We Are Not Our Bodies

The more internal work I do, the more beauty I see in my external world.

What we see on the outside is a reflection of what is going on inside of us.

A few years back, I paid a lot more attention to my appearance. I am not saying that I don’t now, but my reasons and intentions were much different then.

I often felt that I had a certain type of image to uphold, a reputation to keep or protect even.

Silly me.

Vanity has a way of seducing our egos.

Once upon a time, I would go to the nail salon for regular pedicures, get my hair colored every 3-4 weeks to keep the grays at bay, I discovered eye lash extensions and rode that train for some time, I also had Botox injected into my forehead quite a few times.

As you can see in this photo, I have now chosen the ‘Au Naturale” path.

Yes, I wear make up (sometimes), I do my own nails on occasion too but the rest...no mas!

I am not knocking any of these things, to each his/her own. I just became aware of the REASON WHY I was doing them and that is what determined my change of heart. Being a yoga teacher, I also became more aware of this temple/body that my soul resides in and I no longer wanted to harm myself in any way if I could help it. Hair dyes (the ones that really work to cover) are normally made with fairly toxic ingredients and botox...well, I shouldn't even need to explain that one!

“Looking older” is something that is not very well accepted in today’s world...especially Palm Beach 🤣

It’s quite sad really.

My favorite years so far have been my 40’s, and I am not ashamed of my age or the physical changes that are occurring because of my age. Do I wish my ass sat a little bit higher at times? Sure...but at the end of the day, there is something to be said about the aging process.

The maturity and the wisdom that is gained is way more beautiful to me. I have decided to dedicate the rest of my life to healing myself and supporting the healing process of anyone else looking to follow the same path. When we walk the path of the heart and clear all the old patterns and conditions that we have accumulated over the years, we have the ability to shed energetic weight right off of our shoulders. Stress is one of the main diseases in life that can age us more quickly than necessary. Feeding our body, mind and soul with negative thoughts, emotions and habits is like feeding our cells straight up junk food. So yes, stress can LITERALLY kill us! When we learn to control the mind through meditation, eat a healthy diet, exercise regularly, expose ourselves to as many positive experiences as possible, the aging process can actually slow itself down. We can preserve ourselves by healing ourselves.

I honestly feel like I look much younger now than I have in the past.

The key is less stress and more self care and love...at least in my opinion and experience.

I am healthier and happier, and that is what you see here.

I also FEEL better now than I often did in my 20’s and 30’s.

I ran myself into the ground for many many years.

I am so grateful for this conscious lifestyle that I have now chosen.

I would like to go back to my comment about the ‘reason why’ for just a moment. One of my teachers brought this up in class one day and it really struck a chord of some sort within me. She emphasized that knowing our reason why was super important when making decisions. I really felt that comment and the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. I had another teacher make a similar comment...it was in regards to creating a yoga sequence. We were working on which poses were appropriate to follow other poses and so on. She said something like, “you can do whatever you want, as long as you know why you are doing it...”

So you see, knowing your reason why is a beautiful filter to wash your thoughts, ideas and actions through prior to execution. I believe this allows our intentions to come from the right place within us...our hearts.

All this being said, it is never too late to lean into this work and when you feel called to do so...watch closely as your external world transforms from the inside, out.