Do you feel stuck? In your business, in life, certain relationships, or health issues? Is the same nagging thought or string of thoughts keeping you up at night?

Do you keep coming back to the same answer, but are too afraid to execute the solution for fear that it won’t be perfect, or turn out the way you want? 

Don’t let the little things get in the way of you moving forward. 

I was at a business training a couple months ago, and we were covering the importance of setting up a clean and organized work environment in order to work more efficiently. I’m a BIG fan of this idea. Which is why I was shocked to hear the next speaker get on stage and proclaim, “If you’re messy, be messy. Build your business.” 

Right then a light bulb went off. 

If you wait for things to be perfect before making a move–in any situation–you will become paralyzed with fear and overwhelm.

And, the fact is, sometimes you need to move forward and make mistakes to discover the clarity you’ve been waiting for. 

I run a business mentoring program for motivated individuals wanting to create their own business in the health and wellness industry, and I see this issue come up a lot. And I experience it, too! Everybody does, we’re human.  

Deep down, or maybe not so deep down, I think it’s a fear of change, or even a fear of success.  There is a very strong part of us that’s just fine with the way things are, thank you very much. And when we start to push ourselves out of that comfort zone, things can get scary. 

But that’s when the magic happens.

I’ll give my own personal example. It’s kind of a silly one, it has to do with my website. (I know, it’s not life or death, but it’s a the big deal keeping me up at night!)

If you’ve been following my blog for the last couple years, you know that I’ve gone through a lot of changes in my life and my business. Last year I got married and started 2 additional businesses!

These huge events pushed me out of my comfort zone and brought more magic into my life than I’ve ever experienced.

And then there are silly little things like websites with huge potential to hold you back.

Running 3 websites for my 3 different businesses was fine at first, but recently it’s been nagging me. “Josie, combine your websites, simplify your life, build one business and they will come…” the voice says. 

But how will I do that? I whine. 

“Don’t wait until your website is perfect, just write your next freaking blog post,” the voice replies.

So here I am, putting one foot in front of the other, building my business in the face of disorganization and improper website etiquite. 

One day I will have my brand new website exactly how I want it, incorporating my acupuncture practice, my online nutrition program and my business mentoring program, but for now I’m not going to let it stop me from moving forward. Or from writing my next blog post.  

To quote Dory, “Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.” 

Take action!

1) What’s holding you back in your life right now? Find one thing you can do to move forward and let it propel you through the proverbial slump. 

2) Leave a comment below and let me know what it is!

3) If you like this post, “like” it and please share it with your friends using the fun buttons below. 

Photo credit: shannatheshedevil

Around this time of year my patients usually confess to me that they have been indulging in one too many holiday treats — and that their stomach is not as happy as usual.

Here are some quick and easy tips to help your tummy more easily digest your food during this treat-filled time of year. Or anytime of year!

1) Lemon with warm water or apple cider vinegar in the morning. Drinking a mug of warm (not hot) water with fresh squeezed lemon first thing in the morning will enhance your digestive enzymes and warm your Spleen and Stomach Qi (“chee” or energy), both of which will settle your stomach and help it to efficiently digest your food for the rest of the day. You can also try a tablespoon or two of apple cider vinegar in warm water, which will accomplish the same thing. (Though I prefer lemon. )

2) Probiotic. Find an excellent probiotic that is guaranteed to deliver exactly what’s stated on the label (in other words, a probiotic that is guaranteed to stay alive) and take it every morning or every other morning as directed. I carry an excellent brand in my clinic, contact me for more info. You can also incorporate foods rich in probiotic organisms such as yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, miso, and kimchee.

3) Digestive enzymes. I recommend a wonderful digestive enzyme product in my clinic that contains Spirulina, or you can find one at your local health food store. Digestive enzymes are great to carry with you, especially to a party or out to dinner when you’re not exactly sure what you’ll be eating. These are not to be taken regularly, but will sure come in handy if you find yourself in an unsavory situation.

4) Chew your food. This may sound simple, but it’s actually hard to do! A huge amount of digestion occurs in the mouth, but most of us are eating so fast that we expect our stomach to do most of the work. Saliva contains an important digestive enzyme called amylase, so it’s important that food stays in our mouth long enough liquefy.  Try chewing your food 30-50 times before you put in another bite. This will not only help your digestion, but you will also eat less because your brain will register that “full” signal before you’ve overeaten.

5) Prepare your own food. In Dr. Libby Weaver’s book, Accidentally Overweight, she explains the subtle process that happens when we take the time to prepare our food versus eating something on-the-go. Simply smelling the aroma of your dinner on the stove actually awakens your digestive processes to more easily receive the food. Chopping the garlic, sauteing the onions, letting sauce simmer, will actually encourage a more harmonious digestive experience than suddenly introducing something to your mouth that you hadn’t smelled or experienced in the making.

Spots are filling up for my New Year’s online nutrition program! Click here to reserve your spot today. Registration closes on January 3rd at midnight MT, or when spaces are filled. I want to see YOU in the program!

If you like this post, “like” it and share it with your friends and family using the fun buttons below. As always, leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Photo: Rob Qld

What if I told you it’s possible to add more time to your day? You might think I’m crazy or hippy-dippy, or both. But you’ll be thanking me when you suddenly realize you have plenty of time to get all your last minute holiday shopping, cooking, cleaning and organizing done.

Sound impossible?

In Gay Hendricks’ book, The Big Leap, he introduces a concept called Einstein Time. (If you haven’t read this book, I highly recommend it, especially if you are interested in taking your life to the next level of goodness.)

Einstein time vs. Newtonian time

Hendricks reminds us of Einstein’s theory that time is not some external force of nature, time actually comes from you — in other words, time is relative.

Think of how time contracts and expands depending on what you’re doing or thinking about. When you’re with someone you love, hours seem to fly by, whereas if you’re waiting at the DMV to renew your driver’s license 1 minute seems like 12 hours.

So, how can I make 2 hours at the DMV seem like 20 minutes? More importantly, how can I expand time when I need more of it to reach a deadline or catch the bus?

Well, what do you think you’re doing differently during these two scenarios mentioned above?

When you’re spending time with someone you love, are you constantly checking your watch and wishing it would end? Are you resisting being present in that moment? No. You’re completely present because it’s exactly where you want to be.

On the flip side, when you’re at the DMV are you reveling in each and every beep that signifies the persons turn in front of you? Are you completely relaxed in those plastic chairs or leaning against the wall, thinking to yourself, “I hope I never have to leave, this is delightful.” Of course not.

The difference is embracing the moment or resisting it.

Consider the next time you’re running late or feeling rushed, to stop and tell yourself, “I am the creator of time.” Take a deep breath and bring yourself fully into your body, consciously relaxing the parts of you that were tense with the feeling of not having enough time. And see what happens.

This takes practice. Don’t just do it once and tell me it didn’t work. It’s a new mindset and needs to be strengthened like a muscle.

I do this on a daily basis and I find that I’m a thousand times more productive in a much smaller time frame. I find that I can be busy and invigorated, inspired and happy instead of stressed and burned out with my busy schedule.

This time of year is perfect to learn how to take control of your time and energy. Try it and let me know what happens.

Speaking of time, registration is open for my  New Year’s nutrition program and closes on January 3rd or when spaces are filled. Depending on how you’re experiencing time, that deadline might sneak right up on you! Click here to register today and reserve your spot.

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Photo: zoutedrop

The holidays can be a stressful time of year, but many of us are experiencing stress year-round. Some of us are so stressed that we don’t even realize we’re stressed and think it’s a “normal” way of being. Ack!

As an acupuncturist, I see case after case of disease and disharmony in the body that’s caused by, you guessed it, STRESS.

I cannot STRESS to you enough the importance of banishing stress from your life as much as possible. As I tell many of my patients, it’s totally possible to be busy and not stressed. You can still get a lot done, in fact you can get even more done, when you are operating from a calm, centered, energy efficient state of mind.

Here’s how I do it:

Throughout the day, every time I take a sip of water I stop for a few seconds, take a deep belly breath and say to myself, “Hello, Josie. Are you in “fight or flight” mode right now? Or are you in “rest and relaxation” mode? I answer — honestly — and adjust my energy and mindset if necessary.

Explanation breakdown: 

For all you science geeks out there (me!) there are two branches of your nervous system:  your central nervous system (CNS) that we have conscious control over, like choosing to move your arm. And then there’s your autonomic nervous system (ANS) that we have no conscious control over, like digestion. We don’t have to say to our stomachs, “okay, time to digest!”

It’s your ANS that dictates your “fight or flight” response (feeling stressed) or your “rest and relaxation” response (feeling relaxed). So, how do you switch from being stressed to being relaxed if we have no conscious control over our ANS? (You might ask.)

There’s a loophole!

Our breath. The one aspect of our ANS that we DO have conscious control over is our breath. So, if you’re checking in with yourself and the answer to your question is, “I’m in fight or flight mode,” take a minute to consciously change your breathing pattern to activate your “rest and relaxation” response.

Here’s how you do it: 

Put one hand on your belly, and when you take a breath in, make your belly go out. When you exhale, your hand should go back down and your belly back in. At first, this might be easier to feel lying down.

You’ll notice this is probably the exact opposite of how you’ve been breathing most of your life. You’ve probably been breathing in, sucking in your belly and inflating your chest, am I right?

Once you’ve mastered this “belly breath,” that should just take a few seconds–Congratulations! You’ve successfully accessed your parasympathetic nervous system and activated your “rest and relaxation” response! Wasn’t that easy?

To summarize, here are the 5 easy steps to banish stress from your life for good:

1) Choose a trigger to remind yourself to check in and see if you’re stressed. (For me, it’s taking a sip of water.)

2) Ask yourself, “Is my heart rate up, are my breaths shallow, am I anxious?” (fight or flight response) or “Am I calm, relaxed, and blissful?” (rest and relaxation response).

3) If your answer is “yes” or “no” respectively to the questions above, place your hand on your belly and inflate it as you take a breath in. Repeat for a few breaths.

4) Go about your day, and keep in mind that you can be busy and not stressed.

5) Do this exercise again the next time you take a sip of water, or do whatever your “trigger” is.

Registration opens TODAY for my popular online nutrition program where we delve into topics like this one and much more. (Guess how stress affects weight loss and digestion?) For more details, click here.

Leave a comment below and let me know what you think of this exercise! “Like” this post and please share it with your friends and family using the fun buttons.

Photo: Sean Rogers1

I always find it more difficult in the winter months to make sure I’m getting enough fresh veggies in my diet. I seem to crave mostly warm, cooked meals, and the thought of a salad makes me chilly. However, the other day I stumbled on this combination that had just the right amount of heartiness for winter.

Josie’s Winter Salad:

A few handfuls of baby spinach leaves (pre-washed makes it super easy!)

Handful of dried cranberries (not sweetened with sugar)

1/2 can of  drained “Salad Beans” (garbanzo, kidney and white beans)

1/4 fresh avocado, cubed

A few thin slices of red onion to taste

Bragg’s Sesame Ginger Vinaigrette (or make your own dressing using 2 parts olive oil, 1 part balsamic vinegar and add minced ginger and sesame seeds.)

Other delicious variations: Try tossing in some cooked quinoa, wilting (quickly steaming) the spinach, adding feta goat cheese, tofu, chicken and/or nuts.

Registration opens next week for my popular online nutrition program where I share many more yummy recipes. Click here for details.

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Leave a comment and let me know if you try this salad.

Photo: Social Mediarts

Last Friday, I married my high school sweetheart and we went on a mini-honeymoon for the weekend. Usually, when we leave town I take my computer, my iPhone, my day planner–my work life–with us.

The beauty of having my own practice, and an online business is that I get to design my own hours and work from anywhere.

Which can be a blessing and a curse.

It being our honeymoon and all, I decided to “unplug” and bring only my Kindle, and the newest issues of Vogue and Vanity Fair for entertainment. (When was the last time I read a magazine cover to cover?!)

We went to Strawberry Springs in Steamboat (If you haven’t been, GO.) where we stayed in their nicest accommodation, The Caboose.

It’s literally a caboose, still on the railroad tracks.

To my surprise, we had running hot water (yay!), a kitchen (yay!), our own bathroom and shower (double-yay!), a gas fireplace and solar-powered lights! Suddenly my picture of “roughing it” was turning out to be pretty rosy.

There was, however, no cell phone reception and no internet.

At first I felt uncomfortable, constantly reaching to check my phone or my email — or even the time!

But, after a day or so I finally decided to just relax. I knew the world would not fall apart with out me, and it didn’t.

During a lengthly conversation in front of the fire one night with my husband (?!), I realized how hard-wired I am to fill every moment of every day with something, be it work, computer-time, socializing, etc.

(Mom, if you’re reading this, I know you tried to tell me this my whole life, and you’re right!)

Javram quite frankly told me that I need to slow down. I could almost see my mom standing next to him, nodding in agreement.

Filling my days gives me a sense of accomplishment, and I suddenly realized that my intense drive to accomplish things comes from a deep-seated belief that if I don’t make something happen myself, then it won’t happen.

I find myself doing more forcing than allowing. Ah-hah!

To commemorate this light-bulb moment, Javram helped me think of a new affirmation or mantra to tell myself as often as I can to try to shift this pattern of over-doing. You can use it, too, if you like:

“I allow.”

That’s it. Super simple. Whenever I start to feel like I’m trying to force something to happen, I stop and take a deep breath and say to myself, “I allow.”

Try it! It works!

The next time you’re feeling resistance to having more money, love, health–anything–in your life, try saying this to yourself and see what happens.

Please leave a comment below, I always love to hear from you. If you liked this post, “like” it and share it with your friends using the buttons below!

P.S. If you’re a wedding photo junkie like me, click here to check out our pics from the amazingly talented Keri Doolittle!

But then I realized, if I didn’t reach my goal I would still be farther along than I am right now. So why not try?

Goal-setting is somewhat of an art. There’s a lot more to it than just wishing something would happen. If done properly, it can give you the guaranteed roadmap to accomplishing your dreams.

Here are my 9 simple steps to accomplish everything you’ve ever wanted:

1)  Before you make any goals — financial, personal, health, relationship — get really clear about “why” you want to accomplish that goal. Write it down. Make sure it moves you. In other words, if it brings up emotion or tears when you read it aloud to yourself, you’ve got it. Refer to your “why” weekly or daily, as you set out to accomplish your goals because it will fuel you beyond any other kind of motivation. A wonderful book to read on this topic is called Start With Why by Simon Sinek.

2) Another great way to get in touch with your “why” is to make a vision board. Click here for detailed instructions of how to make one.

3) Create your day before it happens. Instead of letting your day happen to you, take a few brief moments as you’re lying in bed or sipping your tea in the morning to prioritize and plan your day. Visualize yourself at the end of the day feeling satisfied about what you were able to get done. A great planning system to use is Franklin Covey, Leadership Series.

4) Set your intentions and goals for the week. Be realistic about what you can accomplish, but also push yourself to dream big.

5) Get a 90 day calendar so you  can plan and set goals three months at a time. Here’s the one I use. It makes a huge difference! Sometimes a day, a week, or even a month can get away from you. But you can usually get back on track and accomplish any goal–or make huge strides–in 90 days.

6) Work backwards. Decide on a goal that you want to accomplish by a certain time. Then make a list of everything you need to do in order to reach that goal. Schedule each item on your calendar, starting from the end date and working toward the present.

7) Adjust your goals and set new ones once you reach your old ones.  Also be sure to update your “why” every 90 days because it’s natural for it to evolve.

8 ) Make a list of rewards for yourself once you reach certain goals! This may feel self-indulgent at first, but go ahead and do it. Think of it as an assignment from me. It’s so important to take the time to feel good about what you’ve accomplished, instead of always moving on to the next thing. It sets the stage to attract more of that “accomplished” feeling, and therefore more goals reached, in your life.

9) Get a mentor. Find someone who is living the life that you want to live and who lives by the same values that you do. Get on their mailing list, “like” them on Facebook, meet them in person, ask them questions. They can help provide that roadmap, or at least point you in the right direction. If that person happens to be me, keep an eye out for my upcoming mentoring program.

Hope you enjoyed these goal-setting techniques! They have worked wonders for me and I hope they do for you as well.

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But, to quote SJP in Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, “I love to dance.” (Who’s seen that movie? Great scene.)

Yesterday, my mom found my old ballet shoes from when my number one dream was to advance to dancing en pointe. (My other dream was to grow my hair past the middle of my back. Dream big, right?)

The lambs wool I used to wrap my toes peeked out, still stuffed in the box toe. I inspected the hand-stitching of the satin and elastic straps — had I sewn them on, or had my mom? The iconic pale pink material scuffed off the toes, revealing the paper mache structure.

I cannot tell you how much I LOVED these shoes! Even more than the act of dancing, I loved that these shoes symbolized my dreams coming true. I remember tying the satin ribbon straps together and hanging them on my closet handle so I could look at them every day and think to myself, “I did it!”

This year, at 32, I started dancing again and it feels great. Although my body is older and tighter, my turnout sucks, and you couldn’t pay me to dance en pointe again (ouch!), ballet still brings as much joy into my life as it did when I was 13. Maybe more so because I am even more appreciative of my healthy body, the beauty of the movements, the poetry of the french names that describe the dance.

Doing something you love, no matter how silly it may feel at first, positively affects your health in so many ways. Not only does ballet get my blood pumping and strengthens my muscles, it relieves stress and nurtures the little girl in me that loved ballet with all her heart. Now I make my ballet classes non-negotiable and I am always glad I did.

Leave a comment below and answer one or more of these questions:

What are you not doing in your life right now that you love?

When was the last time you felt a sense of accomplishment? How can you bring that into your life again?

What did you do when you were a kid that you absolutely loved?

If you like this post, “like” it and share it with your friends using the fun buttons below. And if you haven’t checked out my online nutrition program yet where we get into juicy topics like this one, what are you waiting for? Click here to sign up for a free content preview.

I’m off to work on my turnout.

Photo: My old pointe shoes!

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The Only Nutrition Program You’ll Ever Need 

After you watch this video, ask yourself, where do I want my health to be one month from now?

You can make HUGE health & wellness changes in only 28 days.

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photo credit: sundaykofax