How I Stay Balanced With thinkThin® / City Yoga Chicago

This post is a sponsored conversation for thinkThin®. All opinions are my own. 

Photo Credit: Instagram/WomensForum

Yoga has been an important part of my life for over 10 years now. It keeps me grounded, focused and calm. It is an important part of my balanced lifestyle and is an integral part of my mind, body and spirit routine.

My goal is to live each day with intention. I am mindful about the foods I eat, getting enough exercise and keeping a positive mindset. I have a very active lifestyle.  I teach multiple corporate yoga classes weekly, am training for a half marathon, am a Girl Scout Leader and volunteer with cancer patients: all while being a single mom of three. With this schedule, it’s important to me to focus on championing weight wellness by eating things that nourish my body and keep me full.

Beautiful moves!

I recently attended a Sunrise Yoga Event in Chicago taught by Andrea Metcalf. It was such a wonderful way to start my morning while being surrounded by amazing, beautiful and empowered women! Nutrition and wellness are important to me and thinkThin® provided us with breakfast for the event. The thinkThin® bars are high in protein, low in sugar and great for women who care about quality like I do. We even got to try the thinkThin Oatmeal®, which is high in fiber and protein, non-GMO and only 200 calories per serving. Their products are great for my active lifestyle as I can throw one in my bag and go on about my day .

Yoga centers us and brings us back to the present. By starting my day and week at the Sunrise Yoga Event hosted by thinkThin® and Womensforum.com, I was given a jumpstart on a positive and productive week. With each sun salutation, through my breath I became centered and grounded in purpose. Each asana was not just a pose but a metaphor for where I was in my life at that point, and through each one I exhaled and let go of what no longer served me. Each of us is unique and amazing, and when we quiet the mind and reconnect with ourselves, we are able to live our life at its fullest.

Start each day with a positive mind, open heart and thinkPositive!

Andrea Metcalf, myself, and fellow Chicago blogger Jasmine!

A yogi makes the front page of The Chicago Tribune

I woke up with the strongest desire to be at the beach . To plant my feet on the earth and feel the sun on my face . I made a detour before teaching my class so that I could spend some time at the lakefront , reflecting and sneaking in a short yoga practice .  I knew it wouldn't be the easiest to achieve as I would have my two youngest children with me, yet I also knew that they would enjoy playing at the beach . 

They played in the water and in the sand while I sat in solitude and did a short yoga practice . And slowly I began to feel at ease , reconnected to the divine . The water brings me peace , calms me in a way that nothing else can . It's these moments that make me appreciate living  just  blocks away from Lake Michigan .

A gentleman approached and asked if he could photograph the kids and I for an article he was working on and said to just keep doing what we were and to ignore him . As I once again got lost in my practice and my children played , he snapped away and captured my soul .much to my surprise  I woke up the next day to see ME on the front page of the Chicago Tribune . 

Humble , grateful and thankful . 

-A

I love LOVE

I love LOVE, to love others, to be loved. It's a beautiful, mystical, empowering thing. LOVE gives us confidence, character and puts a smile on our face. It gives us Hope. It gives us Strength. Love Heals.

A year ago I came across an article written by an amazing and beautiful soul named Bryonie . Her words resonated with me so deeply, on a soul-ular level that it's as if I had written them myself.  Every word comes from a open and vulnerable heart and THAT is pure beauty.

With my 45th Birthday Approaching, her piece on How to Love a Leo is perfect.

 I AM imperfectly perfect and am grounded in this beautiful truth.  I continue to to grow and evolve daily, as each moment contains a beautiful lesson.  I do not apologize for who I am nor choose to change as I am living authentically . In this beautiful space, my heart is alive.

It is through heart ache, that we know what it means to Love.
and in this, my Heart Roars.

 In love and Deep Gratitude.
-A

(a little snippet from the post is below, please click on one of the links  to read the full post )

"She is stubborn—but she is kind and her compassion reaches to the far corners of the earth. In her heart, she holds it all; the joy and the sorrow, the laughter and the tears. As much as she wants you to wrap your arms around her and be held, she also needs long moments to hold herself, for a Leo feels so deeply at times she wonders if it is a blessing or a curse.

So to love a Leo, you must first love yourself; let the space in your togetherness be like the sea and in her rhythm, you will learn the meaning of a heart roar."

Read the rest Here