180 in 180 Days 11 & 12

Hey Ya'll,
Yesterday I managed to forget that I had two different posts that needed to be made and only did one of them. Oops, good thing ya'll aren't paying me HA! Well, let's see yesterday and today were both excellent food days for me. (Today was really just full of yesterday's leftovers) I ate sauteed kale for breakfast yesterday and a green apple with peanut butter for breakfast this morning. Those were the only differences in my meals between yesterday and today.

Dinner: Baked Tilapia with roasted potatoes and steamed fresh green beans

Beans and rice for lunch from Monday night's leftovers

****ATTENTION TMI MOMENT, skip to the next paragraph if you are sensitive**** Let's just say eating your greens makes for easy digestion if you know what I mean. Man alive! I am just glad that the body acclimates and calms down after a short period of consistent habits.

After having conversations with 2 people whose opinions I value I have come to the conclusion that whatever I choose professionally will not be easy to obtain. It will not be a cash cow. And these two points may very well make my husband uncomfortable for a short period of time, but I'm okay with that. I'm okay with stepping inside of myself to dig deep and find my joy. And because I know myself I know that it will not make my 6 figures a year, but that is why I joined a life long team (i.e. got married) We get to balance each other out and make our lives successful by filling in the gaps, a true Yin and Yang relationship. Getting to deepen my yoga practice is really helping me move through these feelings. Slow, but present, progress in less than 2 weeks. All because I am actually seeking change, but through focusing on my practices that make happy rather than focusing on the symptoms of my broken spirits (weight, skin, finances, etc.) I am so grateful to my experience with IIN, even if I don't become a classic health coach, because I have solidified my understanding of how to make my own life better. How to allow myself to fit Out rather than trying to find a little cubby hole in everyone else's world to fit Into. As I pull my life back in line, I ask you what are you okay with for your own life that doesn't necessarily fit into other's ideas for your life? As those thoughts come up, whether or not you choose to share, I wish you:
Peace & Namaste Ya'll   

180 in 180 Day 10

Hey Ya'll,
As of today, my plant based detox went really well. I had green juice for breakfast which was a nice jump start to the gut and even to my mind.I did add some fish to my roasted cabbage and tomatoes at lunch because I realized that I didn't have a grain and I would be ready to murder someone for a sandwich by 1:00pm if I didn't add a little fat and/or protein. I normally don't like using my crock-pot, mostly because I don't use it enough to really develop a relationship with it, but I plugged it in this morning and succeeded in making one of the best batches of vegetarian chili beans I have ever made in a long time. As you can tell I am proud of myself. Unfortunately I'm still really terrible about taking photos before I eat because I'm usually so hungry I forget. I'm working on it, I promise more pictures will be taken and I will share freely. Baked sweet potatoes and sauteed kale accompanied my beans tonight and I am satisfied.

On another note I would like to my greatest gratitude into the universe for the creators, teachers, and doers of yoga. Today was one of those days where I daydreamed about walking out on my job and never looking back. But I just kept breathing and told myself that if I can just make it to yoga I can survive the day. And guess what? It was true! I made it to yoga and by the end of class I felt so much better about my day, about my life even. I wish I could feel like that at all times, just floating within myself feeling present and connected to my world. I want to practice all the time and just lose myself in a yogi high. Speaking of yoga, there is a new documentary underway about the great guru of Iyengar yoga. I would love to see this film be finished soon and presented to the world. It is a story that needs to be told. So hopefully if you  are reading this and able to donate even $5 you might decide to help the independent filmmaker finish this amazing project.


http://igg.me/at/sadhakafilm

“Love is what we are born with. Fear is what we learn. The spiritual journey is the unlearning of fear and prejudices and the acceptance of love back in our hearts. Love is the essential reality and our purpose on earth. To be consciously aware of it, to experience love in ourselves and others, is the meaning of life. Meaning does not lie in things. Meaning lies in us.” - Marianne Williamson

Peace and Namaste Ya'll

180 in 180 Day 9

Hey Ya'll,
So today was the end of the live streaming IIN conference and I'll tell you something. This conference has been kind of serendipitous for me. If you read my post from yesterday you remember me mentioning that I am considering setting myself up on a detox for the rest of this journey. Well the fantastic Alexandra Jaimeson was one of our speakers today and she spoke about detoxifying the body and some of the ways to approach it. It was as if my spirit spoke to the universe and the universe answered directly. So I decided that starting tomorrow I will eliminate all land animals and their products. There will still be no wheat, especially since I've found that I have a bit of an allergy/sensitivity to it. Sustainable seafood that can be sourced and verified as responsibly caught will be had maybe twice a week at the most. My focus is to add more and more veggies, plenty of whole grains, nuts, beans, peas, and legumes. I want to focus of what to have rather than what not to have, then there is less of a sense of deprivation and more of a challenge to display culinary creativity.

Now with today being Cinco de Mayo and my daughter and I having a shared love of Mexican food, but constantly getting vetoed by my husband when we want to have it for dinner. We took advantage of the day and made a platter that literally lasted us a couple of meals today. Good thing I started my morning with a fresh pressed green juice.

Bean and cheese nachos with homemade guacamole and plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream.

So tomorrow I hope to start focusing on filling my life with more greens and grounding myself in my yoga practice. I want to remove the barriers that I have put up to block the real me from being exposed to the world. Fear of pain has stunted me so now the idea is for this detox to reconnect me to myself, my passions, and my purpose in this life. I seek peace and the opportunity to spread hope and love but that cannot be possible without grounding myself back into my mind, body, and spirit. Did any of you decide to detox? If you would like help fashioning one for yourself I would be glad to help. Just comment below. 

Peace & Namate Ya'll

180 in 180 Day 8

Hey Ya'll,
Happy Saturday!! This morning my family and I walked a 5k for the March of Dimes. I was so proud of my little munchkin princess because she was excited to be serving others in such a powerful manner. After that I hooked up my computer and watched the live streaming conference that is going on this weekend at IIN. There have been so many powerful and passion people speaking about making our lives clean, peaceful, and abundantly healthy. And then taking our experiences and spreading across the world to make for a cleaner, more peaceful, and overall healthy place to live. I love everything that I am learning in this program and having like minded people to chat with, even if it is only online. It fuels me to be who I am and ignore the people who are in my immediate networks urging me to be "normal". I have never been like others around me and that has always been just fine with me. Now I get the chance to turn my differences into a way of life as well as a living.

Walking up Lavaca towards the Capital Building during the March of Dimes 5k.

After watching the conference I've started thinking about fashioning a detox plan for myself during what's left of my 180 days. I have not finalized my decision yet, but I'm leaning more towards a vegan diet for at least the next 30 days but maybe longer. I think I'll commit to a specific plan tomorrow once I go grocery shopping. I've always seen detoxifying as a form of meditation, in my religious up bringing fasting is a way of committing to hearing The Most High's next plan for you. In my life now I still feel the same way, but I also feel that it allows my body to talk to me and make room for what we need to be able to do. So this is not about losing weight or "jump starting my diet" for me. This is really about connecting with my Creator as well as connecting with this process that I'm going through in my 180 days. I will sleep on my thoughts tonight and allow the parameters to be set. I think this will be necessary in the efforts of my turn around. Is there another level in your journey that is signaling you to be added to your journey? We shall talk about it later, until then...
Peace & Namaste Ya'll

180 in 180 Day 7

Hey Ya'll,
I am ending the last day in my first week of my journey and I think the biggest revelation I'm closing this week out with is that where I am right now is perfectly okay...For Now. That wanting more doesn't have to equal waiting until the day when *insert perfect conditions here* happens in order to feel happy. Or waiting to feel worthy of taking care of myself in specific ways. I don't have to be 50 pounds lighter to deserve a new pair of shoes. I don't have to love the way every inch of me looks naked in order to look in the mirror every morning and be okay with the face staring back at me. I've also gathered that doing what I love makes all of the less enjoyable tasks of my day that much more bearable. Right now I'm rejuvenated and determined, I know that each day brings about new trails and new lessons to learn about myself. All I can do is take each day on, one at a time.

On another note my yoga practice has really picked up and I've even made it into new studio that I joined 3 times this week so far. I'm very proud of myself for this, because so often I end up with what seems like dozens of barriers between me and my practice. I've decided that practicing fills me with too much joy to not partake in it as often as possible. My focus this (in just these 7 days) has shifted from "trying to lose weight" sitting quietly at the forefront of my mind, to wanting a beautiful, evolved, enlightened, advanced practice. Walking clears my lungs and yoga clears everything else. My mind, my intestines, my heart, my spirit it all just clears and rejuvenates with a steady practice for me. This is a feeling that I want to maintain, that I will maintain. Now if only I had a friend or two who loved it as I do, I could really flourish and thrive. Hmm, how many of you have a yoga practice that you are constantly growing in? What style do you primarily practice in? If anything can help move me to the next stage in my life yoga can, and I'm ready for it.
Peace & Namaste Ya'll

180 in 180 Day 6

Hey Ya'll,
Today the weather here in Texas is drunk and I'm sending it home. We went from 85 degrees as our high yesterday to 48 degrees as our high today with high blowing winds that made me feel like a visit to OZ was in my immediate future. Oh, and tomorrow it will be around 75 degrees and climbing throughout the weekend for a warm and muggy Cinco de Mayo.

I am going to be honest, today I'm feeling a little defeated. I seem to alternate days of awesome and bleh and it's getting kind of old. My food choices weren't horrible, so that's not what took me out. It was more the realization that I just have to ride certain things out until the door is open wide enough for me to fit through and escape. I have to stop checking out mentally at the hopes of future situations to come and simply be present. To be present and grateful for the moment that I am in today, right now. I deserve to be exactly where I am right now because of the decisions that I made to get me here and now I have to do something else to earn my way into another position. But realizing this makes me a little sad. I guess that's really because it has taken me so long to even try to start thinking about myself and what I want out of life and what I was going to take out of life. When most people were doing this in their teens and twenties I was thinking about and looking after other people first and foremost. But now that I realize that I both need and deserve to do/have what makes me happy I can't just stop functioning for others. So things are going to have to tip toe and take baby steps even though I'm so ready to just leap into life head first.
The Most High has a funny way of giving you everything you ask for and then making you wade through your wishes to want and receive what was actually planned for you. I know something is coming my way, I just hope I don't have much more wading to do. I think I'll go do some bedtime yoga and meditate a little before bed in hopes of being able to receive my Creator's plan for me. and I will continue to meditate and receive each night until I am no longer physically able to do so.
When was the last time you connected with your Creator?
Peace & Namaste Ya'll

180 in 180 Day 5

Hey Ya'll,
Day 5 and I'm feeling internally mobile, if that makes any sense? I think what I mean by that is, I can feel a lot of emotional and spiritual shifting happening for me. I'm also really hunting around for different work options. Writing is helping me sort out all of the thoughts that I have and put together a clearer idea of what I want my life to look like. Yoga is really helping me release my fears and receive my mission. Everything isn't crystal clear for me yet, but it definitely isn't as foggy as it once was so many months ago.

My meals today were uninspired, simple, and fairly benign. Breakfast was plain yogurt with cantaloupe and almonds. For lunch I had leftover rice salad from Monday. I also had a banana and a meat stick as a snack. (I know that sounds weird, but think organic and better executed Slim Jim) Dinner consisted of roasted veggies and stuffed red bell pepper. No pictures today, I just couldn't seem to really get into the groove of anything today until it was time for yoga. Then of course my day was ending, but I am okay with that.

I find myself wondering what writing more might bring to my life. If it's a viable option for me to supplement, or even replace, my income. I think given a chance, a little guidance, and some practice I could really make it work. But it also seems that everyone and their baby bother is a writer of some sort and trying to make a living from it. I write because it helps me to reconnect with myself as I swim through life. I know nothing about monetizing my words but some people are making money writing about the misadventures of celebrity personal lives as if that advances us as people in any way. So why couldn't I write about food and how it effects us, recipes, urban farms, natural birth, breastfeeding, and anything else that tickles my fancy? Well, until I make some sound decisions I will keep writing for me and maybe someone will decide to read this and interact with me.
Peace & Namaste Ya'll