Mind, Body, and Spirit for the Dancer - New Project!

It’s been a soul searching kind of month :). So many things have come up! I’ve had to deal with lots of disappointment and with the realization that some of my dreams weren’t really mine and really needed to die. And that process has been hard. It’s been a constant job to maintain my happiness and hopefulness. On all levels, mind body and spirit, I’ve been struggling to stay afloat. 

But through this tumultuous month, I’ve also realized great comeback moments. I’ve been reminded constantly of my value AND of how I shortchange myself. I’ve seen first hand how my own perspective clouds a situation and creates an entirely different false reality. I’ve had so many opportunities to practice my word for the year Courage. There have been so many ways, all in the space of 20 something short days, to put every aspect of my will and belief in myself to the test.  And when I have looked and have operated on faith and have trusted, help has been everywhere. And the whisper of intuition and the Universe has been in my ear, on my mind, and in the words of other people to me guiding me to the light that comes after the little deaths. 

I want to tell you about one of those conversations today. If you’ve been with me for a while, you probably know how important a holistic approach to life is for me. You might be familiar with my particular struggles with mental illness and you might also know that I believe taking care of your mind body and spirit is necessary for a happy, healthy soul that can overcome mental illness’s hold over one’s life. You also probably know how important being a dancer is to me - how vital to my life it is and how much I’ve worked and sacrificed for it. 

Well in my work that spans the worlds of mind, body, and spirit, I’ve often had difficulty figuring out how to bring my dance life into that work. It felt like there wasn’t a place for dance in my holistic beauty, health and wellness training. I felt like I just wasn’t sure how the two meshed. 

I toyed with the idea of creating a community of dancers that all cared about learning more on holistic beauty and wellness and for a time I did that - but kept feeling like it wasn’t gelling. And so I let that idea go for a time. 

Then a week or so ago, I was fortunate enough to meet a wonderful kindred spirit who brought all of it back to me and showed me the way to do it. See, I used to have a non-profit organization years ago where I taught all about holistic living, natural health and wellness. My focus then was lower income communities because I felt like they were the ones getting left behind. What this kindred spirit helped me to see is that there are a lot more people being left behind and I, with my unique background, could serve one particular group very well.

 Dancers. Yes, I could serve dancers who inevitably deal with so many mind, body, and spirit issues.

I looked back on my time traveling and performing every other week and boom - I saw it all. Being rail thin and thinking I was as big as a house. Feeling inferior to other dancers for no reason other than skin tone or hair type or body type. Starving myself and being on the extreme side of strict to fit a certain aesthetic. Dealing with horrible skin breakouts from stage makeup and bad eating habits. Syking myself in and out before performances, auditions, and competitions. Asking God, the Universe, anyone what I was was supposed to be doing in this dance world and feeling lost and unanswered.  

So many things that I know other dancers deal with day to day. 

I realized that I have a unique voice that can speak to them and I realized just how much I would have benefited from a voice like that when I was in the thick of it. 

And so this is my new project. Am I am ecstatic about it. I’ll be perfectly honest. I don’t know how it’s going to unfold. I don’t know how I’m going to manage it with everything else. But I do know that some things that I thought were so important just aren’t anymore. I’m letting them fall away no matter how scary that is. I’m getting done with NOT looking forward to the things on my to do list. The old adage that life is too short and too precious is true no matter how you look at it. 

So the fact that the thought of this fills me up with excitement and a rush that I can’t explain in words is THE thing that drives me and is THE thing that is important. Feelings like this are what we live for. Feelings like this are what make everything else possible. They are the fuel for the impossible. 

I had to go through a lot of little deaths, disappointments, stark clear moments, and deep dark places to get to the light again. Getting to the fuel sometimes requires that, but if you let yourself flow through it all (that’s what I call operating on faith), I know you’ll find yours. 

What am I talking about on Periscope?

I'm finally back on Periscope and have decided to teach a different quick topic each day! This is my schedule for the next few days. I invite you to pop over and follow me at @mymovemakeup. That is the handle of my makeup line MOVE Makeup and I do all my scopes there. So in addition to skincare and wellness, I'll also be doing beauty scopes on MOVE Makeup tips :). Be sure to download the app and follow me! 

Magnificent May...

Hey there love, 

Well May is well on it's way. It looks like it's shaping up to be a very busy month for me! What about you all? We stepped into this month with a very powerful New Moon just a few days ago that promises all kinds of goodness. I was reminded to look up my numerology a few weeks ago and found that I am currently in a 3 year in a 9 life. Kind of explains a lot lol. 

Looking at my shuistrological report also, May is supposed to be a freakin' fabulous month. Absolutely wonderful. 

But you know what. I'm not quite feeling that yet. To be honest, it's felt hard and stressful so far. More than once I've wanted to get back under the covers and try again another day. It's been tough. 

So what do you do when things feel that way? Do you chuck it all and let the circumstances win? 

It's probably in your nature, just like it's in mine, NOT to do that. You probably have this annoying urge to try again even when you don't feel like it and think you don't want to. 

But just because it's your inclination to keep moving forward, it doesn't mean at all that it feels good or that it's easy. It can be downright exhausting. Over the years, I've figured out some ways to make it a little bit easier. and here's what I've been doing this week to do that: 

1. Maybe you know that I'm actively trying to get pregnant. So you can probably imagine how disappointing it is when my cycle shows up again. It's very easy for me to get down about that and stop doing the things I've been doing to get my body in the best shape and my mind in the right place. What's been working is baby steps. What I mean is that in the days of my cycle, I don't ask myself for much. I let it be enough that I've done a few of the things that I know are important. Maybe that's taking my prenatal vitamin. Maybe that's eating breakfast. In a few more days, that list will grow back to everything that is important and it won't feel like I'm pulling my own teeth to get it done. But for now, just one thing, one small thing is enough. 

2. You probably know that teaching wellness and holistic beauty isn't my only job. I have 2 other businesses, my makeup line MOVE and my dance school LSLD. Having one business alone is a lot of work, but running 3 and hoping to have success with each is sometimes a difficult task. There's always something more to do - something else on the must-do list. How do I manage? I give each business it's day and I try to stick to that. Keeping organized in my mind is literally a life saver. I know I would be a basket case if I tried to do everything everyday. Having the serenity of knowing "today's not the day for that" is seriously peace giving. 

I can't take credit for figuring this out. A wonderful biz coach mentor of mine, Carmen Tseng is who set me on this path. She gets multi-passionate people like myself and she helped me see the wisdom in NOT trying to do it all, all at once. 

3. The third thing I've been doing is getting serious about my gratitude. You have probably heard me talk about gratitude a lot. You might remember me mentioning a gratitude list and how beautiful of a practice writing one out every day is. The thing is, you have to do it. And you have to do it even when you don't feel like and even when you feel like you have no time at all for it. I'm the kind of person that is always thinking about the things I'm grateful for and it's easy to think that's enough. It's not though. It's not enough when you are met with funky days when everything seems to just be blowing up in your face. Days like that require an ACTIVE practice of gratitude. An ACTIVE practice of gratitude is taking even 5 minutes to sit down, take a deep breathe, and write and feel. I really think the feeling is the most important part of this. And the writing allows space for the feeling to appear.

Now yes, I'll admit - you'll do all these things - and you probably won't see things change drastically. You probably will have some more absolutely jacked up days. It'll be hard sometimes to remember what exactly you are grateful for. BUT, believe me the energy is moving. The Universe is hearing you and the Universe is bringing your focus back to you. It really is a universal law that you can see played out all over life in a bazillion different ways. 

And the more important thing is that in the moment, you'll feel like you can get to the next moment. And the next. And the next. 

That's what I want for you and that's what I want for myself. In the next moment, everything could change and it's absolutely true that in the next moment, everything does change. But getting there is the key ;-).

A little help to get there: 

Grapefruit essential oil is beautifully uplifting and it's generally pretty inexpensive. Pick up a bottle at your local health food store and use in these ways:

• If you have a locket, take a little bit of tissue or a small bit of cotton and put it inside of the locket. Drop about 2-3 drops on the cotton/tissue and you'll have your own booster for when you need it. 
• In a 2 oz spray bottle, put about 10 drops to 2oz of water and spray around your home for an uplifting boost. You can spray your linen with this also.
• If you have a wax warmer, after the scent has left the old wax, add about 10 drops to it and you'll have your home smelling of grapefruit fairly quickly. 

The 5 Steps to Gorgeous, Radiant Skin!

Hello lovely people! 

I'm hoping that the days between posts have been filled with joy for each of you :). At the least, I hope you've had happy moments :). 

This being the last post of April and our month of Breaking down to break through, I've decided to break down the 5 essential steps that you need to be doing to get your skin to cooperate and be its most beautiful version of itself ;-). 

Remember that webinar I mentioned last post? The 5 Steps to Gorgeous, Radiant Skin?

In that webinar I broke down the 5 essential steps in your skincare regimen that you need to be doing. These steps are especially helpful if your skin has been acting up and nothing seems to be working. In many cases, this means that going ‘back to the basics’ is in order.

Your 5 essential steps are 1. Cleanse 2. Scrub 3. Mask 4. Tone and 5. Moisturize

How many of you are doing these each week? Do you know which ones should be done daily? How about weekly?

Well I talk about all of that in the webinar and lucky for you I recorded it! So instead of going over it all again here in written form, I want you to check out the webinar itself. Give it a listen before you step back into the bathroom to wash your face ;-).

To access the webinar, just follow the directions on this page!: www.leahpatterson.com/5stepwebinar

Breaking Down Your Skin care Whys...

Hello lovelies! How was last week? Awesome I’m hoping!

So in keeping with our monthly theme of Breaking Down to Break Through, today I want to talk to you about breaking down your skincare whys in order to break through what’s keeping you from them! Like how I did that there? ;-).

You all know that holistic skincare is a huge passion of mine. The reason is multi-fold and has a lot to do with the whys of skincare.

Our skin, especially on our face commands a lot of our attention and for good reason. It’s the most un-hideable part of our body and the FIRST thing that most people see when meeting us for the first time. Therefore, our skin is a major part of our first impressions and as such, a major part of our internal self-esteem as well. Imagine what it feels like meeting someone new with a big pimple on your face? I don’t know many people that wouldn’t be at least slightly preoccupied with that and feeling some kind of way.

I know this firsthand. When your face is full of blemishes, acne scars and breakouts, and dark circles under your eyes, it’s really hard to put your best self forward! It’s really easy to cower, to melt into the background, to be meek, and to try to be unseen. It’s really easy to hate on yourself, to have a bleak outlook on everything, and to give up trying to have better. I know because I’ve been there. I’ve allowed myself to be stopped in my own tracks by my own self because of the low self-esteem my mess up skin caused me.

And I’ve also been witness to the growing esteem in myself as I began to learn how to take better care of my skin and actually do it and see the results.

And that’s why Holistic Skincare gets me so jazzed. It’s because just by the simple act of improving your skin, you can improve your life by leaps and bounds.

That may sound like an exaggeration but humor me for a bit.

We imagined having blemished, inflamed skin. Now imagine having glowing, radiant skin. Imagine how confident you’d feel. Imagine meeting that new person now. Imagine how vibrant your smile would be, how easily you would rise up and meet their eyes and welcome them to take a full good look at you. No cowering, no hiding, no meekness, no trying to be unseen.

Feels pretty good right? And holistic skincare is what gets you there and what got me there. Holistic skincare means approaching your skin’s healing from not just one level. It means addressing it on multiple levels, bringing all of the variables into play that affect it, the most important one being your mind. (We’ll talk about that more in a later post). It also means creating a skin care plan and regimen for you that is long lasting and about healing, not just quick fixes.

This is one of the areas that I’m here to help you out with ladies and gents. Holistic skin care is something you can learn and put into practice too and I’m happy to be your guide :-).

This Tuesday, I’m hosting a special FREE Webinar (think of it as a class you can attend over the internet!) on the 5 Steps to Gorgeous, Radiant Skin. I’m going to give you my BEST TIPS – things you can start implementing right after the webinar is over! These are the steps I use and that I’ve recommended to every single client I’ve had as an esthetician. I definitely want to share them with you so be sure to sign up here. That way you’ll receive the special link so that you can tune in on Tuesday.

As always, let me know if you have any questions at all in the comments below. What’s your biggest skin care issue right now? Let me know in the comments and I’ll make a point to address it in a future post!

Thanks for being you ;-)

Breaking Down to Break Through...

So I've been contemplating what I wanted to focus on this month in terms of themes. I think themes really help to keep things cohesive and they help us to learn and integrate information so much better. When our mind has something to tether it to, it seems to stick. 

So in my search for what theme to go with this month, I thought about the new moon that just came through our sky yesterday and all of its astrological implications and I thought about my own astrological guidance this month and that's all brought me to the theme of Breaking down to Break Through. 

April is that kind of month in general right? Things are in blossom mode all around us. They are "breaking through". And if you focus on nature for instance, The whole season of Winter was a breakdown and in order to jump start activity and motion in April, there has to be an intentional break through. Breaking through the ground. Breaking through the surface. Breaking through the barriers to the light on the other side. 

So let's talk about that. Let's think about it in terms of our goal setting first. Most of us went about setting goals at the beginning of the year. If you've been following along with me since the beginning of the blog, you know that I walked us through this process with the #7daysforme Challenge and set some intentions for myself as well. 

Well now my dear friends, it's time to break through with those! We're here at April.

The time is now! If you've been holding back, take the reins and drive it forward!!! 

Check in with yourself. What haven't you done yet? What plans are you sitting on that are just waiting for some action? Let's talk about the DOING and no more of the PLANNING. Take whatever step you are at now and GO. GO. GO. You'll always have time to refine, to make it better, to regroup. But you'll never get to *that* point if you don't get past *this* point. Trust me, I have ample personal life examples to prove that to you and I'm sure you've got a good handful in your own life as well ;-). 

And I'm not just preaching - I'm taking my own advice too. For instance, I've been sitting on this program I'm creating for way too long. I've been fussing over the information page and worrying about the order of the content and so on and so forth. All just stalemates keeping me from DOING. And that's just one of the projects I've been sitting on. 

Trust me, in these next few weeks, I'm taking action. And you are going to see it in my results :D. Be on the lookout for the skincare program I've been working on FINALLY being ready for you. My next plan is the skincare for dancers ebook FINALLY being available. And my very own line of herbal teas. Yes my friends it's time. What is it time for in YOUR life?

HERBAL ALLY for This Time of HIGH FOCUS

One of my favorite herbs for focus is Peppermint. This herb is absolutely wonderful for so many things and so you are going to hear me talk about it a lot :-). Here's why you need to make a bunch of cups this month ;-).

Peppermint Tea

• helps clear the mind and ease tension
• soothes indigestion and stomach complaints so those won't hold you back
• increases focus and concentration
• relaxes yet stimulates - perfect combo ;-).

Lessons Learned from Telling a Different Story

So my lovely friends, I have a story to tell! First let me preface this story with the reminder that my theme word for this year is COURAGE.

It’s beautiful and sometimes scary that when you ask the Universe for something with your whole heart, it shows up all around you.

I made a statement at the beginning of the year that I would approach each thing that I did with Courage.  That courage would take me through to the other side where the awesome thing that you could only dream about on this side, lived in plain commonplace eyesight.

Since that decree, the Universe has been throwing all kinds of scenarios at me to help me practice and this Thursday I had yet another opportunity. This has to do with my local Whole Foods.

How many of you know that my makeup line used to be stocked there? Yes, for about a year – maybe two - Whole Foods sold Etniq Mineral Cosmetics (that was the name of it back then.).

Can I tell you what a dream come true this was? I don’t think I can express it in enough ways to make you fully understand but I will try. Whole Foods was a beacon of all the things that were right in the world at that time to me. When I lived back home in Chicago, Whole Foods is what kept me and my quirky health habits in gear – it was my refuge – the place I could go where everyone ‘got’ me, where there were a bunch of mes, where I felt amongst kin :-).

In my practicing esthetics years, I even taught classes and did holistic skincare consultations at the Whole Foods in OakPark, IL. It just felt like my kind of place.

So retailing in Whole Foods was something like the biggest deal that could ever happen to me. Here was someplace that I held in the highest regard – validating that something of mine that I created was worthy.

So you can probably imagine how devastating of a blow having my products dropped from Whole Foods was. I remember the day that I got the call – I believe I sat in my car and cried for a good 30 minutes. Just imagine the worst combination of shame, disappointment, resentment, and sadness you can. Now triple that at least. That’s about how bad it felt.

The shame was the worst. The feeling of being an absolute and complete failure and publicly at that was impossible to shake at that time. I had a hard time even being in public for fear that someone would ask how my products were doing at Whole Foods and that I’d have to tell them they weren’t there anymore. No matter what story I came up with to tell them why, in my head, they would always figure out the “truth” that I was just a failure set up and waiting to happen.

Can you believe that this is what I thought about myself? Can you believe that I still find these feelings poking around me from time to time? And I’m sure I’m not the only one right ;-).

Back to the story though, I eventually got over the immediate feelings of embarrassment but my last frontier was being able to go to Whole Foods again. For a good year and a half, I wasn’t able to. I felt like all of the employees who saw me and remembered me would be shaking their heads sadly at me, thereby augmenting my shame. Even when the Whole Foods moved to a brand new building and started serving my beloved pizza – I still couldn’t go. There were a few exceptions where I *had* to go but for the most part Whole Foods was a no Leah zone.

And then this Thursday rolls around and I happen to be in the area and I happen to be having a stellar day. It’s lunch time, I’ve just come out of the other store in the lot and I’m hungry. Since my aim is to always avoid fast food, I think of some other options and boom, Whole Foods is there – with my beloved pizza. And you know what, I say Leah, it’s time. It’s time to let this fear go and tell a different story.

So I bop into Whole Foods holding my head high, leisurely check out some lotion (in the same section as the makeup mind you). I even CHECK OUT the makeup and gather some display and labeling tips for my own line. I don’t hide for fear of seeing any employees that might recognize me. I soak in the vibe and the energy of Whole Foods (it’s still mostly good) and I go pick up my pizza, grab some good iced tea, and head to check out.

No alarms went off. No one pointed me out and said ‘That’s that girl that failed here. Her products suck.’ No one asked how I had the courage to come shopping after being ‘let go’. No one awkwardly said hi. And even if they did, I probably wasn’t going to die from it.

I didn’t have to slink out and I didn’t have to take a moment and recompose myself in the car :-). It really was all good.

So really, this was mostly a share, but in that share I hope I inspired you to take a look at your own life. Do you have a story about something that is holding you back? Maybe it’s time to let it go and tell a different story.

And go get your freakin’ pizza already! :-P..(had to!).

Excited about Natural Medicine!

Hey there lovelies! 

I am so hoping that you've been enjoying this last week or so. My life has been filled with lots of activity - all of it leading to positive things for sure. I want to tell you all about it so today's post is going to be a hodge podge :). 

I'm sitting here on a Sunday after having enjoyed an absolutely lovely me-focused Easter day. Yes, I could have gotten caught up in feeling some kind of way about not having a family gathering to go to BUT I also could redirect that energy to feeling super grateful for having a day all to myself with no agenda. And yep, that's what I did :). The weather was so lovely and my backyard was the perfect place to veg out, web surf and read. I spent a little time at the grocery store with all of the other people not at Easter dinner, lol, and then spent the rest of the day hanging out on my couch with my Real Simple, Vegetarian Times, and Clean Eating Magazines :-D. I’ve been on a magazine kick lately and these 3 are probably my favorites – so inspiring. I’ve definitely realized the value of surrounding yourself with who you want to be and what you want to be about ;-).

One other thing I did today was listen to parts of an awesome podcast from the Natural Medicine Summit that just ended this past week. This was a virtual event put on by Dr. Michael Murray, a leading authority in the world of natural medicine. I was able to catch a couple of the interviews and oh my, it was so invigorating! It’s been a while since I’ve been to a public educational event on natural medicine – even virtually, it felt awesome to be listening to conversations about how nature provides every single thing we need for optimal health. It really is the truth.

There is one concept introduced by Mike Adams, the editor of NaturalNews.com that I’m going to explore more and report on for you. It’s the idea of defensive eating. What this means is that when you eat something not necessarily healthy for you, that you also eat a food that can counter the negative effects of the negative food. It’s a concept that feels intuitively already known but intellectually not really spelled out in this way. I think it’s brilliant and makes so much sense for the world that we live in today. So definitely look out for what more I find out about this – looking forward to sharing it with you!

I’m not sure how long the encore videos will be available, but I suggest popping over to this link and checking them out while you still can. These are the top 3 interviews from the summit and I can definitely see why.

Another thing that Mike Adams spoke about was growing your own food. I’m so committed to this and each year I do a better and better job. We’re headed back into that season of planning and planting so be on the lookout for me sharing my steps and encouraging you to take your own ;-).

Alrighty friends, this post is getting long so instead of jamming all of my reflection into today, I will instead give you a reading break and come back with more very soon :-).

Until then lovelies!

Best and brightest!