first written down, this idea was a pretty big deal. The ancient world was rather violent, so what seems like a relatively simple instruction in the developed modern world (not to hurt anybody) was a revolutionary idea 3000 years ago. Crazy, right?
As we practice ahimsa in today’s modern life, there is more to this idea of non-harming than simply refraining from acts of physical violence.
We understand now that pain can be more than just physical – it can also be emotional and mental. The deepest pain we feel is often very emotional and it most often sprouts from our relationships with other human beings. The grief that we experience when we lose someone or a part of our life that meant so much to our identity. The loss of a relationship or a painful life change can bring about deep and soul-shattering pain.
When we practice ahimsa, we are thinking about how our actions could hurt others and doing so invites us to take into consideration the potential physical, emotional, and relational consequences of our actions. We pause to consider kindness.
This is Yoga.
This week my teaching and sharing Yoga varies from fit and active high school hockey players (with incredibly tight hamstrings), to the average middle aged woman seeking self-love, to the athletic man wanting to wind down, to the dear friend grieving the painful decision she made, to the many people in assisted living who have traumatic brain injuries.
Every single person that I was in front of learned about ahimsa. They also got to feel ahimsa in action.
Want to know how I know this? Because I witnessed the relief in their tired hearts from trying so hard to maintain their emotions, I watched the tears flow, I saw with my own eyes confidence rise simply with one word, I felt with my hands their muscles relax, I exchanged smiles, and I received the magic of knowing that my work matters. The foot rub for the man who receives no touch was ahimsa. And his ahimsa back to me was a twinkle in his eye as he thanked me.
I am frustrated with the non-kind world that exists where division and opinions flood our everyday lives. I am saddened at the lack of humanity and desperate need to be heard in what seems to be a constant “what about ME” mentality. I am exhausted with the lack of kindness for fellow human beings.
But, I chose kindness despite my own struggling emotions. I offered ahimsa for the exhausted world in which I get to share Yoga. I pause. To listen. To see. To feel. To give.
