After a whirlwind of a year in 2020, many of us are looking for a positive and fresh start to the year - and a great way to do this is by making your home a place of zen. It’s likely that we’ll be spending plenty of time at home still, whether it’s because of remote working, virtual schooling, or you’ve just gained a new-found love for your home. So, it’s more important than ever to make your home a place of zen.
While I was hospitalized in Paris by myself, I started thinking about what I was doing to myself, who I wanted to be and how I wanted to show up in the world. I knew I wanted to be someone who inspired people, who showed people another way, who changed the quality of peoples’ lives. I knew I was into fitness. I worked out 2-3x a day for modeling at the time, so I started there. I started researching physiology and exercising. Then I started studying to be a personal trainer through the NASM certification program.
Diets do not work because they don’t teach you how to listen to your body. Even the best diets don’t work. Over 65% of people who go on diets gain the weight back within a year later. They are good for the temporary win only. So yes, you may lose the weight at first but it will come back. They go against intuitively connecting with your body and learning what works best for you. The key to sustainable healthy weight-loss is changing your lifestyle habits.
Whoooo said fitness couldn’t be fun? It’s just about finding a workout that you love. So switch shit up. Try a workout you’ve never tried before. Working out does not have to be boring… or stagnant. Adding some excitement to your exercise regimen will more likely keep you motivated to staying consistent with it. Change your perception of fitness from chore to chance. A chance to get one step closer to your body goals. And it won’t feel like a chore anymore.
Having a morning routine that mentally, physically and spiritually fulfills you is one of the best things you can do for yourself. When you make more time for yourself you have more control over creating the life you deserve. Changing my morning routine changed my life. Studies prove that when you start your day off immediately looking at your phone it increases stress and leaves you feeling overwhelmed. This is why having a self-care morning routine is so powerful.
Social media anxiety is real. It has this interesting way of making us feel like we need to strive for perfection. Things will trend, things will fall off, then something else will trend, and something else will fall off. It’s a vicious cycle. And this cycles affects me because I tend to get discouraged when it comes to posting for this very reason. Talk about applying pressure. Solution: Focusing on my purpose and how I can actually help people inspires me to stay motivated to post.
Primary Food is the nourishment we get outside of our plates. It’s the “food” that really feeds your soul. It’s having a self-care routine, having a fulfilling career, having nutritious relationships. It’s how we feed our mind, body, soul. Our lifestyle is our primary food and actual meals are our secondary food. The more primary food we receive the less we depend on secondary foods to fulfill our needs. And vice versa, the more we depend on secondary food the less we receive primary food.
Cartagena, Colombia was truly magical. This was my first time ever traveling with a group of friends (I’m always traveling solo) and I couldn’t have asked for better company. It was 5 of us: Mell, Kim, Manda, Cymone and myself. I highly suggest traveling with a group of solid, reliable, genuine friends. They made the trip and my birthday was divine and special and til this day I’m so grateful to have meaningful friends. Being surrounded by love and light was all I could ask for bringing in my new year.
Last Saturday, Afropunk has Brooklyn on tilt. As always it was unapologetically Black and unapologetically lit and I wish I could relive the moment all over again. There was so much to see, so much to do, so much to eat. Every year I look forward to it because I know I’m going to be around power, around love, around soul. There is so much diversity in Black people and the magic was magic everywhere. Black girl magic, black boy magic, non-binary, queer magic, all types of beautiful infectious energy going around.
Beyoncé has once again left me in awe. We all know the September VOGUE issue is the most important issue so her landing the cover was major in itself. In this September's VOGUE issue Beyoncé gave us the tea, the milk and the honey. She opens us about her pregnancy, her trials, her tribulations, her growing pains, her growing beauty all through the act of self-love, patience, and gratitude. I am such a huge stan for her and after reading the article I felt a lot more closer to her. She inspired me to be more patient with myself, more forgiving and most importantly… more loving.
My spirit animal has always been a phoenix. The irony, right? Transforming my outlook on the fire was allowing my phoenix to rise from the ashes. I changed my thinking, I changed my life. My life really didn’t stop. Maybe it just began. I had to start looking at the good in this super tragic situation. The good is having my family, having my life, having my friends, having my man. The good is having each other. The good is we have more love, more unity, more strength. The good looks like rebuilding and rebuilding is refreshing.
The inside work is necessary and we have the power to focus on it. The wave is already water just like what I’m looking for is already in me. You Start Here by Thich Nhat Hanh has truly challenged me to do the work from the inside out. To be more forgiving to my past self, to live with more intention with my present self, and to be more compassionate to my future self.
You must send out a high vibrational frequency to attract high frequency shit.Focus on your positive feelings that come love, gratitude, happiness, optimism, friends, family and you’ll start vibrating higher. This is real life magic shit.
Anytime we crave a certain food it is because something else is missing in our lives. When we think about the foods that we are craving, we need to also ask ourselves, what do we desire, what would make us feel most passionate? Most alive? The answers are usually right in our cravings. We all just want to feel fulfilled, valued, joyful. We want to feel radiant, alive, and golden.
Beyoncé was not built in a day. And neither are you. This is the time of year where we do a lot of reflecting. We’re figuring out what we learned this year, what wish we could have done, the highs/lows of 2017. We think about what we want to change and how we can apply our lessons to the new year. I wanna start off by saying, cut yourself some slack and enjoy the beauty of becoming.
Seasonal Affective Disorder SAD is a very real thing. SAD is recurring -- causing depressive mood swings during the fall/winter seasons and happier during the hotter seasons like spring/summer. You’re more than likely suffering from SAD if your energy feels drained, you’re sleeping in more than usual, losing interest in activities, increased appetite and difficulty concentrating. SAD is a very real biochemical imbalance where we experience a dip in serotonin which is the neurotransmitter responsible for mood, sleep, appetite, memory and sexual instinct.
Greeting gods,
Seldom do I find Halloween costumes with Black people as the models on the cover. As a Black woman, it’s really hard to find our favorite costumes and when we do we have to modify it to be Black. One year I was Jessica Rabbit but I had to be the ‘Black’ Jessica Rabbit. Very, very whack. White is not the standard so I’ve decided to come up with a list of 100+ Halloween costume ideas for Black women. Ranging from cartoon characters to old R&B groups to Queens, every Black woman (whether your hair is natural, relaxed, in box braids, or in bantu knots) will be able to find a costume that resonates with them from this list.
Welcome FALL. It’s pumpkin season! The weather is changing and so are our bodies - putting our immune systems at a greater risk for disease. This temperature shift invites viruses such as rhinovirus and coronavirus (two very important agents of the common cold) to grow inside of us during the Fall and Spring months. Not to mention, inflammation grows in the darker, colder months and this is what makes us sick.
Spinach is so goddamn sexy! Not to mention, it is essential to our lives. It is super low in calories yet at the same time has a ton of vitamins, phytonutrients and minerals - making it the perfect super green for losing weight, gaining muscle and maintaining good health.
Take. Your. Time. Back. I am sooooooooo tired of working for 7-8 hours throughout the week for ANOTHER person/company to come home too damn tired to give that same energy and time to myself. It is draining. It is unhealthy. And it is unfair. It forces me to look forward to the weekend, hoping time goes by fast to get some time to myself which is toxic and never good. Time is so precious. Why are we looking forward to rushing time to make time for ourselves to do the very things that make us happy? Not okay!
April 23rd, 2017 marked the one year anniversary of Lemonade. I attended a phenomenal art exhibition in honor of Beyoncé, The Beyoncé Giselle Exhibit. But it was much more than an exhibit. It was truly an experience. Just imagine going to a Beyoncé concert, with a ton of beautiful artwork - very Bey-Lemonade inspired, Popeyes chicken (now we know that’s Bey’s favoriteeee), a photobooth, Beyoncé inspired clothing from Brooklyn's very own, KITE NYC.
I went on a trip to Cuba by my lonesome for my birthday, April 2nd. Yesss, I am an Aries baby! Cuba definitely had its ups and downs but I must say that this trip challenged me in ways I could have never imagined. I do not speak Spanish fluently but this trip has inspired otherwise. I would not recommend going to Cuba alone AND not being able to speak and understand Spanish. I've traveled alone several times. I've been to London, Paris, Costa Rica, and Mexico all alone. English is usually the second language in these countries and much easier to get around. But there are very, very little English speakers in Cuba so it was really tough for me to communicate and understand my way around. This gave me the opportunity to explore, to get lost, and to discover a few things about both Cuba and myself.
In celebration of Women's History Month I've decided to come up with a series of Inspiring Women doing their damn thing. This week's Womencouragement is all about Holistic Health. My Top 20 list is a list of holistic influencers that I personally follow that inspire me every single time I get on Instagram. Instagram has the tendency to infiltrate our minds with fantasies and dream lives having us feel a little insecure about our very own lives. These Instagram accounts do quite the opposite for me. They motivate me to be great, to be challenged, to love myself.. and my life. They encourage me to just be kind to myself and my journey. They get me excited for my own personal goals toward holistic health coaching, nutrition, exercising, traveling and just outright being holistically amazing...
What better way to quench your thirst with a smoothie to help elevate your workout before it even begins. This Thursday, I will be discussing pre-workout smoothies and how to maximize your workout. For you to maximize your workout you need to know what is actually happening to your body during exercise. When we work out we are stressing our muscles out. We are essentially breaking them down to build them back up through sleep and other recovery processes. They heal and grow bigger, better and faster. In order for this process to operate we must be effectively fueling our muscles.
My best friend Melly and I were in no mood to get on the treadmill or stairmaster for our cardio session at the gym. We decided to come up with a dance workout routine instead! In just under an hour we created this routine to one of our favorite, favorite tunes. Anytime we hear Your Number - Ayo Jay at a party our waistlines go crazy so it was only right that we came up with a workout routine to it.
LIT Bklyn Candles are 100% Natural Soy Wax and scented with the finest fragrance oils. It is a Brooklyn-based Candle Company. A friend of mine, Denequa, is the founder of LIT Bklyn. I must say that I am just so proud of this woman. From the very first day that I met her in an Africana Studies class at the University at Albany she has been an incredible person to know. Her energy alone will have you feeling UNstoppable. She is inspiring, motivating, uplifting, and hilarious! Denequa is extremely beautiful on the inside AND out and it's so amazing to witness her creating her own business and motivating others all in the process. Denequa launched LIT Bklyn Candles December 2015 and it's been lit ever since.
I threw an AMAZING going away party. I had a ton of jello shots, some jungle juice, a DJ that turned the entire party UP (Mr.Ferron), and a photobooth!! Looking back at these pictures, my heart is filled with warm, loving, and giving energy. I tend to use the word grateful a lot but I truly am overwhelmed with gratitude. I'm so thankful that I was able to see my friends from kindergarten, junior high school, middle school, HIGH school (Acorn Community High School), college, and new friends along the way. Everyone I loved came out and I really, really appreciate it. I am going to miss everybody and the memories that we made will forever be in my mind, heart, and soul. I means that.
Like anything in life, balance is key. When it comes to your body’s pH levels, it’s the key to life! pH is how we measure how much alkaline or acid a food contains. An abundance of acidic foods creates an environment for yeast and fungus. When we eat acidic foods we make it much harder for the body to store important vitamins and minerals so it gives the body no choice but to pull these vital nutrients from other parts of the body such as our teeth, bones, and organs.
Our bodies love a good balanced amount of omega 3, 6, and 9s. The best ratio is 2-1-1. If this all sounds like mumbo jumbo to you, Forest Remedies makes this a lot easier! They have plant-based supplements with the right combination of all three omegas. This is exactly what our bodies need.
My top two must have omega supplements from Forest Remedies are the Ahiflower Oil Multi-Omega and the Elderberry Immune Multi-Omega.