Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Model and Muse

http://www.briennemichelle.com/underwater

“The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious.
 It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science.” 

― Albert Einstein

I was lucky to model for Brienne Michelle, that is the profile picture on my Facebook, she posted this amazing quote today along with the stunning photo, it is underwater, and I am in awe of her artistry.   I love to be photographed, I love to be a canvas, transform, become the vision of the artist.  Some people sing, dance, draw, paint, and my creative outlet is being different versions of myself, not of my own creation, but becoming, in the moment what fits the energy of the work.

muse
  1. (in Greek and Roman mythology) each of nine goddesses, the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, who preside over the arts and sciences.

    • a woman, or a force personified as a woman, who is the source of inspiration for a creative artist.
      noun: muse; plural noun: muses
      synonyms:inspiration, creative influence, stimulus;
      formalafflatus
      "the poet's muse"

I love to be a muse, and I have been lucky to connect with many talented artists and photographers, who are looking to have fun, to create, and enjoy that I am a blank canvas that is open and following their vision and direction.

It makes me happy to write and think about this, since marriage and motherhood, this has been my creative outlet.  I used to act, runway model, dance, perform on stage, and I honestly do not miss it. What I miss and crave is dressing up, meeting creative people from all walks of life and connecting for a project.  I keep on finding photographers that are looking to promote or create, and are happy to have a willing participant.  I love stepping out of my wife and mother role for a photo shoot, and going from Yoga to Diva.

In my everyday life, it is so nice to wear no makeup, yoga pants, comfortable shoes, and be the example of just feel good and be you.  When I dress up however, I like to go all out, full face, fabulous outfit, and adding to the scenery, letting everyone enjoy the view.  Yes there is an exhibitionist inside of me, and I am blessed the my husband enjoys and supports his wife going all out and having fun.

What gets your creative juices flowing?
Coach Yulia

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Body-Mind-Success

BODY

Slowly but surely I am getting better than before baby body. The best part is that I really feel good, strong, full of energy, and now onto the last frontier, my belly. Before kids I was a performer, in amazing shape, but I never had a completely flat belly, just firm, and I was good with that.  After three babies in a row, I still have my strong core, and I don't sneeze and pee, but I just feel super stretched out.  In between the stretches there is fat that is trapped, and everything just needed a kick start.  I feel that it is healthy to once in a while go to a chiropractor, acupuncturist, massage, or any other body work that will reset your body differently than from your every day routine.  It is not a luxury, it is a necessity and a necessary investment in your own health.  If you don't invest now, you will invest later in hospital bills and medications.


Arasys has been that reset for me, www.arasysinchloss.com/yulia, it is the only system that targets the exact area that needs the focus on your body.  For me it was strengthening my abdominals and skin tightening, as well as cellulite reduction.  I also enjoyed it on my arms, glutes, inner and outer thighs, and back.  After my first ten sessions, I lost 5 pounds and 5 inches total, each baby gave me 10 pounds to keep, and that 30 pounds would not come off for three years, no matter what I did, I was stuck.  I just finished my second course of 10, and those are my results in the picture above, I cannot believe my skin is tightening along with the strengthening.  I lost one inch in my waist, 3 inches across my belly button, and two inches in my hips/love handles.

Once I lost that first five pounds, I decided to jump on board.  I am the Head Arasys Technician in Beverly Hills, the holidays are around the corner, get healthy and feeling good my friends!


MIND

In my opinion there are three things that determine how we deal with and go through life:

  • Genetics
  • Environment/Upbringing
  • Your unique soul and purpose in this world
We all come from such different circumstances, but some people overcome great obstacles, and others have everything, but just cannot get out of their head, literally out of their mind.  Mindfulness is a science and a study, and I found the following article from the Huffington Post by Ann Brenoff very powerful, maybe if we delve into who we really are, and form good relationships with our family, it may help to ease our mind, and live a full, healthy life full of purpose and being of service.


7 Questions To Ask Your Parents Before They Die
Much has been written about living wills and medical directives, yet there is a huge gap in our knowledge about other things that involve our parents and other elderly relatives -- knowledge that is important for us to have. Here are seven questions to ask them now.
1. Who are all these people in the old family photos?
There is no better time than the present to gather up all the print photos and make sure they are dated and everyone is identified. Once that's done, make digital copies of them. Paper doesn't last forever, nor do our memories of events. And wouldn't it be nice to know the last name of "Sam" and what he and Grandpa were laughing about in their old Army uniforms? Was that old black and white photo with "summer, 1950" written on the back taken by the lake in upstate New York where Great Aunt Sadie lived? That photo of Grandma pregnant: Was it with Mom or her sister?
 2. Where did we come from?
No, not the birds and bees talk! Many of our families immigrated to the countries we presently call home. But where were they before? Gather as many details as you can about your family history from your aging relatives while you can. Were they from the city of Kiev or a farm 100 km to the north? How did the family get to America and who sponsored them? Was Jones really your last name or was it changed at Ellis Island? Your chances of compiling an oral family history diminish daily.
 3. What family history has been edited?
Every family has a few skeletons in the closet -- the uncle who went to jail for being a cat burglar, the aunt who ran off and eloped when she was 15. When the events are new, they are often too raw for discussion. But 50 years after the fact, emotions mellow and the events still shaped your family's history. It's time to learn the missing details. We have a friend who recently learned that her uncle had been married previously and that she had two older cousins she'd never met. 
 4. What were the best of times?
We recently heard someone speak fondly of living through the Great Depression. It forced the family to be closer and appreciate what they had, she said. They shared with neighbors and people helped one another. "Not like it is today," she lamented. Ask your relatives for their specific memories of the good times, when the family was its strongest, its best. You might be surprised by the answers.
 5. And what were the worst?
The deaths lost to diseases for which there are now cures, the babies lost to miscarriages who today would have lived, the soldiers who didn't return home from war. Your family's losses are part of its history. Make sure you know the losses.
 6. What does your family street map look like?
Just because Dad has been a lifelong Cubs fan doesn't mean he actually ever lived in Chicago. Get specific street addresses, as best as your relatives can remember. One day you or your grandchildren might want to drive by the house he was born in. A 60-something friend last December knocked on the door of what had been her first married home 35 years ago. There had been at least three owners since she and her husband sold it. The current owner invited her in and showed her all the changes that had been made. The Christmas tree was in the same spot, she said.
7. Can you fill in the blanks on our ancestry tree?
The devil is in the details. One missing great-great aunt and you may have an entire branch of relatives you didn't know about. Press for specifics.

SUCCESS

I always say in Yoga class that we are tuning up our body, because when it feels good, we just go about our day, we do not think about it when it works right.  We are also there to clear the clutter from our mind that lives rent free in our brain.  Anxiety is thinking of the future, Depression is thinking of the past, so important to keep on focusing on the present, feeling grateful.  A friend posted this specifically about wealth and success, and I feel it relates to everything in life.


It is important to understand that financial independence has nothing to do with how much money you earn. It has everything to do with how you manage it when you get it. This directly correlates to how high it is on your hierarchy of values (what you perceive to be most valuable in your life). Look at the seven areas of life; social, physical, financial, vocational, family, spiritual and mental. Now put them in order of importance. If building wealth shows up low down on your list (e.g. number 7), it is unlikely you will build wealth. However, there is a simple exercise you can do to boost wealth on your rankings. Just link it to what you love.

  • Ronda Dixon Great solution. Money is love. Money is energy. Money is an expression of appreciation. The real value of money is what you attach to it. Linking it to what you love is a beautiful solution to dispelling the negative programming we have around money that keeps it away from us.


YES!
Coach Yulia


Monday, July 20, 2015

Drink Some Wine And Try To Sleep

I completely agree with this!  Without sleep I cannot function, and it definitely has been a challenge in the last 8 years with non stop babies.  Now they are all sleeping, and I am slowly but surely really finding myself again.  I used to nap all the time, would be on the go from the break of dawn until the wee hours of the night, and always find time to recharge with a nap.

(The definition of wee hours are the hours very late at night or very early in the morning. An example of wee hours are the hours between 1:00 AM and 4:00 AM.)

I recently was with a woman with a very long early labor.  Her doctor's advice, as well as my advice was to drink some wine and go to bed, because she is going to need her energy for active labor.  She was told to drink wine quite a few nights in a row!
  1. In a prodromal labor, the early phase of labor (cervix dilates from closed to approximately three-to-four centimeters) is prolonged with contractions that do not increase in intensity. Prodromal labor can tire you out and use up the energy you will need for active labor and delivery.
The following article talks about how important and essential sleep is, without it we literally cannot function.  The 24/7 lifestyle, sleep when you are dead makes no sense, sleep is part of a healthy body and mind.  Also if you know you are going out or are going to have an intense day, schedule your sleep in the next night to balance it. My husband and I value our sleep, and so do our kids, they know its when the body heals and it makes you feel so good.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/arianna-huffington-parade-cover_55a67725e4b0896514cfe731

This is an article about Arianna Huffington, and the link to the Parade article is in the story above. Sleep my friends, it is the best medicine you can give your body.

Coach Yulia


Sunday, July 19, 2015

Join Us!

This July marks the Lenny Krayzelburg Swim Academy's 10th Anniversary
 at the Westside JCC and we could not be more thankful for
a decade of love and support from our community. 
To show our appreciation, we are throwing a FREE epic Pool Party on Sunday July 19th at 2:30pm! All ages are welcome and parents are encouraged to swim. Expect food, fun and festivities!
The first 30 kids will receive a free Anniversary T-Shirt and an opportunity to participate in some fun swim contests. Don't forget your towels and bathing suits! 

- Free-swim with Lifeguards provided
- Fun swim contests
- Delicious BBQ food provided by "Lets Have a Cart Party!"
- Moonbounce
- Basketball Shoot Out
- Airbrush tattoos
- Professional photo booth
- Bubble Zone
- Sidewalk chalk art

What a wonderful weekend so far!  Friday night guests at our home for Shabbat, Saturday at synagogue with good friends, celebrations, and delicious food, and Sunday is funday!  Join us for some free swimming, check out all the info above, it feels like I am in Miami, FL.  Los Angeles is rarely hot and humid like today, and swimming sounds like the perfect activity for the kids.  I already taught an amazing Yoga class, brought a good friend, now just showed Arasys to clients, and getting kids in their bathing suits.  My husband is coming too because of the BBQ!

Excited,
Ready,
Family Day,
Cool in the Pool,
Coach Yulia

Saturday, July 18, 2015

Birthing From Within


This is a very popular birth book, and it fell into my hands a few weeks ago.  I recently finished reading HypnoBirthing, and even more so I feel that it is one tool that may work for some women, but definitely not an absolute or one way that would fit in every situation.

Birthing From Within by Pam England and Rob Horowitz begins by exploring your journey and incorporating art.  I love performance art, and listening to music and really appreciate artists, but drawing or painting is just not a form of self expression that works for me.  This past week was a beautiful whirlwind of the possibilities of a natural birth, I am in awe of how it it supposed to work if everybody just supports yet stays out of the way so the mother can find her own way to get through it.
I am getting to the second half of the book which powerfully demonstrates this point, and I want to share my favorites.

"I feel the most important thing the birthing woman does is to listen to her own body and find out what her body is telling her she needs to do.  And that neither the partner, nor the midwife, nor the doula, or whomever, should be giving orders, "Now do this' or 'Now do that' because that interferes with what she is really trying to get from her body." -Marsden Wagner, MD.

If you pick up this book, you have to read chapter 19, it is the most important chapter and it was almost not written because it is called Home Birth.  It is about how birth should be period, not about just home birth, but about choices, and how each woman today has amazing options to birth her way.

"In 1927, 85 percent of all births in the United States took place at home.  Even in the mid-1940's the majority of births still occurred at home (55 percent).  Incredibly, by 1973, 91 percent of babies were born in the hospital." - Anthony Reading, Psychological aspects of pregnancy (1976).

THE PHILOSOPHICAL ASSUMPTIONS OF HOME BIRTH PARENTS AND ATTENDANTS:
  • Because pregnancy and birth are natural physiological events, normal birth does not belong in hospitals.
  • The natural course of labor is already perfect, and should be interfered with as little as possible.
  • Pain is part of an essential and healthy feedback mechanism in labor, which women can learn to cope with, with proper encouragement and support.
  • Medical management of pregnancy and birth should be limited to those which are medically complicated.
  • Unnecessary medical interventions complicate normal labor, creating additional risk and the need for more intervention. (page 102).
Chapters 20, 21, 22, 23, and 24 really show you tools, techniques, and amazing stories and perspective on how to think about your own birth.

AMAZING!
Great relaxing Shabbat after a week of Doulaing,
Excited to be on call for the next beautiful soul,
High From The Miracles Of Life,
Coach Yulia

Friday, July 17, 2015

I Stand Corrected

All we can do is talk from our own education and experience, it is our outlook, our unique perspective, opinion, and view of the world.  I have had the most positive pregnancy, labor, and birth experiences myself, and also attending births as a Doula.

Here are a few Doula and Midwifery terms:

Watchful Waiting
Pain is Progress
Natural Birth means no drugs at all, no interventions, and vaginal

I was blessed to have a Doula by my side, and had relatively short, manageable labors which started out slow and only got super intense when it was time to give birth.  Everybody is different, and I am grateful for the medical side in case of emergency, suffering, or when intervention is necessary to help labor progress.

Pitocin is used to activate and maintain contractions, and my original stance was that once taken, it is not a natural labor anymore because it makes contractions super intense.  In a natural labor, contractions are gradual, so when taking pitocin I figured why suffer and just get an epidural.  Today I was proven wrong, I supported a strong, amazingly focused woman who after a very long labor was not progressing, and went the rest of the way with just a little pitocin, no epidural, and had a beautiful vaginal delivery.  I stand corrected, as everything else in life, each experience will be unique, there is not one way, there is no perfect way, there is just your way.

What helps is a doctor who is completely on the same page as you.  A Doula or some other support other than family which sometimes cannot be objective, wants to save you or help you, and may bring a different energy than you need in labor and delivery.  With a healthy mom and baby who have taken birth classes and have an idea of the birth they want, there is no need for intervention, the baby and body knows what to do.

Soooooooooooo ready for my Day of Rest,
Shabbat Shalom,
Coach Yulia

Today was pajama day at the school of my younger two, my husband sent me this picture while I was pulling an all nighter doing the work I love as a Doula, so blessed to have my husband's support, and love that he remembered it was pajama day

Thursday, July 16, 2015

Headspace

head·space
noun
  1. a person's state of mind or mindset.


I just realized today that this is my specialty.  My goal is that in everything I do, my clients find a zone, a focused space in which to operate.  It takes practice, and it is only attainable if one is a willing participant, the mind can easily run away from us.  Mind and body have to connect, breath is one of the factors, and also just acknowledging when thoughts come in, and tell them to come back later.  I always have the positive view, there is always something good to take from every situation.

YOGA

Tell everyone and everything in your life to come back in one hour, this is YOU time, it is not selfish it is self care.  You will have a more effective workout, a deeper stretch, and really feel like you stepped of the world for an hour.  Think of Nothing, Feel Everything.

MAT PILATES

The breath in is gentle, the breath out crunches your core from the inside.  Stay with your breath, pay attention to your breath, let the breath lead the way, never hold your breath, we cannot live without our breath, we cannot move without our breath.  Holding your core correctly and staying with your breath will work you deep inside, keep you in the right form and alignment because you are tuning into how to do it with your body, and prevents injury.  You should never feel your back in anything, stop immediately and activate your core. When we are standing the core is working, but it is not actively being worked out until we engage it.  Make all the power come from the center, your core.

PRENATAL YOGA

In all Yoga it is about finding your own body's way and especially in Prenatal Yoga it is about listening to where you need the stretch, being gentle and kind, not pushing or having any discomfort. Your baby is getting a nice hug and massage, and you are taking care of mama.

LABOR AND BIRTH DOULA 

After getting informed and having the support ready to go, it is time to surrender to the moment, and know everything is just as it should be, trusting your gut and what feels right completely.  You will know.

ARASYS INCH LOSS 

Inch Loss, Cellulite Reduction, Muscle Building, Skin Tightening, it is all possible, each setting is customized to the individual.  Arms, Legs, Glutes, Obliques, Abdominals, you can target your specific area, while relaxing, not compromising your form, and also letting toxins drain though the lymph system.  Sometimes our bodies need a kickstart, something between just working out and surgery, especially after having children, www.arasysinchloss.com/yulia.


We can choose our headspace,
It also helps to surround yourself with positive energy,
From Inside,
From Positive Waves and Results,
From Positive People,
Coach Yulia