I have a BIG dream and i’m not ready to let it go. Watch this video to find out what it is, and I’d be honored to know what yours is. C’mon, put it out there and let’s make it happen together!

Can’t see this video? Click here.

If you want even more motivation to live a juicier life and attain your goals, subscribe to my free newsletter. Your email address is safe with me. I respect your privacy.

Need some cool commitment ideas for your February 12in12? Here are 12!

1. Spend 1 minute in front of the mirror every morning, privately, saying, “I love you” to yourself. (It’s much harder than you think!)
2. Replace just ONE glass/can/bottle of soda with one tall drink of water each day. (Start somewhere!)
3. Trade 30 minutes. Go to bed 30 minutes earlier and wake up 30 minutes earlier. How does it change your rituals?
4. Write down your intentions. Even if you don’t share these with others, the power is in writing it down. Daily.
5. Tell one person a day that you appreciate him or her, and in what way. Be as heartfelt as you can be.
6. Find five reasons to be thankful today and write them down. Review them all at the end of your month.
7. Try one new song a day, from a different genre, from other countries even. Listen to it a few times in that day. Maybe 3 times.
8. Every day, even if it’s a lie, say, “I’m open to opportunity finding me today. I will look for new paths.”
9. Send three emails a day to people you should stay in touch with more often. Don’t ask for anything. Just check in. Ask what they are doing?
10. Take walking laps around the building at work when on conference calls (if you can). If not, do laps daily on break. (Bonus if the building is on a city block!)
11. Delete one newsletter or other email subscription a day. Are you really reading them all?
12. Write “sit up straight” on a post-it and put it beside your monitor. Do it as often as you can daily.

If you want even more motivation to live a juicier life and attain your goals, subscribe to my free newsletter. Your email address is safe with me. I respect your privacy.

Learning hanstand in Yoga Teacher Training

I remember the first time I attended a yoga class. I felt clunky, inflexible and thought it was stupid. I had read a lot about it (I’m an obsessed researcher for things I’m curious about), and it had been in and out for my life for years. What I didn’t expect was eventually falling in love with it and wanting to do it all the time. But that didn’t happen overnight. I think one way I gained courage to continue taking classes was by blocking out the people around me and focusing solely on MY experience.


It’s so hard to see success when we’re at the beginning of something. When you start out with eating healthier, most people start by feeling hungry, or by missing the foods we have chosen to give up in pursuit of health. We go through withdrawal. When you start out in fitness, you’re so aware of all your aches and pains, all the ways in which it sucks and you can’t figure out how to do something.


But what we’re learning through 12in12 is that the practice itself is a victory. Being able to say that you’ve done 10 days of your commitment in a row (with another 20 or so to go) is something more than you were able to say before, perhaps.


Success is a lot like a path instead of a destination. If you lift weights two or three times a week for five years, you’ll be chasing a new kind of success. The day you complete your 5K race is the day you think about whether you can do a 10K, and then maybe a marathon, or then maybe a different time milestone at the 5K. See how it’s a path? Consistently practicing yoga has only led me to want to learn more about it and do it more. I started with the sense that doing downward dog was challenging, and now, years later, I’m still finding ways to improve that “simple” pose, and of course, I have new challenges to go with it.


Early setbacks hurt, too. Let’s say you did 3 days of your first month’s commitment and then stumbled. Instead of trashing everything and calling yourself a failure (again), make the next day your relaunch and consider that very action a success. You’ll already be further ahead than many people.


In 12in12, we are practicing and learning about monthly commitments. Even if you’re not doing that specific program, it’s important to realize that success is the path itself, and not some final “when I get here, I’ll have made it” destination. Success comes in many shapes and sizes and colors and textures. Be watchful for it, and you’ll be so happy with what you find along the way.


 

If you want even more motivation to live a juicier life and attain your goals, subscribe to my free newsletter. Your email address is safe with me. I respect your privacy.

I’m making 2012 my year to do 12 things that, no matter the outcome, I will look back on the year proud of myself for having achieved them. So many times I have gotten to the end of a year only to rag on myself for what I didn’t do or achieve, instead of giving myself credit for the good work I did do. Then I’d make new resolutions or goals for the new year that would eventually be forgotten, and repeat the cycle all over again.


2011 has been a year of a lot of reflection and personal change for me. Two things that have always been very difficult for me, but I have been working on like crazy are patience and practice. Patience & practice come into play with everything all the time, but I’m committed to doing the work, even when it gets really hard. So, for the new year I’ve decided to do something I’m calling 12 in 12. 12 commitments, 12 months in 2012.


12 in 12 – Here’s how it works:


Pick one thing to do consistently every day for a month (see below for suggestions.) It can be something new you want to try, something you want to get better at or something you want to see if you can live without. Commit to doing this thing every day for that month no matter what, even when you don’t want to, even when it hurts, even when it sucks. The practice is the reward. Once the month is up, you’ll start your next thing. You may or may not want to continue the previous month’s practice longer if it’s working for you, however, you still need to introduce something new for the new month.


Example: January I do 25 pushups every morning when I wake up. January 31st I decide that I want to continue doing pushups every morning. February 1st I begin a month of no coffee, while still doing my pushups every morning. Feb 29th (29 days in ’12), I decide that I want to go back to coffee, but still continue the pushups. March 1 I begin a month of meditating everyday, and still continue the pushups. March 31st I decide I want to continue the meditating, and on April 1st will begin one month of no TV. So now I’m still meditating, doing pushups, and trying no TV…Repeat until Dec. 31st.


I’ll be posting my monthly commitments from month to month, for January I will be doing 31 days of yoga. I’d LOVE for you to join me for 12 in 12, and I can’t wait to hear what monthly commitments you come up with. The possibilities are endless!

Remember: no one has a problem with the first mile of a journey. Even an infant could do fine for a while. But it isn’t the start that matters. It’s the finish line. – Julien Smith, The Flinch

Need some ideas on what to do daily for an entire month? Try one of these!

*Any physical fitness activity (pushups, running, yoga, pilates, weight training, boxing, crossfit, walking, biking…) It can be the same one for the month, or a mix.

*Read everyday for a specific length of time (15min, 30min, 1hr…)

*Give up something (TV, sugar, complaining, alcohol, the elevator, twitter/facebook, coffee, texting, Starbucks/Dunkins, eating out…)

*Volunteer

*Write (Keep a journal, start a blog, hand write letters)

*Say hello/compliment a stranger

*Wake up 30-60min earlier

*Take one photo a day

*Meditate (if only for 5min/day and work your way up)

*Try one new food a day

*Learn one new word a day (or five!)

*Unplug by 7pm

*Cook all of your meals

*Look in the mirror and say “You are perfect. You matter. You can do achieve anything. I love you”

*Check your email only at set times of day

*Take public transportation

*Try a different eating philosophy (Vegan, Raw vegan, Paleo, Mediterranean, Vegetarian)

*Do cartwheels and handstands

By the way, Subscribe to my FREE newsletter, and we’ll all stay in touch with each other about how we’re doing with the #12in12 . People do better with group reinforcement!

Prep: 10 min
Cooking Time: 30 min
Servings: 4

Ingredients:
1 bunch broccoli
5 cups water
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons barley miso
1 cup cooked brown rice

Directions:

*Wash broccoli and separate stems from florets.
*In a pot, bring water to a boil.
*Add broccoli stems, onion and garlic.
*Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
*Remove 2 cups of liquid from pot and dissolve miso paste in the liquid, return to pot.
*Add brown rice.
*Use a  blender to cream the soup.
*When smooth add broccoli florets, cook 10 more minutes.

Take a load off and enjoy!

]]> http://fitarella.com/2011/10/belly-warming-creamy-broccoli-soup/feed/ 0 http://fitarella.com/2011/09/almond-pancakes/ http://fitarella.com/2011/09/almond-pancakes/#comments Mon, 26 Sep 2011 11:44:10 +0000 Fitarella http://fitarella.com/?p=2319

Prep: 10 min
Cooking Time: 10 min
Servings: 4

Ingredients:
1 egg
1 ½ cups almond, rice or soy milk
¼ cup canola oil
1 ¾ cups oat
½ cup almonds, finely chopped
1 tablespoon non-aluminum baking powder
½ teaspoon sea salt

Directions:

*Mix egg, milk and oil in a medium-size bowl.
*Mix flour, almonds, baking powder and salt into a small bowl.
*Combine dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
*Mix until dry ingredients are moistened.
*Using a ¼ – ½ cup measuring cup drop pancakes onto a lightly oiled skillet and cook until golden brown on both sides.
*Serve warm with maple syrup or honey.

ENJOY!

This past Monday I gave away my #140Conf NYC ticket because I’m having surgery tomorrow (well for some of you, by the time you read this it will be today) and I couldn’t attend. Now it turns out that I won’t be able to attend the very cool Fitness & Health Bloggers Conference in Colorado either.
Major bummer!

So, since I’ll be in bed, hopped up on pain killers, and can’t use my conference pass, I’ve decided to pass it on for someone else to enjoy.  Here is the conference agenda for you to check out to see if you’d like to enter to win. All you have to do is leave a comment below on what you’d hope to get out of the conference and how you’d pass that information/experience on to help others.

Since the conference is already at the end of next week, I will announce the winner this Friday, the 17th. I can’t say what time though, it all depends on how well my heavily medicated brain is functioning.

Best of Luck & Namaste!

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