Hotel bathroom turned raw foods kitchen

Here are a few ideas to make healthy eating on the road accessible:

Ditch the rules & improvise.

Ditch the healthy rulebook (and the resulting stress) and just look for healthier choices in every moment. If there are no rules, and nothing you can “mess up”, you’ll be instantly more creative and relaxed in your choices and food combinations. If you are on a specific diet, or cleansing, just find the solutions that are closest to what you would have at home and don’t sweat the rest.

Bring snacks.

Choose a few items that you can carry that you know you will eat and have a few bites about 30 minutes prior to any meal to make sure that you don’t arrive starving. If you’re only mildly hungry at mealtime, it will be easier to order with your head instead of your stomach. I’ll often pop a small piece of raw, organic chocolate, but carrots & hummus, nuts, or a piece of fruit also work well.

Ask for what you want.

If the healthy option you want is not on the menu, don’t be afraid to ask for it. I often create my own salads, or just ask for a side of what I want (roasted veggies, avocado, etc). Or, you can play tableside chef and try something like this:

“I’ll have the veggie sandwich but with no bread, over greens instead, and can you please substitute hummus & avocado for the goat cheese? ”

Most restaurants are happy to create a customized ala carte plate for you. My LMA, Kellie Lin, does this all the time.

Travel with a few utensils.

I like to bring a small hand juicer, one sharp knife, a water bottle & mini-cutting board. All I have to do is stop at a gas station or supermarket and I can grab fresh fruit and veggies to chop into salads or crunchy snacks. With just a few utensils, you can turn your hotel bathroom into a raw foods kitchen!

Make spicy lemonade.

You can make your own cleansing drink to have before or in place of meals. I always have lemons in my hotel room for this purpose. Here’s how to make it: Squeeze 1 fresh lemon into a water bottle with 2 cups of water. Add a little bit of honey and a sprinkle of cayenne pepper. This spicy lemonade is great for a cleanse and can be consumed hot or cold.

Make healthy eating on the road a fun challenge instead of a problem to solve and life gets easier fast!

P.S. Special thanks to Kathy Ross of LIVE LOVE TEACH for filling my Dallas hotel room with lemons & other delicious & healthy treats. What a lovely surprise!

I just arrived in Dallas for the LIVE LOVE TEACH 5-day Teacher Training. I can’t wait to meet with my co-facilitators, Stacy Dockins & Philip Urso, for our first pre-program meeting. There’s something magical about the way we collaborate – because, really, we have no plan.

Yes, it’s true.

There’s no plan.

Sure, we have tools, skills and principles to share, but there’s no minute by minute curriculum plan, and the schedule shifts frequently depending on what each group needs.

It’s exhilarating, the NOT knowing.

Just like teaching a yoga class, a script and a plan can be a crutch that stifles the flow and holds the students back from their most powerful experience. We teach our teachers to get themselves out of the way, and as facilitators, we do the same.

So I look forward to these trainings and the little 5 minute meetings I have with Philip & Stacy between every session. We whisper about what’s next and decide in the moment where the day will go and what we’ll try. There’s a fair amount of M.S.U (making sh*t up!) as we experiment with new ideas and encourage the students to do the same.

It’s not about what we know, it’s about what we can co-create with each other and our participants in real time.

So, Dallas, are you ready?!?!? Coz I have no idea what’s next.

And I really can’t wait.

Debbie was featured today on Forward Metrics.com as the post of the day with the article below.  Read the full article on Forward Metrics.com here.

Several years ago, I hired a running coach. On our first phone call, my coach said to me, “Ok, Debbie.  You are going to go outside and run for 30 minutes, 5 days a week.  Can you do that?”

And I said, “Yep.  Absolutely.  I can do that.”

A week later, when my coach called up to check my progress, I was honest.  I told her I’d done nothing and that I just wasn’t inspired to run.

My coach (who I had hired to GET me to run, in spite of my resistance) thought for a moment, and then said, “Alright.  Let’s find the next best option.  Can you go outside and just commit to running for five to ten minutes?  Three days a week?”

I said, “Yep.  Absolutely.  I can do that.”

And again, my coach called for the weekly check-in and I told her the truth – that I’d yet to even step out the door.  She thought for a moment, stymied, and then suggested,  “Debbie, I don’t want you to think about running this week.  I just want you to wake up and put your running shoes on. ”

“That’s it?” I was convinced I could do this, but skeptical about how helpful it would be.

“Yes,” she said.  “Put your shoes on and just see what happens.”

So, the next morning, I threw my feet over the side of the bed and stared for a moment at my shoes.  Next I got them on and laced them up.  Once I had them on, I thought, “I might as well go outside for a little while.”  Once I was outside and walking I thought, “I’m OUT here, I might as well run a few steps.”

And so I did.

And those few steps became a quick & dirty mile – all because my coach had the foresight to help me find the smallest doable action step.  She knew I was capable  but blocked (resisting the choice that I had made to move myself forward).  By shifting my focus away from my resistance and towards something utterly easy and infallible, she freed me from inertia and results naturally followed.

Now I tell this story in my Yoga Life Coach ™ Certification weekends, because it can be applied to life in so many ways.  When you are stuck or overwhelmed, what can you do to stay in action?   TAKE action – ANY action – no matter how small it may be.  One thing will lead to another and sooner rather than later you’ll be back on the road to a more inspired and fulfilling life.

Another way to say it?  When you’re stuck, don’t focus on what you CAN’T do.  Decide upon and focus on what you CAN do.  It might make all the difference.

I know this because it’s in my calendar.  I put it there 5 years ago while watching a History Channel Nostradamus episode.  (I plan ahead for the big events).  Interestingly enough, just before the end of the world, I have myself scheduled for a meditation retreat.  Figured it couldn’t hurt, might help.

So, anyway, the world ends later this year.  There are many predictions on how it will end.  It could be another massive flood or the sun could explode or technology could fail across the planet, or some combination thereof.

Yes, there are many theories on how it’ll all go down.   The one I’m best prepared to handle???

(drum roll, please)

the Zombie Apocalypse!

Yes, people, I’m telling you this yogi is fully prepared for survival when the Zombie uprising comes.  Why?  Because I have seen EVERY Zombie movie ever made (or close to it).  And from this lifetime of research, I now definitively know how to survive when those mindless, drooling, hungry dead things arrive, this year, just days before Christmas.

The CDC (Center for Disaster Control) has an online emergency list in case of disaster, and I’ve adapted it to the Zombie Apocalypse as I foresee it.  Here’s what you should know:

CDC (& Debbie’s) Zombie Disaster Emergency Tips (my notes are in italics)

•    Water (1 gallon per person per day) Some yogis also drink their urine, double duty!
•    Food (stock up on non-perishable items that you eat regularly) McDonald’s hamburgers and twinkles can last for decades.
•    Medications (this includes prescription and non-prescription meds) Some experts claim urine is sterile and can be used as an antiseptic and antibacterial.
•    Tools and Supplies (utility knife, duct tape, battery powered radio, etc.) Add on matches, gasoline & anything flammable. To kill a zombie, you must destroy their brains.  Brain kill = decapitation, bludgeoning, burning and/or blowing up.  Any tool (chainsaw, machete, ax, rocket launcher or flame thrower) that can bring this about is a necessity.
•    Sanitation and Hygiene (household bleach, soap, towels, etc.) Or…urine!!!
•    Clothing and Bedding (a change of clothes for each family member and blankets) Only if you plan to use as kindling to start a fire.
•    Important documents (copies of your driver’s license, passport, and birth certificate to name a few) Yes, again, only if used for kindling as these documents will be worthless in the zombieapocalypse.
•    First Aid supplies (bandaids, peroxide, ace bandages, etc) Although you’re a goner if a zombie bites you, you can still use these supplies to treat basic cuts and lacerations that you might get during a tornado or hurricane.  And, obviously, there’s always….urine!

My own personal survival tips are even easier:

1. Think fast on your feet and be polite little yogis – good karma. (Always allow the people you are with to enter a room or area first and more importantly, make sure you are able to run faster than the people around you.)

2. Be lean, be strong, be nimble, be quick.  (Keep up with your yoga practice! Your mat can be used as bedding and Yogitoes as a blanket.  Yoga cleanses assist with being comfortable without food. Meditation is more relaxing than hiding.)

3. Use multipurpose tools. (A baseball bat can clear hordes, bludgeon, bust open doors, windows, dig, and be used as a cane or splint.)

Want to do a little more research on what works and what doesn’t when Zombies attack?  Check out this list of my 50 favorite Zombie movies.  Watch and learn:

Debbie’s lifetime list of Zombie Movie and Show Favorites (includes a few zombie-like creeps too)

2013 waiting for 28 Months Later
2012 waiting for Evil Dead 3 and Zombieland 2
2010 The Crazies and The Walking Dead Series (My very favorite)
2009 Zombieland
2008 Day of the Dead and Quarantine
2007 Planet Terror and 28 Weeks Later
2005 Land of the Dead
2004 Dawn of the Dead (remake) and Shaun of the Dead
2003 Beyond Re-Animator, UnDead
2002 28 Days Later and Resident Evil
1998 Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island
1995 The Granny (This movie disturbed my husband for a long time.)
1994 Cemetery Man
1993 My Boyfriend’s Back, Return of the Living Dead 3, Maniac Cop 3
1992 Dead Alive and Army of Darkness
1991 Chopper Chicks in Zombie Town, Death Becomes Her, Pet Semetery 2
1990 Night of the Living Dead (remake) and Maniac Cop 2
1989 C.H.U.D. II: Bud the C.H.U.D. and Pet Sematary
1988 Serpent and the Rainbow, Return of the Living Dead 2, Maniac Cop
1987 Evil Dead II and Creepshow II
1986 House
1985 The Return of the Living Dead, Re-Animator, Day of the Dead
1984 Night of the Comet (I’ve watched at least 100 times)
1982 Creepshow
1981 Evil Dead (Most scared to watch alone late at night)
1980 The Fog
1978 Dawn of the Dead
1975 The Dead Don’t Die
1972 Tales from the Crypt
1968 Night of the Living Dead
1952 Zombies of the Stratosphere (I was born in 1962, but watched this show on one of the late night creep shows (might have been “Ned the Dead”).

Whether or not you believe in the potential zombie uprising on December 21st, I’d like to stress the importance of emergency preparedness.   This is no laughing matter, people.

So do your homework and watch the movies.

Because this could happen to you if you don’t….(see video below).

She is currently number one on the list of most viewed for the day.

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If you haven’t yet, please CLICK HERE to visit the article and share!

Thanks for your support!

Adrienne teaching at her studio's 3rd year Anniversary

A few years ago I started teaching yoga for a living after leaving a very secure, high paying job in market research. I remember banging my head against my dining room table in my new office, in tears, asking God if I made the right decision. I had not even gone to teacher training yet, but I quit my day job. I bought myself a computer and started working on a plan to make a living as a teacher. I made an appointment with Deborah Williamson to talk about the yoga business. Her first question was, “what are you doing with yoga right NOW?” I went on and on about all I was doing to prove that I was doing something productive. My homework after our phone call was simple – to go look for studio space. I didn’t have to do anything but look. Two days later I found a home for a studio, one month later I had a lease and three years later I am opening a second location across the country while my original location is being operated by amazing teachers.

I still remember those days that I spent crying in my dining room and smile. I’ve had many good cries since then – I started my studio as the only teacher and was praying to find someone to help me teach some of the classes after 6 months of doing it by myself. I didn’t have any permanent teachers until I was open for 1.5 years. It was the best thing I could have done. Life was pretty smooth for a year and then last year it shifted again. I got divorced and moved to California from Chicago. When I moved to California, I tried my hand at teaching for others again. I remember my conversation with Debbie and laugh. I was in the same place again, this time with a lot of experience on my plate and still paralyzed with fear of the unknown.

I definitely don’t have all the experience in the world to tell people what to do with their lives, but I do have a life and some darn good training. From that…I AM a life coach.

Adrienne & Kellie Lin leading group call

Recently, I have been leading Deborah Williamson’s online coaching group on facebook.

When I stepped into the role I decided to kick it off with a 6 week challenge where we incorporate a life challenge and a nutrition challenge every week. The challenges are a great way to check in with everyone right now and get a powerful conversation started. I am learning so much from the experience and the most important thing being that a question is just a question, and a statement is just a statement unless we allow it to have more meaning than it really does….or we get further clarification. The same is true about everything in life unless we ask another question. How often I’ve tried to play mindreader and come to my own conclusion and had that end in a failed relationship, or big ‘ole miscommunication. The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that we ask questions to break through. I did this when I was 2 years old. I didn’t know the answer, I asked why, why, why….. As an adult, when a child asks a bazillion questions, a bit of me wants to strangle them. The truth is, they are just asking a question. The second challenge I have discovered is that I have to put some work into learning technology a bit more. My first experience running a video conference was a beautiful disaster but I’m working through those kinks now. How often do we get things right the first time anyway? I was frustrated after things didn’t go entirely smoothly, but I learned a little more work needs to happen on my end. It’s that simple. No “story”, no “I suck at this.” Just an opportunity to choose differently.

We aren’t always looking to make huge changes in our life like quitting a job, ending a long relationship, moving across the country, etc. Sometimes, we are stuck though – feeling guilty about not spending enough time with our friends or family, or perhaps wanting to shift our priorities in our life so we can have more time for what is important. I’ve found the Yoga Life Coaching to be a beautiful way to snap us back into what is happening right now, so we can make those big or small changes we want.

Yogi, Athlete, Life Coach - Adrienne Hengels

I went to my first Yoga Life Coaching workshop with Deborah Williamson back in November, 2008 because a message about this training kept showing up on my facebook page. My calendar was conveniently cleared so I said, “why not?” I’m so happy I did because that training changed my life. I was at a point in my life where I was asking everyone on the planet for advice. What should I do, how should I move forward, I couldn’t make a decision and I was stuck. At the training, I realized that no amount of advice was going to help me but coaching was the answer I needed. With my team of coaches, I realized that I was in the driver’s seat of my life and they helped me to see the root of what was holding me back. It wasn’t what I was going to get from the decision, it was a fear of being judged by it. Once I realized fear was paralizing me from moving forward, I had space to make the right decisions on everything in my life.

My life changed for sure but not so much in just becoming a life coach but in the way that I started to look at my life. As I look back, I don’t think I attended the training to become a life coach but more as an opportunity for me to sift through my life and learn how I could help others through theirs as a yoga teacher. The training taught me to become more open to coaching and more willing to take leaps of faith out of my comfort zone and into my zone of genius. I don’t think I even had intentions of being a life coach, but because I had a life and I learned the skills of how to coach, by golly…I could be a life coach!

Fast forward a year and a half and the opportunity to attend Yoga Life Coaching presented itself again. My schedule was totally blocked and the training was across the country but something told me I had to go. So I got subs for all my classes, rearranged my schedule which included flight change fees for my parents visit, sacrificing triathlon training, and I didn’t care. I was psyched!

This time I showed up in a different place to learn. We always do – no matter how many times we watch a movie, read a book, it always lands differently based on where our lives are right now. This time, as I listened and I applied what I already knew (while also learning more), I returned home as a coach. I have had a lot of extremely powerful and purposeful conversations since returning. I have noticed how much I have stepped into people’s space and not allowed them to figure things out on their own – not wrong, but now I’m choosing differently. I am noticing how much we are all yearning for coaching without even realizing it – some of us want advice, a quick fix and all but often times we really want to figure it out on our own, but we all just need someone to help us work through the places we are stuck. We all want a lasting change, something permanent, a creation of new life-changing habits and practices.

I am experiencing a sense of “liberation!” because it feels so freeing to let go of me trying to fix everybody and everything in my life and instead let people be as they are and come into the answers on their own with a powerful conversation that moves them forward.

Adrienne is an International yoga teacher, and thrives on teaching her students to live everyday of their life from truth… not just about getting into poses with foreign names, not about perfect form. Instead, teaching about- life… making mistakes, learning from them and empowering each student to show up at their best, to let their guard down, work out the stress of life, find some internal stillness and taking their “workout” off the mat and into the world.

Even more interesting is that 7% admitted to actually doing it. That’s one in 14 people!!!

Read any of those articles and you will find that the fling caused more damage to not just the parties involved but those around them – even big name corporations…errrr, our whole country almost fell apart…remember that one?

So why are bosses and employees still sleeping together more than ever but with increased productivity, inner peace, and a real connection?

The new way to sleep with your boss is of course in savasana (final resting pose in a yoga class). There are something like 15 million people doing yoga now and it’s a good chance that one of those people are going to be your boss. So why not?

One guy even got a leg up on his job because he indicated on his resume that he was an advanced yoga practitioner.

Imagine interviewing over some down dogs. Every employer wants an employee who is:

Balanced: Check out my tree pose. I could hold tree pose and conduct the next staff meeting like celebrity yogi, Seane Corn.

Confident: My yoga teacher holds us in this pose while she tells us a story about Arjuna the fearless warrior. I swear the burning sensation in my legs and arms is the piercing of Arjuna’s arrow thru my body.

Creative: I turn my world upside down everyday… handstands, headstands, pincha mayurasana… they give me a fresh new and creative outlook on life.

Flexible: Double dare me to put my foot behind my head.

Reliable: Of course I will bend over backwards for you…wheel, camel, even drop backs.

Smart: I know when to take child’s pose.

Consider: If your boss comes along for your lunch hour class, you’ll never have to rush back to work. Meditate on that!

Nikki Wong, Certified Baptiste Power Yoga Teacher, lululemon ambassador, writer, mommy, lover and beach-bum-to-be shares the magic of yoga to the California Bay Area. You can also experience her classes on iTunes podcasts or at www.nikkiwong.com.

Read on to learn how Mary is incorporating her skills, energy and passion into several life-changing projects for herself and the world around her:

WHEN DID YOU ATTEND YOGA LIFE COACH TRAINING AND HOW HAS YOUR LIFE CHANGED SINCE ATTENDING?

I attended my first YLC in December 2009 at Yoga on the Lake in Kohler, WI, then in Costa Rica 2010 and then in August 2011 at Wicked Good Yoga in Wiscasset, ME. Yoga Life Coaching ™ training helped me to see that I create my own life and gave me courage to start creating on a bigger level.  

Since that first weekend in Wisconsin I’ve had so many life changes, from enrolling/graduating from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition as a Health Coach, completing a 200 hour teacher training  with Debbie Williamson and TIMBo training with Sue Jones of YogaHope, and near completion of my LIVE LOVE TEACH 500 hour teacher training.  

Yoga Life Coaching ™ with Debbie got me from believing that I wasn’t good enough to create my life to going out and getting the education I wanted so that I could throw the doors open for my own health & wellness business, Real Vibrant Health, and venture across the world to meet and love strangers who need my help.

WHAT’S GOING ON WITH YOU RIGHT NOW? 

In addition to teaching yoga and coaching clients for my business, Real Vibrant Health, I’m packing for my first trip to Haiti, which is thrilling and scary all at once.  I’m working with Sue Jones & YogaHope, (an international organization that uses yoga and other mind body tools to aid women in recovery), to go out on a service trip for earthquake victims in Port Au Prince, Haiti – mostly women & children, and many who have suffered from sexual abuse due to the proliferation of “tent cities” all throughout the country after so many homes were destroyed.  Our goal is to to empower these displaced women & children through yoga and mindfulness tools so they can rebuild their lives and stay safe.

As I throw myself into the fundraising process for this trip and thoughts of how I personally can make a difference, my entire life is expanding. I feel like I CAN make a difference.

WHAT WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT CONCEPT FROM TRAINING FOR YOU?

I really started to see a shift in my own life when I began to focus even more on contributing to other people’s lives and well being, which is one of the major themes in Debbie’s teachings.  That’s a big part of what I’m doing now with YogaHope.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR YOU?

I am still  fundraising for my Haiti trip and am dedicating my efforts and work on the project to my mom, who passed away a little over a year ago.  I still miss her every day.  She was amazing and strong in so many ways and always willing to help anyone who needed it.  I go to Haiti in July, and any funds I raise above and beyond the initial amount will go directly to women and children in need.

I will also continue to work toward my 500 hour teacher training with LIVE LOVE TEACH.   Debbie and Philip & Stacy of LIVE LOVE TEACH help me  to see things in a way I hadn’t seen before. To grow in your life you have to continue to seek learning and constantly evolve into something better than you could have ever imagined.

HOW CAN PEOPLE FIND YOU OR REACH OUT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT YOUR BUSINESSES OR RELIEF EFFORTS IN HAITI?

My website is: www.realvibranthealth.com, and phone number is 603-369-0656.  I can also be emailed directly at mackinnonboyd@gmail.com.

I’m also happy to meet new people in the community and share how Yoga Life Coaching ™ with Debbie has allowed me to create a life much bigger than I could have dreamed it on my own.

If you’d like to contribute for my Haiti efforts, you can do it here: www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/marymackinnonboyd/marymackinnonboydsfundraisingpage

While there, I did a few episodes with Toronto Yoga Teacher, David Good.  David will be coming to Midwest Power Yoga (my studio) in July.  I wanted to share David’s “Good Yoga 100″, because I loved it when I saw it yesterday (and when it originally appeared in Elephant Journal).  Check it out below!

CLICK HERE for David Good’s Good Yoga 100