This break from the known is The Daring Path.

While choosing to take The Daring Path can be scary it’s also a chance for a more alive, joyful, and vibrantly free life.

As humans, I actually think we are biologically pretty adept at determining risk. It’s our fear meter that is off the charts.

In it’s best role, fear excels at keeping us alive.

In it’s lesser role fear’s message is to hold onto known comforts and avoid risk because “you may fail”.

My message is not to risk it all, go forth, be a rebel, quit your job and set out on a ’round the world adventure.

While that’s certainly an option, to be daring it is not necessary to be extreme.

Here’s a more gentle approach to The Daring Path – one that puts fear in its place AND helps you feel grounded at the same time.

1. Listen for the body’s signals. Fear gives us messages every day and they come through the body and the mind. Do you get a daily headache on your drive into work? Do you feel restless as your head hits the pillow? These may be

2. Observe these signs without judgement and start to tune into your deeper wisdom.

3. Spend some time journaling, in reflection, meditation, or working with a trusted friend, coach, or counselor to identify the underlying cause.

4. Consider what changes – habits, lifestyle, diet, or mind set – may be needing a gentle shift (or an over-haul).

5. Weigh the risks of making some changes in your life. Maybe you don’t have to be “all in” or be “all or nothing”.

Courage can happen in small ways.

Maybe it’s enough to take one small step.

Dip a toe in the water. See how it feels. And reassess.

Then again, maybe you plunge right in to radical change.

Regardless of the size of the step you take each step is a step closer to who you want to become.

And, quite possibly a step closer to feeling more awake, vital, and alive then you have in a long time.

So listen.

Trust your intuition.

Trust that deep inner knowing.

Trust your body’s ability to feel and share wisdom.

Surprisingly the wisdom may be announced in a string of sleepless nights or in the set of a tight jaw and shoulders.

Your body gives you the signals so listen for those bells.

Listen to that voice that tells you if something is not quite right or if something is off.

And truly, know this: For as fear inducing as it can be to go towards the unknown, it’s also universally freeing and alive to choose to live in line with your deepest knowing.

It’s YOU who knows you best.

So listen in.

A yes to The Daring Path is a yes to the awake, vital, and vibrant life of your dreams.

With a daring loving heart,
Kyle

The post The Daring Path: How to Put Fear in its Place to Become the Person You Most Want to Be. appeared first on Kyle Willets.

There are two main reasons we may choose to supplement.

To Cure: to make up for what we’re missing in our diet for healing
To Optimize: for prevention and to give ourselves and extra boost

Either way we are seeking to improve health and certainly not to hurt ourselves further.

Recently, The New York State Attorney General’s office revealed that the top-selling store brands of herbal supplements sold at GNC, Target, Walgreens, and Walmart did not contain any of the herbs they had listed on their labels.

Instead, the pills were found to contain cheap fillers like powdered rice, asparagus and houseplants, and wheat despite gluten-free claims.

If you’re feeling a bit hoodwinked right now, I’m with ya.

Naturally, we want to believe that the health industry including the pharmaceutical manufacturers and those that make herbal products are doing so with our best interests at heart.

But the honest truth is that not all companies are well… truthful.

That said, there are some companies that have built their brand on that very premise – doing right by their customers and delivering what they say they are delivering.

And, there are some companies that go even further to deliver supplementation in a way that is sustainable for the planet and the people that work for the companies too.

In my own life I use a few high-quality supplements and have done extensive research to select them.

I am very careful with recommendations for supplements for my clients and always aim for clients to be on as few supplements as possible and for the shortest time possible.

Are your supplements safe?

Five Steps to Choosing Supplements that Help, not Hurt:

1. Know the interactions and potential side effects. Especially if you are taking medications it’s important to fully understand any adverse effects of taking a supplement. For example, St John’s Wort is a well known supplement that commonly interferes with the metabolism of many important medications.

2. Read the Ingredients. Scan the product label for sweeteners, artificial flavor and dyes. If you find them listed it’s likely a sub-par product. Another quick way to scan for quality is to note the use of parentheses following each vitamin listed. For example Vitamin B12 should look something like this Vitamin B12 (as methylcobalamin) or if you are looking at a food based supplement Vitamin B12 (from nutritional yeast). If the label does not tell you what form the vitamin is in, then you don’t know anything about the source or quality. If you see that the parenthesis are listed, you know the supplement company is taking it one step beyond the requirements of the DSHEA (The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act).

3. Are the Allergens Listed? Companies that care will mark that their product is free of common allergens that will not only make some people ill but also interfere with the healing process. But, as we’ve learned, don’t always trust the label because some companies write whatever they want just to make a sale.

4. Look for Seals of Approval. This is so important. Look for quality seals of approval beyond the usual good manufacturing practices (GMP). Some of the additional abbreviations you can look for include USP, TGA, NSF, EQP. For example, the USP stands for the US Pharmacopeial Convention. The USP label assures the consumer that the product meets a voluntary supplement verification process.

5. Check the Expiration Date. Products that have no printed expiration date or are expired should not be consumed.

These five steps will help you sort through the mass of heavily marketed supplements so you can ensure you’re choosing the highest quality in the supplements and vitamins you purchase.

Committed to your health,

Kyle

The post Are Your Supplements Doing More Harm than Good? appeared first on Kyle Willets.

Like most people you have a strong desire for intimacy. It’s a connection that fuels us and helps us feel connected in an often isolated world.

While intimacy often implies a romantic relationship, today’s love letter speaks to any intimate relationship whether it be with a family member, dear friend, or close neighbor.

No matter the relationship, intimacy can ONLY be experienced when we slow down enough to connect with and share in the deep joys and sorrows of another or even when simply bearing witness to the wonderment of another human’s existence.

In my private practice I am honored to experience intimate moments, moments of vulnerability and courage quite often. My clients share their challenges, pain, and deep struggles as well as stories of joy, triumph, and success.

Just yesterday a client shared his success in feeling more confident in his body, more empowered to see himself naked in the mirror, and stronger to get back into the sports he once enjoyed.

Intimacy has the potential to bring such Soul Food into our lives.

Quite simply, intimacy feeds us with the joy of human connection from wich all too often we feel starved.

If you feel a lack of intimacy and connection in your life, you’re not alone.

A recent study by sociologists at Duke and the University of Arizona found that, on average, most adults only have two people they can talk to about the most important subjects in their lives — serious health problems, for example, or issues like who will care for their children should they die. And, a staggering one-quarter have no close confidants at all.

Obviously this is important and it has huge implications for short and longer term health.

Loneliness and social isolation have been linked with increased risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality, elevated blood pressure and cortisol, and heightened inflammatory responses to stress.

If intimacy and connection are something you feel lacking in your life then here are 5 practical way to start feeling more connected today.

Five Ways to Increase Intimacy and Connection in Your Life:

1. Connect with yourself
It may seem like odd advice but in order to connect with others you must first feel connected to yourself. If you are able to give yourself love and feel love, it will make it much more likely that you can be truly present and available for connection with someone else.

2. Embrace ordinariness
No matter the relationship – friend, family member, partner, or neighbor – there are times when the fairy-dust of that new relationship will settle. It’s then that we start to discover ordinariness, and we often do everything we can to avoid it. The trick is to see that ordinariness can become the real “juice” of intimacy. The day-to-day sharing of life with others can actually become extraordinary and an opportunity for deep connection.

3. Expand your heart
Nearly everyone on the planet has this one core desire in common: to be happy. And, studies have shown that more important than wealth and status is human connection to helping us achieve that goal of happiness. To create real intimacy, get in touch with the spaciousness of your heart and bring awareness to what is good within you. When you witness this goodness within yourself it becomes easier to see it within others and feel connected with them.

4. Focus on giving love
A lack of connection has the potential to make us graspy and clingy. We start to focus on what we are receiving rather than what we are capable of giving. However, the unintentional outcome of loving others more deeply is that we are loved more deeply. When we find it in ourselves to give more (without giving ourselves away) the result is often more connection.

5. Let go of expectations
At the heart of suffering is expectations. When we put ourselves out there to loved ones and even strangers it’s tempting to have the expectation that our love or efforts will be reciprocated. This gives your power away and makes you dependent on the outside world to fill the void of loving you. Set the intention to connect and act on this intention without expectation. Draw upon your own inner-resources to offer love to yourself when you need it. Then, you can let love come to you instead of putting expectations on what it needs to look like. Keep showing up in this way and true connections with the right people will result.

Committed to your health,
Kyle

The post How to Get the Intimacy You Crave appeared first on Kyle Willets.

I whip out of bed in the morning with this incredible energy, race to get my sneaks on, out the door to exercise, can’t wait to get to work because I love what I do.

I’m full-throttle-feel-good all day until I unwind lights out with a whiz bang early-bird style because I can’t wait to do it again!

Where does this massive life turn on come from?

Ok, be warned, it’s not very sexy.

In fact, it’s one of the most un-sexy things you’ve probably ever heard of.

Brace yourself for boring…it’s prevention.

I know. I get it. Total buzz kill.

Prevention is like “Hello, put me to sleep. Can we get any more boring than that!?”

I get it.

Really, I do.

I see it in the resistance-stricken faces of my clients right before they realize that… wait for it…. prevention can be fun!

(And suddenly a giant shame wave comes over me as I’ve become the voice-over for a sweet yet jaded public service announcement… “Really guys! Prevention can be fun!”)

But I’m going to climb back up to place prevention on a pedestal and ALSO say that you’d be hard pressed to prove me otherwise.

At first glance there’s nothing overtly sexy about prevention per se…

No, prevention isn’t strutting her stuff with a big plunging neckline, teetering in stilettos and a seductively high hemline.

And yet, prevention also isn’t sticking her nose up to fun wearing a turtleneck and blending into the background of life.

Quite the opposite.

Prevention is all about feeling filled up and fabulous (whilst knowing that she wants (many) more fun-filled days to come)!

She catches glances at the party not because of the cut of her dress but the way she moves, radiates, and lights up a room.

She is the definition of sexy.

She glows.

Prevention isn’t about going in fast and furious and burning out all flash-in-the-pan style.

She loves her life. She wants to live it feeling as fabulous as she can for as long as she can.

And, she knows that the habits she curates and sticks to now in a fun, yet focused kind of way will pay off for her now and in the future.

She’s decided that while there are plenty of things out of her control she’s going to do the things she can do “prevent” unwanted illness, disease, and suffering whilst living the heck out of life and having a damn good time doing it.

So, a while back prevention and I got to talking and we decided to team up.

And while I was never a supremely reckless lass I had some things to learn on the self care front.

I’m going to share with you the top 5 Prevention Practices that have helped me feel this massive life turn on day in and day out.

So, if you want to feel turned on to life…Start Here →

5 Prevention Practices for Life Turn Ons:

1. The 5 Minute Spa Routine:

This practice is about distilling the utterly blissful spa experience into 5 minutes of evening-time self care. To practice set aside 5 pre-bedtime minutes to indulge in any number of spa-like rituals: a lavendar essential oil foot soak, a mini self massage or foot rub using your favorite lotion, a yin-style yoga stretch by candle light, or cozying up with a good book and a mug of peppermint tea. Then, wrap yourself in your terry cloth robe and head to the next practice…

2. Sweet Early Sleep:

Oh sweet early sleep. This is one of my favorites. But careful now! It plays tug-of-war with any number of online options (Netflix!). BUT, when you succomb to the beautiful tug of sleep what wonderous feelings await. Seriously, string together 3 early-to-bed evenings and you will be dancing your way out of bed without an alarm clock. Ooh la la wouldn’t that be nice? Nicer than Netflix?

3. Move & Shine:

This practice gets you up moving and a shaking. It’s imperative. Movement wakes us up. Movement gets our heart beating, blood pumping, breath moving. Movement wakes up the mind, sweeps up from sleep mode to fully turned on mode. So, for at least 5 early morning minutes get moving. Here are some ideas – dance to 3 songs, do 20 squats, 20 lunges, 20 push ups and 20 crunches, roll out the yoga mat for 9 sun salutations, or do 10 flights of stairs. It doesn’t matter what you do as long as you get moving. So get creative and get moving!

4. Holy Hydration:

Before breakfast down 1000 ml of water (roughly 2 large glasses). Flush out your digestive system and treat your body to the easiest daily detox ever. Your body craves water and thrives most when well hydrated. For a bonus, repeat this practice twice more during your day. Sip down 1000 ml of water and flush your gut between breakfast and lunch and then again between lunch and dinner.

5. Happy Belly Mindfulness Practice:

Before your food hits your palette PAUSE. Maybe even close your eyes. Take a brief moment to give thanks. Think about the journey your food took to get to your plate – the many hands that helped it get to you, to the moment right before your fork pierces the food. Think about the earth, the sun, and the rain that supported the cultivation of this food. Give thanks. Then eat. Taste each bite. Savor each bite. Chew slowly, mindful of textures and tastes, noticing the subtle differences between each bite. When you eat like this you turn on your body’s parasympathetic nervous system (the rest and digest system) and your digestion is stronger. As a result, your belly will more efficiently break down, absorb, and assimilate the nutrients into your body. Oooh la la life turn on forces at work!

I suggest trying these 5 Prevention Practices for 5 Days. Then, brace yourself for your very own perpetual state of turn on.

I jump out of bed with pep in my step because of these practices. I wasn’t always this way. But, it works. And, my pal prevention and I are pretty certain it will work for you too!

With love and a turned-on state of mind,

Kyle

The post What’s Got Me In A Perpetual State of Turn On appeared first on Kyle Willets.

Let’s see…gifts, shopping, trimming the tree, what to wear, invites, seeing the lights, hosting the party, sipping the signature cocktail, getting to the gym to burn off the cocktail…

Head spinning yet?

How about a pause? A surrender?

Yes, I get it, it’s December.

It’s no big secret – as you straddle Thanksgiving and New Years a seemingly impossible amount of action happens beneath those quaking legs.

The FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) is shouting like a megaphone as visions of “holiday have-to’s” dance in our heads.

Phooey.

Phony.

How about a pause? A surrender?

Yes! Even though it’s December.

Don’t get me wrong. If the fates allow I am THE BIGGEST fan of festive traditions and even a magical story-book Christmas kiss.

I mean, who doesn’t want a kiss under the mistletoe in the magically decked out halls?

Ummm, yes please.

But you know what I want more than that?

NOT to stand on the tippy toes of expectation waiting for that kiss.

What I really want is to full-on rock the boat with happiness every day in December.

Holiday expectations. Heck yeah, sure you have ‘em. We all do — it’s tradition.

But newsflash, darling! What you really want is to be happy. And, a stressed out frenzied version of yourself is not your happy place. Nope. Not one bit.

So why not take that pause? Take your pulse. Surrender a bit. Just a bit to know that it may not all get done. It may not all be tied up in a bow of perfection. And, it will be ok. More than ok.

This December, shine bright like a diamond even as you take a bath and tuck yourself into bed early some nights. Know that you are so worthy of love and a kiss under the mistletoe if you so desire.

Know that you are brilliant, perfectly imperfect, and your decked out halls are magical simply because you walk them.

This December, do something different.

Pause. Take your pulse. And surrender (even just a bit).

• Turn off the FOMO megaphone
• Do less
• Spend less (time, energy, money)
• Roll right into the New Year feeling like you’ve just checked off your New Year’s resolution even before the year begins

How’s that for a To Do list?

With a pause, a kiss, and a perfectly imperfect bow,

Kyle

The post A Pause, a Pulse, + a Kiss Under the Mistletoe appeared first on Kyle Willets.

My 12+ years of practicing and teaching yoga have taught me that a good mat is one that is anti-slip, well cushioned, provides good grip, is anti slip, and ranks high on durability.

So, when I was asked to review Kharma Khare’s Yoga Hybrid Bliss Mat I was impressed to note both the thicker mat design, the anti-slip material, and the reported durability. BUT, what really grabbed my attention was that the product design is eco-friendly.

An Eco-Friendly Yoga Mat:

According to Kharma Khare, “the hybrid [yoga mat] features 4 mm of highly supportive non-slip rubber, sourced from 100% recycled tires, and lined with 1 mm of natural rubber latex from sustainable rubber trees”

Two for One:

They recommend using the natural rubber latex side for meditative practice and then flip it over to the recylcled tire side for sweaty slick practices where you’ll be needing better grip.

Basically Kharma Khare’s Hybrid Mat gives you two mats for one and for the price of $70 this seems like a pretty decent deal.

A Potential Downside:

One of the things you’ll notice right away with this mat is it’s weight. It adds a little something to your practice just carrying it to and fro class. And, whereas I may have just written it off as for-home-only yoga mat it is now quickly becoming my favorite mat and I’m happy to schlep the extra few pounds to class – a little warm up, right?

The Quick Summary:

Pros:
– One mat keeps 1/3 of a rubber tire from being thrown into a landfill or burnt for crude energy
– Two yoga mats in one – use for yin yoga and sweaty vinyasa
– Made entirely from recycled and sustainable materials
– Color options – green, blue, purple
– Does not need to be “broken in”, non slip from day 1

Cons:
– 8 pound mat that doesn’t easily fit into most yoga bags, wouldn’t be the easiest for bike commuting.
– The smell: the tire side does have a faint smell of tires, barely perceptable except maybe for long holds of shalabasana

On the whole, a great mat with great grip and an eco-friendly mission I’m happy to support. You can check out Kharma Khare’s Yoga Hybrid Mat here as well as their other eco-friendly mats.

The post Product Review: Kharma Khare’s Yoga Hybrid Bliss Mat appeared first on Kyle Willets.

Between Thanksgiving and New Years there’s a lot to celebrate which is lovely, yet potentially exhausting and stressful making holiday weight gain (almost) inevitable.

Here’s why….

The Holidays: A Recipe for Weight Gain

I’m sure you know the drill – lines, spending, festive sweets, high emotions, expectations…The classic holiday frenzy.

And then, there’s that moment of truth…the stare down from the dessert table or the temptation of just one more holiday cocktail because good God are they delightful.

So the question is, in this age-old face-off between immediate gratification and feeling fabulous on New Year’s Day, who wins?

Well, evidence suggests that immediate gratification has been winning. By far. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas the average American can expect to gain anywhere from one to five pounds, weight that is often never shed and instead accumulates year after year.

And, this annual weight gain is thought to be one of the primary causes of adult obesity.

So how exactly can you break this cycle and outsmart that stare down from the dessert table?

If you’d rather feel sexy versus sluggish on Jan 1 then you must have a Holiday Game Plan in place before you grab your eggnog and get swept up into celebration.

5 Steps to Getting Your Holiday Game Plan in Place –

1. Get Clear on Why – Despite your best intentions, your actions aren’t going to change for squat unless they are connected with a Big Why. You need to get curious and get clear if you want this year to be different.
– Why is it so important that you avoid weight gain during this holiday season?
– What is so compelling that you’d be willing to give up (or lovingly limit) your favorite holiday treats?
– What pain will you feel if you gain weight this holiday season? Is it worth it?

2. Visualize – Lean into that imagination of yours and sketch out exactly how you want to feel on New Year’s Day.
– How do you want to feel in your body? Your mind? Your skinny jeans? Naked?

3. Write the Rules – It’s your Holiday Game Plan so you define the rules. The rules can be as flexible or rigid as you like, just as long as they are practical.
– What are the rules you plan to follow?
– Will certain food/drink be “off limits”? If so, which?
– What is your plan for exercise this month?
– How will you make sure you get enough sleep?
– What are your priorities and will you decline certain events to honor the things that matter most?
– How will you give yourself a “time out” when you feel fatigue setting in?

4. Indulge – Enjoy the holidays. Indulge in the love and the connection. Take walks to see the lights. Feel the cool air on your face and strike a yoga pose in the snow. And, when you feel the holiday hecticness nipping at your heels delight in the pleasure of an early night’s sleep (you will thank yourself the next day!).

5. Get Support – The support part is critical. We know that information alone does not equal transformation. The real equation is: Information+Support+Accountability=Transformation.
– Who are your allies? Who can you call or reach out to when you feel yourself getting off track?
– What systems of support do you have in place? What additional support may be needed?

Yes, this time of year it’s a wild ride trying to stay on track with health goals.

So, how about doing things differently this year?

Between now and the New Year make each day count by getting your Holiday Game Plan in place.

Make the plan detailed. Get it in pen. Post it on the fridge.

This year, when the chocolate ganache is sweet-talking you your best defenses will already be in place.

In good health,
Kyle

Learn what it takes to lose the excess weight and change the trajectory of your health for real with Your Year to Health, my online immersion course with daily lessons and actionable exercises.

For a limited time try it for $1 for the first month
.

The post 5 Ways to Avoid Holiday Weight Gain appeared first on Kyle Willets.

This fascination and hyper-focus on dieting would make more sense were it not for the fact that most diets fail, and miserably so…

By some estimates, more than 80 percent of people who have lost weight regain all of it, or more, within two years.

Researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles looked at 31 long-term diet studies and discovered that roughly two-thirds of dieters regained more weight within four years than they initially lost.

This blows my mind.

And yet, the truth is in the numbers.

Americans live in a country in which more than half the population is overweight and nearly a quarter are obese.

In America alone $50 billion is spent on dieting and weight loss products per year.

Clearly, weight loss is a national obsession.

Yet, with nearly a quarter million Americans dieting at any given time, still only 1 in 200 dieters actually lose weight and keep it off for more than a year.

So, if your last diet failed, two things: One, don’t be too surprised. And, two, drop dieting and get a smarter plan in place.

Your Last Diet Failed Because…

It may be helpful to know that your last diet didn’t fail just simply because of lack of willpower and poor execution.

You can take yourself off the hook a little (and please do) because…

1. You’ve been brainwashed. Diet marketing is a highly accepted form of manipulation. The science, craft, and art of marketing has exploded in recent years making it all that much more difficult to make healthy decisions for yourself. Seriously, the lights, bells, and whistles of the modern-day marketing has a quasi magnetic pull making it hard to look away from the promises of diets and quick fixes.

You have been brainwashed into thinking that a “diet” is going to be the answer despite the realization that (time and time again) diets don’t work long term. Dieting is a classic “Over Promise, Under Deliver” kind of scenario. On some level we know this yet we’ve never been taught a good alternative (that actually works long term).

2. You’ve been programmed. Certain food triggers have been programmed in your head since you were a wee one. Like craving certain comfort foods or processed foods based on your childhood exposure and influences. If you’re dieting without the reprogramming bit (addressing food triggers head-on), well diet failure is…inevitable.

3. You’ve been out-numbered. Social norms have made it exceedingly difficult for you to break the habits once and for all. You’re immersed in a culture that is not making it easy for you. There are sweets, salts, and fats on every street corner, office lounge, at every social gathering, celebrations, and of course the holidays. Temptation surrounds you from every direction and then you’re asked to resist, restrict, and reduce and yup, try and keep the weight off despite no changes being made to your external or internal environment.

Well, it’s not going to work. It doesn’t. Likely you didn’t jump into the deep end when you first learned to swim. Jumping into a diet without developing kick-ass Herculean-strength habits to hold you through the waves of stress, life, and just everyday social norms will lead to diet failure. True story.

Great, so we now know why your diet failed, now for something that works.

Thinking Beyond the Diet

You’ve been brainwashed, programmed, and out-numbered and you’re ready to break free from the yo-yo, salesy, and gimmicky diets out there and get down to the grit and grunt work that true health transformation is all about – the kind that gets you to your ideal weight and keeps you there.

To do this, to really pull this off once and for all you’ve got to…

• Outsmart the savvy magazine headlines and the seductive call of a quick fix diet
• Recognize and then un-learn your triggers
• Go the distance – this is not a sprint – it’s a marathon to resurrect and transform your health
• Want it, know why you want it, and be able to sacrifice
• Build a support team; everyone needs a cheering squad. Who’s cheering for you!?
• Learn the skills, build the habits, and do the daily grunt work to changing your health, one day at a time, one step at a time

Perhaps it’s time to stop the predestined diet fail and instead build the exact skills you need for lasting success.

Are you ready to finally break the cycle and keep the weight off for good?
Are you ready to do something different?
Yes? Then, start by dropping the diet.

To your good health,
Kyle

Learn what it takes to lose the excess weight and change the trajectory of your health for real with Rise 365, a vibrant way to build the health of your dreams so you can have it all.

For a limited time join with a buddy and get the course at half price!

You don’t have to keep wasting your time and energy on endless diets. Click HERE if you’re ready to Rise.

The post Why Your Last Diet Failed & How to Break the Cycle appeared first on Kyle Willets.

This video shows his incredible transformation story….

It’s stories like these that remind us to trust in the real potential of change, growth, and transformation. We all get this choice, to trust and to try.

Stories such as Arthur’s and others motivate us to continue seeking the next level in ourselves. They teach us to persevere and reach higher. They remind us of our own higher potential and help us keep believing.

Playing the Cards in Your Hands:

Hypothetically speaking each moment of life we are holding a unique hand of cards – some cards are supportive (ie. clean water, a friend you can trust) and others are challenging (lack of health insurance, a chronic health condition).

The way I see it is that once you recognize your unique hand of cards you have a few choices:

1. You can sit the game out and watch as the game is played for you – it’s too _(risky, scary, unfair)__ to play.
2. You can lie and cheat yourself but still end up with the same cards, only compromised.
3. Or, you can show up to the game, accept your cards as they are, and play.

Choosing to Play

It takes courage and self love to show up to the game with the cards you have. To say to yourself yeah, maybe I’d rather have other cards, but right now this is what I’ve got and, dammit, I’m gonna play!

If you choose this bold latter move, you make the decision to be stronger, do better, and reach higher (despite the odds).

If you choose to pursue change in your life, you enter into the unknown and open up to the potential of achieving your biggest dreams.

So how do you transform your own life?

Once we are inspired by a story like Arthurs our own dreams feel so possible we can almost taste them. Yet, we need to actually take the steps to get there.

For Arthur, he committed himself to his yoga practice. Others have found their way through radical lifestyle changes.

Most often, however, transformation that is lasting happens when we are deeply committed and have a big reason to change. It’s when we show up consistently over time that makes a difference.

My year-long course, Your Year to Health, teaches you how to use both commitment and consistency in combination with action to make lasting changes.

It is 365 daily lessons & action steps designed to bring your health & life to the next level. Find out more information here.

If you feel inspired by stories like Arthur’s maybe it’s time to discover your own potential for transformation?

Discover Your Year to Health…

The post What We Learn From Arthur Boorman appeared first on Kyle Willets.

Shann and Ananga are two of those people. Meet Shann and Ananga!

Everyone suffers from anxiety to a certain extent in their lives. But for some, they do get to a point where anxiety and panic attacks take over their lives and make it more challenging for them to achieve their goals or even just to get through their daily lives. In just a few short years since its creation, the Anxiety Slayer has established a fan base while successfully helping many people face anxiety. With a comprehensive range of products, the site has become a source of resources for many of its followers to get onto a path of developing self-awareness and become more capable in coping with stress and anxiety in their daily lives.

Founders of the site, Shann and Ananga, your friendly-neighborhood, yet very qualified and professional Slayers, have decades of experience between them in working on anxiety management. These ladies are both very accomplished in their own rights and the combination of their talents gives you, not only a blog, but a one-stop shop filled with a diverse selection of tool kits that brings you different perspectives and creative methods to fight the age-old anxiety monster.

Now let’s find out from this dynamic duo what anxiety-fighting is like and exactly what it is that they do that has won over so many followers and made the two of them, their heroines.

1. Let’s start from the beginning. How did each of you get into anxiety management in the first place?

Ananga: I’ve always been interested in personal development and psychology. I’m fascinated by how the mind works and exploring different ways to manage it, particularly when it’s causing suffering like anxiety. Having spent time teaching workshops for over-coming limitations, negative thought patterns, stress and trauma I decided to move more specifically towards anxiety relief tools and skills.

Shann: I’ve been a transformation enthusiast for years. I’m a life long student and enjoy teach-ing other’s what I’ve learned along the way. I have Yoga to thank for my interest in connecting with my breath to for stress management. I am so happy that Ananga reached out to me to form a partnership supporting people suffering with stress and anxiety.

2. How did the two of you get together and come up with Anxiety Slayer (Which by the way is a great name)?

Ananga: Shann gets the credit for our great name. We came across each other via blog-ging, I was looking to partner with someone to develop a program for coping skills for anxiety and I reached out to four people I had encountered and respected via my Living by Design blog. Shann responded very positively, so we arranged to meet via Skype and dis-cuss ideas and how we might work together.

We have developed a great friendship as well as our working relationship, and though we’ve never met in person we’ve been talking together for more than four years now and really built a sense of trust and care for each other.

Shann: I came up with the name because I’m a Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan. Joss Whedon is my hero. As soon as the name came up for me, I knew it would be perfect for us. Our mission to to help as many people as possible slay their anxiety and clam their precious minds. As mentioned above, Ananga sent me an email and the rest is ‘herstory’.

3. Are some of the techniques you teach derived from personal experiences?

Ananga: Definitely. As a teenager I suffered greatly with anxiety and I still have to keep a tight reign on my mind now. Anything I share I have used personally and extensively.

Shann: Absolutely. I was a later bloomer to all of our techniques. My prior profession as an advertising sales manager was quite demanding and stressful. I practiced yoga, guided re-laxations and breathing exercises to still my mind. Yoga changed everything for me.

4. Podcast, audio tool kits, eBooks, albums, and the list goes on. What inspired the creativity and the diverse approach to anxiety management?

Ananga: It’s quite simple really – we share what we know helps. We are eager to reach as many people as we can and offer a broad collection of tools and techniques. Some people write to us telling us that breathing techniques have made a huge difference for them, others are not so keen to work with their breath but have had great results with EFT, and others just trawl through the podcasts and find listening to two people sharing how they cope helps them find hope too.

Shann: We only share what we know will provide relief to our community of listeners. Ananga and I enjoy a wide variety of interests and are blessed to complement each other’s strengths as Anxiety Slayer sisters. We have a deep well of supportive information that we can draw from at any time.

5. What is the thought process like when you’re designing the curricula of your programm? For example, what do you consider when you plan and prepare for the various topics or the materials in your podcasts?

Ananga: It’s quite organic, we like to respond to listeners questions because we know then that we are trying to address real concerns. We also like to go deeper into subjects that can really help anxiety but might be new to our listeners to share information we hope they will find helpful, for example: EFT Tapping, Ayurveda and Bach Flower Remedies.

Shann: We want to serve our community first and foremost. Most of our podcasts are based on listener questions from our facebook page and Anxiety Slayer Inbox. Right now our audience is asking for more guided relaxation albums and we are happy to oblige by creating peaceful and supportive albums for anxiety relief. We consider all of the gifts in our collective tool kit along with our personal experience. I bring coaching, business operations, communications, voice talent, sales and marketing to the table. Ananga brings her experience as a teacher, EFT Tapping expert, Ayurveda practitioner and counselor. Ananga is an extraordinary musician who pours her heart into every album we create. Thankfully she loves creating music to support my voice!

6. Do you actually meet your clients one-on-one in person? What sort of circumstances would that be in?

Ananga: I have met some of our listeners over Skype, and have offered some one-on-one coaching sessions but mainly respond to questions via podcasts and serve our audience as a whole.

Shann: I meet with the majority of my clients on the phone or via Skype. The preponderance of our business is producing podcasts and programs that can be delivered one to many.

7. Every hero has his good and bad days. What were one of the best days and one of the worst days on your journey of helping others battle anxiety?

Ananga: One of the best days was seeing our anxiety relief titles listed in the iTunes music store and receiving positive feedback. The worst days are the days when my ongoing health challenges make work challenging, I like to work in a fairly progressive flow state (don’t we all) but chronic pain can make that tough and affects my concentration. But Shann is incredibly flexible and understanding, and somehow we keep moving forward even when there are challenges along the way.

Shann: The best days are when we learn that someone had a breakthrough or found some comfort because they listened to our podcast or had success calming their mind with one of our digital offerings. The tough days come when it sinks in how many people are suffering. We wish we could help every single soul experience anxiety relief.

8. Let’s just talk about you as individuals for a bit here. Shann, you’re described as “delight-fully curious”. What intrigues you the most in life?

Shann: I could never tell you what intrigues me most because so many things call my attention. My husband thinks I’m the most curious person on the planet! Deepening my spirituality and connection to God/Universe/Higher Power is in the top five, along with doing as much as I can to support people who want to transform their lives.

9. And Ananga, some would say that your music has a strong Eastern influence in it. Where do you usually get the inspiration for your work?

Ananga: It varies. I am sometimes inspired by a film score or the work of individuals like Ben Leinbach or Ludovico Einaudi, but usually I am inspired by the voice I am creating music for. Shann’s voice is great to work with and my usual process is to open a blank screen in Logic, add her voice track and see what develops from there. I have a collection of flutes from all around the world and, it’s true I love Eastern sounds and scales, but things do change for each album. Our most recent title features cello, piano and my lovely Altus silver flute, so will be less Eastern than usual.

10. Now before we go, perhaps the two of you could share with us what’s next for the Anxiety Slayer?

Ananga: We are planning a series of new releases for our Audio Support Library – it’s a new area of our site where we go deeper into sharing how to use the tools we recommend for tackling anxiety. We also have plans to release five titles to iTunes this year, I am cur-rently completing the music for the third release and we will then plan, write and release the remaining two.

Shann: We are currently in the studio producing our 8th album, Oasis: Guided meditations for Anxiety Relief (working title). This summer our podcast we will be choreographed as a summer self-care series for our listeners. We are also creating special modules for our supportive library to help our tribe learn more about healing remedies they can make at home, Ayurveda, Nutrition, EFT Tapping and more.

Your readers are welcome to visit Anxiety Slayer to give a look around and claim a Free Guided Meditation.

Thanks so much for the opportunity to share our story with you.

With Love,

Shann & Ananga

Thank You Shann and Ananga!

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Shann and Ananga are the Slayer sisters of AnxietySlayer.com. Shann is a self-proclaimed transformation goddess and yogini and Ananga is a writer, teacher, and musician among other talents. Together, they slay anxiety and provide tools for stress and anxiety relief. You can learn more about their podcasts, products and more through their website www.anxietyslayer.com.

The post Doing Health Differently: Meet Shann & Ananga appeared first on Kyle Willets.