Faith Style

Writers block. More like writers paralysis. Reality check. We usually put off, avoid or procrastinate things we HAVE to do. Have to, need to…equals obligation. And it’s not that I don’t enjoy writing. I love it. But toss me a deadline and a ‘have-to’ and procrastination sets in like the two-week flu that never goes away. Red wine replaces Nyquil for de-congestion of the mental creativity that is making it hard to think, let alone create.

When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be ~ Lao Tzu

Perhaps in my effort to write this mindblowing, motivational piece on mountains, life and ‘what’s in front of us’ (woooo…that does sound like pressure!!!) I unconciously clogged up the space…
Holding tightly to what ‘I wanted’ it to be, I gave it no room to be what it was.

What in your life might not match *your* ideas? What thought, person or situation are you holding onto?

What if the mismatch is perfect.
Exactly as it is.

By letting go of what we have to achieve, or who we think we have to become, even just a little…we somehow without even knowing, move forward.
And we get there. We get it done. We make it to the top.

Often the most difficult mountains to conquer are the ‘mental’ ones that exist in our heads. Real or illusioned. Mountains are meant to be climbed. The point however isn’t solely to reach the top…nor should the trek be stressful.

The view from the top is much more spectacular when the journey*becomes* the destination.

Stella Moon. My mountain model (and yes that’s her starry name!) conquered 9 miles of Prairie View mountain on the day Canada was taking home Gold for hockey. 6070 ft in elevation at the ripe ol’ age of 6 and I’m thinking she won a gold of her own.
Her secret?
Have fun, don’t take the journey so seriously. Always surround yourself with good company (preferably the ones that help you get to the top!) And perhaps trade your idea of where you have to go, with what’s right in front of you.
When we don’t *have* to do anything…it somehow, all gets done.

make room for love, light and creativity…let go.

love,
Jodi Renee (Guest Writer)

xo

Exercising when you’re pregnant comes highly recommended (in an uncomplicated pregnancy) even if you were completely inactive before pregnancy .  In fact, The Canadian Guidelines for Exercise in Pregnancy and the Postpartum Period recommend that all women participate in aerobic and strength conditioning exercises as part of a healthy lifestyle during pregnancy.

Prenatal yoga is an excellent form of strength training for expectant moms because it targets key areas of a woman’s body that come into play in childbirth like the pelvic floor and hips.  Yoga postures like squats, the standing pelvic tilt and sitting meditation using kegels help prepare the cervix to open easily during the first phase of labour.

Learning to breathe is also key to a relaxed and calm labour experience.  In kundalini yoga, the breath is linked to each exercise as you inhale in one position and exhale in a counter position. For example, in a spinal twist, you would inhale as you twist left and exhale as you twist right. This breathing pattern helps keep the mind still because with each movement the mind has something to focus on.

During childbirth, the slower, deeper and more powerfully a woman can breathe the more in control she will feel of her body and mind.  The benefit of starting yoga early in pregnancy is that a woman can apply breathing techniques taught in class, such as long, deep breathing, and use the breath as an anchor during daily stress-inducing situations.  Experiencing the benefits of stress-reduction well in advance of labour helps build a woman’s confidence in her own abilities to manage the waves of sensation during labour.

Although many women are fine to begin yoga classes as soon as they find out they are pregnant, some women find the best time to start a movement program is in the second trimester, when nausea, morning sickness, and extreme fatigue have passed .

Cardio is also highly recommended during pregnancy so long as women keep their heart rate in a specified range and maintain exertion levels between fairly light to somewhat hard . Remember to always consult your health practitioner before starting a new exercise program, especially a higher impact one.

Women should stop exercising and seek medical attention if they experience any of the symptoms below :
•    Excessive shortness of breath
•    Chest pain
•    Lightheadedness, muscular weakness and feeling faint
•    Painful uterine contractions
•    Leakage of amniotic fluid
•    Vaginal bleeding

The good news is the benefits far outweigh the risks of exercising while pregnant.  Being physically active during pregnancy is extremely beneficial for a woman’s health and actually helps prevent :
•    Loss of muscular and cardiovascular fitness
•    Excessive maternal weight gain
•    Risk of gestational diabetes or pregnancy-induced hypertension
•    Development of varicose veins and deep vein thrombosis
•    Shortness of breath
•    Low back pain
•    Poor physical adjustment to the physical changes of pregnancy

So even if you’re new to fitness, pregnancy is the ideal time to commit to a practice of self nurturing like yoga and meditation.  Yoga Goddess offers a unique combination of childbirth education plus prenatal yoga and meditation helping you prepare physically, mentally and spiritually for the birth of your baby.

Zahra Haji is a prenatal educator and yoga teacher in Toronto.
To learn more about prenatal yoga classes in Toronto please visit:
http://www.yogagoddess.ca/Prenatal-Yoga-Toronto.html

———————————————————————————

[i] Joint SOGC/CSEP Clinical Practice Guideline, No. 129, June 2003, Exercise in Pregnancy and the Postpartum Period. Also available on line at: http://www.sogc.org/guidelines/public/129E-JCPG-June2003.pdf

[ii] ibid

[iii] ibid

[iv] ibid

[v] ibid

Your financial well-being is similar to your physical health—there are no quick fixes to years of bad habits and unhealthy decisions.  The only way to improve your health is to implement a new, life long nutrition and exercise regimen.  Similarly years of over-spending, incurring debt and neglecting savings can’t be turned around overnight.  However, once you state your money goals and commit to making better choices, gradually you’ll begin to see improvement to your financial health.

I have always practiced yoga– just not consistently.  Recently I committed to a morning practice so for the last few weeks each morning I do several rounds of Sun Salutations.  What I can tell you that I’m not as flexible as I’d like to be but I continue every morning.  Although my goal is seven repetitions, right now I’m at four. I’m sure that as I continue my stamina and flexibility will improve.  It was the same when I began my own road to self-sufficiency.  My first baby step was opening my bills and bank statements and thoroughly reviewing them each month. Gradually I progressed to harder tasks such addressing my credit card debt and saving money.

Many women fail to get their financial houses in order because they are overwhelmed with information and advice. Frequently they don’t know where to begin.   Other women fail to manage their money because they’ve become bogged down in the guilt and shame of their past financial choices.  Our financial health, like our physical health can be renewed, revitalized by focusing on new decisions and new actions.

In coaching women to become self-sufficient I’ve outlined action steps that I find critical to helping them to create and build wealth.

I call them the 7 Building Blocks to Your Financial Renewal.

1.Get to the Truth about Your Personal Finances
The only way to improve your financial well being is to assess where you currently are. This means knowing in detail: what you earn; what you own; what you owe; and what you spend.

2. Determine What You Want To Do With Your Money
Women tend to pay more attention to their finances when they’ve earmarked the money for a particular purpose with a need-by date e.g. buying a home, taking a trip, starting a business, paying for their kid’s education.

3. Create a Financial Cushion
Financial security is a major concern for most women, so having an emergency fund to deal with unexpected expenses or a job loss is important to create peace of mind.

4. Pay Down Your Credit Debt (and Don’t Incur More)
Learning how to use credit cards wisely and paying-off existing credit card debt is a key component to achieving financial security.

5. Protect Yourself, Your loved ones and Your assets
Women need to make sure that they have adequate personal, home and business insurance. Additionally they must make sure to execute necessary legal documents such as a power of attorney, letters of legal guardianship for minor children and health care directives.

6. Develop a Conscious Spending Plan
Using your actual monthly expenses as a baseline, conscious spending allows you to allocate your money of items that matter to you most that month.

7. Learn to Stop Underearning
Millions of women are consistently not earning enough to meet their monthly expenses.  Learning how to earn more money through better salary negotiation, raising fees and transitioning to higher paying industries helps accelerate your ability to reduce debt and build wealth.

Step into your greatness today,
Yvonne
Sophisticated Woman and Mama

Are you entering a new phase in your life where you can see positive changes take effect?  Are you feeling differently, thinking differently and dressing differently?  It might be time for an overhaul of your jewelery too.  Here is a way to use what you already have to create fresh and exciting jewelery for the new you.

So many people have a box full of jewellery that for any number of reasons is not wearable in its current condition – pieces that have been handed down, out of date and broken.  My thought is if you have it – use it!  Working with client’s old materials I have designed and created new engagement and wedding sets, pendants, necklaces, earrings, bracelets and brooches.

I call this concept Re-Jewel.

The concept of using something old to make something new is not groundbreaking but is extremely relevant these days.  At this very moment we are as conscious we have ever been about how we treat the environment and what we can do to make our footprint as small as possible.

In my daily life as a jewelery designer and goldsmith I have adopted many habits that I know are making my footprint on the environment less and my conscience lighter.  Of all the things that I do, one of the most impactful is re-using old metals and gemstones to create new pieces of jewelery.

The very nature of jewelery allows me to break it down into its components and use them again to create something new and extraordinary.  Being successful at creating pieces for my clients means using materials such as precious metals, gemstones & diamonds and most, if not all, of it comes from the earth.  There is fair-trade this and eco that but nothing compares to using what already exists and taking nothing more from the ground.  Re-Jeweling is exactly that.

If the next step on your personal journey is to commemorate it with a statement piece of jewelery that can communicate who you are, you may already have the basic components.  If you have nothing but a great idea then you are not out of the game.  Let’s collaborate using existing metal & gemstone and I will help you figure out what is possible and take you through the process.

Re-use, re-cycle, Re-Jewel!

Feature Writer,

Kim Drosdick

Flux + Form

momAgenda was conceived of and developed by Nina Restieri, a busy mother of four, who like many others, was both amazed and overwhelmed with the amount of appointments her young children had. Her burning desire to get herself organized led to a business idea – help herself and other mothers try to eliminate the chaos in their lives.

After surveying hundreds of moms- both working and stay-at-home, momAgenda was born. Women eagerly shared their desires: to be a mom, to be one of the “together women” who seemed to always be on schedule, to remain hip and stylish while keeping kid-focused lives, and to have a way to see clearly which activities are occurring for each person. Nina took her research and created an effective way to keep mom and her charges organized and on schedule.

Unique Benefits
- Week-at-a-view format with space for mom and up to four children.
- Features monthly views too.
- 17-month calendar runs from August 2010 through December 2011.
- Featuring the momEssentials pamphlet that can be removed and reused from year to year.

Available in Canada at Essence du Papier

Keep it simple….I have come to realize with time that my mind can sometimes be a dangerous place. We spend a lot of time over thinking, over analyzing many things. It has occurred to me that my clearest thoughts occur at the time were I drift away from my busy day’s agenda to floating into that quiet space of sleep. The only other time I’m able to achieve that peace is through meditation. For myself that practice is a simple 30minutes of yoga. Most times I must be forced into practice, but when I take the time out to practice I am reminded of its’ immense value. I think back to my youth and reflect on my time spent in church and mosque, how those prescheduled times provided me with peace of mind I properly wouldn’t have had if I had not attended service with my parents.

I definitely did not fully understand the religious content of any given service but I always left with a quiet mind. We all have different ways of practice or a different route but we are all able to achieve the same goal. Our daily lives are full of a variety of demands and constant bombardment but if we make the time we have the ability to let go and feel some enlightenment…..

Guest Blogger

Yasmin Layne

Drink one, drink two
Drink every drop
From this coffee bean
Grown for you

Innocent bean
Bitter your nectars
Born in luscious hectares
But you’ve turned so mean

A cup of tears
Mixed with morning fears
A drink to another day
Unchanged for so many years

Coffee republic
Dictated by greed
Coercion your creed
Where peasants can’t lead

Export the best
Keep the worst for the rest
Add a little sugar
And we will digress

Drink up my friends
Let’s drink it up
For we have no more land
Cultivated by a loving hand

The honest man
Has become a coffee man
And the fertile soil
Has become a place of turmoil

Grown from the highlands
That once fed the many
They’ve become but islands
That will never quench the thirst of many

The foreigners’ obsession,
Their medicine and addiction
But where’s our salvation?
For this corrupted nation?

Coffee republic
Pious republic
Wealthy republic
Don’t leave us out in public

Don’t leave us alone
Out in the cold
With nothing
But a pot of coffee to scald

So let’s drink up
And share from this cup of bountifulness
Filled with nothing of dread
But truthfulness

Drink one, drink two
Drink the coffee of liberty
With four spoons of justice
And one milk for equality

Valery Santillana

I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Mark Franklin of Career Cycles on CIUT 89.5FM last week on my take on business, style and spirtuality. To listen to the show click here. (FYI, my segment was the 2nd half).