Archive for the ‘Mini Retreats’ Category

The reason they always mention in the airplane safety procedure that you have to put on your own oxygen mask first and then help your kids, is that this simple survival skill doesn’t necessarily come “natural”.

My friend Gwen shared with me that she recognizes in retrospect how very hard she was on herself through her working and child raising years. When she reached retirement, her immune system collapsed and she is still recovering. Relaxation and stress reduction are a huge part of the healing process. She wishes she had known about the importance of relaxation when she was in the midst of her career and child raising years and hopes that at least many mothers will learn from her story and integrate relaxation in their lives before stress takes a toll on their health.

The six-month old son of a dear friend was recently diagnosed with a tumor in his brain that needs to be treated. It is inspiring to see my friend’s optimistic outlook and witness her moving forward graciously. She says that her son reminds her to relax and enjoy the moment. Here are a few moments of joy she shared:

• a laughing fit when he first heard the word book,
• the joyful discovery of making sniffing sounds,
• his delight in feeling the first raindrops on his face.

Your Kids Are Teachers of Mini-Retreats
My friend Katherine shared with me that when she does all the household chores while spending time with her 15 month old daughter, she usually listens to the radio. “My daughter is usually content playing on her own for a while. One day, when I glanced at her, I saw her grooving to the rhythm of the music. What a great reminder for me to relax and enjoy the music in the midst of it all. I can get so focused on the task at hand that I don’t even hear the music. My daughter helps me come back to the present moment. It’s a gift!”

Mini-Retreats Inspired by Your Child
Take a moment to observe your child. Notice what your child is doing, learning or noticing. Participate in your child’s new discoveries or actions. Within seconds you will feel more relaxed and present.

My accountant, Diane, a mother of four, loves to treat herself with a soothing bath at the end of the day. Relaxing in her bath tub with candles and completely letting go is her favourite way to relax. Since I gifted her with The Mini-Retreat Solution her repertoire of relaxation techniques has vastly expanded. She now finds ways to take a mini-vacation in her mind several times throughout the day, even in the midst of tax season.

My designer Kirsten tells me, “My saving grace with my first child was to get out hiking with other mums. The babies usually just fell asleep and so we could have uninterrupted conversation, great exercise and fresh air. The forest and mountains are so good for the soul! We chose a specific day and time to start so that it was a scheduled part of our week. Rain or shine (or even snow) we went. If the weather was good, we’d bring a picnic lunch. If it was nasty, we did a potluck lunch at someone’s house to warm up, refuel and have some visiting time with the babies.”

Join us for an Evening of Mini-Retreats on the phone from the comfort of your home and learn how to:

• Improve your health, performance & happiness in minutes a day
• Relax and refresh, no matter where you are
• Create a supportive environment for a relaxed and happy way of life

Where: in the comfort of your home or office on the phone (dial in directions will be e-mailed to you)

When: Tuesday, May 18, 2010, 7pm-8pm PST

Your investment: $9.95 only

Sign up NOW!

Nuggets participants took away from previous classes:

• Mini-Retreats are like a miniature toolbox, always with me for maintenance purposes
• clarity that there is always enough time to relax - in fact time will expand, if I relax for a moment
• knowing that I will make better decisions, when I take a moment to relax 

Call 604-484-0389 for more information and registration via phone.

Phil Bolsta,  author of Sixty Seconds and the blog Triumph of the Spirit interviewed me yesterday. Enjoy listening to our lively conversation about Mini-Retreats and how I got inspired to write the book. Check out the rest of his blog, too.

Just minutes ago I received an e-mail announcing the winners of this years  Living Now Book Awards. 

The Mini-Retreat Solution has received the GOLD medal in the categorie of Meditation/Relaxation!

“The Living Now Book Awards are designed to bring increased recognition to the year’s very best lifestyle books and their creators.” explains Awards Director, Jim Barnes from Living Now Book Awards. 

I am so proud and happy to receive this recognition! My biggest vision is that people learn how to relax and refresh in the midst of it all, no matter how busy their lives. Being recognized through this award brings me one step closer to realizing this vision.

I will be celebrating this weekend by taking a weekend Mini-Retreat to Vancouver Island!

Every time we connect in community to share the power of Mini-Retreats we come away energized and optimistic! Last night’s call was no exception! Thank you so much Krista, Nancy and William for joining the call and for your active participation.  YEAH for Eastern Canada!

The key learnings: Mini-Retreats help us shift quickly into a positive space where we can find pro-active approaches and bring an optimistic attitude to the task at hand.

Some of the favourite Mini-Retreats shared during the call were:

• Walking out the front door to soak up the sun
• Deep breathing
• Stretching

Final remarks:

• remember to smile, it’s so simple and has such a profound impact
• Mini-Retreats are a miniature toolbox that’s always with you and wants to be used for maintenance purposes

Please join us for the next Mini-Retreat Tele-Class  on Tuesday, May 18 at 7pm, PST

This is your chance to connect in community and learn how to integrate Mini-Retreats into your daily life.

Exciting times!

The Mini-Retreat Solution has made it into the finals of the

Living Now Book Awards.

My brain-child is in the finals!

I am so proud and can’t wait to hear the final results on April 22. 

Please join me in celebrating today!

Thank you so much for joining us last night at Juliet’s Room for the Mini-Retreat Workshop!

We all enjoyed a relaxing hand massage with Juliet’s lushious body butter, one of the highlights of the evening. The room was filled with the soothing scent of lavendar and vanilla as we were all giving our hands some extra care.  Karen, one of the participants, mentioned that she always has lotion in her car. When she is stuck in slow moving, rush hour traffic, she enjoys a relaxing hand massage, one of her favourite ways to relax.  Marie added that she enjoys her hand massage during long conference calls in the office.  It is empowering and inspiring to learn from each other.  It affirms that you truly can relax anytime and anywhere!

Some of the nuggets participants took away from the evening of Mini-Retreats were:

• relief that I don’t have to spend much time to relax deeply
• a sense of peace, knowing that I can easily go to a place of rest and relaxation in my mind
• clarity that there is always enough time to relax - in fact time will expand, if I do
• knowing that I will make better decisions, when I take a moment to relax 

Your contributions to the Big Sisters fundraiser added up to $115 from yesterday’s event. The fundraising thermometer is now up to $197! I have decided to continue raising funds for Big Sisters throughout the year.  My goal is to raise $1000! Until March 31st 20% of the book sales will be given to Big Sisters and as of April 1st right up until the end of  the year 5% of every book sale will go to this important cause of providing mentorship to young girls in our community. Please help me make this contribution and give yourself and your friends the gift of Mini-Retreats!

For the many people who couldn’t be there last night, please join me for the upcoming tele-class on April 14th at 6pm (PST), where you can enjoy learning about Mini-Retreats and connecting in community right from the comfort of your home or office.

Join me for an hour of Mini-Retreats on the phone and learn how to:
•Improve your health, performance & happiness in minutes a day
•Completely relax and refresh in minutes, no matter where you are
•Create a supportive environment for a more relaxed way of life

When: Wednesday, April 14, 2010, 6pm-7pm (PST)

Where: in the comfort of your home or office (once you register you will receive the conference line and further instructions for the call)
Your investment: $9.95 

I attended my first sledge hockey game during the Para-Olympic Games. It was truly inspiring to watch the athletes compete at the highest level of their discipline inspite of their physical limitations.

It reminded me how lucky I am to be in good health with all my limbs fully functioning. What a gift!  It is so easy to take that for granted. And yet our health is one of the most precious and also one of the most fragile gifts. 

In the west we have become used to consulting doctors in case of an illness. However older healing traditions, such as chinese medicine, place much more emphasis on preventing illness and maintaining health. People  see their family doctors regularly throughout life to maintain a healthy body and mind.

If we don’t pay attention, we can ignore our health, right up to the point of breakdown. When someone is diagnosed with a serious illness, the condition often comes as a complete surprise. However, long before a health crisis erupts, there are warning signs that we’re out of balance. When we pay attention to these, we can take preventive action to avoid major health problems.

Take the quiz online to gauge the level of stress in your life and how you tend to cope.

Mini-Retreats are an enjoyable and rewarding way to counteract the stress of a busy life – before it impacts your health and sense of well-being. Give it a try and check out the Mini-Retreats in the sneak-preview.

 ”A man too busy to take care of his health is like a mechanic too busy to take care of his tools.” -  Spanish proverb

Until March 31st, I am contributing 20% of the sales of my book, The Mini-Retreat Solution to Big Sisters of BC Lower Mainland to create positive change in our community by helping to raise the self-esteem and confidence of young girls through mentorship. In addition, I will donate 100% of the ticket sales for the upcoming Mini-Retreat workshop on March 25 to Big Sisters.

Of course my desire to give back in this specific way, is founded on my own life experience. Mentors have played an important role in my life from a very early age on. The relationships with these ”big sisters” and a few ”big brothers” have helped shape my own core values and attitude towards life by offering perspectives different from the ones passed on by my family of origin. None of these mentors was officially assigned to me and I think most of them stepped into my life not knowing how much their support, feedback and sharing meant to me. They helped me see my gifts and build a foundation so that many years later I could begin to fully bring these gifts to the world.

Recently I had the opportunity to thank one of my mentors, my music teacher. When I was in high school, my music teacher supported me tremendously when I was going through a difficult time in my family. She even offered to let me stay with her young family for a few months when things became really difficult at home. During the time I stayed with her, we had many important conversations. One of those conversations actually transformed my life. She told me that when she was pregnant with her son, she sought counseling. My teacher said how much she appreciated the clarity she gained from counseling, and how important it was to resolve her own childhood story before she became a mother.

Hearing this from a woman whom I had such great respect for helped me take the difficult step to reach out for support, despite the fact that my mother viewed counseling as a sign of weakness. My music teacher’s story empowered and inspired me to begin my own healing journey. It taught me that getting support when you need it is a strength, and it has helped me to reach out whenever I’ve needed to.

I recently had the opportunity to talk with my teacher again after decades, and I shared with her the positive difference her story had on my life. I found out that she didn’t realize the impact she’d had.

Please help me create a ripple of positive change in our community. Purchase your own copy of The Mini-Retreat Solution and buy the book for your friends and family. The book has the potential to transform your life and the lives of your loved ones.

The Mini-Retreat Solution will teach you how to: 

• Improve your health, performance & happiness in minutes a day
• Completely relax and refresh in minutes, no matter where you are
• Create a supportive environment for a more relaxed way of life

Your contribution to Big Sisters has the potential to create a greater ripple than you may ever know. 

Until March 31st 20% of the sales of The Mini-Retreat Solution will be donated to Big Sisters of BC. Get your own copy today and help create a big ripple of positive change.

Register for the Mini-Retreat Workshop on Thursday, March 25th. Enjoy an evening of relaxation while contributing to Big Sisters of BC Lower Mainland. 100% of your ticket will go to Big Sisters of BC Lower Mainland.

Thank you for your contribution!

Warmly,

Julia