An Intro from Lauren

[laurenho...@gmail.com]

Hello everyone,
It has taken me a little bit of time to sit down to write my intro,
but here goes.
My name is Lauren Albert and I am a friend and former classmate from
Tai Sophia of both Sarah and Yiska. While I have not seen these two
amazing women in sometime I was very excited to receive the email
about the workbook and jumped at the opportunity to be part of this e-
group.
Though life is very full in many ways with work and relationship, I
continue to put myself and my body second. The ironic thing is that
many of the practices in the book I have embodied at many times in my
life and know the power of paying attention to food (both primary and
secondary).
I have created multiple excuses and my favorite excuse is my lack of
time to prepare the food and set aside the time I need to take care of
myself. For a little background...In addition to being a graduate of
the Tai Sophia Insitute as an acupuncturist, I also attended in 1999
the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and have a passion for
nutrition. I currently live in Philadelphia and moved here after
finishing acupuncture school in 2004. While I did have a private
practice for over a year, I was offered the opportunity to run an
amazing spa in the city. I continued to see clients out of the spa,
but again TIME became an issue. As my work at the spa took more time I
did not feel I was serving my clients and decided to let go of
practicing acupuncture all together in March of 2006. I feel great
about this decision, but with this decision there have been both
positives and negatives. I love my work, love the people, the constant
stimulation and learning of being in this environment. The challenge
is that I continue to be the care-taker and forget about myself. I
work many hours, forget to eat and just keep going till I collapse.
In the concern to be "perfect" and do the "perfect job" and be the
"perfect spa director"( i love what Yiska quoted yesterday) I just
keep putting myself second. I don't think this is serving anyone.
My intention for this workbook is to remind myself of what feeds me.
Both from a physical level with food, but also creating more
opportunities for "snacks". I know the things that feed me and
continue not to give them to myself. I want to explore this and
practice accepting myself right where I am right now.
I have started to journal and explore somethings already during the
first week. I have loved bringing more awareness to the areas that I
am not paying attention to and look forward to observing more.
Thank you Yiska and Sarah for creating this workbook. I am so inspired
by your committment to making this happen. There is a true need for
this and I am excited to experience it and share it with others.

[Sarah & Yiska]

Lauren!!!!!

Yay you! For re-engaging, re-witnessing yourself and re-committing to the ever ongoing process of transforming excuses into opportunities. Turning, "not enough time" into deliberately designing how you want to spend it and the possibility of taking being focused, deliberate, intentional and self-loving to a whole new level. I so want you to feel fabulous in your body and be as committed to yourself as you are to the people and world you inhabit.  It is so largely about making a decision and inviting the support to help you fulfill on that choice. Thank you for being with us. We all can use the reminders of the workbook, and it's a perfect way to return to taking care of you.

MMwwaaahhh!!!

I'm so happy to hear how things have filled out for you down there. I love you!!! Keep joining us here. It feels like a nice way too in our busy realities to stay connected.

My love,

Yiska

--
Yiska Obadia, L.Ac. & Sarah O'Leary, L.Ac.
co-authors, Transformative Nutrition
www.redefiningdiet.com