Month: February 2020

Hey Groovy People!

How has your February been?

Have you embraced or resisted it?

My February has been filled with moments of me embracing and resisting CHANGE. The one thing that has helped me navigate all of these moments of CHANGE is my mindful self-care practices of meditation, prayer and accountability sessions with my brother Meico, crystal reiki, mindful movement (gentle yoga, barre classes, and walking), journaling, astrology and moon rituals, and intuitive bodywork sessions with my soul brothalove Ken Yamaguchi-Clark a/k/a “Dharma Farma.”

Go here to visit Ken’s Facebook page to learn more about him. Email him at dharmafarmaken@gmail.com.

Earlier this week, I had a powerful intuitive bodywork session that included inversion therapy with Ken (see photo above of me laying on an inversion table).

Inversion Therapy? What is it?

Inversion therapy is a nonsurgical treatment designed to remove gravitational pressure off the spine and create more space between the spine’s vertebrae. A common form or tool of inversion therapy is the inversion table. To use it, you strap yourself into the inversion table (typically by your ankles and waste) and then you hang completely upside down. Your head faces towards the floor and gravity’s effects on your body are reduced.

Laying on the inversion table can help you clear your mind. When you’re upside down, fresh oxygen floods your brain, sweeping out cobwebs and mental fog. Also, when you get your head below your heart, your world is literally turned upside down. Being upside down can help you see all sides of things, shift your perspective, and make different choices.

Here’s what happened during my inversion therapy experience…

Laying on the inversion table was INTENSE for me. Why? Because I was guided by Ken to release and surrender my resistance to CHANGE in my life and career through deep breathing, sound healing using my own voice, his bodywork (a unique blend of acupressure and massage), and mindful reflection and journaling. The end result was greater clarity, a deeper understanding of who I truly am — the REAL ME in 2020, and a complete release of my resistance to making changes to how I show up in my life and share my gifts as a wellness professional, author, and artist. In short, it helped me make a choice to FLIP THE SCRIPT ON MY LIFE & CAREER before the Spring season begins in a few weeks.

My choice to FLIP THE SCRIPT ON MY LIFE & CAREER is a process. It’s not gonna happen in one day, week, or month. It requires me to give myself time and space to experiment, learn, grow, reflect, and make modifications along the way. It requires me to practice mindful self-care with what I call the Big 5: loving kindness, compassion, nonjudgment, patience, and forgiveness.

Four years ago, I gave an Ignite talk about the four lessons I learned through CHANGE at the Nonprofit Technology Network’s annual conference in San Jose, California. During my talk, I shared how I embraced and resisted CHANGE in my career. The four lessons I shared included:

• Lesson #1: Ask for help.
• Lesson #2: Take great care of yourself.
• Lesson #3: Be a lifelong learner.
• Lesson #4: Be open to possibilities.

Watch the video above to hear my entire talk.

Did you know you can use your breath to navigate change?

Go here to listen to my Thriving Mindfully Podcast episode on how to breathe through change.

February has definitely been a month of CHANGE. Earlier this month, I decided to change how I offer meditation. So I enrolled in sound meditation + yoga teacher and massage therapist Dante Baker’s sound healing certification course that was held at a recharj in DC (see photo above).

Sound meditation is the practice of becoming aware of what’s happening inside and outside of yourself in the present moment with the use of sound and music.

Sound meditation is also known as Sound Healing and Sound Baths. It uses a range of Tibetan singing bowls, crystal singing bowls, gongs, Ting-shas (tiny cymbals), dorges (bells), didgeridoos, and other small bells. The tones and frequencies that these bowls and instruments carry affect us in specific ways. They activate a different chakra energy center and organ system within the body.

Sound healing is one of the best ways to deepen your meditation practice. It can help reduce tension, anger, fatigue, anxiety, and depression while increasing a sense of spiritual well-being.

One of the changes I made in how I share my gifts in my wellness company, Ananda Leeke Consulting, is shifting when I offer my meditation classes, Moon Circles, and mindfulness workshops and webinars. After I completed my sound healing certification course, I added sound meditation to the Mindful Monday Meditation class.

Starting in March, the Mindful Monday Meditation class will only be held on the first Monday of each month. Classes will not be held on July 6th or Labor Day, September 7th.

Mark your calendar and plan to join me on March 2nd, April 6th, May 4th, and June 1st, October 5th, November 2nd, and December 7th. Go here for more details.

Even though we’re wrapping up the second month of 2020 and headed towards Spring, it’s okay to pause for the cause and give ourselves a do-over in our life, career, and business. That’s right! It’s perfectly fine to stop and hit the reset button on our 2020.

Here’s the thing we must always remember. When we choose to give ourselves permission and space to breathe, reflect, and step back from the hustle and bustle of our lives, relationships, careers, and businesses, we are reclaiming our birthrights to mindfulness and self-care. These choices are investments in our resiliency. They lay the foundation for us to embrace Thriving Mindfully in all that we think, feel, say, and do.

Now ask yourself the following questions:

• Are you moving forward or away from your dreams?
• Are you struggling, stressed out, stuck, afraid, overwhelmed, in need of a shift, and/or unsure of what to do next?
• Is 2020 calling you to be more than you have ever been before?
• Are you noticing a need to dive deep and explore who you are becoming in the new year?
• Are you resisting what you need to be and do in order to express the REAL YOU?
• Struggling with how you are showing up in your life, relationships, career, and/or business?

IF YOU ANSWERED YES OR MAYBE to any of these questions, then it’s time you flip the script on your 2020 and press the reset button.

It’s time you give yourself permission to start the year over and create space in your spirit, heart, mind, body, and life to embrace Thriving Mindfully with my support during my two intensive Master Classes on February 28th (for women only) and February 29th (for everyone). See the details below.

Register and get your tickets here.

Sign up and buy your tickets here.

Have you thought about how you want to live your life in 2020 and beyond? Do you need support in planning out your year? Looking for accountability? I’d love to work with you! Check out my one-on-one coaching below.

ONE-ON-ONE COACHING: I love coaching and supporting people just like you who are committed to exploring mindfulness, meditation, and mindful self-care in their lives. My coaching areas include:

• Mindfulness 101
• Mindful Self-Care (can incorporate meditation, gentle yoga, reiki, crystal therapy, journaling, chakra healing, and rituals from world cultures, eight phases of the moon, astrology, and goddesses)
• Mindful Creativity
• Mindful at Work
• Mindful Communication
• Mindful Leadership
• Mindful Technology

Interested in exploring how we might work together to manifest your heart’s desires for your life, career, and/or business this year?

Fill out my client intake survey and then let’s set up a free 20-minute consultation call.

Click here to complete the survey. I will follow up with an email once you complete it.

I offer an hourly rate and three-month and six-month packages.

 

MINDFULNESS, SELF-CARE & YOGA-INSPIRED BOOKS: Check out my three mindfulness books here: Love’s Troubadours, a yoga-inspired novel; That Which Awakens Me, a mindful creativity memoir; and Digital Sisterhood, a mindful technology memoir. My books make great gifts for yourself and others.