Good morning, I hope you all had a great weekend and are ready to conquer your Monday Morning! Heck your whole week!!
This morning we are going to look at a few key Yoga pose’s to help open you up for an incredible amount of breath and energy!
And it only takes 5 minutes!
Yoga is a great way to help wake your body up in the mornings and really get your overall energy and health up!
Benefits of Yoga:
⁃ Breathing! It helps to open your chest, and this will help with concentration and focus for your day!
⁃ Increased Energy and Mood! Feel good after knowing you took time for you and it helps your health!
⁃ Reduces stress! Allow yourself to relax! That is what you deserve!
⁃ Physical Strength! Grow your outer and inner strength through balance!
⁃ Mental Health! Don’t take this time for granted, truly come to your mat and just be. Do the moves that bring you energy and strength. Find peace knowing your mind and body are connected together, the way they should be!
⁃ Overall health! – sounds silly when you say but yoga is one of the easiest exercises to help your overall health! You don’t have to do the hour long practices either! Just a good five minute practice every day will help make you feel better, stronger, and with more energy!
Now with benefits like those, and so many more, do you think you too could spare 5 min from your day? Just 5 min to set yourself up for success!
It’s that easy!
Morning Stretch:
⁃ Start with hands by your side and breath in.
⁃ Go into Mountain Pose and make sure you reach as far as you can with your fingertips!
⁃ Grab left hand and pull to the right. This is a sideways stretch and opens the ribs. Do one side and then the other.
⁃ Hands back up to Mountain Pose.
⁃ Next, down to a Forward Fold. If you cant go all the way down that is totally fine! Only go half way, but make sure to breath!
⁃ Hands back up to Mountain, then back to a slight backbend. Release your breath when you go back!
⁃ Come up then go into a Goddess Pose! This is my favorite! Its such an Empowering move and really opens your whole body up!
⁃ Breath! Breath! Breath!
⁃ Stand up to do shoulder stretches. Left then right!
⁃ Take your hands by your side and breath in. Roll your neck to the right. Roll it to the left. Go one side all the way around twice. Then go to the other twice.
⁃ Come back to Mountain Pose!
⁃ Hands down, breath in the out, make noise when you breath out! Use your vocals to really get that last breath out!
⁃ Then, SHAKE IT OFF!
Whoooo! You did it!! See! Wasn’t so bad was it? And now you’re filled with extra breath for your body, your mind, and soul!
Now!!! If you want to push for more, below is an added on sequence to the top that I move through! I love really moving in my practice though! Just do what you feel comfortable with!
⁃ So you just came back to Mountain Pose after your neck rolls!
⁃ Let’s go down to Downward Dog!
⁃ Breath! Take a moment in this.
⁃ Down to all fours. Hands and feet. Make sure you Re-situate yourself!
⁃ Time for some Cat and Cow! Make sure your breath is alined for each. Don’t rush this! When your in Cat, check your shoulders, how do they fill? When your in Cow, hows your lower back? Be aware of your body in each pose!
⁃ Back to Tabletop.
⁃ Come back into a Child’s pose and breath.
⁃ Breath here for three good full breaths.
⁃ Come up and flip around to where you are sitting with legs straight out.
⁃ Stretch down to your feet. If you can’t thats completely okay!!! This takes time, and this is will come!
⁃ Hands up! Reach as far as you can with your hands while sitting!
⁃ Lay back all the way down!
⁃ Breath!
⁃ When your ready! Flip over!
⁃ Flow from plank to Downward Dog in one motion. Breath through this!
⁃ Once in Dog, walk yourself back up to a Forward Fold. (Half way is great too!!)
⁃ Breath in and reach up to Mountain Pose one last time!
⁃ Breath out and bring your hands to your heart!
⁃ Close your eyes and let go. Dont focus on poses or breath or any of it. Just be.
⁃ Open your eyes, take one more big breath in! Breath out and use those Vocals! Make it a breath that you are pushing Everything bad out of your body!
⁃ Then, SHAKE IT OFF!
You did it!!! How do you feel?
The time you take matters! Don’t rush through these just to say you did them. The time you make for yourself is your oasis. Own it, and Grow it.
Happy Mondays Loves! Go forth and make today and each day after YOUR DAY!
Now say, “I am happy, I am healthy and I am full of love!
Take a second. How did that feel to say? Are you just thinking it or actually saying it out loud?
What you say and how you say it mean everything when it comes to speaking to yourself.
Words are important!
Without words are world would be a blank canvas of untapped beauty. We need words.
From speaking to each other, being able to read and write, and most important speaking to ourselves words are what make up our lives.
Words are power and words are important! If you’re not use to speaking these types of affirmations out loud I challenge you, once a day for 30 days speak one of the below out loud. Go stand in your mirror or sit up in your bed in the morning and speak these words.
⁃ I am healthy
⁃ I am strong
⁃ I am full of love and happiness
⁃ I will be a flame for others
⁃ I will full my positivity
⁃ I have the energy to bless others
⁃ I am deserving of kindness and respect
⁃ I am beautiful
⁃ I am no less than anyone I meet
⁃ I love who I am
⁃ I love all that I have achieved
⁃ I love all that I can become
⁃ I will overcome anything
For 30 days, that is all I ask! Say at least one of these to yourself. If you can go to a mirror and look at yourself when you do that’s even better, you need to know who your talking too.
When you look into the mirror really look at yourself, the curves of your face. The dimples on your checks. Does your nose wrinkle? When you smile do you show teeth? Really look at yourself, study yourself and repeat at least one if not all of these affirmations. Don’t just whisper them…I want you to yell them!
Yell,
“I love who I see in the mirror!”
You are beautiful. You are strong, and You deserve unending happiness. No if, ands, or buts about it! You DESERVE it all!
If you haven’t heard about Romwe yet I am seriously about to make your day!
I found Romwe about a year and half ago and no joke haven’t bought clothes from any other site since! Okay well Amazon, but that’s like a whole other level of shopping! I mean an actual clothes site! From their tops, their dress, their sleepwear, the swimsuits, sweatshirts, shoes, and yes even some costume get up Rowme is my only go to!
Romwe has been around since about 2010 and has been helping people get the most beautiful clothes for the absolute best prices! Below are just some, and I mean only like 5% of the actual amount I have sitting in my closet, of their outfits I have! Each one is listed with their SKU and current price!
I’ve been shopping with them through their app, Romwe, and it is super easy to download and register for an account! Once you do register you will be set up to receive monthly coupons on top of Romwe points!
My favorite Sunflower Print Lace Up Back Bikini Swimsuit – $13.09 swswim03190717668Ditsy Floral Bandana Cami Top – ON SALE $3.91 rwvest03210111785
Now with Fall right around the corner Romwe will have you completely covered with the cutest snug ready outfits! And! Ooooo yeah I’m about to add some icing to the cake!!!
The best Fall sweatshirt! Super thick but not bulky! – $8.84 rwsweatsh01191115731
You can set up a CREDIT FREE account with AfterPay to purchase all your Romwe clothes in four easy installments! Boom!
AfterPay is an app designed to help you shop. Literally! It connects you to your favorite sites and once you choose what you want to purchase through them you can click the AfterPay button at checkout and it will direct you to set up an installment plan! Four easy payments of the overall total price! You spend $100 on clothes, cause yeah I’ve done it many of times, no probably just $25! And it doesn’t effect your credit!!! WooHoo! If you haven’t already that needs to be the first app you download!
The absolute cutest Solid Ribbed Scallop Edge Skirt – ON SALE $4.95 swskirt04200603030
Halloween costume get up too?? Oh yeah!
rwsexy03200911665
They even have guys clothes too!!
I know! Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better! Romwe has stuff for guys too! Their is a whole girls side and guys side to their site which amazing options on both! Honestly that’s where most of my husband’s shirt’s come from!
Want to check them out first? Visit @romwe_fun on Instagram for a peak at what all they have!
Okay sound like something you wanna go spend hours scrolling through?
I promise once you get on there you’re gonna want to, and if your like me even with insanely low prices you’re still searching for those coupons!
Below is a 12% off coupon made specially for you!
Yes that’s right you! An extra 12% off that already low price? How could you not love this place! Follow the link below and get started on all the fun!
It is possible! It’s a process, and a journey but it’s something so Worth it and it doesn’t have to be stressful!
Yeah you heard right!
It doesn’t have to be stressful!
So let me step back real quick, anything you want to do or have requires putting time and work into it! It takes dedication and the persistence to stick with it even if it gets hard! So with that being said you too can do anything you want! Anything you REALLY want! As long as your willing to stick with it and put in the time it takes to get it.
Want to go on vacation? Or start your own business? Or own your own house? You can, but are you willing to put the time and effort to get those things? That is the question you have to answer for yourself.
My husband, Dustin, and I have been married a little over a year now. We have been together 5 years in total and just bought our first home back in April! Looking back it really does seem that long ago, like everything went by so fast, but the road getting here was definitely no open highway drive!
We moved into our first townhouse, six months into our relationship, to this small town in the middle of nowhere. We pretty much became non-existent during that whole year and after the year was up we had to make the tough decision to move back in with Dustin’s parents.
Let me just stop real quick to say, God Bless the whole House family!
You will never met a better family, and I seriously am the luckiest to be blessed to have them as my family now! They took us in when we needed and allowed not only myself but our big ol baby Zowey to stay with them!
It was husband, my both my in-laws, my sister-in-law, two dogs, my other sister-in-law that would come home on the weekends from college, and myself all in this house. Somehow though, we all managed, we all just flowed together every day. Going into it I was so nervous, and honestly, embarrassed, but it went so much more easily then I could have ever thought. They immediately made me feel so welcomed and loved and, like I said, God Bless that family! That year turned out to be one of the biggest blessings too, I got the best job working with my mother-in-law at our insurance firm!
After that year though we were able to get our new rental house that we had for two years! It was a nice starter place. Perfect for my husband and myself and Zowey! Then we got Callie.
Callie is our, now 2 year old, Aussie and she is our little sissy! She is the sweetest thing in the world and her hugs make me melt! We got her the first year at that house and then a short year later we got Mamma. Mamma was my friends dog but her and her family were moving out of the country so they couldn’t take her, so we adopted her! She is our potato!
Zowey is the one on the left, Mamma (Potato) is middle, and Callie is on the right!
Now though, with my husband, me and three dogs, our home was starting to feel a tad cramped! It was time.
It took us exactly 4 months, viewing 22 houses, putting offers in on 8 houses, running and rerunning back to the bank for updated bank statements over and over, and so many “I’m over it!” before we got our home.
Remember when I said it takes dedication for something you want? Remember I said it takes time? Yeah…it takes it all when buying a house, but!
Yes there is a but!
But…I am going to give you a few tips and tricks to help get you started in your house buying process to help make it less of a stress for you!
One:
⁃ Make a list of what you want! – Go crazy with it! You want windows in every room? Put it on the list! You want at least 4 bedrooms? On the list! Put down anything and everything you want in a house! This is your dream, this is your goal! Put it down and read it over and over!
Two:
⁃ Make a list of what you can live without! – I know, kinda takes away from the first one, but hear me out! Now that you have it all listed out, Everything you want, big or small, you need to narrow down. Heck, if you can get everything on your list Whooo! You go girl! Unfortunately though, more times than not your not going to find a house that has exactly everything you want. Unless you build, and then again, You go girl!!! Narrow down though. If you can live without certain things on your list DONT MARK IT OFF, put a little mark next to it! You don’t have to take away, cause hey you may find it in a house, just mark so you know that’s not necessarily needed!
Three:
⁃ Really look at your budget! – some of you are probably thinking, “what the junk is a budget?” And in that case, honey, bless you. If you are getting ready to buy a house, or really buy anything that is a major purchase you’ve got to have a budget!! You’ve got actually sit down and look at what got, what you don’t, what you want, what you need, and how much you really really can afford! Buying a house takes time right? This is probably the biggest time piece!
*Make sure you budget how much you can go over asking price too! Most houses, specially in todays market, are going $20-$30K over asking! I know, WHAT?! It’s right though! On average your gonna pay about $15K over. THANKFULLY we got blessed and the house we went to purchase, at first we went about 15K over, but appraised for less so whoo hoo!
Four:
⁃ Look at the Neighborhoods and school districts! – I know when you first start to look at houses it gets all, “oh look at the bathrooms!”, “Look at these closest!”, Or “that kitchen!”. It’s so much fun looking! And it should be! This could potentially be your new home! You need to have fun with this! You also need to be safe and find something you actually need! Do you have kids and need to be by a school? Will the commute to work be an easy one? Do you have three crazy pups and need a big yard like us? These are things you need to look at and consider as well in buying your home.
Five:
⁃ Okay here it is the biggest tip I can give! DO NOT GET OVERWHELMED AND DO NOT SETTLE! – just saying this makes me laugh! I say this in hopes that you won’t be like me and you’ll actually understand, you have time! I tend to over do things and if there is something I want I put everything into it till its mine. Not a bad thing, but in this case I was constantly putting in stress and getting stress back. You have time! The first house you see you’ll, 50/50, either be, “Oh my gosh, I need it!”, Or “Oh nooo, not happening!” This is a common feeling! My only advice on this is go into the viewings thinking your this awesome house critique! Like one of those home improvement shows with the people that walk into a house and just start pointing out what they like, what they don’t, and what they want to change and update. Be like this! Go in and find what you love, find what you dont, and find what could be done to make it better! If you do this with every house you’ll start to get a clearer picture of the house you actually want! Don’t get so overwhelmed with the actual process of buying that it takes the fun out of actually shopping! I don’t know about you but I love shopping and this was the biggest purchase we are probably gonna ever make so we wanted to have fun with the actual process! Probably why we saw 22 different houses… I’ll fully take that was all me but hey what can you do!
Biggest thing though, don’t settle either! There are so many houses out there if you’ve been looking for a while and are tired and just want to say screw it, dont! You want to go with that one you saw last week that didn’t have the yard you wanted but it has four bedrooms that you need? Don’t settle. You want that awesome house with the perfect bathrooms and closests but its over an hour from your work? Don’t settle! This process takes time! Sometimes it takes a few weeks, sometimes a few months like ours, but sometimes its takes more! What if you do go with one of those houses then in the next two months another comes up that has all that you want and more! Two more months! Thats all you had to wait to get your dream home? Could you do it?
• Key note – in today’s market, houses are going like crazy! Like seriously crazy! Those 22 we went and viewed, all under contract and gone within three days! Three days y’all! That is insane! Do not stress yourself out trying to get in and see a house and feel obligated to put an offer on one you don’t really like!
No house is going to be perfect! Again, unless you build it. So don’t go into this process thinking it has to be perfect, find something that works for you and has what you want, what you need and what you love!
Another big tip I need to put out there, TALK TO YOUR PARTNER!
If you are married or in a relationship you can not do this by yourself! This is something you both are going in on, something you both will live in together, and I hope, make home together! You need to communicate, you both need to sit and make that list! You both need to sit and redo that list! You both need to find houses you both wanna see! You both need to have an opinion on your future! This is a huge step and going into without full support, and I mean you supporting them and they supporting you, then this process will crush you. It will make you stressed. You need support and you need to give it!
I hope this helps to at least get you started in this process! It’s a lot, I won’t lie to you, but isn’t anything that you actually want? Question is, is it worth it?
If you truly want it, you can have it! It is possible, and the journey can be fun, you just gotta go for it!
This is my ritual bath I’ll take on certain occasions. This helps me recharge and reconnect with myself and my faith.
Water is our connecting form. It has always been seen as a way to cleanse oneself. From ritual cleansings, to baptisms, to just washing it away in the shower at the end of the day, water is our comfort. It is the universal breath we all need.
Doesn’t matter who you are, what you are, what you believe, or how you go about your life we all have this common “grounding” point. This connection that brings us, as living beings, together. Water.
Next time you feel lost, alone, nervous, tired, run down, overloaded, or just need an escape for a minute, I encourage you to take a bath. A real bath too. Draw the water at just the perfect temperature, set you out some candles or Incenses. Put your music on blast. Grab your favorite bath robe to get in after, and disappear for awhile!
P.S. This is the same even without a bath tub! Just take that time away and submiss yourself in water!
Baths can be the best way to escape without escaping. Bath’s are meant to clean you, but not just your physical body, your soul as well. So let it. Let each bath be a way to reset yourself. A way to help shake off the bad and put your mind back in a calming state to help you conquer your days, your weeks, even your months, or heck just life in general!
Talking to my family, and friends it feels like we all have so much going on. So much already scheduled out in our days, heck weeks really, that we go, go, go till we eventually burn ourselves out.
We get to a point where everything is just to much; we either lash out at others, shut down and block everyone out, or break down and feel completely worthless.
Sensory overload maybe?
A way of dealing with internal emotional baggage?
Maybe a complex of how you were raised?
Well I am here to tell you, this is noy okay Sis! These feelings, these burnouts. This sense that you have to continue on this neverending cycle of go, go, go, burn out, hurt someone or worse yourself, then do it all again.
That is not okay!
You need to refuel yourself. You need to stop and take in what is around you. Stop and breath new life into yourself. Make sure your internal flame is burning bright!
If your enternal flame gets deprived of oxygen to where its nothing but a burning ember trying to hold onto the heat, who does that help? How does you being run ragged helping anyone? How is you going till your completely burned out bringing any happiness or joy to you or those around you? Your flame deserves to always burn bright! To always bring light, warmth, and comfort to your life.
Every living person has that flame! Its our enternal being, our soul, our deeper consciousness. Some flames burn so bright you feel their radiation, you feel their warmth and are drawn to them. There are some that you connect too, you both fuel each other and y’all continue to help grow both your flames. Some flames help to fuel yours, they are the givers, they are always the ones that make you feel good after being with them. You may know a flame that just inflames yours, you can’t be around theirs or it doesn’t end good? Others you may feel off about. Some, theirs are barley holding on, their flames have been stolen of oxygen and are fighting to stay alive.
My point is, we all have one. We all work hard every day to keeps ours going, fueling it with whatever happiness and joy we can. Pushing ourselves to find more so we can continue to burn.
That inside burn you get deep in your stomach when you’re truly happy. When you come up with a new idea for a project or business. When you make a bomb dish for the holidays and everyone loves it! When you score the winning shot at the buzzer! When you propose to the love of your life, and they say yes!
This is what you should work for everyday. This is what you need to take a moment everyday and think about, focus on, and push to refuel, everyday! Without your flame burning, fueling you, how can you invite happiness, how can accept happiness?
How can you give happiness?
You need your to refuel yourself!
We sometimes forget, we are not built to constantly go. We are not meant to have every part of our days mapped out for us, and sometimes we need to just recharge. We need to refuel out flames.
You need to take a breath. Flames can’t grow without oxygen and if you push yourself to go, go, go then your going to start to loose your breath and essentially you’re stealing your own oxygen. Your own push to go constantly, and be and live, thats you putting yourself out.
I guess our society has painted us all a picture of how we should go about about our days, and then we get upset when we fall short of those expectations. Please know, that is not your life! That Hollywood style life you see in the movies, the magazines, all the online social media profiles, all this is not your life! Your life is your life! This is what you have built and you need to love it, own it, and respect it! Don’t let yourselves burn out being put out because you feel you’re not measuring up to everyone elses life! Take what you have and love it, work to make it better, and remember to breath while you do it!
We are living, breathing, flesh and blood humans who, at times, need to stop and take a breath. Take a break. And refuel our flames!
One of my biggest refuels is my husband! He always helps to “fill” me back up when I start to run low!
Your day begins with an fast paced wake up call, either by an alarm, kids, or my case three needy dogs. You roll out of bed, throw whatever you can piece together on. If you’re lucky, you can grab a piece of toast or a shake out the fridge and Then your off.
Does this sound like someone you know?
Or better, does this sound like you?
I know for a while it was me.
I was the Queen of waking up, throwing myself together and just going. I felt like I was always going. Like it was just a constant state of my being that I couldn’t control. I was burning myself out without even knowing it, and worse when I finally did notice I still didn’t have a clue what to do to help stop it! I felt like this was the normal part of being an adult though. Like constantly going was just what everyone was doing and I needed to just accept this was life, this was all apart of growing up and being an adult. You loose you time cause as an adult you’re supposed to focus more on work, or school, or family.
Bull junky!!
Yep, I said Bull Junky.
I’ll say it again!
Bull Junky on that!
It took me years to finally realized that that is not an acceptable way of living. Heck that’s barley living at all!! We all deserve a moment to stop! We all deserve a break to breath!
So I wanted to share five tips that has helped me to break out of the go, go, go state of anxiety, that circles us all, and focus on building myself up to help prepare me for a better day. Please, even if it’s only one, try to incorporate it into your life. Even with doing just one of these a day I promise it will help. Let the time you do this be your reminder everyday that your important too, your thoughts, feelings, dreams and desires all matter too!
One:
Follow the fifteen min rule. If you don’t know what that is don’t feel bad, i just made it up, but it seriously is my favorite tip I can give.
Whatever time you wake up, rather that be at five in the morning or at seven or even at two in the afternoon, wake up fifteen min before. So your alarm is already set for 5:45, turn it to 5:30. Supposed to be up at 7? Set it for 6:45. 2 in the afternoon? Set that baby to 1:45. Make sense?
I know it sounds crazy but those fifteen minutes are a huge breather to start the day. Rather you use them to just lay and wake up, and i mean really wake up not just fall back asleep, or you get up and stretch, make coffee, or actually make some real foods for breakfast!
Sorry, half my blood stream is coffee so that’s my go to every day!
Use these fifteen min as you time. Relax and just sit and think. Sit and read a chapter of your favorite book or go stand outside and soak in the morning.
Which brings me to my next tip.
Two:
Take a step outside!
I’m not sure what all your schedule has, but nine times out of ten you will have a window your not doing anything for one minute. Literally one minute. Even if it’s just walk out take a breath and walk right back in. Take a step outside and breath in real fresh air.
My view every morning when I take a step out!
Three:
Eat something!
I know this really isnt a tip, more commen sense, your supposed to eat. But you will be surprised at how many people don’t eat breakfast!
We all need energy and fuel and the best time to get it is in the mornings when your body needs it. I know, its hard to stop and make a meal if you have deadlines, and kids, and appointments to make but no one is saying make a five course meal! Grab you some peanut butter crackers, or those little muffins that come in a package, or heck even some trail mix! My favorite is a piece of toast with butter!! Mhmm, seriously there is nothing toast with butter can’t make better!
Four:
Pray.
Everyone has their own belief’s and thoughts, and opinions on religion.
And I swear, I do not care by any means who you pray to or how you pray or even if you don’t believe in anything at. That is your choice as a human being and we all have free will! That’s a world thing not just am American thing.
Just pray though.
It doesn’t matter who you pray to but take that time and be in peace with the higher power you love.
I can not tell you how much this helps, even if you’re like me and sit and just talk about your struggles or worries you may have, essentially to yourself, do it. Talking it out really helps to get you on a good mindset for the day.
Lastly, Five:
Go look in your mirror, smile, and say, “you are beautiful!”
Heck this one needs to be done like a hundred times a day if you can!
Smile at yourself. Give yourself a compliment. Speak kind words to yourself. Take a moment to show yourself true love.
You spend your days being nice to others and smiling at them so why not give yourself one. They say smiling at a stranger helps promote peace and radiates positivity so just imagine if just once a day you smiled at yourself. You gave yourself some peace and allow yourself to be filled with positivity. Just imagine.
One of my favorite “selfies”, just cause I got my girls in on it with me! This was the night before my wedding and they were already pooped for the night! It was only 8:30pm!
I really do hope these help! You deserve love, you deserve peace and happiness. And you can get those things! Even if your entire day isn’t rainbows and lollipops you deserve a minute everyday to breath and break free from your struggles. Try one of these a day, try all five if you can, and give it a week. After that week see how you feel, see if you notice a difference in yourself and how you Perceive the world around you. See if you’ve found time to breath more or smile at yourself more.
Healing House & Home 