Give the Gift of BodyMindSpirit!!

Give the gift of a BodyMindSpirit session from Evolving Wellness. Each session is a holistic, energizing or relaxing hour of fitness, health, nutrition and wellness, to assist you in creating your best wellness! You can choose to experience your session by phone or in person. Gift Certificates are available.

As a special holiday gift to readers/fans/followers, purchase a session OR a package of sessions during the month of Dec. 2009 and January 2010 and receive a complimentary 30 minute session! Yes, you will receive the gift of one 30 minute session - to use either by phone or in person. You can gift this session to yourself or to someone in your world. To purchase gift certificates for sessions with me at Evolving Wellness OR to find out more information about Evolving Wellness sessions please call 941-320-3697.

Client share their experience of their holistic sessions at Evolving Wellness:

"First time I have stuck with an exercise program for a year!! My clothes fit better, I have less aches and pains and I actually ENJOY coming to work out at the studio and on my own!! - P.L.

"Some very cool things have been happening in my life since you worked with me (by phone) Fantastic!! Thank you..." - D.W.

"I have arthritis in my hands and feet. I feel much better now. My posture is better...I actually ENJOY her sessions. I FEEL GREAT!!" - L. P.

To purchase gift certificates for sessions with me at Evolving Wellness OR to find out more information about me and Evolving Wellness sessions please call 941-320-3697.

Holiday Gift Idea - Give the Gift of ENERGY

Give the gift of ENERGY.... Nine Tomatoes mandalas!! Beautiful Mandala Banners for anywhere you need amazing healthy energy! This is a great gift for: a yoga enthusiast, a yoga instructor, a meditation instructor, a student of meditation or a person who loves to create amazing energy in their living/working space. I have one in my home and my wellness studio. Each time I want to re-charge, I study each mandala on the banner, breathing deeply, while connecting to the corresponding energy center within my body. Within minutes, I feel re-charged and ready to continue my day with energized awareness!!

From the Nine Tomatoes, Mandala Energy Artist, Dana Weekley:
MANDALA BANNERS by Nine Tomatoes, are digital transformations of original ink drawings printed with eco-friendly inks on 100% cotton. The word "mandala" comes from Sanskrit, meaning center or wheel. All mandalas have a center and some form of symmetry or balance. Examples of symmetrical mandalas abound in Nature and every cell within our body is a living Mandala. The mandalas shown coordinate with each of the seven main chakras or energy centers in our bodies. Chakras, which are like spinning wheels. or vortices, allow energy to flow form one part of the body to another. As with all things in our reality, they are linked to sound, light and color.

1st - Red - Root 2nd - Orange - Sacral 3rd - Yellow - Solar Plexus 4th - Green - Heart 5th - Blue - Throat 6th - Indigo - Third Eye 7th - Violet - Crown

Now thru 12/31/09 - all banners 15% off.
Evolving Wellness fans, followers of the EvolveWell Blog, use coupon code HOLIDAY09 to get an extra $8 off. Enter the coupon in Google checkout.
If ordering more than one, place separate orders to reuse the coupon as many times as you like. http://www.ninetomatoes.com/zencart1/

Hints for a Healthy Holistic Holiday

Hints for a Healthy Holistic Holiday

A Holistic Healthy Holiday?? How in the world can one be holistic during the crazy, fun, food laden holidays of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s and still enjoy it? It can be done, simply and effectively with these healthy holistic hints.

1. Move - Moving with awareness creates a relaxed yet energized body. Take walks, stretch, dance, skip elevator/escalator rides, pick the parking space farthest away. While you move, connect to your body. You will be amazed at the difference in your energy!!

2. Eat for Balance and Enjoyment - Yes, you can enjoy all of your favorite holiday foods and still stay in balance. How? Maintain your blood sugar by controlling your portion sizes, how often you eat AND most of all, include green veggies and fruits. Its the veggies and the fruits which will allow your body to stay in balance while you taste the holiday favorites. Squeeze fresh lemon, lime or orange into your water. Munch from those veggie platters, especially the celery and cucumbers. They will add water, keep the body alkalized and energized!!

3.Breathe - Yes, breathe often, deeply and with awareness through the holidays. We all get so stressed out over what we think we NEED to do to create the most perfect holiday, yet. When we stress, we automatically hold our breathe which causes our body to stress even more! So lets take a deep cleansing breath together right now. Ahhh...didn’t that feel great!!

Five Ways to Feel a Fruitfull Fall

Five Ways to Feel a Fruitfull Fall

With the days getting shorter, cooler and drier, here are some tips keep your body in balance to create a very fruitful Fall for YOU!!

1. Increase your water intake. Yes, its all about being hydrated during these drier days of fall. Ingesting more water in the form of healthy teas (decaffeinated) and soups along with drinking more water can achieve your daily healthy intake of water. Water allows you to think and feel YOUR best!!

2. Your body will be craving more energy dense foods such as nuts, seeds, squash and potatoes. Experiment with out of the ordinary foods like parsnips, lentils and quinoa.

3. Increase your sunlight time by walking outdoors as much as possible. Invite a friend to walk along with you! Its a great way to re-connect with the positive people in your world AND increase the positive effects of exercise and sunlight.

4. Be grateful for everything you have experienced through the past year. While connecting to those thoughts of gratitude visualize all the positive potential for your persona for the rest of the remainder of the year!! Remember what you think and feel manifests in your life.

5. Honor the change in the seasons by clearing the energy in your home and creating a warm environment. Do this by organizing and clearing the spaces in your home, now that you will be spending more time indoors. Throw away or pack away items that you no longer need or will not be using during the cooler months. Bring warmth into your home by changing the colors of your pillows and blankets to warmer tones.

Enjoy YOUR fruitful energy this Fall!!

DIY - Green Gifts for Giving this Holiday Season!!

Tired of giving gifts which add to the carbon footprint of your friends and families? Wanting to give a gift which uses the your time (not much of it) and talent (yes, you can be artistic and crafty)? Here is the answer to BOTH questions - easy, simple, handcrafted, green gifts! Remember, the more creative you let yourself be, the more unique the gift. ENJOY!!

Joy (Inspiration) Jar - Create a memorable gift by recycling a medium or large clear glass size jar, with a removable top. Fill it to the brim with colorful slips of paper containing all different types of inspirational messages. Where to find those snippets of inspiration? Here are some ideas:
- Cut out inspirational quotes and words from magazines.
- Cut and paste quotes from inspirational websites or quotation websites into a word processing document.
- Print your quotes on colorful sheets of scrap paper and cut them into small strips of paper.
Cut quotes from old calendars or recycle your chinese fortunes.

Once you have collected all your pieces of inspiration you can fold them into different sizes or you can roll them up! Place all the slips into the jar. Tie a recycled ribbon around it. Your Joy Jar is done!! Its a great way to spread JOY!

Debi’s DIY Helpful Hints:
Best Glass Jars: I like to recycle sauce and pickle jars.

To remove the labels from the jars, I used the methods listed on this site: hintshttp://gnowfglins.com/2009/04/18/how-to-remove-labels-from-glass-jars-and-plastic-containers/

Create a decorative lid: Wrap the lid by securing a scrap of cloth over the lid with a rubber band. My favorite rubber band to use - the ones from Whole Foods!!

I love to recycle ribbon, raffia, string or yarn, that I have collected and tie them over the top of the rubber band.

Sources for inspirational quotes -
http://www.quotegarden.com
http://www.brainyquote.com
http://www.thinkexist.com

2. CD “Notes” - Take an empty plastic CD case and remove the inside piece as well as any paper. Using plain, color or other paper you have accumulated, cut them to fit inside the plastic CD case. Use the template(s) to fill the plastic case with uniquely decorative notepaper. You can also use it as a guide, insert your own clip art, artwork or photos to create your own one of a kind notepaper.

Debi’s DIY helpful hints
Decorate the exterior of the CD case by gluing cutouts, affixing decorative stickers or hot gluing ribbons or other decorative accents.


3. Healthy Holiday Snacks - Prepare a healthy GORP (Good Old Raisins and Peanuts) or a delicious Snack Mix - There are all kinds of healthy mixes you can make and give in a decorated recycled glass jar. Be creative and make up your own mixes OR try out some of the following recipes. Grab a glue gun, recycled ribbons, scraps of cloth and other decorative trinkets and let that artsy crafty persona in you, create a uniquely gorgeous “green” jar, filled with a healthy snack!

Basic Recipe for GORP
1 cup of peanuts (salted or unsalted)
1 cup of raisins (regular or golden)
Mix well.
Adjust the quantities to your tastes OR increase the quantities to make several batches at once!

Variations on the basic GORP.
RAW GORP with raw peanuts and raisins and add sea salt to taste.
Roasted GORP - dry roast raw peanuts in a pan with sea salt to taste.

Basic Snack Mix
1 cup peanuts
1 cup raisins
1 cup candy coated chocolates
Mix well
Adjust the quantities to your tastes OR increase the quantities to make several batches at once!

Variations on the basic Snack Mix
Instead of raisins use dried cherries, blueberries, cranberries or goji berries
Instead of peanuts use cashes, almonds, pecans or walnuts
Instead of candy coated chocolates use dark chocolate chips or candy coated sunflower seeds
RAW Snack Mix - Mix raw nuts and unsweetened dried fruit add shredded unsweetened coconut (1 cup or more, according to your taste.) Add sea salt to taste
Organic Mix - use all organic ingredients for any of the snack mix recipes.

Which one are you feeding??

One evening, an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, "My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all. One is Evil - It is anger, envy, jealousy, greed, and arrogance. The other is Good - It is peace, love, hope, humility, compassion, and faith." The grandson thought about this for a while and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf wins? To which the old Cherokee simply replied, "the one you feed."

Which "wolf" are you feeding? The healthy best YOU or the out of balance/not your healthy best YOU?

If you are: drinking plenty of water, feeding yourself healthy unprocessed foods, creating positive thoughts, moving your body and making time to connect and nurture your inner you, then CONGRATULATIONS, you are winning and feeding your HEALTHY BEST YOU!!

If you are feeding the out of balance/not your healthy best you and want to successfully feed your healthy best you, then start to make small changes. Drink one more cup of water, today. Eat one delicious green salad, today. Take five minutes to breathe deeply, today. Move your body in a way which makes you feel your best, today!! And congratulate yourself for feeding your healthy best YOU, today!!

Honoring Mothers

Tonglen* for Mothers

I breathe in the daily frustrations
small as they are, big as they can seem
I breath out patience for us all.

I breathe in the loneliness
of days spent mothering on our own
I breathe out connection
community, compassion.

I breathe in the brokenness
not being enough in the world
I breathe out wholeness
leaving ideals behind, truth.

I breathe in the boredom
diapers, cooking, same every day
I breathe out simple pleasure
swings, finger painting, rocks.

I breathe in the exhaustion,
the worry, the fear
I breathe out the calm energy, excitement.

I breathe in the rage
at your plight, your place, your life
I breathe out peace
contentment, courage.
- DeLona Campos-Davis


* Tonglen is a traditional Buddhist practice of compassion. In order to have compassion for ourselves, we cultivate it for others. We take in the difficult parts of mothering, for ourselves and for all mothers and send out compassion and love.

Source: http://www.beliefnet.com


Prayer by DeLona Campos-Davis is from "Honoring Motherhood: Prayers, Ceremonies & Blessings" - Edited with Introductions by Lynn L. Caruso. (c) 2008. Permission granted by SkyLight Paths Publishing, P.O. Box 237, Woodstock, VT 05091 www.skylightpaths.com

Change your....

This post came to me as an e-mail from my a close friend who I have known since the seventh grade. I loved it so much I posted it here for all of you to read and share! I am not sure of the origin or I would have credited it (them) here. Sending out a big THANK YOU, to where ever this came from!! These words will change your thoughts, your feelings and in turn your world!! ENJOY!! "Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle. A sharp tongue can cut your own throat. If you want your dreams to come true, you mustn't oversleep. Of all the things you wear, your expression is the most important. The best vitamin for making friends..... B1. The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts. The heaviest thing you can carry is a grudge. One thing you can give and still keep...is your word. You lie the loudest when you lie to yourself. If you lack the courage to start, you have already finished. One thing you can't recycle is wasted time. Ideas won't work unless "You" do. Your mind is like a parachute... it functions only when open.. The 10 commandments are not a multiple choice. The pursuit of happiness is the chase of a lifetime! It is never too late to become what you might have been. Life is too short to wake up with regrets. So love the people who treat you right.. Forget about the one's who don't. Believe everything happens for a reason. If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said life would be easy, they just promised it would be worth it. Friends are like balloons; once you let them go, you might not get them back. Sometimes we get so busy with our own lives and problems that we may not even notice that we've let them fly away. Sometimes we are so caught up in who's right and who's wrong that we forget what's right and wrong. Sometimes we just don't realize what real friendship means until it is too late." author/origin unknown... Who ever you are... a BIG THANK YOU!

I didn't mean to hurt you, didn't want to make you cry but isn't it better to tell the truth than it is to tell a lie?

-Tori Ziege, author, writer, a self-evolving journalist, my niece

A balanced approach to HEALTHY!

A study in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that people who cut out 230 calories daily for one
year, but didn't exercise lost muscle mass, strength and aerobic capacity.

As a BodyMindSpirit Practitioner, I have consistently educated my clients to undertake a balanced approach to a healthy lifestyle. This includes healthy enjoyable movement (exercise), daily healthy eating (die-t), supportive water intake and positive focused thoughts. Here are a few tips to integrate into your life to assist you in connecting with that balanced approach. By the way, if you are already integrating them, CONGRATULATIONS! You already know how wonderful it feels and how great your life is because of the BALANCED APPROACH to a HEALTHY LIFESTYLE!

1. Move, stretch, connect to your body for at least 30 minutes daily. Creative ways to do this, walk as often as possible, take the stairs, stretch while you are on the phone and find a fun activity to do with family and friends.

2. BREATHE, yes, five deep centered breathes to disconnect from our hectic daily life style is equivalent to hitting the re-set button on your computer. Do this at a stop light, while you are waiting in line or waiting for your next phone call, appointment or when you look at the clock.

3. Incorporate one new vegetable into your meals each week. Personally, I just joined an organic fruits & vegetable co-op. Each week I am surprised with a bag filled with fresh tasty organic vegetables & fruits selected by the co-op organizers. When you have such beautiful fresh food in your refrigerator every day, it makes it so much easier. Here's my recent creative incorporation of veggies: adding apples, pears and sprouted clover to my salads, cutting up fruits and vegetables ahead of time to sprinkle over prepared healthy foods from local organic markets and making a veggie soup from lots of the leftovers!!

4. WATER, WATER, WATER...This seems to be the most challenging to healthy activity to integrate. Most clients don't like the taste of water, they are addicted to sodas and other diet beverages. THE BEST tip I can give you is, drink one cup of water every hour while you are awake. You will be amazed at how much better you feel. Gone are the headaches, fuzzy thinking, memory lapses and muscles spasms. Now if you are a heavy exerciser, live in a warm & humid climate and drink a lot of caffeine containing products. You will need more water. Foods which contain a lot of water, cucumbers, celery, radishes count!

Remember...a balanced approach to health is a journey, not a destination. EvolveWell with me! ~Debi

The creative process has started and the blogging will commence. Looking forward to adding enlightenment and enjoyment through this blog!

Hoping you use this as a tool to transcend through life's ever changing landscape!

EvolveWell,
Debi