A few weeks ago, I spoke at The Griffin Club in LA sharing my best tips and tricks on pro-aging as part of their wellness series. I was thrilled to share the stage with Dr. Maggie Ney, founder and co-director of the Women's Clinic at the Akasha Center for Integrative Medicine. Dr. Ney is also my personal naturopathic Dr. and specializes in female balancing and healthy aging. Keep reading to learn some of the things we discussed this incredibly informative fireside chat.
Read moreMeditation 101 with Suze Yalof Schwartz
As part of my guest blog series following the International Women’s Day post, I’m excited to add my friend Suze Yalof Schwartz, founder and CEO of the popular Los Angeles-based meditation studio and app Unplug Meditation.
I knew Suze from when we lived in NY and she was the Editor at Large for Glamour.com back in the day and hitting all the shows at New York fashion week. Suze worked in a high-pressured role as fashion editor, and “makeover guru” for Vogue, Elle, Marie Claire and Glamour Magazine with regular national television appearances on GMA, The Today Show, Oprah Winfrey Show, CNN and CBS Early Show as a style expert.
In November of 2012, the big idea came to Suze when she was taught a powerful three-minute breathing and guided visualization technique that transformed the stress she was under to calm. Blown away and wanting more, her teacher suggested meditation. Suze’s search for a place to easily learn meditation yielded disappointing results for a busy, working mother. The options were all time-consuming and expensive. Suze wondered, Where is the Drybar of meditation? Where you can walk in feeling icky and walk out feeling great? When Suze realized that meditation needed a makeover this was the beginning - Hello Unplug!
Unplug Meditation is the world's first drop-in, secular meditation studio with a wide variety of simple and eclectic classes led by the top experts and some of the best meditation teachers in the country. Clients range from ages 6 to 96, from CEOs of Fortune 500 companies to the everyday stressed-out. Unplug’s clean, modern design calms you the instant you walk through the door or follow on the app.
Like all of us, Suze is a busy person and she believes that meditation can be delivered without excess fluff or fuss and she's on a mission to inspire everyone to join her and unplug for just a few minutes a day. In this series I will share with you Suze’s Meditation tips and tricks on how we can do that.
To start here are 5 reasons why meditation makes you happier:
Meditation shrinks the amygdala, the part of the brain that controls anxiety and fear. Less anxiety and fear translates to less stress. Less stress means more joy.
Meditation can lower the amount of cortisol in the body, otherwise known as the stress hormone. Less cortisol, less stress, more capacity for joy.
Meditation can provide a level of relief from symptoms of anxiety and depression similar to that of antidepressant drugs. Peace and happiness, no prescription needed!
Experienced meditators are able to dial down their daydreaming. This matters because when our minds meander, they usually drift into worry or rumination, so less mind wandering is associated with more happiness. Being present, it turns out, is a ticket to being happy.
Meditation increases the activity in the left prefrontal cortex - the happy, calm zone of the brain.
To see more on the science of why meditation can make you happier, read Suze’s post on MindBodyGreen
Click on images to shop essentials for relaxation and meditation!
Download the Unplug app with a free 7-day trial and start your mediation practice today…it can change your life!
xxMelissa
Holistic Nutritionist Elissa Goodman's Travel Essentials
As part of my guest blog series following the International Women’s Day post, I’m excited to add my inspirational friend Elissa Goodman, Holistic Nutritionist & Lifestyle Cleanse Expert. Elissa is the creator of The S.O.U.P Cleanse (Superfoods. Organic. Uniquely Designed. Prepared with Love) the 7-Day RESET, Lunches with Elissa and host of The Elissa Goodman Show. I am honored to know Elissa personally and thrilled to be able to share her important health and wellness information with you each month. After beating Hodgkins Lymphoma and then losing her husband to another cancer, Elissa found her purpose through cleansing the body, healthy nutrition, and leading an overall happier lifestyle through food. In this series I will share with you Elissa’s golden advice for living your best whole life through what you eat so you can glow from the inside out! To kick it off, read on to find out about Elissa’s travel essentials.
We can all look to Elissa to show us how to do the impossible: balance traveling and health. Here are Elissa’s tips and tricks for when you are on the move!
Pre-packed snacks - bringing these eliminates the uncertainty of eating an overpriced snack that probably won’t contain any nutritional ingredients.
Stay hydrated - we often forget about the power of hydration on and off the plane. It is so important for our skin and energy levels to take in more water especially when you’re in the air.
Eat more before - digestion takes more energy while flying, so eating more on the ground is a great way to sustain you throughout the flight rather than eating mid-trip.
Supplements - travelling light is the key, so instead of carrying six different types of vitamins, Elissa recommends taking a multivitamin.
Ground yourself - travelling can be notoriously stressful and hectic, bring items that are grounding such as a few small crystals or stones reminding you to stay calm and charge you with peaceful and positive energy.
For an expanded version of each area mentioned above, visit Elissa Goodman’s blog post Travel Essentials.
Click on images to shop travel essentials and kitchen tools for a healthy lifestyle!
“All it takes is a little advance preparation and you can cruise through your holiday travel with the least amount of health turbulance”
Elissa led a stressful and fast-paced life in the business world. Knowing this wasn’t sustainable she decided to make some major holistic lifestyle changes promoting a better recovery and a better life. She knows too well the affect of cancer and sickness on her own life and the lives of those close to her so fully lives by the realization that what you put in your body has the greatest impact on one’s life.
Thankfully, now cancer free, Elissa helps others navigate living their healthiest, holistic and disease free life through the power of nutrition. Elissa’s book “Cancer Hacks” guides people through the journey of facing this terrible disease and provides a comprehensive plan designed to offer natural and holistic advice. Her suggestions are practical and easy to incorporate into day-to-day living.
Elissa offers amazing 7-Day Cleanse RESET programs, which I am a huge fan of doing before the summer or going on vacation. I am delighted to partner with Elissa and offer the Glow Girl audience a 25% discount. Click on the following link to purchase and enter the code GLOWGIRL to redeem your exclusive offer.
I can’t wait to put the above tips and those on her blog into action during my travels this summer and I hope you do too!
xxMelissa
P.S. Check out Elissa’s Happy, Healthy Gut Guide for some more of her best healthy nutrition tips!