YOGA by Brittney

Being true to you, authentically you, the loudest you - is the greatest gift you can offer the world. I suppose since my pregnancy and delivery was magical even with eh hum,  hemorrhoids , and two tears, it’s only natural my post-birth plan would go awry... (I intentionally mention  hemorrhoids at this point in the post so you can stop reading now if you think it's TMI ;) God, grant me the serenity. I gave birth Thursday, May 23rd at 6:26pm. Within the hour, baby had a successful latch and our lactation consultants were pleased w/ the outlook for little man. We were released from the hospital Saturday afternoon. I’d visited w/ lactation each day, and everything looked good (Except my bleeding, cracked nipples and the toe curling, take-your-breath-away pain that accompanied feeding times). By Sunday afternoon at home, little guy was frustrated, unusually fussy, no longer latching and had very little urine output and no bowel movements. Then he spiked a fever o...

I'm not sure why I stopped blogging about my recovery. Maybe because I started believing that it's not a topic that should be shared openly, shamelessly. Heaven forbid someone not like me. The best thing we can ever do in this life is be true to who we are. This means all the things that make us uniquely individual - to include our flaws and sometimes the things we don't want the world to see. I just had the BEST weekend, and I spent so many moments overflowing with gratitude for my life. My Chinese roommate from the Arhanta Yoga Ashram in India was visiting the US for the first time, so I went up to NYC to see her. We ate yummy vegan food, went to yoga and walked around shopping for things I couldn't afford. I stayed the night with one of my best friends from High School. We laughed and talked in the way it feeds your soul. I soaked in the views from her apartment, we ate brunch on the water front, I went to a flea market in the city where I bought more heal...

1. It's a disease classified by The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.  The definition of disease is as follows: a disorder of structure or function in a human, animal, or plant, especially one that produces specific signs or symptoms or that affects a specific location* and is not simply a direct result of physical injury. *The location in this instance being the brain. 2. It can be considered an allergy.  Definitions of allergy : A) altered bodily reactivity (such as hypersensitivity) to an antigen in response to a first exposure. B) exaggerated or pathological immunological reaction to substances, situations, or physical states that are without comparable effect on the average individual. According to William D. Silkworth, M.D. a prominent physician who specialized in the treatment of alcoholism, the action of alcohol in alcoholics is the manifestation of an allergy; the phenomenon of craving that develops is limited to this class...

“When diet is wrong, medicine is of no use. When diet is correct, medicine is of no need.” ~Ancient Ayurvedic Proverb  Every 35 days, your skin replaces itself and your body makes new cells from the food you eat. What you eat literally becomes YOU. This is my why -- This is why Juice Plus is so important to me. I'm among the 75% of Americans who fall short of 5-13 servings of fruits and veggies a day - even when I try my best! Juice Plus bridges the gap between what I should be eating and what I actually eat; it's whole food based nutrition, including juice powder concentrates from 30 different fruits, vegetables and grains. Plus soil erosion has lead to nutrient depletion, so today's grocery store tomato isn't exactly the same as the tomato farmed for Juice Plus, but that's a whole other blog. Shred 10 was new for me, but as a part of the Juice Plus family, I saw the value. I didn't lose any weight, but I noticed an increase in my energy, especiall...

I haven't been too inspired to write lately, but the truth is, sometimes it's just about starting. I've felt like if I didn't have some profound message, it wouldn't be worth reading. But God speaks to me through people. How am I to know how what I say will affect others? I trust the words will find the hearts it's meant to... and I still stand by sharing My Truth and revealing What's Under My Yoga Pants , despite the Lemon I was dealt as a result. Now that I'm in a new area, I think it's important for those just meeting me to know my authentic self. I write a lot about my recovery from alcohol and addiction . I had a "burning bush" experience after working my twelve steps, and knew I was meant to leave my stressful, draining job, take a leap of faith, trust the universe and follow my heart, pursuing my passion. That's how YOGA by Brittney was birthed. I'll be 18 months sober on May 20th - One day shy of my first weddin...

When I was younger, I moved to LA for a short while, and to NYC as well. I also traveled frequently to Minnesota. I always loved to "get away." It was nothing for me to pick up and go, and it didn't seem I was close enough to anyone for it to impact me. After college the world travel and moving around continued into and all around DC. I found friends, but kept them at a distance. (Me in Paris, where I enjoyed too much champagne.)  In March of 2014, I found my way into the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous. I managed to string together my first 30 days of sobriety after a messy year of trying to escape myself. I'd come to the realization I had a problem - that once I started drinking, I couldn't stop or control my drinking.  Around the 40 day mark, I was to go on a trip to Vegas with the start-up I was working for. I decided to start drinking again, already having made the decision I would drink on the trip. It was immediately clear to me, I wasn't dr...

It took three days and five flights to get me to Khajuraho. If you ever get the opportunity to fly Quatar airways, or see the Doha airport - Do it! It's luxurious. I got really airsick, and thereby homesick, on my last three flights with Air India, and could hardly sleep, as I kept waking up with the shoulder pain I left with. Alas, there were six or seven others enroute to the Ashram that joined me from Delhi to our final destination, and I was comforted by them immediately. Adriana is Brazilian, but lives in Spain. She was to my right, and Laura from Holland was to my left. Laura had just seen a Shaman in Peru and after her cleansing experience, assured me my vomiting didn't bother her. Puppies greeted us in the parking lot as we waited for Laura's lost luggage; the little black one's paw had been run over :'(  We checked in to the Ashram, and I adjusted to the 13.5 hour time difference without a problem, sleeping through the first night. I got up ...