We had a room full of women excited to meet others who were like-minded pleasure seekers. To start, homework involves self care activities such as taking a bubble bath to candles and music, slathering lotion over the entire body, and researching what kind of chocolate is your favorite. In class, we practice deep relaxation exercises, learn belly dance, and learn how best to pursue a life that makes us happy!

The class neared capacity with requests to hold another series in the spring.

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When you breathe, close your eyes and pay attention to the sounds around you. Or you can look around and count the colors that you see. These are two ways you can use your senses to become present in the moment, calm mental chatter and simply BE.

When you breath deeply, you are literally breathing in health and happiness. You heal faster, think better, and look better. The reason that you feel, think and look better is because you eliminate waste from your lungs (and whole body) when you breath fully, thus literally breathing in health and happiness. Deep relaxed breathing sends a positive message to your body that you have time and energy to heal and restore vitality. Remember to breathe fully through your nose. Breathing through your mouth causes your adrenaline to rise, stimulating the fight or flight response. Breathe through your nose.

The more you breathe, the more oxygen circulates throughout your brain and other vital organs, causing you your skin to radiate with good health.

Deep breathing instills a sense of peace and quiets the mind. The next time you sit quietly and spend your time being mindful of your breathing, ask the deep question, “Who is breathing ME?”

What is your answer???

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I have been practicing since April 2011 and will be starting a 60 day challenge on January 1, so I am gearing up for the new year by going to yoga nearly every day. I have received many health benefits since starting. My biggest change has been the strengthening of my back and lessening of hernia scar pain as well as much less pain in my body overall. I have greater flexibility and strength in my body as a whole, which makes me feel so much younger. I have become very in tune with what is going on with my body, quit anti-anxiety medications, quit eating gluten, and my menstrual cramps are greatly reduced (so much that I went off the pill!).

I am feeling better every day and look forward to my future rather than dreading it!

December 12, 2011 – class 97.

Heart is *really* not beating wildly in my chest at times during class since I stopped taking the pill. I wonder how BCP affects blood pressure, even in healthy people. The strength in my pelvic area has come back since my monthly ended, and my low back is hurting much less than it has ever been since I started yoga. One of my goals is to do a sit-up in class, and I can tell my abdomen is much more engaged when my back is not in pain. The muscles around my hernia scar are not cramping up like the used to – hope this continues! This is the fourth time I went to yoga this last week – ramping up for 60 day challenge starting Jan 1, 2012!

December 10, 2011 – class 96.

I haven’t felt my heart race in class since I quit taking the pill. Going to keep checking in on that to see if it makes a difference. Hopefully I can hold poses for longer without my heart pumping so hard. Had a very hard time holding a couple of standing poses today – standing head to knee, standing bow pose, and balancing stick – absolutely no strength in my pelvic area. But I am experiencing a painful monthly so that is probably why. I planning on doing yoga as much as possible before the 60 day challenge starts so I hoping doing daily yoga this next month does some deep healing in me hormonally and in the core of my belly. Also – having to adjust some foods again. Digestion is changing with the elimination of the pill. Should be a much healthier life from now on though without those
hormones in my system.

December 9, 2011 – class 95.

I felt strong and flexible in today’s class – not an ounce of fatigue. I have more energy right
now and felt incredibly happy in class. I haven’t gotten that shoulder fixed by the chiropractor yet, hopefully I will have time to go next week. Feeling pretty crampy from my monthly, but its not as bad as it used to be. Sure hoping to feel some good stable hormones in my body after practicing this yoga for almost eight months.

December 7, 2011 – class 94.

Class seemed to speed by today – I felt strong and enjoyed myself, felt emotionally calm as
well. Got through every pose once and a few twice with no troubles, though I can feel some cartilage needs to be loosened up with Yin yoga. Biking has stabilized my low back. Still need to visit the chiropractor to fix my arm, but overall feeling pretty good!

We start a 60 day challenge on Jan 1 – and I am going for it! Also just went off the BCP for the first time in 7 years to see how my body functions on her own. Looking forward to a great time of cleansing and renewing and being completely at home in my body. Bringing in the New Year strong!

November 30, 2011 – class 93.

Sometimes I am extremely uncomfortable in class because I feel overheated. It takes everything inside of me to not leave the classroom and have a meltdown in the lobby. But there is something amazing that happens when we take on the internal conversation, “I can’t”.

Today a woman actually left halfway thru class and was yelling in the hallway during our
first savasana. I thought it ironic that our instructor was having us relax completely while she was having a fit. I wonder how many of us were lying there thinking about doing the same exact thing. And we have all been in that spot where we have lost it inside of “I can’t”. What is possible in our lives when we take on an exercise that helps us move beyond “I
can’t”.

I tried Bikram yoga four times over five years and couldn’t deal with the heat. I finally got to the point in my life where I wanted to move past not being able to deal with it. So in a big way, I am forging a path into a life that is unprecedented by my past, because my body is doing something unlike anything I have ever done in my past. What a great way to open up a bright new future, down to my flesh and bones.

November 28, 2011 – class 92.

I missed one class along the way – my official number of classes taken is 92! My body is feeling great overall and I have pretty much mastered checking in with my body each class. My body keeps feeling better; as time goes by I have more strength and flexibility, not just physically but emotionally and mentally as well. I notice that my bike riding makes my muscles tighter, so then I am stretching them back out in class. My left shoulder still
hurts, so going to take it to my chiropractor to adjust.

I continue to have weakness in my right hip and pelvis which affects my practice – I have had problems for years in this area of my body – around my hip, in my abdomen and down my leg because of the scar adhesions. If I could get that laparoscopy done on my scar adhesions from the hernia, I could have such a better practice and life overall without this pain. I am happy it is something that can be fixed, and not some degenerative disc or deep seated emotional problem. Here is hoping for a good job so I can afford it someday soon! And still Bikram yoga practice has helped this injury more than any other exercise has – ever! I am still hopeful that I can fully heal this issue with Bikram yoga.

November 23, 2011 – class 90.

Tonight I practiced and it was divine. I am often completely in love with this practice, because I can feel changes in my body as they come. I started having tightness in my left arm and have no idea why. It would have been unnoticeable to me normally, but I can feel it in practice and give it some good stretching. My body overall is feeling much stronger.

I am still struggling with my abdominal muscles in practice so am starting to do some Yin yoga pelvic and back stretching at home along with a few classic vinyasa flow sun salutations. Yin is also one of my favorite forms of yoga because it works solely on the connective tissue, while vinyasa flow works on everything. Because of my particular body issues, I find doing other forms of yoga to augment my Bikram practice is very wise. Doing yoga in a 105 degree room is very different than doing yoga in a 70 degree room. The warm
up and sequencing are very different.

So I am very excited to now feel well versed in Bikram and Yin from regular practice and Vinyasa Flow from my teacher training last summer. Here’s to a flexible and healthy middle life…

November 18, 2011 – class 89.

The changing of the weather this last month has affected my vitality in a big way. I have literally been too tired and in pain to go to yoga much. Releasing emotional energy has taken up most of my energy as well, as I have been going through a lot of life changes and having to let go of a few people I didn’t want to let go of.

I finally am adjusted to the cold and dark of this time of year and was craving the warm humid room and yoga practice. I notice my body is not as strong and flexible as usual, so I was feeling like a beginner all over again, but in a good way. My mind is very relaxed after the focus and structure of my practice though, and my soul is feeling stronger again. I am planning on sleeping early tonight in freshly washed sheets and having blissful dreams.

That stumble I took the other night dislodged something that has caused a lot of binding pain in my hip and low back. My practice was so much easier tonight because of that. Though I was sore from falling, its nothing like the pain I have felt this last month. Thank goodness for life’s little miracles.

November 7, 2011 – class 88.

Tonight was such a deep healing night. I drove 160 miles this weekend with a lot of stop and go traffic. Because of my hernia scar, I had a spasming right psoas muscle that was jerking around my back and making my digestion miserable. Usually after that kind of driving, it takes a couple weeks for the muscle to relax, but tonight I got some deep stretches in and balance is being restored. My sustenance was strong and I had zero
overheating…

November 3, 2011 – class 87.

Went to class tonight and my muscles felt very stiff and tight. Though I had muscle strength, I had little mobility. I was too emotionally exhausted this last week so I didn’t go to practice, but I felt emotionally strong tonight. I seem to be moving to a higher plateau of devotion to my practice, because I have seen the mental and emotional strength I have
gained over these last six months. I will be stepping up and attending more days so I can move through this next phase of life with strength and flexibility…

October 25, 2011 – class 86.

Feeling very tired and overheated… and my back has been going through some issues so it was difficult to do anything. Going to chiropractor tomorrow and taking a few days off to heal up.

October 18, 2011 – class 85.

No overheating tonight, my heart and lungs seem to be working ok for once, but had to be careful with my low back as its been too sore to even bend over or sit up. I am hoping someday to be able to afford an MRI so I can know what is going on in there, if anything. Maybe I am simply pushing myself too hard in class?

The stretching and strengthening have been so helpful for my overall health. I was exhausted yesterday from three days of job search and not being able to sleep – and instead of having a meltdown wondering when I am going to get sick, I just took an  antihistamine/tylenol and went to sleep. Doing this yoga makes me feel more rational and less emotional about life in general, even the real bad parts which there are a lot of right now.

Amazing what a good workout and good night’s sleep will do to an outlook.

October 13, 2011 – class 84.

Tonight I got through class without feeling overheated once. That spasm in my mid back has disappeared. I find it strange that one area of my back will spasm one day, and it seems like it moves to another part of my body! Tonight I had no spasm, but a lot of hip popping. Weird. Each session seems to relax the area that was in distress and the pain is gone within a day or two. I wasn’t too limber, so I took it easy with my stretches.

I also talked to a recruiter about a job today and felt very confident while speaking to her about the position. That is SO the work of almost six months of Bikram. And then I was more focused in class because of feeling that confidence today. Pretty awesome!

October 11, 2011 – class 83.

I have been avoiding going to Bikram class because parts of my spine and muscles hurt too much after. I took it easy tonight and feel very grateful for my practice as I am feeling VERY relaxed after a stressful few days. BUT it was a heart beating hard to breathe night tonight. I have been very flushed lately, and can tell I have a spine subluxation on the backside of my heart and lungs (3rd-5th thoracic is my weak spot where its bent a little to the left, so a rib gets pinched as well). I could feel every part of my body that needs to get adjusted at the chiropractor – so I can get into my next phase of healing in yoga.

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We recently met and came up with some awesome resources that I’d like to share with everyone.

1. Morning pages – The Artist’s Way, by Julia Cameron. All of us had done journaling at one time or another. Julia introduces her students to Morning Pages, which isn’t typical journaling, more like a purging. The student writes three pages every morning of whatever comes to mind. One is not supposed to censor what comes out on the page but write whatever wants to come out. She says that often what comes out is some very ugly unconscious thoughts, but the point is to get them out of your head! What happens is over time those ugly thoughts are out of the head, and new thoughts start taking over life in a very miraculous way.

I wrote Morning Pages for about three months – and was so interested in the depth of the uncomplementary things I was saying – mostly about myself! Julia recommends burning your pages and never looking at them again. Its not typical journaling, just downloading garbage that stops us from pursuing what we truly want in life.

I kind lost in some of Julia’s exercises – such as my favorite things when I was young, or what I wanted to be when I was a child. Who I was as a child and who I am now are so different. Back then I was a child of the 1970s who thought that an engineer drove a train, and an architect would be fun because I could build cool houses like the Brady Bunch lived in. I wanted to be a dentist because I could help people, but most of all I wanted to be a Mouseketeer. Being on TV seemed like the most fabulous job to have – ever! I still hold a little bit of that dream, but have no idea how to make that one happen… lol

2. Movement – such as yoga – some of us were yoga teacher or took yoga classes regularly. A lot of us LOVED Zumba dance. One fine woman taught belly dancing. And another woman said she felt good when she was simply in action about ANYTHING! She got a sense of accomplishment and direction from doing something she had never done before. How are we going to know we like a new thing unless we try it?

As you all know, I absolutely LOVE Bikram yoga and have been doing it diligently for the last eight months. The practice has healed my body in many amazing ways. I also practice Yin Yoga and Vinyasa Flow as well when I am not in the studio. I took Zumba over the course of three months and shaped up very quickly. I recommend Zumba to any woman who wants to fit back into her skinny jeans! Someday I hope to take a belly dancing class – and I have taken the suggestion to simply be in action. It sure helps, even if its just a small project. For me, to get online and update my blog, that is an action…

3. Dance Church - most hippy downtowns have Dance Church on Sunday mornings, but the movement is spreading because so many people LOVE to move! Google “Concious Dance” and see what is happening in your area or create your own Dance Church. Its a space where people can move, dance and be free without any judgments from others.

4. StrengthsFinder by Tom Rath. This book has a test that you can take which will tell you your top five strengths. I think everyone should know what they are good at – because its often invisible to us when we are really good at something – we think its just easy for everyone and don’t realize this strength is something that can contribute greatly to others plus make us an income. Other great tests to take are DiSC and Meyers-Briggs/Jungian typology.

I took a test on assessment.com a few years back which outlined what I would be very good at in a career. My top three were counseling, interior design and fashion design. Apparently I am good at shapes, colors and textures. But I chose counseling because I really wanted to help people build and shape their dreams. I guess that is building an inner world to then reflect an outer world?

Anyway – our meeting was awesome and I was very happy to meet new Empowered Women – and proud of these fabulous women for teaching us all so much about “Getting Unstuck”

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When life transitions happen, many of us feel a lack of identify and seek for something to fill it. When a child moves out, a parent might go back to school. When a job ends, one might take up an new exercise routine. When another moves to a new town, they might join a local meetup group.

We all work hard to keep busy. Busy is good. It helps us feel accomplished and worthwhile. Yet sometimes we need to step back from the busyness so we can look inside and determine if what we are doing next is beneficial to us over the long term of our life. We need to sit in a coffee shop all morning and read a magazine. We need to waste the day away on the internet. We need to sleep in. We need to take a long walk in nature. Sometimes we just need to slow down and smell the roses to feel what it is to be alive. We need to take a moment to breathe, to feel the wind on our skin, the smell of the ocean, the sight of a mother with her child. We need to relax so we can check in with who we are inside.

Enjoy it while you can. Life is always competing for your attention and you will get busy again before you know it!

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I have added a page to report my journey. You can find it by clicking on Bikram Yoga Journey on the menu above.

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The problem is that in becoming so competitive with other women, we have lost the ability to trust and be intimate friends with each other. The need to be competitive comes from a feeling that we really aren’t enough, that we don’t measure up. So we act perfect and brag about things we have so we can fill that rotten feeling inside, but in the process, we are alienating others who try to get close to us.

We need to step beyond this competitive spirit and open our hearts to each other again and just listen. So many of us have lost the ability to just be attractive and rest in our sweet feminine spirit. We try to be perfect, but we have forgotten that the road to intimate friendship is being authentic about what is REALLY going on in our lives. We bond over the difficulties, pains and absurdity of life, and encourage each other to KEEP GOING!

So many women in the world are lonely for female friendship. We wonder where all our girlfriends have gone. We are missing a lot in not having women in our lives who we can truly trust and who can hear our heart. So many of us traveled through the 80s and 90s where being independent and strong was fashionable and necessary to get ahead. We are holding old “values” that just don’t work anymore.

We have made our significant other our honorary girlfriend. We go to our husbands and boyfriends with the things that only our girlfriends can identify with. Then we get mad at our significant other for not giving us the girl time we crave. Cultivating our female friendships frees our man up to do what he does best, which is BE A MAN. When we get emotional needs met by girlfriends, it frees us up from needing that from our man – therefore, enriching the time we spend with him – listening to him, getting to know who he is without our needs getting in the way. The result is truly fascinating.

Today – I encourage each women to drop a line to a female you know and tell her something you admire about her. It will strengthen your bond and make both of your day. Chances are that no one has told her something positive about her character in a long time. Its time to take some lessons from grandmother in quality female friendship.

Life becomes truly enchanting and beautiful when you walk with warmth and dance in your heart. Giving care to others is a step in the right direction.

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Just do it!

Self-discipline is not my favorite subject. I was raised by hippies who seemed to cruise through life and live in the moment. My father’s favorite advice to me growing up was, “Just go with the flow.”

Of course, I want to flow through life. That feels good, doesn’t it? Sitting at the beach, eating prime rib, sipping on a margarita, watching the sunset over the harbor with a loved one? That definitely feels good. It feels inspiring, tranquil and sweet.

Self-discipline is another story though. It does NOT feel good. In fact, it feels quite icky. Like the picture above, it is as if I am my own parent shaming myself into eating lima beans and liver. The feeling in my stomach is one of avoidance and stress. Can I just run screaming in the other direction? In the face of self-discipline as my enemy, my senses go dull and inspiration disappears. I sit at my computer to write my novel, but how easy is it to float on over to Facebook and see how my friends are doing? Too easy. I do it all the time.

And how is it that I can have a superior thought about my business plan or novel while I am driving down the freeway or sitting in the tub, but the moment I sit down at the computer, it disappears? What is up with that?

I realized that feeling of avoiding self-discipline may never go away. The fact is – I may ALWAYS have to FORCE myself to work on some projects. I may have literally no inspiration to push myself forward, but I have to MAKE myself do it. Put one foot in front of the other and just do it. Sit at the computer and just do it. Sit through hours of non-inspiration wanting to scream and just do it.

This is simply part of the process. And this is where most of us give up. Because it doesn’t feel good. In fact, feels quite awful. It is in these times of dullness where our worst self doubt comes up. But what we don’t realize is self-discipline is our friend. It is the part of us that states that we must hang in there. We just don’t give up. We keep going, no matter what. Self-discipline is our tenacity and our will power, it is our commitment, our initiative, and our follow-through.

Doubts still abound. I have to MAKE myself go to dance class knowing I may not ever get the movements down and that my body will be sore the next day. I have to MAKE myself write three pages in my journal every morning even though I often write nothing of value. I have to MAKE myself sit down and go through those leads for business development even though most people may never call me back or do business with me. I have to MAKE myself write that article and novel that might or might not ever be published.

And sometimes I have to MAKE myself do it over and over and over again. Without feeling fun or joy or satisfaction or fulfillment. I may have doubts that what I am doing makes any difference at all to anyone. I realized during the course of my education, that sometimes I just DON’T want to do it, but I still had to go to class. I still had to complete my papers. I still had to read those chapters. And in my career and in life and in my personal fitness goals, that is just the way it is sometimes. Sometimes is fun, sometimes it isn’t.

It takes a lot of will power in order to make myself do what I don’t want to do. But getting through those tough times, accomplishments happen…

One thing I have learned by making myself work on the tougher aspects of my goals is I do get results, no matter what. By going to dance class, I get to be healthy and slim and sexy. By writing three pages of WHATEVER every morning, I get those worthless thoughts out of my head, giving room for clearer thoughts to emerge. By going through my business leads, I find a handful of people who wish to work with my company, perhaps making me a million dollars. By writing that article and novel, I have a body of work on paper that I can be proud of and can hand to a publisher if one ever appears.

The thought that drives me: What if the world I wanted showed up and I wasn’t ready? Preparation is key. MAKING myself do my not-so-fun tasks is part of the path to making my life happen. I can’t ever force anyone else to do what I want – but I CAN force myself to complete the tough tasks. Self-discipline is not a fun word. But it does get us where we want to go.

I am not always inspired, sometimes I am clearly BORED. Sometimes I finish my tasks through sheer WILL. But I can feel pride in my accomplishments.

I am ready.

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Brittany grew up with two parents who are both creative and business minded, so it is no surprise that she is naturally ambitious in those areas as well.

Brittany is an accomplished artist and devoted mother to her two children and three step children. She works a handful of jobs, including as a director for childcare at her church, and she works at a gift/party store where she also designs custom jewelry and clay figurines. Her long-term endeavor is working tirelessly as a Mary Kay Senior Consultant, and she is doing quite well in her business as she is a natural beauty and enjoys helping people.

Brittany works tirelessly expanding her business by helping people and has a lot of great stories to share about her work with people doing facials and makeovers. She is available to do makeup for weddings and special occasions as well.

She is also an outgoing, caring person who enjoys helping her friends be successful – she has started a team but is ready to help others be successful as well! She is committed to making the world beautiful and works very hard to provide good things to her family.

If you are looking for a great consultant to buy your beauty products from, click on the link below to order any supplies from Brittany or to ask her about joining her team!

www.marykay.com/bfanelli

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