What a time of year to reflect. As I write this, I am thinking of January 4 of 2004. That was the day I filed for my first business license as an independent trainer. 20 years later, I am still here! My name has changed twice, but the business is still the same- helping my community prioritize self care! I know I am making a difference every day by helping people take care of themselves through training sessions, my website and blog, speaking engagements, YouTube channel, social media, and most recently, podcasting. I realized that I love to write because it helps me process the project at hand and really celebrate significant moments. Let me tell you, it never gets boring. There is always something to work on.
My business has gone through many seasons over the past 2 decades. I started as an independent contractor, opened a storefront and later closed the storefront, merged with a couple of people and later parted ways with them, constructed a studio on my property and started training from home, had a baby, moved to training online, and started my podcast. Looking back at all this change, I can't help but think all of the lessons and blessings that came from it. Like the seasons, there is a cycle of things coming into being and then fading away. Much like seeds that break open in order to sprout and grow into something new, I have felt the pain of transition as well as the new energy it brings. When you resist change, sometimes you can’t see the new and positive things. One of my favorite changes has been new people joining and contributing to our community. Thank you for everything. Whether it was a hand with moving, ideas for races, bringing your friends to a semi-private, or showing kindness to one another, you remind me that it is always worth putting yourself out there. Gracias mi gente! Happy New Year, and cheers to new transitions. What do you want? Write it down and let’s support each other!
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An easy and hearty meal, I whipped this up for breakfast. As a plus - so easy to adapt to ingredients on hand!
Ingredients 2 cups sliced asparagus (½-inch pieces)* 1 red bell pepper, finely chopped* *-substitute with whatever is in your fridge. I used broccoli, red peppers, and mushrooms 1 cup milk 2 tablespoons rice flour 3 eggs 1 cup chopped ham 2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon or basil ½ teaspoon salt ¼ teaspoon black pepper ½ cup (2 ounces) finely shredded Swiss cheese- used queso fresco Instructions: 1. Preheat oven to 350°F. 2. Combine asparagus, bell pepper, and 1 tablespoon water in microwavable bowl. Cover with waxed paper; microwave on HIGH 2 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender. Drain. You can also sauté on an iron skillet with a little oil. 3. Whisk milk and rice flour in large bowl. 4. Whisk in eggs until well blended. Stir in vegetables, ham, tarragon, salt and black pepper. 5. Pour into 9-inch pie plate. 6. Bake 35 minutes. Sprinkle cheese over the fritta; bake for 5 more minutes, or until center is set and cheese is melted. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Makes 6 servings My client Chris is in the Thalia Symphony and we went to her concert! It was so much fun and we got to go on stage! How awesome was it to have these little girls recognize the Polar Express and frozen songs?! Thank you so much Chris~ This time of year can bring up a lot of feeling and emotions. For me especially, they are both happy and sad ones. I lost my brother 15 years ago during this time. Six years later, my daughter was born on that same anniversary day (after having two miscarriages). No wonder I have so many ups and downs, they are polar opposites and are so intense. I'm not saying anything is good bad, right or wrong, only that I became aware of the source of my own anxiety and apathy and my urge to drown those feeling out with shopping, food or busying myself so that I wouldn't have to deal with sorting them out. I decided during covid that I wasn't going to let my overwhelm get the best of me.
I started small by asking myself: What is most important? I landed on this: quality time with family and friends. I've done different holiday challenges each year to keep myself and friends grounded in what is ultimately important- our health and quality of life. I've lost both parents and a brother in the last 3 years, so I no longer take things for granted. I am more self-aware about what brings me energy and what robs my energy. With this knowledge, I make sure to find ways to achieve balance. On the one hand, there are things that create stress and my ability to release that stress by processing my emotions. This helps me not to drop too low on energy. On the other hand, I intentionally fill my cup with kind acts towards myself and others, practicing self-care and teaching my community how to hang on when life gets rough. So yes, things go up and down, but I have tools that make me more resilient. For example, I suddenly felt a panic as I went into Costco for our weekly needs and saw a massive influx of people. I took a breath, focused, and stuck to my list. My daughter was also there to remind me 'to stick to the shopping list' (she's great for that). Later, when I thought about my reaction to the crowds and the chaos, I decided I didn't want to participate in the consumerism aspect of Christmas. I let my family know I would gift them 'experiences' instead of 'stuff'. My body and soul just felt more at peace. This year, I decided to invite friends over for a holiday brunch so we could enjoy each other's company outside of the gym and get to know each other better. I love it when my people meet and start going to things together or find that their interests align. It builds that trust and sense of community. As we share ideas of how to make this workout thing work for us, we figure out our schedules, cook healthy food, sign up for events, and find other ways to feed our soul good quality nourishment in the form of relationships. I invite to share your talents, interest, ideas, and get our little ones involved, too. I made these delicious pies for a holiday party and they were a hit! So I thought I'd share. I made it easy by using store-bought crust; you can even find frozen gluten-free crusts. I got this walnut idea from my backpacking trip to Stehekin. The Stehekin Valley Ranch had them on hand and it was absolutely delicious. And like always, I made it a healthy version of it.
Walnut Maple Pie Ingredients: 1 frozen pie sheell 2 cups of roughly chopped walnuts 2 large eggs, beaten 1 cup of maple syrup 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 tablespoon melted butter 2 tablespoon of arrow root flour (or tapioca flour) 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg Instructions: 1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F 2. In a large bowl, mix together the beaten eggs, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and melted butter. Sprinkle in the arrow root flour, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Whisk until smooth. 3. Spread chopped walnut over the bottom of pie shell. Pour the base over the walnuts in the pie shell. 4. Place the pie in the preheated oven on the middle rack. Place a cookie sheet on the rack underneath to catch any drippings from the pie crust. 5. Bake for 40-45 minutes. After 20 minutes, put foil around pie edges to keep them from burning. Cool completely before serving and enjoy. I made my pie a day ahead of the event to ensure it had time to settle. Apple Pie (I only had 4 large fuji apples and every recipe I looked at asked for Granny Smith, which meant I didn't need to use as much sweetener!) Ingredients: 2 frozen pie crusts for a 9 inch pie 4 large peeled and sliced fuji apples 1/2 cup of brown sugar (you can use date syrup instead) 1 teaspoon of cinnamon 2 tablespoon of tapioca flour 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg 1 tablespoons of lemon juice and half of the zest. 1 large egg, beaten 1 tablespoons of brown sugar (you can use coconut sugar instead) Instructions: 1. Preheat oven to 400 degree Fahrenheit. 2. Defrost the pie crust and rollover bottom of pie sheet. 3. In a large bowl, mix sliced apples, coconut sugar, cinnamon, tapioca flour, nutmeg and lemon juice and mix until coated. Place into the pie crust. 4. Roll the top crust over the pie and press the dough from the edges of the pie together to seal and fold together. Use a knife and make slits into the pie crust to allow the steam to vent. 5. Brush the top of the pie and sprinkle brown sugar on top. Cover the edge with foil to keep from burning. 6. Bake at 400 degrees F for 25 minutes. 7. Turn down to 375 and remove the foil from edges and bake for an additional 30-35 minutes. Top will be brown and bubbly. Cool for 3 hours and enjoy. I made my pie a day ahead of the event to ensure it had time to settle. used as a reference: https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/walnut_maple_pie/?print https://littlespoonfarm.com/apple-pie-recipe/#recipe Dr Lauden Fogel Mersy said, "Deep breathing is our nervous system's love language," and when we don't breathe, it causes stress in both the nervous system and our bodies. Diaphragmatic breathing- belly and abdominal breathing- was not on my radar until I met with my naturopathic doctor to discuss stress. I laugh now, thinking, "What stress?" I wasn't taking the full breath into my lungs, which means I wasn't fully exhaling.
Breathing exercises activate the parasympathetic nervous system, a network of nerves that helps our bodies relax after stressful or dangerous situations. It also helps life-sustaining processes like digestion. This year, I learned how to reset my old breathing patterns by locating the tension through somatic therapeutic massage. Areas like my neck, chest, shoulders, and even biceps used to be so tense that they hurt to the touch. No wonder I felt stressed and was not fully breathing. When the therapist held the muscle in place and took it to its range of motion, wow- that was intense. I am able to move better now that those areas were released. Now I have two goals when it coms to breathing. The first is to take time out for conscious breathing. I have been practicing box breathing in particular: breathing in for a 4 second count, holding for 4 seconds, breathing out for 4 seconds, then holding again for 4 seconds. Fully breathe in and out and through your nose and pay attention to the sensations in your body. Diaphragmatic breathing can have a gentle massage-like effect on the internal organs such as the stomach, intestines, liver, and pancreas. This can potentially aid in digestion and overall organ function by delivering more blood flow and oxygen to them. The second is to breathe while exercising. It might seem obvious, but I have seen a lot of people hold their breath when workout out or lifting weights. Not breathing puts double stress on your body- stress from training on top of stress from not breathing. This puts people off working out because it feels way harder than it has to! How can you implement this into your life? Baby steps. Take a minute in your day- I like to do this in the morning- and breathe fully for 1 minute. This can be a meditative process as well. Or you can pause for one or two conscious breaths at any time throughout your day, multiple times a day. This will pull you back into the moment and over time, help you stay in your body and present-minded. So take a deep breath and enjoy the benefits- including less stress and better sleep! |
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