Because I’m 40 years old today – so wise, yet still so youthful! – I am offering a bargain basement deal to everyone!

40 GIFT CERTIFICATES FOR $50

40 Gift Certificates to be redeemed for Shiatsu, Reiki, BodyTalk or Massage.

40 Gift Certificates with little pearls of handwritten wisdom inside each one. This will be based on which year of my life you randomly receive. That means you might get the wise words of my 2 year old self, or my 25 year old self.

40 Gift Certificates available until 12/31/11 or until sold out!

40 Gift Certificates which include complimentary empowerment boost – with the forties comes a software upgrade which includes upgraded empowerment consciousness!

40 Gift Certificate offering a heart-connected session, focused on the true you, and on revealing the true you in an authentic way.

40 fabulous sessions infused with inspiration and fun! We LOVE what we do!

**One gift certificate per person, but feel free to buy up a bunch for friends and family! A fab gift for Xmas!! We look forward to working with all of you! Happy Holidays!

**Feel free to share this fab deal via the oh-so-outdated email (still a personal fav!), or the uber modern methods – facebook, twitter! Share the love!

**For multiple orders expect a little shipping refund. Couldn’t work out how to program it to allow multiple gift certs! Ah, technology!

Happy Mojo

Mojo flow in the body is stunted when we think negative thoughts about ourselves –  I make bad decisions; I am not a good judge of character; I am dumb/ stupid/ gullible; I am no good at my job; People think I am a fool.

The energy gets stuck in the body, particularly around the heart.

Take a moment to pick something that you say to yourself regularly, say it to yourself in your head or out loud, and then take a moment to scan slowly through the body starting at the top of the head, and moving all the way through the body.

What do you notice? Do you notice tension in the body or around the heart? Is your stomach tense, maybe you feel slightly nauseous? How does your back feel? How is your breathing?

Negative thinking results in the influx of hormones to the cells of the body which reinforce a depressed feeling all through the body. Consciously flipping your thinking to a more positive thoughts that are authentic and true to you shift your system physiologically, releasing hormones that result in a good feeling in the body.

There is a great book by Shawn Achor called The Happiness Advantage and he  goes into great depth regarding the shifts, physiologically and psychological that occur from shifting our mood. Here is an excerpt:

Extensive research has found that happiness actually has a very important evolutionary purpose, something Barbara Fredrickson has termed the “Broaden and Build Theory.” Instead of narrowing our actions down to fight or flight as negative emotions do, positive ones broaden the amount of possibilities we process, making us more thoughtful, creative, and open to new ideas. For instance, individuals who are “primed”—meaning scientists help evoke a certain mindset or emotion before doing an experiment—to feel either amusement or contentment can think of a larger and wider array of thoughts and ideas than individuals who have been primed to feel either anxiety or anger. And when positive emotions broaden our scope of cognition and behavior in this way, they not only make us more creative, they help us build more intellectual, social, and physical resources we can rely upon in the future.

Making a conscious effort to shift our cynicism and our negative patterns is necessary if we want to feel happier. We impact more than just ourselves when we become set in our ways, teaching our kids a pattern of negative, rigid, or anxiety-ridden thinking.

Bringing mindfulness and making a commitment to consciously flip our thinking helps us and everyone around us. We feel the shift in our body with the influx of more happy hormones, and as Shawn Achor illustrates, when we are happy we also become smarter! Yet another reason to become more mindful of our mood and take responsibility for making changes.

Achor, Shawn (2010-09-14). The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work (p. 44). Crown Business. Kindle Edition.

How to Cultivate Your Mojo

Mojo n. uncanny personal power or influence (Source: World Dictionary)

1. How do you feel about your uncanny personal power and influence?

If you feel totally jazzed and excited, fabulous. Rock it! Rock out your mojo!

Or, does it make you feel uncomfortable? Do you have a relationship with your personal power and influence?

Take some time to either meditate or journal about your relationship with your personal power.

But don’t judge yourself. There is no right or wrong, we are all on a journey, and the exciting thing is that you may be really ready to break through and access your mojo! That’s awesome!

2. Change your habit energy.

I love this concept based on a Zen story about a man and a horse in which the horse is galloping and the man is heading somewhere urgently. When asked where he was going he replied, “I don’t know! Ask the horse!”

Our days become very scheduled and we slip into our familiar routine. Part of that routine is to avoid being present to your mojo. It’s time to change your habit energy.

Over the next week, twice a day, think about your mojo, your personal power and influence, what I like to call the juicy essence of you, the core part of you that makes you who you are.

Take a soft, gentle approach.

This is a mindful approach. Be present, be curious, just notice what you notice.

Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life by Thich Nhat Hanh and Dr Lilian Cheung2.

3. Go on a mojo date.

What do you really love, what makes you burst at the seams? What do you really love to do that you don’t very often tell people, but makes you really feel like you when you do it or even think about it.

In the book, The Artists Way by Julia Cameron, she introduces this concept of an artists date, where you take yourself out on an artists date, to do something creative. I have modified this to call it a mojo date.

What do you really want to do? Choose something, and go on your mojo date within the next week, ideally by yourself.
Artist’s dates, mojo dates, personal retreats. We need to give ourselves space, to break out of habit energy, and to take the time to do the things in life that make us happy. And to find the things that make us happy that we didn’t even know about!

What is Mindful Mojo Project?

Mindful Mojo Project empowers people to be themselves more and more, to see that this can be incorporated or blended with mindfulness and harmony.

Ultimately, as more people experience the truth of who they are and what makes them unique, as well as becoming more familiar with the mindful place within, the world becomes a more balanced place, people are more able to own their own stuff, and we become a more peaceful and harmonious society. We develop more empathy, more consideration, and more ability to be present to ourselves and others.

The broader contribution is to the development of a more peaceful society and a more enlightened, insightful, self-aware society who is also able to cut loose and have some fun!

What words would you use to describe Mindful Mojo Project?

Passion; essence;  pzazz; style; mindfulness; groundedness; balance; expressing the truth of who you are; fun; creative; internal experience becoming external expression; design your life; life in motion; what life means to you; expressing your spirituality in your own way; enlightenment; self-awareness; process; insight; peace; harmony; empathy; understanding; the inner zen place; meditation; your mission or purpose; emotional energy; honesty; acceptance; expansion; transformation; miraculous possibilities; shifts in consciousness; connection to community; unity.

Come visit me at http://www.mindfulmojoproject.com/

Translucent Class – Starting October 24th

Space is still available for Robert Lester’s upcoming 12-week class Monday nights from 7-10PM in Phinney Ridge. This is an intimate 10 person class.

Trans-Lucent :: Navigating the arc of movement between worlds

We live in difficult times. We are tested in our resolve and resourcefulness. Sometimes it appears a solo journey when in fact this life is the vehicle to teach us the ways of mastery. We can work hard, struggle and erode our life energy with worry or we can use the ways of the masters and live in a state of grace and ease. Choice is the only ticket.

Make no mistake about the purpose of this class: Trans-Lucent is a practical working series to give you these skills including instruction in the pragmatic use of the third ingredient to mastery and ease of manifestation.

This is a weekly 3-month working series where you will learn the ancient ways of bringing things to fruition. You will learn explicitly what stops you in your life and how to overcome obstacles. (This is not a hope class, a think-and-grow-rich scheme, or an “if-I-believe-long-enough” class.) In these times, there is no longer the time or room for wasted effort. You as an individual and we as a community must adapt to the full-lucent-manner of living to begin walking a path of ease and harmony.

You are becoming the people you wanted to be.

Classes will meet weekly starting Monday October 24th with a 3 week break from mid-December to early January. Tuition is $60/class. A $60 discount is offered for full payment of the 12-week tuition on the first day of class.

To register or for more information, please contact Kathy J at 206-399-8820 or kathyj@shiftmassage.com.

Transformation :

When we are in a process of transformation, frequently we want the approval of others, we look outward for validation, for some indication that we are on the right track. But the more we go out of ourselves to find ourselves, the more lost we become, and the more anxious and disconnected.

To truly find the part of ourself that we want to express in the world, we have to sit still and allow it to surface. This takes patience and practice. When we have lived a life of being disconnected from that true part of ourself, often we need to build up the trust with this inner part of yourself.

Meditation :

The process of reinventing yourself is a contemplative one. It often sounds like a cool, hip thing to do, to reinvent yourself! In reality the process of reinventing yourself is a creative process that requires you to be present to all parts of yourself. Meditation will be a big part of your process, and becomes a great tool to maintain that connection to yourself.

The moral :

Let go of your focus on what others think and find out what you think, feel, are passionate about, are moved by. Get to know yourself, work out how you want to express this, and then show yourself to the world with all the glitz and glam whilst maintaining the conncetion to the true you!

When you work at an energetic and consciousness level, it enables you to access the core reasons for imbalance. This means that when you connect with physical tension and pain, watching and being present to what is going on, connecting to the physical and emotional components as well as the consciousness based elements, you can connect to all the layers that contribute to the tension. When you are present to energy – particularly stuck emotional energy – it moves! Emotions such as sadness, anger or fear might surface, but once they surface, they can quickly dissipate, leaving you with a sense of relief. It can open a doorway that reveals aspects of yourself of which you were previously unaware of.

Clearing stuck energy allows you to connect more fully to your heart and body, aligning you with your goals. At Alinga we connect you to your core creative energy – your essential energy – which gives you the strength and confidence to shift out of neutral and realize your goals and dreams. Using the body as an access point, you can work through your blocks and explore your “path”. Once you establish the mind/heart/body connection through bodywork you will start listening to the body and to tap into the wisdom it has to offer.

*Photo by Cathy Robison

* Learn the science behind glycemic/sugar stress and RESET.
* Understand the key to leaving sugar/carb cravings behind forever.
* Discover a system to address energy, fitness, immune system, metabolism, insulin resistance, hypoglycemia, hormones, & sugar cravings.
* Simple lifestyle changes that will improve your health and support greater mindfulness is what it’s all about!

Space is limited so click through on the link to reserve your place.

https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/811814438

Led by wellness and nutrition expert Sarah Thomssen, founder of LiveLong Wellness. I highly recommend tuning in.

Title: “RESET Your Body” Nutrition Webinar
Date: Thursday, September 15, 2011
Time: 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM PDT

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar!

System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server
Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.5 or newer

Dr. John Veltheim’s biggest obstacle is time as he travels the world promoting holistic medicine. In the 1990s, he set out to create a system that allows practitioners to tap into the body’s innate ability to heal itself. He called it BodyTalk, and it has spread throughout the world.

Recently I spoke with Dr. Veltheim by phone as he travelled across the United States on a speaking tour. He launched into a quick synopsis of how the human body is a field of energy and information that is now being recognized by biophysicists.

The body relies on a complex set of signaling processes to monitor and repair itself, but the stresses of daily life, from toxins in the environment and our unhealthy lifestyles to the ravages of emotional stress, disrupt these signals.

Originally a chiropractor and doctor of Chinese medicine and acupuncture in Australia, Velteim will address the underlying reasons for disease and why we need to embrace an integrated approach to health and healing.

As an example of the body’s inner guidance system, he gives the example of the jaw, which is moving all the time. It has 3,000 nerve receptors linked to the brain, both to control movement of this complex piece of anatomy and also to ensure the brain always has the background stimulation which it needs to stay active. When the jaw is wired shut for treatment, patients have been shown to lose brain cells.

By the time you are aware of being ill, many things have probably been going wrong in your body for some time. Eventually you become aware of symptoms. With luck, and good medical care, you are diagnosed and treated and make a full recovery. This is the standard model of health care in the west. While it can be  effective, it is a limited view of the complex interactions between ourselves and our environments.

“We encourage practitioners to understand the body at the levels of physical function and also consciousness,” he says. “We train our practitioners to develop their intuition so the patients’ bodies can tell them what to do.”

A diagnosis of a disease, like an ulcer, is a label that doctors try to match with a treatment, he says, but an illness can come from 8 or 9 causes including allergies, stress, local infections and back problems. The question is: What are the feeder mechanisms, including memories of trauma, that contribute to the condition?

“No human being can know all that but the body does.  By asking the right questions you get the answers.  By asking simple questions of the body using kinesiology the information starts to flow to the practitioner.”

Veltheim described how the stressful environment of modern society triggers the brain to produce the fight or flight response that floods the body with cortisol and other stress hormones. The problem is that the brain does not get time to relax and reset this mechanism, a problem now being recognized even in children. When entire cultures become like this, it creates rage, gang wars and religious extremism. At high levels of collective fear, it leads to war between nations.

Speaking at a conference on global conflict representing 90 countries, he proposed a program to teach people simple techniques that alter their stress response at an individual level. His “cortices” technique only takes minutes a day.

“We can use these techniques on each other to reduce stress and reset the circuits. This can take care of 60% of health problems in these remote villages. It is now getting the backing of the United Nations and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Now we are putting our attention on America which is not a happy place. There is so much stress and tension.”

“There is no disease that is not increased by stress,” he said. “With the inflammatory type we get a 50% improvement in serious diseases.”

Veltheim has been practicing Zen and other meditation styles since he was a boy. With his father he studied marshal arts with a Japanese teacher who was a Zen master. “That got me interested in Eastern philosophy which I have been studying for 50 years. In more recent years I have been studying quantum physics with scientists from NASA and Russia.”

“The highest principle in nature is the paradox such as light and dark, health and disease, yin and yang, peace and war,” he says. “In nature we see that wars are going on all the time. And now we are more aware of this. Conflict is what leads to change. The big challenge is to transform the accumulation of knowledge into wisdom.  We all want meaning in life. Conflict can be the catalyst to do this.  Even bad health can lead to good health if it’s treated properly. There is always conflict in nature and we can use this to gain wisdom.

Guest Blog Post :: Suryo Gardner

Teaching BodyTalk Foundations :: Sept 10th/11th and Sept 17th/18th at Alinga. Click link for full details.

In Australia, Aussie slackers are a rare breed of humans, clear on their mission and how to execute it. I have compiled a summary of common characteristics, and what I admire most about Aussie slackers.

: Characteristics

1. Like to relax

2. Don’t do anything they don’t want to do

3. Great boundaries – don’t really notice when someone is angry or upset with them

4. No attachment to concept of time – happy to roll into work at 11am when everyone else was there at 9am

5. Look for the fun/ joy in life

6. Ability to stare into space for unbelievable amount of time – meditation experts

7. Take lots of sick days when they are not really sick

8. Love to watch cricket/ football/ sport in general

9. Commited to this life mission of slackness

10. Proud of their life mission of slackness

11. The only time they get anxious or depressed is if they haven’t got access to beer or are actually forced to work

12. Slackers will only work is if there is a big payoff at the end, and I mean BIG, like a trip to the pub, going with mates to the cricket/ football/ other sporting event

: What I envy about slackers!

1. Innate ability to meditate

2. Great at filtering out the emotions of others

3. Clarity in decision making

4. Confidence and commitment to what works for them

5. They look for things that make them feel good/ happy/ joyful

6. Place a high priority on relaxing, kicking back

7. Not bound to the the expectations of others