May 2014 Newsletter

San Francisco Jazz Dance Company – 30 years later!

I had the incredible opportunity to perform with the San Francisco Jazz Dance Company 30 years later! I was a company member from ’83-’85 right out of college. I got a call just before Christmas asking if I would like to learn the choreography by video and have us all come together on May 3rd. The event exceeded my expectations and was truly a dancer’s dream come true! There are not many opportunities in life when you have the chance for a ‘do over.’ I could return to dance this time in a much healthier place – physically and emotionally. We came together to celebrate one of the director’s 60th birthday and I had not seen many of my dance friends for 25+ years! But as one of the dancers summed it up at the end of the performance. “This was an experience that will remain in our hearts for the rest of our lives.”

Do you have a dream you’ve been hanging on to? Go out there and find the people to help you make that dream come true! I guarantee you they will be happy to help! Who doesn’t want to see dreams come true?

A life Well Lived

Anita Franklin

Anita Franklin, a long time client and friend, lost her courageous battle with cancer on April 30th. Anita was a model for my book and made numerous TV appearances and interviews supporting my work. She lived life fiercely and gave selflessly to her family and community. Her Going Home Celebration was held on May 7th at the Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn. Three points come to mind when I think of Anita.

1 – Family and community first. It is important to establish strong relationships around you to cheer you on in the good times and stand strong for you when times are tough.

2 – Be rock solid in your faith – whatever that means to you in your world. It will help lift you up, keep you steady or remind you why you are here on this earth.

3 – Serve selflessly. Life is a temporary assignment. Get out there and live your life fully with an open heart.

A life well lived my friend. Brave and proud. God bless you Anita. You will be deeply missed.

Health At Every Size® Principles

Movement for All

The HAES® approach does not mean giving up on a life of wellness. What it does do is help create possibilities in your life by removing the weight stigma and weight discrimination. No one should ever be discriminated against when it comes to body shape and size.

1. Weight Inclusivity: Accept and respect the inherent diversity of body shapes and sizes and reject the idealizing or pathologizing of specific weights.

2. Health Enhancement: Support health policies that improve and equalize access to information and services, and personal practices that improve human well-being, including attention to individual physical, economic, social, spiritual, emotional, and other needs.

3. Respectful Care: Acknowledge our biases, and work to end weight discrimination, weight stigma, and weight bias. Provide information and services from an understanding that socio-economic status, race, gender, sexual orientation, age, and other identities impact weight stigma, and support environments that address these inequities.

4. Eating for Well-being: Promote flexible, individualized eating based on hunger, satiety, nutritional needs, and pleasure, rather than any externally regulated eating plan focused on weight control.

5. Life-Enhancing Movement: Support physical activities that allow people of all sizes, abilities, and interests to engage in enjoyable movement, to the degree that they choose.

Moving Forward

San Francisco Jazz Dance Company, 1984

It wouldn’t be right to acknowledge moving forward without a nod of gratitude to our past. Our experiences have shaped the life we lead today. But you don’t need to stay stuck in the past, crawling through your days, dragging the heavy baggage. We rarely get a chance for a ‘do over’ but there are moments when a self adjustment, self correction, or self awareness in our behavior can shift our life’s journey. Life is a temporary assignment and each of us is here on this earth to do our very best to serve a life well lived. Despite my bitter past of bulimia, personal and professional chaos, and clearing my life of habits that continually took me off course, I still have to stop and give thanks for the path I have lived thus far. So with a helping of gratitude, I invite you to see all that IS working in your life, all that has transpired, and all that you have yet to become and share in your lifetime.

With my sincere thanks to you – my community – for all you have taught me. And with a thanks to my chaotic past, the opportunity for a do over with the dance company, and gratitude for understanding why I do the work I do today – empowering women through movement.

Don’t let another day pass by. Reach out to your community. We are here for you – steady, strong and lovingly ready to support you.

Yours in health,