ISSUE 7 FEBRUARY 2016
VALENTINE’S ISSUE
5ROMANTIC WAYS TO
BURN CALORIES
A TWIST ON YOUR
JOURNEY TO
Victoria Wynn
Romance in ROME
LOVE
BELLASCOPE TAKING MATTERS OF
PLEASURE INTO MY OWN HANDS
RECIPES February ~ 2015
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Rom e
Romance in
Thanks for joining us for our Valentine’s edition of BellaMia. We are adding a little visual Romance this month! As you explore the pages of BellMia you can discover our beautiful visual tour of Romantic Rome. So, take a deep breath, un-pack your mental baggage, and enjoy the journey.
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The mission is to change the lives of every person open to discovering their souls purpose and living a life they didn't know was possible for them on an individual level.
At BellaMia, we believe every woman is beautiful. Editor-in-Chief Mia Saenz Assistant Editor-in-Chief Amanda Rhymers Art Department Charlotte Hayes Creative Consultant Dana Canneto Editor Amanda Rhymers Editor Lauence Yhuello Me Director Dr. Mary Pritchard Lifestyles Director Sharon Otness Fashion Editor Linnea Duvall This publication is published bi-monthly For advertising please contact BellaMia magazine
BellaMiaMagazine@gmail.com BellaMia is a publication of BellaMia Inc. BellaMiaMag.com BellaMiaMagazine@gmail.com
D
ear BellaMia Readers,
Love is in the air. Whether you are in a loving relationship or not, you can enjoy Valentine’s if you want to. Valentine’s is not based on whether we are in a relationship or not. It is on the calendar and is happening. This is why we enjoyed creating this magazine issue for you. With all sorts of little treats and tools to create the best day ever. Learn about Self love, Body Love and Sexual Wellness in our Me Section. In Lifestyles enjoy what makes your home and personal space great. This issue has a delicious Valentine’s Red Velvet Cake recipe just for you along with a very delicious Buddha Bowl. The New Paradigm adds more content to bring you ease as you work through your everyday and business day life. Be sure to catch our BellaScope as these channeled horoscope readings are spot on. We are happy to answer any of your questions and even publish them in the magazine. Let us know if you would like the SOS section of ASK to return.
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We appreciate your readership and would love to bring you more content that you might like. Just let us know by writing me, Mia the Editor-in-Chief at BellaMiaMagazine@ gmail.com.
Mia
lessings and Love,
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Mia Saenz, Editor and Chief BellaMiaMagazine@gmail.com February ~ 2015
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January 2016 Q&A with Gisele Lubsen
-36-
Q&A with Lisa Sanders
-96-
Q&A with Cat Palmer
-44-
Q&A with Victoria Wynn
-32-
On the Cover Model: Victoria Wynn
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Photographer: Cat Palmer February ~~2015 November 2015
-62Your Wardrobe of Shoes
-21Loving yourself fully is the key
-56-
-68-
Easy Steps to a Healthy Office
Love Your Body More
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Love
Are you ready to
the skin you’re in?
What if you fell deeply wildly in love with your body?
Yes
, it’s possible
30daystobodylove.com
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B Me ella
I
It is ove’s Time!
L
By Kimberley Heart
never made it to morning. In the depth of night, I
woke sick—really sick. When I tried to move, to run to the bathroom, I fell out of bed and crashed to the floor. The room was spinning, my body wouldn’t work right, I was so off balance I could only crawl on my hands and knees, and then only with my eyes squeezed shut. I was poleaxed.
I laid dead-still all through the night, the vertigo so
intense that I could not move in any direction without being ill. Stricken, I waited for the sun to rise. As I laid on the floor, I remembered what had happened the previous day. I had had an out-of-the-blue, life-changing realization: I wanted to “champion love.” I was elated, the words rang in my head and felt right and true. The words “Love’s Champion” made my heart sing. I did not know that when I went to bed that night
I would journey into the Dark Night of my Soul. A journey where I would move so deeply into myself that I would discover a part of me I had lost. My body forced me to lay absolutely motionless, and like so many who have taken this journey, the discoveries I made during that long night connected me more profoundly with my Soul, with myself, with the more-real me. When I went to bed that night, I thought I knew what I needed to do. I didn’t; I wasn’t even close to understanding
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what would be demanded of Love’s Champion. I know now that I had to first be lost in order to know how to even ask the right questions. How could knowing it was Love’s Time,
and choosing to be a champion of love, leave me flopping around on the bedroom floor like a fish out of water? With the awakening of the day, I reached out to my own mentor, and the answer to that question became clear. I was afraid, terrified really. Of what? Well, of being humiliated by those who do not see love as a worthy life pursuit. I feared being stripped of the prestige I had worked a lifetime to achieve. What if I never worked again? What if the price I paid for championing love was poverty and ridicule? What then?
When you choose to be Love’s Champion, it
I realized, as I faced my fears, that we too often trivialize love,
I realized, as I faced my fears, that we too
often trivialize love, honoring it only at weddings, at death, and during Valentine’s Day. All the rest of the year we do not hold love in our daily consciousness, using its power and beauty as the foundation of our lives. We just don’t.
I hadn’t realized how terrifying it would
be to shift my identity from being a chief strategic advisor working with brilliant professionals, and all of the respect that comes from that, to being what—Love’s Champion? Come on, really? What does that even mean? I am still discovering the answer to the question, “What does it mean to champion love?” That night of crisis, almost a year ago
now, changed how I perceive myself and the world. Championing love means sharing with you, as vulnerably as I can; it means being more and more loving in the world; it means standing up on the top of whatever stage will have me, and sharing the truth of what love is and what it is not. There is more, much more, but those answers will only come as we work together.
means challenging how we have lived our lives. It means questioning, well, everything. It means accepting the concept that we can only truly create a future worth living when it is based in love. You and I might hope for love, we may even be deeply in love, but do we live as if love will change our lives? Do we? Fred Segal once said, “Love one another,
everyone and everything! I say that is definitely the one and only untapped, untried power in the world that is greater than even nuclear.” Think about those words, “… the one and only untapped, untried power in the world great than nuclear.” What does that mean for you and me this Valentine’s Day? What does it mean every day? It means that you and I decide consciously how
we want to live, and most assuredly how we want to love. It means not allowing life to just happen to us, but rather to use the power of love, more powerful then the splitting of atoms, to create our lives, our way. It means being loving as often and as deeply as we can. It may mean to decide to join me and champion love.
It is up to me, and to you, to champion love
every day. Doing so, you may just find that the love of your life appears because you have become the essence of love itself. Is it your time?
It is Love’s Time! I Wish You Love, Love’s Champion Kimberley Heart www.getlove.com
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The Great Affair
W
by Mia Saenz
e are having the great affair; most have not even realized it yet. The energy is vast and powerful; it pulls and tugs at the heart and soul. The ride is of highs and some lows, as is in all relationships. There are moments the magnetic pull is so strong you can hardly think clearly, your breath is shallow and yet your mind and heart want to race at the same moment in time.
D
riven to do things for passion only, seems unlike your usual self. Realizing this moment is the space you want to live, and breathe and exist in, is new. The senses are becoming aroused; all five are much more sensitive. You now see things in more vibrant colors, hearing is sharpened, touch is endearing, slowness to taste is profound, and so is smell. You are enjoying the Great Affair.
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t this point you might stop and say, yes I feel it, but with whom; whom am I having this Great Affair? Why of course with yourself, with the Universe, it is your awakening The Great Affair is happening, right now. This is what we are all feeling; processing and some with its newness are unsure what to make of it.
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roceed into the Great Affair, it is you, it is energy, and it is pure love of self, connection and the divine. The love grows, the knowledge expands and the self becomes at one. Peace shapes your existence as any great love affair does, although this one is the true great affair. To connect with the Universe is to connect with Love, God and self; providing magnificent oneness to all
~Mia Saenz
www.MiaSaenz.com
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I
t’s Time to Fall in Love with YOU!
By Dr. Mary Pritchard
D
o you love yourself?
If you had asked me that in 2012, I would
have said, “Yes, of course!” But I was wrong. You see, I thought that if I had high self-esteem, that meant that I loved myself. What I came to realize after my divorce in 2013 was that my “high self-esteem” was a façade, a mask covering my deep self-loathing and resentment. And that I really did not love, honor, or value myself at all…
My divorce was a wakeup call for me – one
of many that happened that year. I realized that somewhere in my 21 years with my ex, I lost myself. I got so caught up focusing on the little things and my to-do list, that I wasn’t getting my own needs met. I blamed my then-husband; but after my divorce I took a long hard look in the mirror and realized something: getting my needs met was 100% my responsibility. He hadn’t failed me; I had failed myself.
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I had re-learn how to love and take care of myself.
The first step was finding me again. But how do you start?
Take out a pen and your journal (or piece of
scrap paper) and write down your responses to the following questions. There are no right or wrong answers. Don’t overthink this. Let it free flow…
Who is
[insert your name]?
What is she like? What does she like to do? What does she dream of? If she could be or do anything what would it be? What does she need right now in this moment? Now go get that need met!
I know, I know. You don’t have time to get
your needs met. You’re too busy. And making sure your needs are met – isn’t that selfish? In short: no.
Need some ideas? Here are my favorite ways to get my needs met:
As a society, I think most of us grew up with
the belief that doing things for ourselves is selfish, that if we were busy enough, we wouldn’t have time to engage in frivolous activities like getting a massage. Yet:
1) no one else will take care of you, and 2) if you don’t take care of yourselves, you’ll
have nothing left to give.
Wynonna Judd once said: “You have to fill
your cup. You then give away the overflowing, but you keep a cupful for yourself.” Choosing to make sure that you get what you need on all levels - physically, spiritually, emotionally, and mentally - every day.” –that’s keeping your cup full. And getting a massage every once in a blue moon - isn’t cutting it.
It’s time to focus on you – on putting your-
self first - so you have enough left to serve others. So that your cup is not only full, but overflowing. And in doing so, you’ll be able to serve from a place of gratitude, love and abundance, rather than from a resentful or obligatory state. And that’s something we can all benefit from.
ӦӦStart your day with your favorite
mantra or guided meditation.
ӦӦCreate an environment that honors
you
ӦӦMake time to do the things you
love each day and don’t let your endless to do list get in the way.
ӦӦNot overbooking yourself and
learn to say no.
ӦӦEating regularly. I’m shooting for 5
well-balanced meals a day.
ӦӦListen to your body. ӦӦEngage in positive self-talk – sticky
note
ӦӦUnplug at least an hour before bed
every day and preferably, don’t plug in until you’ve been up for at least an hour every morning - No checking email first thing in the morning while still lying in bed
ӦӦEnd your day in gratitude ӦӦTake at least one complete day off
every week.
I challenge you to do this: spend some time
each day taking care of you, showing yourself love and appreciation for all you do. That is, do something that makes your soul sing – something just for you. Don’t take the kids with you. Don’t invite your significant other. This is YOU time. If that seems daunting, start with 5 minutes a day. Then 10, then 20, then 30. You get the idea.
Remember: only you can make sure your needs get met. You are so worth this!!!! - Dr. Mary Pritchard www.DrMaryPritchard.com
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The Colosseum
The Colosseum is the largest amphitheatre ever created and is considered one of the worlds greatest works of architecture and engineering! February ~ 2015
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A Twist on Your Journey to Love By Claire Sierra, MA
Love:
kind of elusive, at times, huh?
Some of humanity’s greatest philosophers,
artists, psychologists and spiritual teachers have waxed on prolifically on the theme. But does it get us any closer to understanding it? Or experiencing it? That can still be a challenge.
So what is love? It’s an emotion that is conjured
when we are in the presence of a person or thing that moves us—we care deeply and we’re stirred. Sometimes it even seems that the love we feel is created by that other person. But it’s not, it’s created by the one experiencing it. And when we’re in it, we feel great. But it can be
hard to sustain. So, bottom line, how do we get more of it? (That’s what we really want to know, anyway.)
Many women I know are successful in so many
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areas of life, but struggle with finding or keeping “romantic” love or partnership. Or they’re in a relationship but the spark has fizzled. They can’t find their sexy, sensual self. And they don’t know why— they’re with mates they adore. It’s not surprising, really. And while
diet, exercise and hormones may all have a part to play, I believe there’s an insidious unrecognized issue at underlying it all. Life today is so busy. Many women are over worked, multi-tasking, exhausted, and working hard to make ends meet. And if we’re financially successful, we’re so busy doing that, relationships have taken a back seat. It’s hard to have time or energy for romance, passion and sensuality when you’re working a 10 or 12 hours, 6 or 7 days a week. And it makes sense. In order to become
successful in this very male dominated world, women have adapted to play with
the Big Boys. We learned to “man up” to face and conquer the day, often needing almost military precision and finesse just to manage all the details: kids activities, errands, commuting, meal prep…the list is endless. And that’s aside from working a demanding job. To accomplish this we
The heart hardens and shuts down and love
becomes elusive. It becomes a fantasy. But what if it’s not about being “lucky in love” but having another approach, from your innate feminine essence? Women I talk to desperately want to feel passion and sensuality, but it’s been a loaded e eschew topic for generations. And emotion and more of us want to know a way out of this conundrum of intuition in favor too much work, not enough of linear thinking, everything else, but can’t find facts and data. the time or energy to do some“Getting things thing different.
W
activate the masculine in ourselves and diminish the feminine. We strive for perfection, and reason. We eschew emotion and intuition in favor of linear thinking, facts and data. “Getting things done” and checking done” off the to-do list dominates There’s an increasing urge our world. And those are among women to reconnect good things. We’ve needed with the more intrinsic organic feminine ways to do this to get along (and move up) in our of being. As we move towards the Divine world. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Feminine, I repeatedly hear, “But how do I do But there’s no space for being in the sensual, that?” It’s easy to connect with a Goddess in silky, sassy self. She dwindles and dries up. meditation, but how to keep it going into your daily life? Finding, being and expressing love is a journey back to the heart, which can be an There’s no cookie cutter simple 7 step forawkward and even scary place for women mula. (Of course we want a quick and easy who unknowingly have identified with their solution.) But there are skills that make it inner masculine and ignored their feminine. easier. This is less about what we do, and more But it does take us out of the body (where about how we do it. It’s a process and way of love resides) and into the head. being: walking the path to embody love.
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Softening and turning to the heart is one avenue.
The natural energetic of the feminine is compassion and nurturance. We’re natural lovers, we’ve just gotten caught in the cultural drone of success.
When we’re in our feminine essence we receive the
love of our mate and give it back to the world in a grand cycle of reciprocity. It’s a hidden superpower: we bestow this on others and we reap the blessings ourselves. The love from another is what heals us. Our deep
seeing of another’s wholeness activates an energy (love) which can heal them. This is profound medicine.
When I see the good and noble in my beloved he
rises up and shines. When I forget and get caught up being critical or demanding (masculine habits) his light dims and degrades. Try this experiment for a week or 2: only comment on the positive. Be prepared to see greatness emerge. What you’ll notice is the bounty of love you expe-
rience increases exponentially, and the ease, grace of the Feminine that flows to and through you is phenomenal.
-Claire Sierra, MA www.MagdalenePath.com
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Loving Yourself Fully… Is the KEY to Everything! By Dana Canneto
W
hen you allow yourself to love every
questions of yourself and your emotions. It’s about moving away from the feelings that pull you towards this place of “undeserving-ness” whether it is guilt, shame, abandonment or the like. I am here to tell you that this love IS available to you and you can access it at any time.
part of your being, you are able to access all of the love around you. You are able to open up to a more tranquil place inside of you leaving you in a state of euphoric bliss. When you are connected to self-love, you are connected to the source within you, the It’s about asking divine being that you are Somewhere along the path the right questions at the fullest and highest of life you may have learned expression of you. You are of yourself and that you were unlovable and able to open to and live when you had this very first your emotions. from your heart rather perception it became your than from your head and truth. Often times this stems therefore exude that love into the world around from a very dramatic experience during you. That is a gift! childhood and therefore you may have been walking through life with this very When we are not fully practicing this type of belief. Because of this you may have love, we are not able to access the love available incurred many other experiences in your to us. Yet, I do get it. It’s not always easy to life thereafter very similar to where you fully open our hearts to receiving the amount of keep validating your belief of “undelove available to us if we are in a state of feeling serving-ness”. Perhaps you had a parent “undeserving” of that love. However, there are leave you when you were a child leaving ways to get there. It’s about asking the right February ~ 2015
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you to feel abandoned and unloved. Perhaps as you’ve grown older, you’ve experienced similar instances where you were abandoned once again by maybe a good friend, a partner or another family member. It’s your beliefs that cause your experiences. I like to call them “stories”. The “stories”
we pick up along our journey of life that define who we are, what we are capable of and what we deserve in life. If we were abandoned, rejected or abused we may define ourselves as “unlovable”. Of course, we would have every right and reason to feel this way as a young child yet what if we didn’t have to rule our entire life by these stories and as we grow older and wiser, we can look at these situations differently in order to change our current story. What if we could look at the one who abandoned us or rejected us or even abused us with a new vantage point, one that serves our highest good and pulls us away from being victim to this person or circumstance? This is not about giving your power away to that person by accepting what they did was “OK”. It’s about accepting that this person was coming from a wounded place within their story. This is about taking your power back from the story that has led your life up until now so that you can move into a new way of being with more compassion and love for yourself.
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What I mean by this is that if you can look at your
circumstance as a lesson and that what happened to you was not about you but about the very thing or person that caused the circumstance, we can heal. It’s not that it makes that person “right” or “wrong” but takes us out of victimhood and into a place of empowerment. It’s about you now being able to see the truth of who you are from your heart and not from your mind. It’s about holding yourself with the deepest compassion and love as you witness your innocence, your beauty, your light and your magnificence and that what we may have identified with once before is actually not truth but a perception. Love is the purest form of energy with the highest
vibration and when you can fill yourself up with that love, the world around you shifts. The people who enter your life shifts, the way you nourish yourself shifts, your health and finances can shift. Begin to practice filling yourself up with love and looking at every circumstance in your life that makes you feel otherwise to assist you in your growth and evolution. To look at those circumstances, feel the emotions, process them and move towards shifting the story from fear into all encompassing love for you and then the world around you. Dana Canneto www.danacanneto.com
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Taking Matters of Pleasure Into My Own Hands By Bonnie Gayle
L
ike most women I’ve spoken with, I
What I realized is that if I want sexual plea-
sure, I have to make sure I get it. Many times that isn’t really the popular choice - especially if you’re in a relationship. I know many women who won’t take the time to self-pleasure regularly, don’t feel it would make a difference in their lives, or feel it’s shameful. I’m here to most men really tell you that I totally disagree with don’t know how to this thinking. If you’re going to wait around for a partner to make please me unless I sure you are being sexually fulfilled, you may be waiting around teach them for a long time. Maybe forever.
rarely used to feel sexually satisfied. I had a couple of great lovers and felt pleasure like never before when I was with them. However, when the relationship was over, so was the incredible sexual pleasure. I’ve been single most
of my life and I’m now in my early 50s. What I’ve found is that most men really don’t know how to please me unless I teach them or do most of the work myself. They just aren’t in tuned with my body. If it wasn’t for the things I learned from my self-pleasuring exploits in my 40s, I probably would never have been experiencing the greatest sexual pleasure I’ve ever known in my menopausal years.
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According to a *recent survey,
most women are not satisfied with their sex lives. 41% of women are having orgasms and feeling sexually satisfied; but they have admitted it’s mostly because they are taking care of themselves not because of their partners. *http://www.healthywomen.org/content/article/newsurvey-most-women-are-not-satisfied-their-sex-lives
When I was in a relationship of 2 ½ years and
going through some deep sexual exploration of my body, I was not being sexually fulfilled with my partner. I tried everything to get him to open up so that I could start to enjoy sex with him but nothing worked. I had him come to a seminar with a sex coach, made appointments for individual sex coaching, which he always ended up cancelling, and went to tantric workshops, but nothing worked because he wasn’t open.
I finally decided that I needed to take
matters into my own hands and not worry about pleasing my partner. I decided that I was going to focus on my pleasure and if he didn’t like it, “too bad.” I went to my first body exploration semi-private retreat called Back To The Body. There’s no way I could have ever been prepared for what I was about to experience. I was holding so much past trauma in my body that it was holding me back. The exercises throughout the retreat allowed me
to release the trauma. Once I felt a sense of freedom, I ended up having the most amazing sexual experiences! When I got back from the retreat, I bought a
sex wand and started practicing with the sex wand and Sex Butter, an organic lubricant that heightens sensation. I started to explore my body inside and out, finding my pleasure spots. Sometimes I would play for hours and other times I only had time for a Quickie. What I noticed is that all those orgasms and regular experiences of pleasure made me feel so much happier!
Taking the time to really get in touch with my
body made me feel closely connected to it. The more in tuned I was with my body, the more it sent me messages that I was able to interpret. I learned to love and feel close to my body in a way I never even thought possible. Selfpleasuring got me on my path to connecting deeply to my body and moving down the path of personal pleasure.
I started to explore my body inside and out, finding my pleasure spots. February ~ 2015
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If you’re one of the majority of women who isn’t being sexually satisfied, make the effort to take matters into your own hands and start to experiment with selfpleasure. You may want to mix it up adding a sexual accoutrement - a vibrator, sex toy, healthy lubricant, feathers, or items you may have fantasized about. Sometimes all you need is your imagination and your hand. Whatever the case may be, make sure you’re always taken care of. Don’t wait around for a partner to experience sexual pleasure because it may never happen. - Bonnie Gayle www.sexbutter.net
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Your Body & the 5 Elements of Intimacy
I
By Patty Alfonso have been disconnected from
my body for most of my life. Before I began my work with Pole Dancing For Consciousness™ and Access Consciousness®, I did not communicate with my body at all. I did not experience any kind of sensations with my body. I was functioning from the head up.
Aimlessly wandering around thinking… and thinking….and thinking….and mostly, confusing myself. Functioning from the various insane thoughts my mind generated based on my life experiences. I was hiding behind the barriers I created in order to keep myself “safe” from the perceived harshness of this world. What if there is another possibility here? The body has its own innate brilliance. Have you ever noticed that your body
breathes on its own? Your heart beats? Your blood flows? Your body knows when it has to go to the bathroom or when it requires food. Your body functions without YOU having to DO anything. Your body knows. Isn’t that amazing? February ~ 2015
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Having this awareness began my
Allowance:
Speaking of gratitude…let’s take a
What if today your body wanted to stay in bed and watch movies? Or go outside and sit in the sun? Or he/she wanted to have a hamburger and French fries? What if your body wanted to sit at your computer and work all day – without taking a break?
journey towards having gratitude for my body. When I perceive the energy of my body and all it does for itself and for me, I can’t help but be grateful for her.
quick look at Access Consciousness’® 5 Elements of Intimacy and how we can use them to communicate with our bodies.
To have allowance with your body is to look at what she/he desires to do and have it all be an interesting point of view. Allowance is having no judgment. Nothing is the right thing to do. Nothing is the wrong thing to do. Everything is just a choice and an interesting point of view. What does your body want to eat today? What does she want to wear? Does your body want to go to the beach or the mountains? Does your body want to move or rest? Would you be willing to be in allowance of whatever your body would like to do?
Honor: Gratitude: Would you be willing to find 5 things to be grateful for with your body? I’ve shared my awe for the magnificence of my body…what would that awe be for you? You can ask the question: Universe, can you show me something beautiful about my body today, please? Be present throughout the day and see what shows up!
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When you begin with allowance, you can follow with a bit of honor for your body. When you honor your body, you treat her/him with regard. You choose what your body would like no matter what anyone else’s point of view is! For example, I chose pole dancing as my favorite way to move with my body. Is there judgment in this reality about Pole Dancing? That would be a “Yes, Bob!” And it didn’t matter to me. My body demanded it and I chose it. What choices can you make today that would honor your body right away?
Trust: The journey towards communion with your body can be a fun exploration of likes and dislikes. Throughout your journey, you can also begin to build trust between you and your body. When you begin to ask your body questions and you begin to listen to what your body desires and choose for and with your body, you’ll start to see that you can trust the consciousness of your body. Your body functions from consciousness. It does not have all of the points of views and judgments that you The Being are holding onto. When you let go of your points of view and allow your body to choose, greater possibilities can show up!
your body’s likes and dislikes. It’s a practice! Please start and don’t ever give up. I promise…I can guarantee that if you don’t give up on YOU, you will have everything you desire with your body, your being and your life. Would you be willing to commit to the magnificence of you?
Patty Alfonso
www.poledancingfor consciousness.com
Vulnerability: Barriers are one of the ways in which we shut off our awareness. It’s one of the ways we create the lock down of our bodies. Being vulnerable with your body is about being able to lower your barriers and perceive, know and be anything that shows up. The good, the bad and the ugly…The magical, magnificent and annoying…All of it with no point of view, no judgment. What would it take? What energy, space and consciousness can me and my body be to embody the elements of intimacy with total ease? You can start your journey with asking any these questions and being totally present with your body. The more you do this, the more information you will gather about February ~ 2015
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Ancient Rome Is life real or imagined? Is there a difference? Do our beliefs and perceptions hold us hostage? How do we break free?
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Author Carolyn Gervais immediately hooks the reader's attention by revealing the profound philosophical questions she, as a small child, asked her grandfather. I really appreciated the author’s biographical stories and I like the way the author explores reality and illusion. "Judge, Writer's Digest 21st Annual Self-Published Book Awards"
Author Carolyn Gervais takes you beyond the boundaries of belief and perception.
February ~ 2015
http://www.awakeningyou.com/
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BEditorial ella
Q&A
with Cover-Bella
Victoria Wynn BellaMia: Thank you for joining us on the
cover of BellaMia this Valentine’s issue. Tell us what inspired you to create “The Lies I Tell Myself Project”?
Victoria: “The Lies Project” (for short)
took on a life of its own after I shared a video on Facebook vulnerably talking about the I lies I realized I had been unknowingly telling myself that were holding me back from inner peace, success and connective relationships. A month prior to the video post I took a moment to do inventory on my life and considered that I had little to no money, unhealthy romantic relationships and low self esteem. It didn’t make sense to me though. I recall as if it were yesterday, pondering to myself, “I’m an educated, honest, cute, service
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February ~ 2015
oriented person, why is my life a complete mess?” Then I saw the words, “The Lies I Tell Myself ” in my mind’s eye. It was clear as day. I pondered what it meant to lie to myself and how these quiet negative beliefs have hindered all that I ever wanted. The video I made about my awakening was shared all over the internet. I quickly realized that I wasn’t alone in my journey of self doubt and retraining my brain. I began building this business/ movement where I now teach principles and processes to design the life you want, rather than be a victim to it.
It’s important to feel loved, not just by others, but by ourselves.
BellaMia: Why is it important to
remove the inner critic and the self sabotage?
Victoria: I think of it in the context of a
mind of a child. When given positive feedback, they soar. They want to do more and more to make mom happy or their brother want to play with them. On the flip side, if mom is yelling and brother is pushing or disrespecting the child, then she naturally isn’t going to be inspired to be more or go bigger. It’s important to feel loved, not just by others, but by ourselves. It’s the only way to soar to your highest potential.
BellaMia: How has being a mother of
5 inspired your movement to help others remove the lies they tell themselves?
Victoria: I remember when my now 23
year old was put into my arms. The whole world looked different. Something inside me awoke. I felt like the caregiver to my son, but also to anyone else around me. I began on my own journey and as I’ve gotten
It’s the only way to soar to your highest potential. more clear about what love is, why authenticity is vital and what forgiveness really is, I made it my life’s mission to teach as many people (and kids) as possible to be more
self aware and in a nutshell, identify the lies they tell themselves, release them and then replace them with a powerful truth
BellaMia: From the work you do what is
the biggest “Ah-Ha” moment you have had?
Victoria: My biggest ah ha is that we all
lie to ourselves. The more self aware, the fewer the lies. But even after 5 years of delving deeply into my mission with The February ~ 2015
33
Lies I Tell Myself Project I still find little lies creeping up. Its like a rabbit hole. Handle one and another pops up. The great part is that each lie we attach a beautiful truth to brings us closer to a zen life life. My goal is not perfection (for myself or others), but rather to lessen the moments of stress and anxiety and heighten the moments you’re smiling and skipping and don’t even realize it. :)
BellaMia: How has your relationship with
your father helped you to be so powerful today?
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February ~ 2015
Victoria: I think back to how well he
dealt with a grumpy teen… me. No matter how disheveled I looked or how grumpy I was (barely even grunting “hi” as I passed him in the morning on my way to get a Pop-Tart), he would give me a huge smile then bust out in his operatic voice “There she is… Miss Americaaaaa” He passed away exactly one year ago. Instead of torturing myself over the loss, I’ve been taking on his characteristics more and more in my life and now implementing them in 2016. I was taught values such as; never judge
on age, race or social status. Do quiet acts of service daily. Using my money to help others, no matter how abundant it gets. Welcome people into my home as if they were family.
BellaMia: What is the bravest thing you’ve done recently?
Victoria: By far, it’s getting on my very
first dating site. I had taken 6 months off from dating to learn the lessons I needed from my past relationship and as I considered opening up my heart again, I kept hearing a whisper, “You’re not really open to it if you’re not willing to look in all corners for it.” Oh I hated that voice! I knew what it meant. It meant I got to challenge all my judgements about dating
sites. Ideas like, “it’s just a menu of humans”, that connective people like me naturally meet people and don’t need a dating site or if I join I’ll appear desperate. It was a month ago that I joined. I remember it vividly because I literally felt sick to my stomach when I began answering all the personality assessment questions. I knew it meant being open to love again plus I was fearful of being objectified. I created a profile that was 100% authentic and transparent where I shared goofy photos not worrying about my looks and got deep into who I am and what makes me tick in the writing portion. To make a long story short, stretching those fears and challenging them head on always reaps rewards. In my case, I’ve found deep friendships and a relationship I’m loving playing in the sandbox in. I got to take a big fat “humility pill” and boy am I glad I did. Now on to my next cliff to jump off of!
"Living Life on a Natural High"
www.sharonotness.com
February ~ 2015
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Q&A with Photographer
Gisele Lubsen
Gisele Lubson is the founder of G.A.L Photography specializing in conceptual underwater photography. Gal creates beautiful, unique and striking images, which turn heads and make you want to dream. Each one of her underwater photo shoots reflects a customized concept and theme.
www.giselelubsen.com
BellaMia:
“conceptual underwater photography� come from?
Gisele: Besides from my wonderful
partner in life my two other big loves are water and photography. It was only natural to end up combining and expressing myself in both mediums. I grew up every summer on a small island in Greece named Paros where I swam for hours each day in the beautiful Mediterranean Sea. In water I feel limitless and free and with photography I can capture a feeling, a world filled with beauty and dreams. Anything is possible. I have always been fascinated by the surreal and the combination of people, sets and designs underwater creates this whimsical reality which I love.
BellaMia:
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Where did your love of
You work on Movies
besides owning and operating G.A.L. Photography. Will you share your passion for both?
February ~ 2015
Gisele: It is definitely in the near future
to create a full underwater movie. I simply love the entire process of creating a powerful concept for my projects and clients which we then perform underwater together. Weather I am working on a commercial branding project, with a private client, with actors for a film project or creating art for my underwater exhibits I just love creating a story, a one of a kind experience and to witness the narrative develop itself naturally underwater within the dreamlike and surreal aquatic environment is truly magic. I am fascinated by the combination of bravery, vulnerability and honesty which one has to push through underwater. This is why I love to not only work with actors and models alone. Because we need to
survive there is an authentic element there even during the performance. Posing underwater one relies on instinct and through natural obstacles in order to overcome. This to me expresses how the world really functions, how identity gets created and I get to capture and witness these beautiful and timeless moments of strength.
BellaMia: You have done several series of
underwater photography magic. Will you share what your main inspiration for creating such beautiful series is?
Gisele: My main inspiration for creating my
art collections comes from archetypes of stories and myths. So many Greek myths for instance one can still till this day completely relate to. The combination of water, photography and
February ~ 2015
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performance captures this timeless quality. I am fascinated by the moment where metamorphosis happens. That moment where we decide to take charge and change occurs. I witness this pivotal moment underwater all the time and it always gives me goose bumps. This is also the main reason why I do not use air during a shoot and why I come up with the model in order to give her/him feedback and reflect back to her/him the amazing energy she/he just shared making the story their own and reinterpreting it. What we are really aiming to show is to reflect and identify with ones own destiny and faith.
BellaMia:
Echoes?
Tell us about Breathless
Gisele: Breathless Echoes is a project I did with Espaco Exibicionista Art Gallery in Lisbon, Portugal. We produced and directed it last August and I just got back from the exhibition which was held in Lisbon during the month of December and early January. I had never been to Portugal and it was not a country I knew much of. I decided to create an entire new collection based on the epic Portuguese poem of The Lusiades (Os Lusiadas) by Luis Vaz de Camoes interpreting the Portuguese voyages of discovery to Africa & India during the 15th & 16th centuries. We casted and extremely talented team of dancers and well know actors such
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February ~ 2015
as David Mesquita and fashion designers Carl Gil & Marta Branco who truly out did themselves during the production which was held outside Lisbon in a beautiful little town. The exhibition was really well received and I was truly astounded by the immense Portuguese hospitality and beauty of the country. Breathless Echoes has lead to an entire new family for me in Portugal. It was a truly wonderful experience which has lead to another exciting new foreign project which I can not speak about yet unfortunately but which will be revealed very soon.
BellaMia:
You just spent nearly three months
on photo shoots and Gallery Exhibits. What is your greatest take away from these past three months?
www.giselelubsen.com
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www.giselelubsen.com
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February ~ 2015
Gisele: My greatest take away from
these past three months is to be bold, don’t second guess yourself, be adventurous and have trust that everything that is supposed to happen will and for the best. As an artist I want to see things a certain way but I have realized that at a certain point you simply have to let go. You give yourself the possibility of experiencing even more beautiful and unexpected experiences. This happens underwater too where the element of nature will always guide you till everything just makes sense again on an entire new level.
I feel truly blessed to have created a career combining all my passions and what I believe in each day.
BellaMia:
With all your fabulous art series,
which is your favorite?
Gisele: It is hard to say which is my favorite
art series since behind each series there are unforgettable experiences and people who have truly touched me. Besides from my amazing team at GAL Photography who help me create each collection, each person met along the way have made me a better February ~ 2015
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www.giselelubsen.com
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November ~ 2015
artist and professional today. The process of creation is just as important if not more then the end result. The series Amazons which was created and exhibited in Greece & LA still holds a very special place since I worked not only with an amazing team of actors, designers and other creative, I also collaborated with a captivating horse named Dolores. She created such force and magic during the filming and within each photograph. It was an incredible experience which I will never forget. The honest truth however is that each project I work on is my favorite project at that moment. It can be a big art production, a commercial one or a private photo shoot with a couple. Each project is unique, radical and touching.
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BellaMia: Your
Q&A with
Cat Palmer
work is beautiful. Most of your work is feminine against the rough edges of life. What inspired you to create this stunning style?
Cat: I’m not really
one for taking pretty pictures and overly using Photoshop. I like the raw images and the stories that they tell. I think women are beautiful just as they are.
BellaMia: You began pho-
tography when you were 15. What inspired you to go into the medium?
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February ~ 2015
Cat: People inspired me. I
wanted to start capturing homeless people in Los Angeles and Mexico. I felt like a lot of their faces told a story.
BellaMia: You have a passion for women
and photographing them to tell their graceful story. Tell us about this aspect of your work?
Cat: With all of the arts series I’ve done, it is
actually telling my story not theirs. Whether it be I’m going through postpartum depression, angry about a war I don’t believe in or wanting to love myself more… I’m healing and telling my story.
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BellaMia: Tell us about your empowerment
themes that have been: self-esteem, peace, self-reliance, i am human, there’s no place like home, peace to the middle east, age of aesthetics in defying societies definition of beauty, super hero women, ‘i have a secret’, and keep the politicians out of our VAGINA.
Cat: With every series I’ve done in the last 12 years,
I focus on a social or political message. I do not just take pretty pictures of pretty people. I want people to leave my exhibits with the motion vote. I want people talking about my series, even if they don’t like what they see.
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February ~ 2015
www.catpalmer.com
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BellaMia: Your art pieces are very
unique, what was your inspiration around ‘the last supper’ image named The Last Supper with 12 Bad Asses.
Cat: Thank you so much! Deena marie
and I got together for lunch one day and she said that she wished I could re-create the last supper and I suggested that we do it, but we do it with the 12 badasses of Salt Lake City. I was surprised that not only everyone said yes, but they all showed up on time. My favorite part was when it was all over everyone stayed to eat, drink and converse. We had so many great people! Film makers, TV personalities, a senator, NPR radio host and many more!
BellaMia: Tell us what your heart right
now wants us to know.
Cat: To love oneself is the beginning of a
life long romance. Oscar Wilde said it best. Let’s all start to love ourselves a little more
www.catpalmer.com
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February ~ 2015
B Man ella
H
K
aving a daughter has truly made me a feminist in support of not just equal opportunity, but especially female empowerment. I believe self confidence comes from building a powerful mind in a healthy, fit body. Most women are held back by self-limiting beliefs growing up and outside influences telling them to be “normal” and not an achiever or a role model. I’m inspired by a woman who has a burning desire for greatness in her body and mind, in her actions, and in her legacy.
yle Brown CEO of FIT 365 Shakes Celebrity Fitness & Nutrition Coach www.FIT365.com February ~ 2015
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GLAD RAG BAGS Good for the Earth. Good for Women. GOOD FOR YOU! Sophisticated, elegant, unique upcycled designs with a great ethos for women and the world. www.gladragbags.com
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February ~ 2015
St. Peter’s Basilica
It is believed that this Basilica is the burial site of St. Peter, the first Pope. The present Basilica was built from 1506-1626 and replaced the 4th century St. Peter’s Basilica. And of course Italy is known for fabulous food!
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BLifestyle ella
I
5
New Romantic Ways to
Turn Up the Heat and Burn Calories
n addition to your routine workout this month, how about you spice things up and try something new to turn up the heat with that special someone.
Choose one or more of the five new and
romantic exercises below. This will not only be fun and exciting, but they are fantastic ways to create a deeper connection with the one you care about, while you burn calories.
By Andrea Allen
1. Partner Yoga Partner yoga can help you bring aware-
ness to your bodies and create an opportunity to move deeper in both your poses and your relationships. Through conscious breathing you will tune into each other’s flow and energy. Best part is that it requires touch and often trust.
Try It: Standing Back-bend: Stand
facing each other, feet hip-width apart and spaced so you can grab on to each other’s forearms with your arms slightly bent. Inhale lengthen your spine upward, lift the chest, then exhale and drop head gently backwards, looking to the ceiling or behind you and straightening arms supporting each other. Hold the pose for 2 to 3 breaths. Inhale, and return to standing. Find more Partner yoga poses Online or
find a workshop or class at your local yoga studio. Calories Burnt: Between 180 – 410 calories per 60 minutes, depending on your weight and intensity.
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November ~ 2015
2. Wing Chun Wing Chun is a Chinese style of kung
fu that emphasizes close quarter combat, centerline, quick energy efficient movement and a tight defense to overcome opponents. It specializes in destabilizing the opponent with quick reflexes and redirecting opponent’s energy to your advantage. Though you can practice the movements alone the best way is to grab a partner and begin with a simple sparing technique using your arms, feeling each others energy and anticipating their next move.
Try It: Find videos and explanations on the basic moves of Wing Chun Online or find a local Wing Chun studio.
Calories Burnt: Between 650-1000 calories per 60 minutes, depending on your weight and intensity.
3. Ballroom, Swing or Salsa Dancing Ballroom Dancing is bodily movement
synchronized to a rhythm. In ballroom dancing, the lead is traditionally provided by one person while the other person follows. Confidence and trust in your partner is important as the lead is providing signals without words and the other is recognizing those signals and responding to them. Although ballroom dancing includes learned skills that will become automatic, confidence and trust build as you practice dancing together.
Swing dance is a popular genera that
includes a large range of dances that developed with the swing style of jazz music in the 1920s-1940s, with the origins of each dance predating the popular “swing era�. One of the most famous styles is the Lindy Hop.
November ~ 2015
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Salsa is a popular form of dancing that orig-
inated in New York City in the mid 1970’s with strong influences from Latin America, especially Puerto Rico, Cuba and Columbia. The movements of salsa have origins in Mambo and Cha-cha-cha and other dance forms that are performed along with the salsa music.
Try It: Decide which dancing you and your
partner would like to try. Search for videos and instruction Online and search for your local dance studios or clubs. Calories Burnt: Between 375 – 605 calories per 60 minutes, depending on your weight and intensity.
4. Tandem Bicycle Riding A tandem bike is a bicycle where one-person rides behind the other – a bicycle build for two. Not only do you get the usual exercise of riding a bike, riding together challenges your balance and requires synchronicity in the pedaling and the maneuvering. This means you have to work together. One of the best advantages is that you are close enough to talk while you ride. Plus, it’s just more fun to ride together and other people will think so, too. Just watch the smiles on the faces of those you pass by.
Try It: Call your local bike rental
location and try renting one for the day. Calories Burnt: 350- 700 calories per 60 minutes -based on an average calories burnt per mile of 35. So depending on how fast you go and how much you weight, depending on your weight.
5. Thai Massage Thai massage is a form of body-work that brings together a traditional combination of point pressure, energy meridian work, and yoga-like stretching for an invigorating and balancing experience. It is different from other forms of massage as there is no oil used, the practitioner uses a comfortable floor mat on the floor and that the client remains clothed. The massage requires the person performing the massage to press, lift and move during the entire massage, which is a really great workout. For the person receiving the massage, it induces deep relaxation, enhances strength and flexibility and releases sore or tense muscles.
TRY It: Research and study Thai
massage manuals, videos and instructions Online. Make sure you are extra careful and communicate with each other.
Calories Burnt: Between 245 – 479 calories per 60 minutes, depending on your weight and intensity. - Andrea Allen www.inspireme2b.com
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8 Easy Steps to a Healthier Office
By Sharon Otness
N
o matter if you are in an office space in
a commercial building or you work out of your home, chances are you spend a good part of your day in an office. Here are some easy ways to make sure you are working in the healthiest environment as possible.
Clear the clutter: The first step is clearing off your space. Ditch the
old calendar, scraps of paper and old sticky notes, chipped mug and faded photos. Go thru that mound of pens and dull pencils.
Sit Less/Stand more. The studies are coming in fast and furious. Most of us are sitting more to the detriment of our bodies. Make your desk as ergonomic as possible. There are so many more office chair solutions
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February ~ 2015
now that are lighter weight and stylish than the first ones that came out. Get a desk chair that flexes with your body-most of us are not just sitting and typing anymore. We are doing a multiple of tasks that require more movement. Your arms should be at a 90 degree angle when using your computer. A chair that adjusts height will help you stay at the proper angle. Try a standing desk, or create one.
You can set your computer and keyboard up on a small table and work standing up. Remember the arm angle should stay the same and your monitor should still be at eye level. Get up and take breaks multiple times during the day. If you need to, set a timer. Of course if you can get outside and get some fresh air that is even better.
Clear the air: There are so many toxins in our home and office environments.
It’s not unusual for office environments to trigger what’s known as occupational allergies—sensitivities to chemicals in carpet, office furniture, or paint, for example, that can trigger problems like headaches and rashes. Open your windows and get fresh air while you are working. If you are in a commercial building and it is not possible to open the windows, at least get a Hepa-filter for your desk.
Plants: Even if you can’t paint your walls, a
green plant is something you can add on your desk. Bringing in nature inspires creativity and a feeling of wellness. Plants also help clear the air we breathe. Opt for a leafy green plant versus a spiky cactus.
Aromatherapy: Keep an aromatherapy diffuser on your
Paint your walls: By now you know how much I love paint. It is a great way to
create emotional wellness and in an office make sure you are choosing a color that is calming and energizing. Green is a great choice as this color range is linked to enhanced creative thinking. Choose colors that are moderately saturated but relatively bright. Sage, sea foam and soft turquoise are great choices. Make sure to get VOC free paint. You can literally paint one day and be working in your office the next day.
desk to release essential oils into the air. These natural scents don’t irritate with chemical fragrances like candles and air fresheners. Citrus like lemon, grapefruit and lime are uplifting, peppermint and rosemary can improve thinking and memory. Have fun creating your own blends to keep you refreshed and in good spirits.
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Add personal objects:
Drink water:
Decorate your desk area with a few well chosen
Make sure to stay hydrated.
items. Place 3- 4 items that are significant to you and they will help reduce stress and dissatisfaction. Stick to just a few items like a family photo, an award you are particularly proud of, a mug that makes you smile, a favorite pen or memo pad. The more items you have, the more items your eye tracks and can add to fatigue. Feel free to add in personality to your basic items like file folders, notebooks and your planner.
While I am not a fan of you eating at your workspace -I think eating should be done at it’s own time and place, drinking water is a different story. Many of my clients need a system to remember to drink water so they either bring a pitcher and keep it on the desk and make sure they drain it by the end of the day or they track it with a timer or app. Even better is to step away and use the opportunity to get exercise by going to the kitchen and get the water you need. -Sharon Otness sharonotness.com
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B
uddha Bowl
By Sharon Otness
Salad
• Kale, torn into bite-size
pieces and massaged (a handful)
• ½ cup ~ Cooked quinoa
or brown rice
• Assorted sautéed or
roasted vegetables (shown in photo; shaved brussels sprouts, asparagus, red pepper, broccoli and edamame).
• Avocado slices • Nuts or seeds (optional)
D ressing:
A Buddha Bowl is my go to in the winter when I want the benefits of a salad but I need it to be warm. It is a really flexible one-dish plant based meal with a combination of greens, a grain, assorted vegetables and a healthy fat.
• Make a dressing with
D irections:
• Stir well into a smooth
Line your bowl with kale or other greens. Next layer your grain. Add your assorted veggies. Top with dressing and avocado slices. You can also sprinkle with nuts or seeds.
2 parts water to 1 part tahini. sauce.
Be creative! There is no wrong way! February ~ 2015
59
VR
alentine’s ed Velvet Cake
Vegan~style
Ingredients 2 cups Almond Milk 2 tsp. spoons vinegar, white or apple cider 2.5 cups flour, your choice 2 cups vegan sugar, like coconut sugar 2 Tb. spoons Cocoa Powder 1 tsp. Baking Soda 1 tsp. Baking Powder 1 tsp. Salt 1/2 cup Oil, a vegetable oil, light olive, or coconut 2.5 Tb. spoons Unsweetened Apple Sauce 2 oz Red Food Coloring 4 tsp. Vanilla Extract
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February ~ 2015
Directions To Begin: preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 2 round cake
pans. Set aside. In a small mixing bowl, mix the almond milk with the vinegar and allow to curdle. In a large mixing bowl, sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Once the almond milk has curdled, add the oil, food coloring, vanilla, and apple sauce to the milk and stir. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix with a hand mixer until there are no lumps and the batter color is blended thoroughly. Scrape cake batter evenly into the 2 round baking pans and place them in the oven. Bake for 25 minutes, or until completely done. Test with a
toothpick to test cake is baked solid. Remove and set aside to cool. When cooled, frost with Vegan Cream Cheese Filling.
Vegan Cream Cheese Filling 1⁄4 cup non-hydrogenated margarine (softened) 1⁄4 cup vegan cream cheese, softened (Tofutti) 2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
* If you are not vegan you may substitute similar ingredients.
Cream together margarine and cream cheese until just combined. Mix confectioners’ sugar in 1/2 cup at a time. Mix until smooth and creamy, add vanilla. Keep tightly covered and refrigerated until ready to use. February ~ 2015
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Your Wardrobe of Shoes
By Linnea M. Duvall
Y
es, it is important to have a wardrobe of shoes, just as you have a wardrobe of clothes.
H
ow important are shoes? There
is a book on the market that says it all: “Women from the Ankle Down: The Story of Shoes and How They Define Us”. And there is research and anecdotes to back up that our footwear can indeed, in many ways, define us.
And your wardrobe of shoes are chosen
specifically to support and enhance your clothing wardrobe. Just as you have clothes for all different types of occasions and demands, you need to have shoes for all the different demands of your life. For those of us who LOVE shoes, it may be hard to resist buying any and all that tickle our fancy, but there are some basic shoes that are important to have, before you go buy all the frilly, fancy, fun ones.
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February ~ 2015
Basic Shoe Wardrobe: At least one pair of beautiful but sensible
pumps. These must fit well and be comfortable. I suggest owning two pair of these, before you go and buy other “fun” shoes. Because these are the shoes that you wear to work, or important business meetings, or on an interview, or to meet the in-laws, and yes, they can even be worn for a first date! These are your work horse shoes. They often are on duty day in and day out, and, if chosen well, they can take you from day to evening with just the change of jewelry, scarf and/or handbag. These should be among the most expensive shoes in your wardrobe, (unless you find them on a tremendous sale, which can happen). But do not scrimp on these shoes. They are statement shoes, even when they are sensible. They send a message about who you are, what you are about, your values,
even your work ethic. They need to be high quality. They need to be a color that will compliment most everything in your wardrobe, a neutral…so black, chocolate brown, rich mahogany, burgundy, camel, even ivory if you have a lighter toned wardrobe palette. These are NOT the zebra striped, or the embroidered flower, or the leopard print, or the red patent leather, or the turquoise, or pink, or red snakeskin, or the black satin bejeweled, or the sky rocketing heels. These are the shoes that anchor your professional wardrobe with a quality statement.
with warm boots, (and usually tights), rather than your beautiful, but, on a cold day, less practical pumps. When chosen well, your boots can be worn to work, or out for the evening, and on the weekends for brunch, movies, museums, just walking about. They are beautiful, and versatile, and speak volumes about you. The jury is out on this next choice. This may be a
toss up, depending on your lifestyle.
Some will say that an excellent pair of sneakers
are the third absolutely required set of footwear that you must have! I tend to agree with this, as
They can have a high three inch heel, two
inch stacked or block heel, or be a kitten heel, but they need to be a closed toe, closed back pump that says sensible and worthy, like you!
Next, a good solid pair of beautiful boots.
These can get you through the colder seasons stylishly, if you live in cold climes, and can also get you through the bit of chill that comes about even in warmer climes like California, Georgia, Florida. But cold or not so cold, boots are terrific footwear, and carry as much message as your pumps. So your boots need to be high quality, as well! Start with a pair you can wear with everything you own; pants, skirts, dresses, nothing too outlandish that limits the outfits and events you can were them to. As with your pumps, choose a neutral color. Then you can choose a knee high boot with a heel, or a knee high boot that is flat, a mid calf boot, or ankle bootie with stacked heel, block heel, high heel or flat heel. Whatever classic style, your boots can definitely be a power statement, particularly when they present you as stylish but smart enough to have your feet shod February ~ 2015
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we all need high performance athletic shoes that will give us great support while exercising: walking, hiking, running, (yes, if you get high performance athletic shoes they can often do triple duty for hiking, walking, running), aerobics, Zumba, the gym, getting to and from yoga…all the many activities you engage in to support your health and well being. Others will say that a gorgeous
pair of sandals are the absolute third element in their shoe wardrobe. Either classic feminine leather or patent leather sandals, or sandals with bling, that they can slip into all summer long with dresses, shorts, jeans, and flippy summer skirts or pareos. These, as with sneakers, are not anything you would wear to work, (I know a woman who will not rest until she has a pair of flesh toned patent leather sandals in her closet, as she lives in them when not in work mode), but rather what you wear to signify, and feel, that you are in relaxed, laid back mode, but still as stylish and in command of your look as ever.
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February ~ 2015
I personally will not quibble about this
third category. I leave that choice to you, and what suits your lifestyle best, sneakers or gorgeous sandals.
But after that, after you have these top three
elements of your Shoe Wardrobe nailed down and in your closet‌then dear readers, it is a free for all! The shoe world is your oyster. Go and have a ball!!
Linnea M. Duvall lmduvall@yahoo.com
February ~ 2015
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Dressing to Feel Good: A New Year’s Resolution You Can Keep
By Tina Ketchie Stearns Here we are, already in the second month
of 2016. Did you make any New Year’s resolutions? It’s a good feeling to start off the new year with some goals to provide motivation to be a better you. But it’s slightly disheartening for me to see that the number one New Year’s resolution for 2015 was to lose weight. I’m sure that was at the top of the list for this year as well, and many years prior. The plethora of commercials buy clothes on TV and radio right now about weight loss that fit and programs only serve to that you feel reinforce Americans’ belief that they need comfortable in. to lose weight to be happy. I am a very healthy eater and exercise reg-
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ularly. My concern is that most of us aren’t happy with who we are, and feel like losing a few pounds will make us happy. But does it make you happy to starve yourself and get hungry at your desk every day at 3 p.m.? Or to say no to that beautiful birthday cake of a co-worker just because you’re on a diet? Eating right and exercising are important to healthy living, but I have a dream for a society where everyone is happy with their looks and works to stay healthy, rather than constantly dieting in an attempt to change who February ~ 2015
they are. That’s the vision and mission of BellaMia Magazine – love yourself as you are because you are beautiful! So here’s my #1 fashion tip
to always feel your best - buy clothes that fit and that you feel comfortable in. If you are over 40, remember it’s only natural for our bodies to change as we get older. Let’s face it, our 40-year-old hips just aren’t the same as our 20-yearold hips were. But this doesn’t mean we have to work to get our current body to fit into the clothes we wore in our 20s! Trying out new styles, buying a size bigger (it’s ok to do that!), and paying attention to clothes that fit well and look good go a long way toward building your confidence and helping you feel good about yourself. You will look
and feel so much better in clothes that fit as opposed to trying to squeeze into something that is simply too small for your shape and size. That’s one reason why we are so proud of
our Go Free Pants. This line of pants not only fits well, but looks great on women of all shapes and sizes. Our patent-pending design replaces the cross seam in traditional pants with a smooth cotton panel that offers all-day comfort. Thanks to the cotton panel, you can leave those uncomfortable thongs in the drawer and stop worrying about panty lines with any of your favorite styles, helping you feel confident and sexy all day long! Check out this video as I explain how Go Free Pants give you the fit and feel you want. http://gofreepants.com/pages/ the-science-behind-the-style
It’s not too late to make a New Year’s
resolution that you can keep. Resolve to buy clothes that fit and flatter your figure. When your clothes fit and look great, you are able to concentrate on life instead of worrying about your weight. And of course, exercising regularly and eating healthy foods is always a great thing to incorporate into your daily life because feeling good is the biggest factor in looking good and feeling sexy! So, go clean out that closet of all those clothes that don’t fit and head to the stores with a new resolve to buy what fits and is comfortable. If you lose weight, then there’s another shopping trip you can enjoy down the road! Tina Ketchie Stearns www.gofreepants.com
February ~ 2015
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5
Ways To Love your Body More
D
By Michelle Alva, PT
id you know that our thoughts about
how much we love and accept ourselves affects our health, our body, and how we feel?
Before you even read this article, close your
eyes and ask yourself this question: “On a zero to 10 scale,
Did you know we feel less pain and experi-
ence more pleasure in our bodies when the relationship we have with ourselves is one where love and acceptance predominates?
I used to be very critical of my body as
a young girl growing how much love do I feel up. My older brother I LOVE for my body?” remember would call me Perceive Your Zero is “UGH, I don’t like “chicken legs” because I my body at all.” 10 is “I Body As A have very thin lower legs. love my body exactly as it I also never developed to Nurturing and is. I am so grateful for my be the full figure latina body and appreciate my woman I thought was Sacred Temple of body.” Reflect on where the perfect shape, as my your love meter reads. Love. breasts and hips never Sometimes we are our seemed to round out as own worst enemy and my mom’s did. All these criticizer for ourselves. Sometimes we are the unmet expectations caused me to feel “not best friend or biggest fan for ourselves. We have good enough” while growing up. a choice, to raise our love hormone by nurturing our body with our thoughts and actions, or My life’s journey has fortunately led me to increase our stress hormone by choosing to to discover powerful and practical ways to feel criticial or disappointed with our body. ignite love from the inside out.
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Try these 5 Practical Ways To Love Your
Body More and Share with us how they benefit you! When we raise our inner love meter, we actually benefit everyone around us! Self-love and acceptance is contagious!
1. Think About Your Body as an
Expression of Love ‌ and Perceive Your Body As A Nurturing and Sacred Temple of Love. As you walk throughout your day, feel your Goddess of Love Walking. Stand tall with your chest open and lifted comfortably. Embody the feeling of love manifested through you! Feel so grateful for being you, for you were created ON PURPOSE. Accept this and own your beauty and grace, there is no one else exactly like you!
2. Eat natural and healthy foods that nourish your heart and soul. What we feed our body effects how we feel. The more natural and fresh the food, the easier it is to digest. Since we are what we eat, make sure to eat rich, densely nutritious foods that also raise your libido according to Licensed Nutritionist Larissa Alonso, who recommends Black Raspberries, Broccoli, Cloves, Watermelon, Ginseng, and Ginger.
3. Love Your Body with daily self-massage
and loving touch rituals. When you wake up each morning, place your hand over your chest and create clock wise circles of love as you massage your chest, heart and lungs. We have many receptors on our chest and abdomen for the love hormone. Feel grateful for yourself and notice how energized and joyful you feel from this simple exercise. February ~ 2015
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4. 4. Loving and Mindful Self-
Awareness Breaths. Take deep and slow loving breaths into your body parts that are in the most need of love and self-acceptance. Ask yourself, “which parts of my body do I need to love more?” Take a deep lovingkindness breath into this body part. For example, breathe into your thighs or belly, and feel lovingkindness towards yourself as you expand your awareness and breathe into these parts. Do your best to notice and be aware of whatever judgements or emotions arise. When we notice and feel our body without any judgement, our body feels accepted and loved. This simple practice of being mindful with ourselves is so healing and reconnecting for us on all levels.
5. 5. Give yourself a smile and a hug
in front of the mirror daily! You are so worth it! When you brush your teeth, or while you put on your make up, look at yourself and see how precious and beautiful you are, because you were created. Appreciate your smile and all your features. Feel grateful for who you see in front of you in the mirror. The more we appreciate ourselves this way, the more we invite others to do the same towards us!
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Practice these simple exercises daily
and let us know how they benefit you! Go to www.michellealva.com to download a free guided meditation to “Let Go and Love More.
Michelle Alva, PT www.michellealva.com
Rose Sugar Lip Scrub
Rose Sugar Lip Scrub
3 Tbs - Sugar Add the 3 ingredients into a jar or small food processor. Stir or process until rose petals break down and it is mixed thoroughly. Apply a small amount to bare lips. Massage in. Lick. Enjoy your smooth lips!
2 Tbs - Honey Petals from one rose Add the 3 ingredients into a jar or small food processor. Stir or process until rose petals break down and it is mixed thoroughly. Apply a small amount to bare lips. Massage in. Lick. Enjoy
-Sharon Otness www.sharonotness.com
your smooth lips! -Sharon Otness www.sharonotness.com February ~ 2015
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As I Begin to Love Myself 5 Steps to a Healthier You
A
s I begin to love myself, I freed myself of anything that is no good for my health…food, people, things, situations, and everything that drew me down and away from myself. At first I called this attitude a healthy egoism. Today I know it is “LOVE OF ONESELF.”
By Kellie Valenti
D
~ Charlie Chaplin
on his 70th birthday o you ever find yourself strug-
gling with getting everything done, finding time for yourself at the end of the day and in the process sticking to your health goals? Don’t fret, you aren’t alone. With our
fast paced lives, crazy schedules and not enough hours in the day, it really leaves us feeling dazed and confused.
I go go go until I drop, cram as much
into my schedule as possible because it
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all HAS to get done. I’m terrible at asking for help and just keep pushing. Can you relate? The problem or problems with this thinking are many.
First, we end up crashing and burning. We get cranky, we might be ditching our healthy habits, we aren’t sleeping enough or well enough, we definitely don’t take enough “down” time, our social lives go south and our relationships suffer.
I talk to so many people that suffer horribly from diges-
tive issues. Much is caused by the processed foods that we reach for because they are everywhere and convenient. If life is harried to begin with, who wants to take the time to fix a great healthy meal?
Stress builds and builds and this also leads to
more digestive issues. These issues then lead to other illnesses and issues. The cycle is unending. What I have found is that when we can incorpo-
1. Set your alarm 30 minutes earlier and use part of this time to pray and/or meditate. You’ll be amazed at how this sets your attitude in positive mode for the day and lowers your stress level.
rate about 20 minutes of personal time a day, we lead healthier, less stressed lives, which in turn leads us to better self-care.
2. Don’t watch that extra show on TV and
We become more mindful of ourselves, those
3. Schedule the time. While this might
around us and we can breathe through the stressful times easier and it doesn’t affect our health in a derogatory way.
...this isn’t being lazy. I know what you’re thinking. 20 minutes a day is
unthinkable…where in the world will I come up with that? Let’s compromise and start with 10 and build to 20. Eventually you might even make more time for you because you can’t fathom going back to the way things currently are….stressed, burning it at both ends and feeling run down and tired all the time.
One of the hardest things for me is telling myself
that this isn’t being lazy. What tends to happen most for me is that when I do take down time, my mind wants to immediately revert to all the things I should be doing and when this happens, I close my eyes, take a deep breath in and slowly release it with the proverbial “to-do-list.” It takes some practice and some patience with
yourself. One of the biggest rewards is that stress levels lower and your overall health will thank you.
Here are some of my favorite ways to carve out
time, be healthier and bring change to life in general.
take that little extra time to journal, take a hot soaking bath or read a good book. sound silly, it works like magic. Schedule your workout, your walk/run time or just you time to do whatever you want to do that’s fun and relaxing.
4. If you spend time in your car or com-
muting to work, use this time to listen to a book, a podcast, or a CD that you’ve been trying to get in but haven’t found the time. You’d be amazed at what you can get done in a 15-20 minute drive or ride.
5. Use your lunch break wisely. Rather than
having lunch at your desk and working through it, put on your walking shoes and get outside. Breathe in fresh air, get your vitamin D and lift your mood by spending time in nature, which has the ability to lower stress and prevent that afternoon slump.
While there are many other ways that I
haven’t listed, and you certainly may have some to add to this short list, the idea is that when you feel cranky, tired and not having enough hours in the day, stop and take 20 minutes for you. In the grand scheme of things, it’s not that much time really and the benefits could save your life, literally. -Kellie Valenti www.livelifeyearsyounger.com February ~ 2015
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Trevi Fountain
This impressive 18th century fountain took 30 years to complete. It was built to honor the legand of a young girl who in 19 BC lead either Soilders or architectures (depending on the story) to a source of water 13 km (8.1 mi) from the city which supplied much needed water via aaquaducts to Rome for 400 years
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February ~ 2015
Would you like to feel
Nourished ? Download your free BodyLovin Goddess Guide to essential oils
GoddessGuidetoEssentialOils.com
February ~ 2015
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BNew ella
Paradigm
Cups of Consciousness By Aleya Dao Increase your creative energy
T
he month of February is a perfect time to tap into your creative current. Let it inspire, motivate, and awaken you. February is also the Chinese New Year. It is the year of the Monkey. The monkey is quick, witty, pushes the limits, and taps into the realm of magic. In numerology 2016 is a nine-year. The nine represents the end of a cycle, and can help you let go of energy that is holding you back. When you combine the energy of the Monkey and a nineyear you are in store for a quick, exciting, passionate ride. In order to get the most out of this month and year you will want to tap into your creative sexual current to a greater degree. The creative energy that flows within you can help you keep up with the fast pace of 2016. It will also inspire, balance, cleanse, and protect you. Inside your body is a stream of
light. This stream flows up and down the spine. In this river of light there is a current of creative sexual energy. This first meditation can help activate the creative energy within your body.
Activate the Creative, Inspiring and Cleansing Current in the Body Meditation The energetic protocols in the meditation are the following…
Invite your body to locate its creative current that is part of the Earth/Nature energy. Activate inspiration and motivation in this creative current. Use this creative current to clean the energy fields, and clear all limitations and energetic cords. Tones to help activate the creative current. May your body tap into and use it creative current in an inspiring way. audio meditation download:
https://aleyadao.box.com/s/ veswduon24kt6rah2i0eqlqtid5eyc4q
I
n honor of Valentine’s Day I have included a second cup to help you retrieve and heal your creative sexual energy. At different points in your journey you may have had your creative sexual energy taken, or you may have energetically given it to others. Your sexual creative energy is most utilized when it is held in your own divine line, which is a river of light that flows within you. When you retrieve it, heal it, and embrace it you will experience greater support and passion in your life.
Retrieve and Heal the Creative Sexual Current Meditation The energetic protocols in the meditation are the following… Invite your Body Deva to retrieve all of it creative sexual energy. Reweave and clean this creative current. Invite your body to energetically locate and release all creative energy that is holding that does not belong to it. Invite your Higher Self to locate and retrieve all streams of your sexual creative current. Clean, clear, and reweave this creative sexual energy. Invite your Higher Self to energetically locate and release all creative energy that you are holding that does not belong to you. Invite your Team to do the same. Tones and light language to help this shift happen in the higher realms. Invite the Higher Self of you, your body deva, and Team to reweave and embrace your own creative sexual currents in your own divine lines. Invite the Higher Self of you and your body deva to clean, clear, and align the crystalline structures within and around the second chakra for your own creative sexual energy. audio meditation download:
https://aleyadao.box.com/s/362u2kfflnz88mw onvj3uckb5lo0ybx8 In every breath may you embrace your own powerful, beautiful sexual creative current. Click here to learn more about your divine line, body deva, and Team.
http://www.aleyadao.com/pages/96/How-ToListen-To-The-Daily-Cups.html -Aleya Dao
L
ove’s Gift: “Giving An A” By Lorraine Cohen
Comparison is the thief of joy. — Theodore Roosevelt
H
ow often do you measure your suc-
The truth is that until we recognize and
cesses to another? How often do you compare yourself to someone else and feel less competent, less confident, or lower self-esteem?
embrace our own value with confidence and self-love, we will always be looking outside for validation.
One of the greatest wounds humanity suffers is
I have struggled with not feeling good
a lack of self-esteem. Growing up in a world of comparisons, grading systems, and competition can bring out your best or deepen entrenched beliefs of not being good enough no matter how hard you try; consistently falling short of feeling satisfaction, pride, contentment and love towards yourself and your life.
enough many times in my life. There are times I still get caught up in self-judgment and frustration. I have come to realize that in every experience I show up in my best Self based on my level of consciousness and what is happening in my life at the time.
I see so many women consistently questioning
Michelangelo is often quoted as having
their worthiness and giving so much of themselves away to try to earn love, appreciation, and respect from others. In the past when I have asked clients struggling with self-worth issues how they would know when they finally became good enough, none of them have had an answer.
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said “that inside every block of stone or marble dwells a beautiful statue and one need only remove the excess material to reveal the work of art within”.
If you were to apply this visionary idea
to how you view yourself and others on a path of personal growth and spiritual
evolution, all of your energy would be focused on chipping away at the stone, letting go of whatever is in your way of developing the skills, mastery and self-expression to consciously create your greatest life. In one of my favorite books, The Art of
Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander, the authors introduce the practice of Giving An A. They write, “The practice of giving an A
is an enlivening way of approaching people that promises to transform you as well as them. It is a shift in attitude that makes it possible for you to speak freely about your own thoughts and feelings while, at the same time, you support others to be all they dream of being. The practice of giving an A transports your
relationships from the world of measurement into the universe of possibility. This A is not an expectation o live up to, but a possibility to live into.” What if you gave an A to everyone you see
and meet? Imagine speaking to people without needing them to measure up to your personal standards or expectations. Approaching people from a place of respect and appreciation of who they are gives them the room and freedom to realize themselves. Giving yourself an A is an opportunity to
remember that you are a perfect reflection of the Divine. And if you saw yourself through the eyes of the Divine, what could you no longer deny?
How would you and your life change? Ready to give yourself an A? Adapted from the Art of Possibility,
write a letter dated one year from the date you do the exercise. Begin the letter with “Dear (your name) I got an A because….. and tell a story, in as much detail as possible, about what has happened to you over the year that is aligned with this extraordinary grade. Place yourself in the future,
and write the letter looking back over the year recording the challenges you overcame, your proudest achievements, how you have grown, how your life has changed, insights, milestones, all that you are ready to claim and own…. Write everything in past tense as if everything has already happened. And over the year practice giving an A
to people in your life – both to people you know and strangers. Observe what you notice about yourself, others, and the experience as a whole. Practice seeing the beautiful statue within the roughness of each person rather than the uncut stone.
Most of all, enjoy the experiences that
each day brings to help you to embrace your magnificent self and shower the world with love!
- Lorraine Cohen http://lorrainecohen.com
February ~ 2015
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Straight Heart from the
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By Carolyn Gervais
e often think of February as a month of
celebrating love, with a partner, a spouse or a potential girlfriend or boyfriend. But what is love? What does it feel and look like on a human romantic level? For too many, Valentine’s Day romance can seem
more like a commodity that many couples no longer can afford, because of the expense of buying flowers, going out to a fancy restaurant for dinner and drinks and probably buying a new outfit for the occasion.
Long ago personal love letters were written to one’s
mate or prospective mate, whereas now most of us purchase Valentine cards written and designed by a stranger, simply because it’s easier and many, have lost the inclination or even the capacity to express their heart felt feelings in words. We call this progress.
Though we may love the person dearly to whom we
give these gifts of love, Valentine’s Day, like so many personal occasions have become commercial bartering tools. What’s often missing in such occasions is authenticity, because a specific ritualistic behavior is
now most of us purchase Valentine cards written and designed by a stranger. . .
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expected. Authenticity comes from the creative aspect of our heart and soul and is not dependent on our pocketbook. More and more people have lost the ability to care, let alone show the depth of their love for their significant other-- because of such concerns as: financial problems, relationship issues, lack of self-worth and an unwillingness to honestly communicate. Whether you can afford a big night
out on Valentine’s Day or not, be creative and genuine in what you do and say; thinking with the love in your heart and expressing it to the one you love. Valentine’s Day need not feel like an obligation to celebrate.
This year create a new and different
way to celebrate your love; a way that is still wonderful and exciting but new to you and your Valentine.
So to all you couples who don’t have
time or the finances to go out on the town for Valentine’s Day--- put your kids to bed early or take them to a family member or friend who will babysit.
Dress up or not, and prepare a special
meal together. Set a nice table with lit candles and dim the lights. Pour two glasses of wine or your beverage of choice, then sit down and unplug from the outside world. Close your eyes for a minute and take some deep breaths, allowing you to move into your heart and open to your true feelings of love with words and actions. Let these genuine authentic words of love; uplift and renew you and your relationship.
Life is too short to give up on the only
thing that makes it worthwhile, which is genuine, generous and authentic love from our heart and soul. Without that kind of love, we live our lives in fear of anything and everyone we don’t know. How we see the world, our self and others, needs to evolve. To not be afraid, we have to understand that first and foremost, most people are just like us; they want and need to feel accepted, cared about, respected and loved. Every heart that beats does so, to love and be loved.
Abuse, self- induced or otherwise is a death
sentence for the heart. Abusiveness in any form will hinder, and even temporarily stop the miracle of giving and receiving genuine love. Emotions of anger and hate are acted upon by people who have no sense of purpose; no sense of self-love or worth. They live for the five-senses and blame others for their anger and hate, believing it will release them from any responsibility for what they do. These heartless acts seem to be taking over the world; so much so that lack of trust for our fellow human can cause us to shut down our ability to love and be loved. How do we handle our fear of people and trust
again? We reach out to those that want and need our moral, ethical and compassionate support, by communicating with loving words and actions. That can mean holding the hands of those suffering in fear, letting them know they are not alone; that all of us will help each other to trust again, and recognize the common decency inside most people. All of us, who care, must work together now more
than ever, no matter our race, religious beliefs, age, sexual orientation, our education or financial status. If we give up on each other, all that will be left is fear. I choose love instead of fear, how about you?
- Carolyn Gervais awakeningyou.com
February ~ 2015
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Make it a Great Day By Jennifer Jimbere
H
ealth is not just the absence of a disease. It’s an inner joyfulness that should be ours all the time; a state of positive well-being. — Deepak Chopra
Y
ou are ready to increase your
optimism, gratitude, flow, values in action and authentic happiness. Ready to learn a new way of thinking to increase the opportunities and possibilities before you. I believe that you are
creative, capable, wise and good. What each of us needs to flourish is different as are each of our journeys. In positive psychology, we look at the strengths that are present and spur on a journey towards even greater knowing to help people thrive and flourish.
them to.
bestselling books on the topic and hundreds of hours studying the field of positive psychology. I have practiced and learned some exercises taught by great teachers in the discipline such as Barbara Fredrickson, Sonja Lyubomirsky, Martin February ~ 2015
One of the key techniques that has been proven
to work wonders is called savoring. It is one of my favorites because it can involve anything you already love but don’t take enough External time to enjoy regularly. It is easy to commit to and has influences amazing bang for your buck or occurrences factor, which is great in a busy schedule. It also allows you to only affect us quickly hit the reset button at a time when you might need if we allow it most.
I’ve adapted some practices from
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Seligman among others and am happy to share 3 with you to support your journey towards living a life greater than you thought possible.
A few times a week I make
sure that I am not looking at emails or distracted by anything else in the quiet of the morning and savor a pot of steeped tea. It makes a huge difference when I start my day like this. I actually get more done because my brain starts from this un-frazzled place.
I invite you to try it! Starting today take 5 minutes to enjoy
something that you usually hurry through. Schedule time for this activity in your day planner if you need to. What would you want to start savoring
There are 4 classic phrases for loving kindness meditation, they are: ӦӦMay you feel safe ӦӦMay you feel happy
today?
ӦӦMay you feel healthy
You are ready to start to choose your
ӦӦMay you live with ease
A mindset is something that is learned,
This sounds very easy, however takes
mindset- happiness!
acquired and put into practice. External influences or occurrences only affect us if we allow them to. Use your Emotional Intelligence to help you become selfaware, assess the situation and find a solution. There is a great book that I read several years ago that still resonates with me as a professional coach. It is called The Art of Possibility by Benjamin Zander. I invite you to practice the art of possibility. Happiness is derived from simply being
and loving yourself!
When I took Positive Psychology
practice over several weeks for it to flow. Ancient teachings remind us to start with ourselves and then build out towards others. Sincerity really matters here, it is not about saying the words, it's about using the words as a springboard for a genuine feeling. If you’d like to try, start today by practic-
ing the loving kindness meditation. Set an intention before starting that you would like to feel these positive emotions. Start with the 4 classic phrases for yourself and then expand that out to your inner circle by placing their names into the phrases.
through the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Dr. Barbara Frederickson I am confident that the positive psycholshared some amazing exercises with us. ogy tips I have shared with you will assist Using meditation teaches people skills for your ability to adopt a positive approach self generating positive emotions. Loving and increase your optimism. Here’s to kindness meditation, shown by research your ability to choose to make it a great has a particular ability to warm people day! up to connect more with others. There is a lot of different kinds of meditation - Jennifer Jimbere practice, this one relies on phrases. http://jimberecoachingandconsulting.com
February ~ 2015
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The Worse Day Ever To Be Single! …Or Is It? By Victoria Wynn
paradigms and letting go of lies we tell ourselves, I can’t help but ask, “Is there another way to look at the holidays as a single person?”
approximately 5 months to heal. 5 months to get to know myself again. 5 months to connect with old friends that I didn’t have “enough time for” before because I was so busy being in the relationship. It was all going beautifully until June 23rd hit. All of a sudden it occurred to me, I’m alone. There was no card and there were no flowers on my door step. I realized what others were talking about regarding being single and the dreaded holiday season, particularly Valentine’s Day- the end all to evil reminders of singularity. As I emotionally worked through my birthday feelings and passed by other holidays were most are coupling up, I shifted my focus from frustration to gratitude.
It was my 42nd birthday. I had been in a year and a
Here are a few actionable
A
h, the dreaded holidays (and birthdays) of the
single man and woman. Everybody is on social media posting pics of engagement rings, walks amongst the holiday lights, flowers sent to her office and the dinner he made from scratch. Such posts can elicit phone throwing, pillow yelling, dating site trolling and way too much wine and beer consumption.
As a professional life coach and trainer on shifting
half long relationship and was used to the usual dinner out or bouquet of flowers on holidays. That relationship ended in spring and I did one of the wisest things I’ve ever done. I went on a “dating time-out”. I took
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steps and mindset shifters that will assist you in looking at holidays from a place of gratitude rather than a focus on loneliness.
4. Remember that your time of being single is 1. Remember that if you are single
right now, chances are strong that it’s because you got clear that that your relationship didn’t serve the path you wanted to be on. Somewhere in there you took a stand for yourself and your goals and thought, “this no longer works for me”, and off you went. That’s something to be proud of. Now if they broke up with you, then I’d simply look at it from a place of gratitude and say “thank you for the clarity”. At the end of the day we only want to be dating someone who is clearly interested in us too.
2. Get into service. During the holi-
days there are so many people that have it much worse than we do. I often take those days to stop thinking about myself for a moment and start getting into action to brighten someone else’s day. Consider homeless shelters, children’s hospitals, widowers homes, neighbors that are lonely, single parents and so on.
just as important a part of your journey as the times you aren’t single. As we step back from the canvas of life, you’ll see that all moments, alone or coupled with another, play a vital role in the grand scheme of your painting of life.
5. Do something that you haven’t done for
yourself in a long while on the holiday you’re alone. For me its paint. I have a really tough time squeezing it into my daily or even weekly schedule. For others it’s the shooting range, golfing, over night camping, reading a book or heading out of town for much needed time away from work.
With some simple mindset shifts, letting go of a
few inner lies about being single and getting into service towards others, you can make any holiday a day to look forward to!
Victoria Wynn TheLiesITellMyself.com
3. Turn Valentine’s into a day of love
and extend that love to your kids. Each year I have a little gift bag with goodies for them, I make a dinner where everything is red and I write a little note and set it by their plate. How beautiful! A day to teach your kids how to love and a day to give them a little extra love. February ~ 2015
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THE POWER OF POSITIVE WORDS
Part II– Vibrations, the key to yourself
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By Arnaud Saint-Paul
e are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.
-Buddha
Beneath the material perception we have
every single moment of all the items and elements around us: water, table, ground and more, exists another world. A world made of eternal vibration which permeates across all internal structures of our world. Vibrations create our surrounding and allow us to distinguish each element. In other words, it is the vibration pattern of an element that will determine the very identity of such object through our perception mechanisms. Like a musical note, everything, everybody,
every e(-)motion, every ‘energy elements’ around us vibrate, each at their own frequency.
Even if our eyes do not necessarily perceive it
evidently, we do know intuitively such truth. We know that sound, like our voice singing or talking, is a manifestation of vibrations like a string of a guitar, the same applies to all that is.
A recent experiment conducted at the MIT
showed in such a brilliant way how music could be reproduced by observing the leaves of a nearby plants. Imagine seeing a plant
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in another room, you do not listen to any sound from that room and just by watching how the leaves of that plant vibrate you can reproduce most of the melody that is played. Watch this incredible video that shows evidence of how vibration in an intrinsic part of our reality: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?t=192&v=FKXOucXB4a8 It also shows that a sound does affect all
its surrounding in a very definite way influencing in this case the behavior of the plant which is ‘dancing to the music’.
Imagine what a set of words does to your environment! Furthermore, a science called Cymatics,
created in the 16th century, focuses on the study of visible sound aka vibration. To fathom the beauty of the vibrations around us one example like this example where only sound was used to animate water, electricity and fire comes to mind. You can watch it on our homepage http:// healthruwords.com. As you can see in this video how water
can change its physical shape according to vibration, Cymatics also explores how sound wave alters the inner structure of water cells akin to Emoto studies as mentioned in my first article.
My friend Jeremy Pfeiffer - Professor of
Sympathetic Vibratory Physics at Pond Institute, carried out a successful experiment showing how water’s structure can be affected by words and sound waves
printed on a paper sheet. As you can see in these pictures, after exposing a bowl of water to a Cymatics Wave in a freezer, the ice took the actual shape of the same wave. In other words, the above mentioned water is now able to carry the information delivered by the Cymatics acting as a memory artifact. Clearly written or spoken words have
a definite impact on our direct physical environment and our own body.
In the next article, we will look at how
positive or negative our thoughts and words are and what choice we can make. We will also offer you a revolutionary tool to change effortlessly‌ with the right words, an HealThruWords exclusive. - Arnaud Saint-Paul http://healthruwords.com
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Rome
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Home to
Wishes you a Happy Valentine’s Day February ~ 2015
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Business
Q&A with
Umoh Luna
BellaMia: As a business
coach working with women, you tend to embrace and balance their feminine and masculine. Share with us the importance?
Umoh: Yes! This is at the cornerstone of
the bigger mission behind my work. Part of my purpose in this lifetime is to restore the balance of power between the masculine and feminine on the planet. We tend to think in terms of either or when it comes to masculine and feminine. But that is not the best use of our energy. It’s kind of like trying to walk on only one leg, when you have two. Unfortunately that is how many of us try to run our businesses and show up in our brands. For example when we are out of balance in the masculine, we overwork, create
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unrealistic expectations, stifle our inner child and creativity, focus of results over people, get stuck in our heads, things in terms of us vs them and become preoccupied with technology, tactics and chasing the next big thing. Being out of balance in the feminine means being busy but not getting anything done, being scattered and unorganized in the spirit of being “in the moment� or spontaneous, sitting around meditating on what we want but not taking any guided action and using spirituality to hide out and stay small. Instead if we bring the two sides together in a divine union that supports and stimulates each
other then we unlock enormous stores of hidden energy, life force and potential. That’s why I focus on blending the sacred(feminine) and the strategic(masculine) in how I do branding and my work with clients. This makes brands and business built on solid foundations that are exceptional, soulful AND successful.
BellaMia: Why is it so important for
people in business to take emotional care of themselves and play?
Umoh: This is an edge for me so it’s one
of the reasons I talk about it a lot. When you have your own business as you know we are always given the opportunity to grow and expand personally and spiritually. If we don’t make time and space for that we will never reach the big milestones and the all the people our work is meant to uplift and inspire to change. A good 90% of what creates success in an inside job, our beliefs and vibration. If you want to grow and expand fast enough to kept up with your big mission and vision, you can do it two ways.
don’t be boring. This is the cardinal sin in branding.
You can run yourself into the ground and get by on adrenaline and chemical stimulants or you can take care of yourself and raise your vibration to hold space for your bigger calling. And play is one of the fastest and easiest ways to raise your vibration and create space for something new and beautiful. I don’t know about you but I only see one viable and sustainable option.
BellaMia: Can you give us a sneak
peek into why as a business branding is so important?
Umoh: Yes definitely. There are a lot of
reasons but here are the top 2, one sacred and one strategic. Here’s the strategic. When you have nailed your brand you stand out, shine and broadcast your message. Why is this important? Because then you no longer have to chase clients. When you do the strategic work to really drill down your brand, you then easily magnetize your ideal audience to you with feminine grace. It becomes a lot easier for your high quality clients to find you and say yes to your offerings. That’s the first reason. The second reason is anchored in the sacred. A strong brand that is also aligned with your deeper essence and sacred work then become a strong vehicle for powerful transformation on the planet. Let me explain. When your brand is strategic, sacred and aligned then you positively touch everyone that interacts February ~ 2015
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with your brand even if they never buy anything from you. The energy and bandwidth of everything you do then become 10 times stronger and more intense. Which means it touches and transforms more people in a profound and powerful way.
BellaMia: Tell us what the 3 most
common branding blunders that turn off high paying clients and block your cash flow.
Umoh: Number one, don’t be boring.
This is the cardinal sin in branding. A lot people make the mistake of trying to water themselves down to be more attractive to a broader audience but instead you blend into
You risk coming off as plastic, superficial and inauthentic..
the background and no one notices you. Of course if no one notices you, it going to be a lot harder to get clients or make money. Especially as the marketplace gets more and more crowded, you have to have something different and unique about you to stand out and get your voice gets heard.
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The second one is related. Being overly worried about being perfect and professional. Of course you need to position yourself well and you don’t want to be sloppy. But you don’t want everything about your brand sleek, super polished, and photoshop perfect. You risk coming off as plastic, superficial and inauthentic. You don’t leave room for vulnerability. This alienates your audience. People are more and more savvy, overstimulated and looking for something real and authentic that they can relate to and resonate with on a deep level. People buy from an emotional place and plastic does not activate the emotional brain. The third is using your brand as a shield or a mask. Old paradigm branding frequently came from this perspective. Using your brand as something bright and shiny to hide behind. Hiding out like the wizard of Oz behind the curtain and broadcasting something brilliant and magnificent but that isn’t who you really are. Like I said our audiences are more savvy and even a bit cynical. People can sense this kind of disconnect quickly and instead of calling in quality clients it repels then. If you want a strong stand out brand, do the opposite. Instead build a beautiful, bold brand around who you really are, that highlights what is special, brilliant and magnificent about you and your journey warts and all. And do it in a way that is real, honest and vulnerable. Then you will create powerful connection and resonance with your people and your tribe will COME TO YOU!
BellaMia: What inspires you to do
what you do?
Umoh: I love helping people especially
women to own their worth, delight in sharing their magic and get paid for it. Branding is a beautiful way to help people do that in a way that springs from the best of who they are, their deepest gifts and highest calling. I love this quote“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” That’s what inspires me is helping people come alive. Imagine what a beautiful and peaceful world we would all live in if we all did work that come from our sacred magic and made us feel passionately and joyfully alive. That is the world I want to live in.
Umoh Luna is a highly
gifted speaker, writer and Brand Midwife. She guides ambitious soulful women entrepreneurs to birth their sacred brand so they can have plenty of quality clients who get results and pay good money while living in complete divine alignment.
She discovered the core of this deep work struggling and stumbling on her own entrepreneurial path and spiritual journey over the last 9 years. Last year she finally figured out the secrets and blind spots that kept her stuck. And she shares them freely and frequently! Her expertise is in blending the sacred and the strategic. She teaches how to gather your premium tribe of quality clients with a brand built around your Sacred Contract and Soul Path Archetypes. You can check her out and sign up for her Sacred Branding Client Attraction Guide at sacredbranding.com February ~ 2015
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Change Your Past To Get Better Results In Your
Business Now! By Angela Gower-Johnson
I
s a bad business deal keeping you from moving forward? One of the biggest obstacles I see with people
in business is how the past is affecting their current and future results. The most common scenario is a deal or relationship gone bad. These scenarios create hesitation, doubt and fear that range from barely there to something much bigger! The first step in changing how you feel about
a past situation is to change what it means to you. It is easy to give value and meaning to something. We get to choose what that is. The problem is we often look to friends, family or our peers to define what something means.
Choose one scenario from your past that you
don’t like, something that just didn’t turn out the way you wanted it to. Now put your focus and attention on you right now. Are you OK?
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You are here reading these words. Are you OK? You survived! Can you really embrace and acknowledge how you in this moment are OK. Maybe you are even better than OK. Perhaps you are doing really well! From this place it is a little bit easier to change how you view that ‘thing’. I’d like for you to find three small things from
your past that you don’t like. Now come back to the present and tap into the energy that in this moment you are good. In this exact moment, right this second, it’s a good time to just breathe and soften. In this moment you can be at peace and know that just now everything is good. You are good. Now go back and look at those three things that
you didn’t like. And acknowledge that the stuff you didn’t like about them is actually in the past and you are in the now AND you are good right now! Go back to looking at or feeling those three
things you didn’t like. What is different about those things now? What has changed? February ~ 2015
If your belief is that you are the Creator of
your life and that there is also some outside force that supports you in creating, can you bring that belief system into play? Perhaps you can acknowledge now that you created that thing you didn’t like.
Remember that you are the Creator of your
life and your reality. Everything that has happened in the past has created who and what you are now and it is creating your future. Start acknowledging your power in choosing and creating the things you didn’t like. This is a great way to get your
Acknowledge it from a
place of deep kindness and caring. Free of any judgment. Your logical mind is not capable of comprehending the vastness of this energetic yet very physical life you are creating. This is where you need to tap into your intuition, connect with a Higher Power and tap into your Greatness.
...get your power back from those people, places, deals and events.
What if you could dedicate a good 15 min-
utes a day to connecting with whatever ‘source of power’ you believe in?
What can you do for 15 minutes every day
that would strengthen that connection?
If you have a busy fast paced mind you
might want to start with an active meditation. Walking, dance, chanting, bike riding and most sports are active forms of meditation. I love doing a combination of chanting questions to get me out of my logical mind and into my Greatness while opening me up to the possibilities. Are you acknowledging your own power and ability to create?
power back from those people, places, deals and events. It will also build on your ability to completely trust yourself and your ability to make the right choices! All you have to do is start
owning that on some level, no matter how deep and for whatever unknown reason you choose that event or situation that you didn’t like.
I had a client come to me to help her get a
job in corporate. She had fear of not being respected or treated well as her pattern was to be abused, looked over and made wrong. I gave her this process of changing the energy of those past situations. She dove into the process and not only was
she able to get a job that was $50K a year more than her previous job; she was able to change that pattern of having a bad relationship with her immediate supervisor. She was able to have a level of confidence, faith and trust that she just didn’t have before. Angela Gower-Johnson www.ultimatedreamproject.com
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Music Q&A with
The Lisa Sanders Band Bella Mia: Share with us how music
favorites were and argue that our pick was better than the other.
Lisa: As long as I can remember music
When my brother was ten my mother walked across town and bought my brother his very first electric guitar from a pawn shop. And from there it sealed the idea that music was really a very cool thing. Pretty good memories there for me. And I believe set the foundation for my life in music.
came into your life.
has been in my life. When I was in elementary my mom had bought a Hi Fi and stocked it with 45 records of Motown Hits like the Temptations, The Four Tops, Diana Ross and The Supremes. My big brother Ty and I loved to sing along with those records. I shared a room with Ty so on hot summer nights we would listen to his transistor radio of the songs of the day and try and sing them. We’d pick who our
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BellaMia: Tell us about Epic Lisa: The Epic came to me after watching True
Lives on MTV. It’s based on a episode about girl who left home as a teen to make herself a better life because everyone in her life had always told her she
was a looser. Tore my heart out having two daughters of my own. I had to write about it. Now it has become a music video and has raised money for the Homeless teen and youth population in America. I really hope to do much more with them.
impact has blossomed into my girls becoming amazing women. One is an Engineer and the other graduated from a Ivy league school with a bachelors in art. At the time it seemed pretty stressful and scary at times but when I look back I’m just grateful for how well they turned out.
BellaMia: Who is Brown Sugar
BellaMia: What motivates your work?
Lisa: Brown Sugar aka Karen Hayes is my
Lisa: The human experience motivates all of my
partner in life and on stage. She has been in my family for more than half my life. She sings harmony and adds to the show in a way that truly delights and inspires people. I know she inspires me. I have written many songs inspired by her. She is truly a gift to me.
music. I pretty much never know what I’m going to write about when I pick up my guitar. Could be something Im going through or something I’ve observed in others. Sometimes its just to play and a song comes out that is timely . That has always suprised and amazed me how it just for the most part just happens.
BellaMia: Describe your genre? Lisa: It is Americana. I would say my
music is a mixture of Country, Pop, Soul and a little jazz sprinkled here and there!
BellaMia: You were a single mom and you got a record deal, how did that impact your life?
Lisa: Yes, I was a single mom with two
young daughters and I would say it was a doozey at times. I had to balance being a full time mom with handling a record deal, publishing deal, shows and touring, hockey games, soccer games. karate and school. Not unlike most mom’s I guess. I managed by including the girls in whatever show’s I had by taking them with me as long as the venue’s permitted . They are on the cover of my first studio record label release. I loved that I had something artistic to share with my girls and that they also could see a women doing the best that she could to make a better life for them. I think the
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Aries
21 March – 20 April A friendly approach with an open mind concerning a project that is in need of some nourishment will amplify your desire as you allow need to be set free. Be careful not to over accelerate around the twelfth of the month- as a dip within your physical fuel will overwhelm your mental state. After the fourteenth of the month you will be back on track with fresh ideas that align with your soul mission. For love and romance your radar is vibrant- be aware of selfsabotaging behaviors. You’re worthy!
Leo
24 July – 23 August Wow!!! Your champion spirit is on fire at the beginning of the month Leo. You are raring to go- and will be working effortlessly within the adventurous side of your personality. Be ready to create momentum and be ready to experience the spiritual high which will flow into the conga of success! You will be surrounded by yellow as your selfconfidence will soar with the effect of healing the silliness that others stress about. Be the best!
Sagittarius
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Taurus
21st April – 21 May A month for re-energizing old wounds with a feng shui mind-set. Absolutely no area of your home or office will be left untouched; even the car will be shining which will automatically clear your mind from distractions, and unhealthy thoughts. Taurus you are much focused this month- I feel your third eye operating which will heighten your senses- your intuition; your masculine energy will give you the strength to break free from habit. You will experience a major breakthrough!
Virgo
24 August – 23 Sept A busy month ahead with an elegant style to your finishing touches around your material objects within your living space. By mid-month your thoughts will be aligned with your heart as you feel that it is the right time to write the next chapter for your future. Dreams come true through belief and hardship will not exist at this precious moment as you have a clear understanding of how things will flow from now on. Work within the magic of your desire!
Capricorn
23 Nov – 21 Dec
22 Dec – 20 Jan
Sagittarius as I step into your vibration I am patiently waiting on good news to arrive. With your positive attitude- always look on the brighter side of life- and all your hard work- the universe is corresponding with your desire. You are in for some fun, luck, and a vibrational hit of success! Your soul will work in harmony with the cosmos on a numerous occasions this month. Be sure to have an awareness of your thoughts and align with your dreams. What you want is yours!
A motivational month ahead that will deliver a good energy supply concerning your overall wellness. Health checks and nutritional focus will fight off negativities that have held you back in the past. Walking beneath the stars will spark the magic within your aura as you magnetically draw the things that have meaning in, and around your personal life. Now is a good time to make a meaningful wish as your fairy godmother works with your higher calling. Mix things up this month!
Gemini
22 May – 21 June
Libra
– 23 July
Movie nights and catch up television sound very promising this month for you. I feel you are happy to alienate yourself from the world around the fifth, but by the fifteenth of the month you will be looking into booking a family vacation, and a historic adventure with friends. As a good listener your help may be beneficial to those who are struggling with decision making; do not doubt your intuitionyour advice is spectacular. A love triangle may form!
Scorpio
24 Sept – 23 Oct
24 Oct – 22 Nov
Feeling a little stuck at the beginning of the month seems to be pulling on your worthiness as you just can’t vibrantly see a way forward. This is all part of the master plan for you Libra as your passionate part of your personality is having a really good clear out. By mid-month you will add colour to your black and white train of thoughts that will automatically clear your channels adding vibrancy to your vision board. A reunion from with a friend compliments your readiness! Sleep disturbances may arise!
A happy go lucky attitude will break through by the sixth as you decide what is important and what is not. A month for friendship, socialising, and spoiling those closest to your heart will satisfy your need for stimulation. By mid-month your working life will be needy of your time- be careful not to take on too much overtime to please others; think before you accept any offers. Financially February is a good month to start saving, and reducing debts. The promotion is yours if you want it!
Aquarius
Pisces
21 Jan – 19 Feb
20 Feb – 20 March
This is your month to get back on track with your spontaneous side; whether it’s warm, cold, wet, or windy you’re eager to explore the wilderness which will compliment your stress free zone! You may feel the need to spend time connecting with your-self for most of the month which may harness partnership issues; expressing your emotions with loved ones will resolve any conflicts. Be sure to absorb as much solar energy as you can daily- it is important for your physical fuel. You are the creator!
You are over-thinking things which will only make room for drama; sit back - breathe and bring your focus to the present. Make a list of what you would like to achieve and pay attention to how quickly your thoughts will change. By the twelfth of February you will feel emotionally, and mentally ready to indulge in projects that have been put onto the shelf lately. Adding colour to your home, and office will promote harmonious attractions. Focus on what makes you feel good! February ~ 2015
By Suzanne Taylor ~ Angel Channel ~ talkwiththedatingcoach@gmail.com
Feeling a little tired after all your spontaneous acts of ? Exactly! A month to re-charge but most importantly; keep yourself grounded. Your thoughts will sway towards financial stability by the seventh of February- expect to hear news concerning a job that will open a new channel of light within your heart. Training to advance your work status will also be on the cards for you. A change in fashion will reflect the hidden parts of your personality this month. Be brave!
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B Spotlight ella
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arolyn’s life
was filled with music opportunities, as she grew she yearned to know herself on an inner level and began that search with some profound soul awakenings. After more than thirty-five years she continues to develop her spiritual self, through meditation, contemplation, study, and an abundance of life experiences, including her many “mystical experiences�, such as conscious parallel realities. Carolyn has developed intuitive modalities through which she is able to bring clarity to people in need of answers, and authored the book, I Dreamed I Was Human: Awakening from the Illusion. awakeningyou.com
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arolyn Gervais Spiritual Teach/Author
a l l Be
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