​This morning one of my friends posted this quote from Tish Harrison Warren's book, "Liturgy of the Ordinary: sacred practices in everyday life" 

"When I brush my teeth I am pushing back, in the smallest of ways, the death and chaos that will inevitably overtake my body. I am dust polishing dust. And yet I am not only dust. When God formed people from the dust, he breathed into us-through our lips and teeth-his very breath.

So I will fight against my body's fallenness. I will care for it as best I can, knowing that my body is sacred and that caring for it (and for the other bodies around me) is a holy act. I'll hold onto the truth that my body, in all its brokenness, is beloved, and that one day it will be, like the resurrected body of Christ, glorious."

This eloquently puts into words the perspective change that happened not only in my mind, but in my heart! Showing up for myself, fighting against my body's fallenness, treating my body as sacred, it became a holy act.

It allowed me to see my worth, to feel deep gratitude, and ultimately LOVE my body with all it's imperfections and flaws. We cannot reach this point when we view our body as the enemy, that which holds us back from acceptance and happiness. It's only when see it as a miracle, the vessel that was breathed into life and allows us to connect with others mentally, emotionally, and physically, that we can rise up as a warrior to fight for it and to encourage others to do the same! 

The accepted perspective is that if a person looks a certain way how they treat their bodies doesn't matter. It's about youthful attractive appearances and yet that perspective tears us down. It leads to eating orders, unhappiness, and isolation.

Some of the greatest warriors I know, the ones that show up for themselves, aren't a size two. They struggle with illnesses that threaten to steal the quality of their life and they responded with a battle cry! They grasp what is eluding most of our culture: the quality of this life is affected by how we treat our body.

Those of us blessed with good health can get complacent about this and it steals our joy! Caring for our bodies because they are a gift and because they are ours and not to punish them into an unattainable mold changes the way we feel about them and how we feel about a healthy lifestyle.

When we decide to stop hiding our imperfections, to stop trying to look shiny and be admired and instead choose to be real and to truly love ourselves, we find that true health means the combination of a healthy mind, a healthy body, a healthy soul. When one is off balance, it affects the others. And so, we must fight because true health is freedom!💗

We just started our Freedom Focused Challenge Group today and there is still time to join!  If you have seen your healthy journey as a deprivation or a chore, if you feel that your worth is tied to your pants size, if you feel isolated and disconnected from others, consider joining us. Chasing admiration and living in fear of others seeing flaws is exhausting! Living in freedom is what we truly need! 💗 Message me for more info!

​I read a post today that got my blood boiling early this morning. It was someone else in the health and wellness industry. She shared a blog post she had written about how weight gain in women could lead to divorce and how it was our responsibility as women to look the way we did when we got married...or else.

I'm not going to go into the finer points of this argument today. I want to talk about the bigger picture. I want to give you some tools against this kind of marketing.

These kind of messages play on fear. They attack the heart of an insecurity and drag you on a choose your own adventure story ( remember those?) that are not based on anything but shame.

The message is that you are not worthy in your current state and you need to do something or buy something or look a certain way to gain value.

On your health journey, pay attention to how messages make you feel! It's ok to recognize that some aspects of your life needs to change but does the person speaking give you hope and inspire you? Do they encourage you and make you want to heal? 

Or do they fill you with shame and cause you to act out of self loathing? 

I have seen hundreds of women start health journeys since I started coaching and something I've learned is that timing is important. You have  to do this for YOU. 

This is a journey of self discovery and self respect. It's you taking care of you and it does improve everything in your life but if you aren't ready than someone shaming you isn't going to make you ready.

It's easy to believe that shame is just the bad feeling we get from being "bad". It's not. It's the lie that we aren't enough. Conviction is productive. It's the acknowledgement that we need to change and that's helpful! But when the oppressive waves of shame wash over you, that should be a warning to you. 

That is the prison we can reject. If you hear a message on health or parenting or beauty or ANYTHING that leaves you feeling worthless or hopeless or shamed, that is not someone to follow.

One of the ways I protect myself is to imagine hearing it said to someone I love. I am a powerhouse of fury in defending others from lies but sometimes it's hard to do that for myself in a moment of fear or shame. What would your response be if you heard someone say that to a loved one? 

Think it all the way through! Don't be held captive by fear and shame. Don't be manipulated into hustling for your worth! Follow leaders that make you excited to grow! ( End rant 😉)

Friends, I am SO sore! I am day 4 into my restart since our vacation and sickness and I can barely walk today! Even stretching after Pilates was painful!
It was a good reminder of how my challengers feel when they first get started. The first week of any exercise routine is HARD! And this moment I'm in right now, this is where a lot of people quit. It's not fun to be sore. The thought of doing a work out when you can barely sit to use the toilet sounds insane!
But you know what? By week 2 the soreness is replaced by strength and you don't feel THAT sore again unless you stop and start over. My first week using three pound weights was worse than when I upgraded to 12 pound weights!
So often, people dread exercise because they do week one over and over. They quit and start again and they dread it! I worked out today because I KNOW I'm going to feel great in a few days and the hard part of this will be a distant memory in a week.
Consistency is what makes this FUN! It's where you feel good, where you see growth, and get those endorphins kicking! Don't give up!
In ten days we start our next group! This is the time of year to get ahead of the game! The holidays are coming and with them some pretty powerful temptations. Come join our Freedom Focused challenge group!
We are going to enjoy the holiday treats while still making progress through using the freedom we have to choose health and indulgence in according to our personal goals!
This is doable, my friends! You don't have to deprived yourself to make progress! You simply need wisdom and direction! I have a fun gift for those that sign up by October 29th! Message me to get more info! 💗

"Because true belonging only happens when we present our authentic, imperfect selves to the world, our sense of belonging can never be greater than our level of self-acceptance."
Brené Brown,

This is part of a mural at our church. It's made up of photographs of the church members tattoos.

It speaks to me.

I don't personally have a tattoo but I love to hear about other people's because,more often than not, they are portal into that person's deepest joy or pain or a window into what's important to them. They have taken an integral part of their life and shared it publicly. They have taken the time to count their blessings and remember the lessons. They have invited us to share in it!


I think that's what speaks to me about the mural. It's an invitation to be who I am, to bring my victories, my failures, my joy, my pain, and be met with love, forgiveness, and acceptance. It's says I'm not judged by what I've done but instead I belong because what's been done for me.


I don't have a tattoo but I bring my scars. When I gaze at this mural it's a reminder that there is no shame in them. They are part of my story, they are meant to be shared, and they make me stronger.


I'm done trying to be anything other than my authentic imperfect self. Self acceptance has been a hard road for me but, seeing true belonging on the other side, that inspires me to fight for it!


Come as you are, friends! Don't wait on the outskirts of belonging waiting to be worthy enough to enter. Your story adds to the beauty like one of these tattoo images, healing as you tell it, and creating an invitation for others to belong!

​ #tellyourstory #tattoos #flatiron #comeasyouare #metoo

I've been getting a ton of emails asking whether or not Shakeology is safe to drink while pregnant or breastfeeding, so I took a few minutes to answer. You can watch here! Post any questions in the comments!

I shared this with my challenge group today. We are all chasing joy and so often we are looking in all the wrong places! Joy follows gratitude and contentment. Joy is created when we accept love and reject fear.  It isn't found in circumstances, its something that comes from within! If you have believed the lie that you will be joyful when you lose the weight, or fit into a certain dress, or alter your appearance in some way, I want to challenge you today! Joy is an indicator of deep wellness! Wellness is an internal state of being. If you are lacking joy, it's time to delve into self discovery and self CARE! It's time to align your behavior with your true priorities and BE a person that you deeply respect. Our health journey is deeply personal and unique to each one of us, but you can gauge your progress on whether you are looking outward and comparing yourself to others or looking inward and learning what it is you truly want out of life and what makes you excited to be YOU! Joy is an indicator of deep wellness! Let's stop chasing a feeling and learn to live steadfastly within it! Here are my thoughts in group today:

"Health is a confusing topic in todays society. You can google healthy lifestyles and find a vast array of ideas and opinions and programs. There are fads to avoid but more than enough healthy ways to get started, but the problem is the focus. 

Right now in our society, the focus is on weight loss only. Yes, its obvious that obesity and illness are serious issues in our country, but they are only symptoms of a problem, not the problem itself. 

No matter where you find yourself on the scale today, your weight isn't the topic I want to talk about. The reason we turn to food for comfort or abstain from it for that feeling of control, the reason we have eating disorders is because we aren't WELL. We are stressed out, overwhelmed, unhappy, depressed, living our lives to please others, comparing ourselves to one another. 

The lie we believe is that a thin person is a healthy person. If someone is 120 pounds, they can eat all the junk food they want because being thin is our standard of health. I want that thought removed from all levels of your mind. I want you to stop measuring your health based off what size jeans you wear and instead check your joy meter! 

I used to hear people say that even though they hadn't lost all their weight or they weren't where they wanted to be they were full of joy and content with who they were while they worked towards what they wanted to achieve. I could never understand it. I was 116 pounds at 5'7" obsessed with staying under 1200 calories a day as if my life depended on it. I was miserable! 

But I AM there now. I can gain weight on vacation without wanting to berate and punish myself until I lose it. I watch women in this group everyday filled with joy in the journey because it is well with their soul! 

It's scary to lose the fear. I remember thinking that if I let the fear go then my life would get out of control. My fear was the tool I used to keep everything in check but it also made me deeply unhappy. 

Be willing to love who you are, mind, body, and soul! Dive into self discovery! Question your fears. Look for the good changes that you are seeing in your life, from making better food choices to shutting down the negative internal dialogue. Let this group be more than checking off workouts and avoiding junk food. Let it be a place you allow yourself to embrace deep wellness and experience joy! 

As we get started the fears will surface. Don't let them just be negative emotions, analyze them! Why do you feel uneasy or afraid or angry? It may not come to you right away but ask yourself anyway. Be willing to get to the root of it, so we can dig it out! 

I would love to hear your thoughts on this! Do you feel that you experience joy regularly? If not, what do you feel hinders you?"

And I will ask you as well! What are the lies you are believing about yourself? What elusive "goal" or thing do you think will bring you joy? Do you see the pattern of acquiring things that bring only a fleeting moment of happiness? DO you feel exhausted from chasing one thing after another and yet never gaining the joy you crave? Do you find yourself rejecting the idea that you are worthy and beautiful? 

If so, it's time for a change! The first thing I would recommend is getting out of your own head! Stop letting marketers define your worth and beauty! One of the ways I did that was to read books that deposited truth that helped me reject the negative inner dialogue. Here are some of my suggestions:

If you struggle with eating disorders, negative body image, self doubt= Love Warrior by Glennon Doyle ( If you aren't a reader this is a memoir and a fun read!)

If you struggle with self limiting beliefs, fear, self doubt= You are a Badass by Jen Sincero

If you struggle with consistency and long term vision= The Slight Edge by Jeff Olsen or The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy

I want to hear from you! Share your story in the comments! What is your struggle? What would you like to accomplish in your life? Do you feel like you know what the next step is for you?

On Wed, Oct 11, 2017 at 8:26 AM, AubreyK <aubreyk916@gmail.com> wrote:
Health is a confusing topic in todays society. You can google healthy lifestyles and find a vast array of ideas and opinions and programs. There are fads to avoid but more than enough healthy ways to get started, but the problem is the focus. 

Right now in our society, the focus is on weight loss only. Yes, its obvious that obesity and illness are serious issues in our country, but they are only symptoms of a problem, not the problem itself. 

No matter where you find yourself on the scale today, your weight isn't the topic I want to talk about. The reason we turn to food for comfort or abstain form it for that feeling of control, the reason we have eating disorders is because we aren't WELL. We are stressed out, overwhelmed, unhappy, depressed, living our lives to please others, comparing ourselves to one another. 

The lie we believe is that a thin person is a healthy person. If someone is 120 pounds, they can eat all the junk food they want because being thin is our standard of health. I want that thought removed from all levels of your mind. I want you to stop measuring your health based off what size jeans you wear and instead check your joy meter! 

I used to hear people say that even though they hadn't lost all their weight or they weren't where they wanted to be they were full of joy and content with who they were while they worked towards what they wanted to achieve. I could never understand it. I was 116 pounds at 5'7" obsessed with staying under 1200 calories a day as if my life depended on it. I was miserable! 

But I am there now. I can gain weight on vacation without wanting to berate and punish myself until I lose it. I watch women in this group everyday filled with joy in the journey because it is well with their soul! 

It's scary to lose the fear. I remember thinking that if I let the fear go then my life would get out of control. My fear was the tool I used to keep everything in check but it also made me deeply unhappy. 

Be willing to love who you are, mind, body, and soul! Dive into self discovery! Question your fears. Look for the good changes that you are seeing in your life, from making better food choices to shutting down the negative internal dialogue. Let this group be more than checking off workouts and avoiding junk food. Let it be a place you allow yourself to embrace deep wellness and experience joy! 

As we get started the fears will surface. Don't let them just be negative emotions, analyze them! Why do you feel uneasy or afraid or angry? It may not come to you right away but ask yourself anyway. Be willing to get to the root of it, so we can dig it out! 

I would love to hear your thoughts on this! Do you feel that you experience joy regularly? If not, what do you feel hinders you?

ᐧ
​