What stress?!

My friend sent me a fantastic video the other night http://www.upworthy.com/a-whole-new-way-to-think-about-stress-that-changes-everything-weve-been-taught-2 which, as the title suggests helped me change the way I view my stress.

So I've come up with some tips & tricks I have for balancing my crazy busy schedule. THIS is the secret to how Eric & I are still standing:

• The morning routine: lemon water, bush flower essence (my own personalised blend), dress & prepare breakfast, get kids up/dressed/try to do it all at once. My reward is that I am thinking about coffee ;)

• Plan, list, visualize, do. Remain flexible. Every day has a To Do list, each week has a to do, to pay, to plan list, meal plan, grocery plan. This is separate to work lists which are also broken down into financial, legal/accounting, member care, class design, programming, systems, wish lists & goals. Children are never going to allow the plan to go as planned. I'm learning to hold it together when one or two items aren't ticked off.

• Eat. This also has to be planned or I forget and everyone gets hangry.

• Laugh a lot and PLAY. Life wasn't meant to be a serious series of events. Listening to River talk to Uncle Rhabdo (spray painted on our wall) makes me laugh, watching Rain smoosh food all over herself makes me so happy. Chasing the dogs and forgetting the plan for a minute helps me unwind. Teasing Eric or vice versa keeps that pressure lid from coming off (though sometimes this backfires!).

• Talk it out or write it down. If I'm going through something I actually need to talk it through with my closest friends or with people so far removed from the situation they don't mind (sorry to the telemarketers!). I also filter my social media through the men in my life lest I make a career damaging comment or look petty when something upsets me. Sometimes I can't help myself...

• Be grateful. Always. There are so many brilliant things in my life, that this is pretty easy to do. But like everyone else I get caught up in the few crappy things & can obsess over them. I am reminded to show gratitude often though, and I know this makes me a happier, kinder person.

This list should probably include amazing things like yoga and training everyday or spend half an hour in the bath or some such...but if I'm honest sometimes my yoga and CrossFit sessions can't be squeezed in, I never bathe alone and there is often NO time to even go to the loo by myself let alone meditate in a park somewhere. 

So you can easily see that my priority is my family, my business & my health (in that order) and for now this works for me and my journey.

Today I had the pleasure of training with Simon who owns CrossFit Knoxfield and Eric watched the kids so I could smash out my first WOD in so long. And now he'll be laying floor for a little bit longer...man I'm proud of him, I'm proud of us! We're getting it done, doing the same thing as last year only bigger and better and with more drive to succeed. 

This path is everything we've worked towards coming together right now. Theres some awesome people helping behind the scenes; Nick, our steel man, my dad, our coaches & the whole Doncaster lululemon team. And our space that once again we've poured our hearts into is looking so damn good!

What is especially exciting is that I get to train mums in a group setting (for the first time!!) and they can bring the kids & learn to love themselves and perhaps to balance their lives a little better than I can. That I am designing a program that I don't think anyone ever has before...that I get to put my knowledge & experience into a program that is applied in a very specific way, and taught in a very loving environment. So happy :)

Speaking of brilliance and love (and stress?!), my baby sister is getting hitched in a few months!! What a blessing it will be to watch her marry her high school sweetheart, however rushed the planning will be I know that their special day will be pure filled with love. Having Jake as our official brother will be awesome, could not have asked for a more gorgeous partner for Lozzie, they are the perfect duo.

This week I am asking my clients & yoga students to practice falling in love with their lives...and as I write this I feel light, I feel gratitude, the ability to glance past imperfection to see the beauty and abundance that is.

Xxx

Life Assistant

Days like today I require:

• someone to go to the three stores I grocery shop at 

• someone to cook the food on my meal plan 

• someone to answer my calls

• wear my children

• play with them

• unpack my boxes

• decorate my house

• change my address 

• organize & pay my bills

• finalize all of CFC equipment

• promote CFC

• plan my yoga classes

• finish the webpage

• decorate CFC

• clean CFC

• make money money

• finish moving out of my old house

• sort all of my papers

• write more articles

• give me the benefits of their workout

• walk my puppies

• celebrate Valentines Day ;)

So...any takers? Hehe

The art of change

Today I am compelled to write...just three months shy of his third birthday, we have decided to wean River completely. I have tears in my eyes, such a hard call to make. My little baby is a grown toddler, asserting himself more everyday. His diet is brilliant & I've never struggled to get him to eat anything, he is long out of nappies, almost not needing a daytime nap, he's very independent. 

If I wasn't feeding Raine I think I would continue happily along but I think it's time to "bow out gracefully" as this little boy (BOY!) is old enough, and his Mumma is very ready. 

The plan is to have good quality one on one time everyday, and lots of cuddles because since Miss R has come along things have been very busy and I don't really have time for us to play without me carrying Raine, which is fine or has been until now...

We are on day 9, I think and so far I have actually seen HUGE improvements in our ability to parent equally, spending more conscious time together and the bedtime routine is actually not really any more difficult.

So we've also moved home this week which is always a stressful ordeal & on top of that we're finalizing our CrossFit Croydon gear. Eric & Nick finished the floor on Thursday morning at 4am!!!! We've sold 17 of our 20 Foundation Memberships already and our Open Day is going to be EPIC :)

I hadn't trained for over three weeks (my last workout at F3 was wall balls, rowing & strict pull-ups) so yesterday decided to do lots of handstand practice, max plank, nail butterfly pull-ups & do a road WOD that Coach Leasa & Alterego Productions posted (burpees & hollow holds). Today my ABS are on fire!!!

I got to catch up with Adele from Vegie Head and we took our puppies on a walk together. I've got an amazing group of people connecting to me currently and I'm starting to draw HUGE amounts of strength from this.

Life is beautiful if you see it!!!

Cheers & giggles xxx

Adventure

Not sure how much longer I will be using this blog...I'm taking on a few new ventures this year & I am a typical lazy writer!! 

It's official: Eric & I now own CrossFit Croydon, Melbourne's newest affiliate!!!! 

I am SO excited for this we are really on our right path now, and already the people that are interested are SUPER high quality & positive. We have made so many friends in the wider CrossFit community this past year and seen how different each box can be and has to be. We visited Byron Bay CrossFit & LOVED it! They have a brilliant community, a perfect mix of professionalism and relaxation, I would highly recommend visiting or joining if you live in the area. For E & I we really want to make CrossFit accessible to everyone...we want to improve the HEALTH of everyone who comes through our door. So we won't have a culture of pre-workout, and bacon...we aim to create a community of people who feel great about themselves whether they are over or underweight, strong or slowly getting there, old or young, new or seasoned.

The coaches we are bringing on are amazing people who will be able to inspire and teach CrossFit.

Our timetable will be released on Saturday and following that will be our pre-sale. If you are interested in joining us we will have a week long introduction between the 24-28th Feb with our open day on the 1st March (Chloe & my mum's bday!!). Website will be up & running by March.

In other non-Crossy news: I am 9 classes and a bit of homework away from my yoga teaching certificate!!! I can't wait to teach my friends & clients something that has helped me so very much. I learned so much about spirituality, philosophy & myself in the 12 day course. It was really hard for me, to be leaving the kids for 2-4hour blocks, sitting & studying, feeling so tired because as soon as the kids saw me they were so full on and Riv is asserting his independence more than ever and Raine is almost crawling and teething (ie frustrated). They both were hard to get to sleep, I felt like the milk maid, I lost my temper often & was sinking into my own negative thoughts. Both Nick & Eric were fantastic with the kids and handling me...everyone was so supportive of what we were doing & I made some friends that definitely got me through.

I'm so excited to be home tomorrow & to see all the people that had my back & held the fort for us at home. My family, especially Alex & Phil, have been looking after our fur babies in the heat wave & poor Aunty A has been reassuring me the whole time I've been gone! All the people helping us create a community for our new business already deserve HUGE kudos.

And I realized while I was away that I am so incredibly strong, not in a way that I am unaffected by outside things but in a way that I can forgive, pick myself up (or allow someone else to do so), and come back with a lesson learned & a great attitude. Sure we've lost some friends, we've lost respect for people we loved dearly, we didn't have expectations met & I nearly experienced my old friend depression once more. All I can do with that is do my best, keep going, and to keep coming back better. 

Cheers & Giggles

Xxx

Happy 2years

My blog is a teeny bit older than TWO!! Happy birthday to my online writing "career"!!

I am writing today with a full heart, a full mind, full arms, a full tummy, (an empty wallet) and a full on year ahead. Each year I tell myself, this is it Sares, just a little more work & you can rest...then another opportunity comes knocking and I just cannot resist! 

With excitement and regret, Eric and I have decided to leave Factory 3 CrossFit to the very capable Gav. We are going out to start a new box in the eastern suburbs looking to open in March 2014. Before then I am off to Byron to complete my level 1 teacher training course. So I am anticipating a very busy jan/feb! 

It came as a shock to most of our clients but we want to assure people that this move is a business move and a change that will serve us all very well in the future. I am quite saddened to leave the place that I poured my heart into but I know that the new space will offer something the eastern suburbs has not yet seen. We have a wonderful support team behind us, and we are going to go full steam ahead in preparation of our opening. 

Here's a quick glance at our timeline:

Continue working at F3.

Have a little road trip to Robe to visit the besty for NYE.

Build all the processes from scratch so they are ready to go when we open.

Make friends with some VIPs that can help us turn an old factory into a State of the art venue for CrossFit & Mobility (if you're reading this, live local & are interested please contact me!).

Pack up our home into cardboard boxes.

Cry eyes out on last day at F3.

Depart to Byron for yoga teacher training.

Road trip home from Byron (omg with two kids!!).

Move house.

Create a new box.

Open 1st March (Chloe's bday).

As most people know, I don't do things by halves...haha!

Raine took her first bottle (of expressed milk after about 3hrs of one side breast refusal...) on Christmas Eve. Yesterday she had her first taste of watermelon & cantaloupe, just shy of 6months. Looking forward to another BLW journey! She is also very chatty & says Dada every day (seriously?! I birthed her!!), as she rolls about trying to plank/fly/crawl.

I'm going to miss spending 24/7 with my babies for the 12day yoga intensive. It was a decision that was hard to make but Byron Yoga have been very helpful in allowing me breaks to breastfeed and pump milk for Raine. And to gain qualification in yoga instruction will be a priceless opportunity. I will keep you posted with this journey!

On a final note, this has been a year of great personal discovery. I have realized who my true friends are, made so many brilliant new ones, and let some go. I've been highly praised and also bullied. I've found a real peace with my past & gained so much excitement for my future thanks to the awesome considerate compassionate people in my life. I'm truly blessed to see the good in people & to be able to let go what no longer serves me. There are a billion people to thank including my family, my circle of friends, my clients who have my back at every turn, my lululemon athletica friends who have been a constant source of support, and those people I have met through CrossFit that I am completely in awe of. 

Thank you for giving me strength to face the day, and thanks to the universe for giving me endless opportunity in making my dreams come true.

I love this quote "The woman who does not require validation from anyone is the most feared individual on the planet" M.N

My message at this time of year is always the same; express gratitude, give love & don't wait for some bulldust date to change your life. Be the person you want to be, be amazing, start NOW. And as the beautiful Amy Coghlan says, Be.Love.Always.

Xxxx

Brahmacharya

Non excess

This has been my focus of the week really. I've been reading & trying to practice "walking with god". 

As I explained in a previous post, I am not a religious woman. But I am a woman of faith and I like the wonder of the universe. Today I took the WHOLE morning off, cleaned in between playing with the babes, made breakfast for the three dudes in my house, picked up an outfit for Riv to wear to my gorgeous clients wedding....the list goes on! When I was out I decided to visit my friends at lululemon athletica Doncaster. Surprisingly enough we ended up modeling some new gear which was snapped by the beautiful Fatima while Letitia held our kids. If you ever want to discuss the Big Picture, spirituality and how yoga can change your life- go visit these girls! Fatima said that the more she photographs people, the more she sees their beauty. It made me smile because I had greasy hair & was not feeling particularly beautiful this morning! We then talked about just allowing ourselves to be our own kind of beautiful.

The point of my post though is wonderful things happen when you just ARE. We weren't looking at the time or rushing around, River had no shoes on & we had no immediate pressure. This pressure is sometimes crippling to me. So home now and I read this passage I wanted to share:

"Whether I take it easy for a day or escape into the woods by myself, it is hard to give this rest to myself...My ego likes to feel important, and it doesn't feel very important when I am resting. My ego also doesn't like the idea that life can go on without me...I like to be where the action is. Besides, in this culture of constant activity, there is always so much that needs to be done."

"It might surprise us to realise how much crazy activity we create in our days just so we can feel important. We wear our busyness like a badge, like our busyness would somehow impress the rest of the world, or impress ourselves...What if we walked off stage altogether and put God there instead. Maybe then we could go to sleep at night, not with a sense of accomplishment, but with a sense of wonder, because all day we had been an attentive audience to the divine play...we aren't embodied in this form to feel dead but to feel alive..."Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.""

I am guilty of living my life in excess! I am guilty of allowing my ego to take centre stage. But that's ok, this is an area I need to work on...to know when enough is and to find pleasure then and there. Excess causes lethargy, balance creates a beautiful harmony of energy. The more I read about the ethical practice of yoga, the more I learn about myself. 

Cheers & Giggles xx

27 Facts about Me

Feeling like I need to touch base with you all...and now as a REAL business owner I don't necessarily have the freedom to let my hair down on social media...before every post I consider: is it Kind? Is it helpful? Is it necessary? So it's not really THAT important to fill you in, but I'd like to be open & honest, and I'd like you all to comment and tell me about yourselves too :)

1. Above all else I value my family. My kids come first, full stop. I try to be really present with my children as these precious moments are fleeting.

2. Dancing has been my lifelong passion and I doubt I will ever stop. I'm not the best and I sometimes find it hard to put myself out there with the movement, but it is my favorite thing to do. I have danced since I was two years old and while currently I only take lyrical classes, I also love ballet & hiphop.

3. My job is the coolest. I always used to say "I can't be a PT forever" and wanted my degree so I could set myself apart with knowledge and expertise...then I found CrossFit and the possibilities are endless! I could coach til my very last breath :) I also found a niche with mums. My favorite aspect of training people is watching people start liking themselves more & caring less what the scales say. Second to that would be when awesome technique "clicks".

4. Having babies taught me how to love myself. I had never treated my body as a temple until I fell pregnant, and I had never ever been kind to myself until I realised that my children would learn from my behavior, and I want them to love themselves without fear!

5. I hate animal cruelty. It makes me feel unwell, I became vegetarian at 12 & after much research decided to go vegan two years ago. So many people have said "it's just a phase" but I cannot tell you how much it distresses me to cause another being harm. I will NEVER go back because I know too much. Even if eating animals was good for your body, I couldn't do it.

6. I try really hard not to push my opinion onto others (my CrossFit athletes may contest this...I am technique queen) but truly, at the end of the day do what serves your hearts desires. Be true to yourself.

7. Yoga teaches me something every day. Patience, strength, to be myself...I am reading "the Yamas & Niyamas" and it has really made me delve into my life, my thoughts and my direction. It's not easy to practice yoga-on the mat or every breath I take, but it has become a part of who I am.

8. I fought tooth and nail to be the person I am today...there was so many years spent not being the best version of myself. Every day I try to be better-a better Mumma, partner, friend, coach, athlete, dancer & health warrior!

9. I am quite easily influenced!!! Seems I am a people-pleaser and truly take to heart what people think of me, even silly salesgirls selling me very overpriced things!

10. Writing makes me happy. When things are out of balance I can tell as I don't write. I prefer writing in my journal or lists on paper. I am very excited to begin my goals journal, gifted to me by my beautiful friends at lululemon athletica Doncaster!

11. I'm a little obsessive compulsive. I like straight lines and things have to be done a certain way and in a certain order. Blame my parents and Nanna for this one!

12. My favorite foods include avocado, mango, berries, mushrooms, broccoli and Vegemite toast.

13. I've never eaten a banana though this year we discovered that I enjoy banana cake and will drink banana in delicious smoothies.

14. My favorite colour is blue.

15. I believe in karma, fate, an afterlife, the universe, ghosts, love at first sight (my kids) & that everything happens for a reason. I believe in mermaids and faeries. 

16. I used to be a devout Christian, that is how I was raised. I still believe in a concept of God (the universe), and I don't think humans evolved from monkeys.

17. I want to live by the sea.

18. My favorite exercise is a deadlift. I love that it's hard to do perfectly and that (dare I say) I come very damn close every time.

19. My best mate is Will. He's a lovely handsome (single) dude with a very open heart. He will hate me pimping him out like this!! He's been my "person" since the day we met though I sometimes wish he was a girl so we could take selfies and share clothes.

20. My dance idol is my teacher Kim, my yoga inspiration is a woman from Byron named Sydoni whom I really connected with, my CrossFit aspiration is Christmas Abbot though I kind of adore Amy Alessi & Morgan Wardropa! I truly admire Megan Small, Beverley Henderson & Kacey Bennett. 

21. I just realised I really dig some awesome women! (Usually girls scare me!)

22. Marli, my beautiful Lab will always be my first baby. And while he drives me bonkers I love our new baby Lincoln. One day we will get another puppy & name him Rich The Beast.

23. I love coffee. The way it smells, the way it tastes & the way it doesn't talk back to me. I prefer my soy latte with one from a cafe that uses BonSoy. I also love my barristers, anyone that brings me coffee is a dear friend for life.

24. My sense of humor is very dry and sarcastic. I think I'm witty...others would disagree. And I cannot tell jokes to save myself.

25. I'm not very stylish, nor do I care about fashion. Give me a bikini on the beach, a cute maxi, some jeans & lululemon attire for work/yoga/dance and I am set.

26. Most of you know I'm a lactivist, intactivist, co sleeping, baby wearing, cloth nappy-ing, non-vaccining, EC-ing, Baby-Led-Weaning Mumma. This works for me and my family. I will promote these things because I believe they make happier, healthier babies. Breastfeeding is the hardest most selfless thing I've ever done and out of all the above I will promote it, normalize it and do it on demand as long as I can because we live in a society that views breasts as purely sexual and that leads women to believe that formula is just as good.

27. Health & Functionality along with saving the planet one small step at a time is my aim. That's why I love my job, parent like this, became vegan & am a pretty massive "hippy". 

Cheers & Giggles

Xxx