Month: July 2014

I saw this quote by Danielle Laporte a few days ago and it simply stopped me in my tracks. The past few days have been all about getting CLEAR about what I want, saying good bye to apartments and habits that are no longer serving me and welcoming in new beginnings (and better apartments) that are inline with how I want to feel.

It all started on Saturday, the night of the new moon. I have never really followed moon cycles but it’s something that has been coming up a lot for me this year through my kundalini yoga practice and I’ve found it very interesting and compelling. So over the weekend I took at two-hour new moon healing circle kundalini yoga workshop. I had no idea what exactly that would entail but it sounded exciting enough to get me to the studio. Among other things, I learned at the workshop how important it is to set intentions for the year ahead in the new moon period, it’s still going on till the full moon on August 9th – so you can still get in on this! My teacher also said we could set specific intentions to manifest by the full moon  – woo hoo – you bet I set some killer things into manifestation.  This moon cycle is all about planting seeds to blossom over the next year. It’s a great time to start a job,  embark on a new relationship and move into a new apartment!!

In case you haven’t heard via instagram, I JUST moved into a new apartment on Monday and spent all of yesterday unpacking my life from boxes. I couldn’t have been happier to move during the new moon, although to say I planned it that way would be a total lie. I recently had one of my clients make a big move as well and we did some basic “new beginning” rituals, intention setting for the fresh start and a leaving behind of things that no longer serve her in the old home.  So I decided to do the same for myself and it’s been a really rewarding experience. This past Saturday night after yoga I had a girlfriend over and we stayed up late, meditated on the roof and journaled about what we we’re manifesting in the new moon. I also took sometime to write down something I was leaving behind for my fresh start and ready to give up for this next chapter.

A lot of people have manifesting or intention setting a little confused. It’s easy to get caught up in “manifesting a new car” or  “manifesting a large sum of money” but the key to manifesting is the FEELING. Yes, it’s totally fine to get specific about what exactly you want, get as clear as you want but then let it go, and focus on the feeling. What is the feeling you’ll get from the car or that money? Now, think about things you can do right NOW to start generating that feeling. That’s YOUR power. You want to attract something right now? Start FEELING like you already have it.

My core desired feeling right now is FREEDOM. Glorious, expansive, abundant FREEDOM in every single area of my life. I’m demanding freedom in my business, in my home, in my relationships and in my mind and body. I’m open to that showing up in whatever way the universe sees fit but just from getting clear about how I want to feel, I’ve had a couple ideas already come to me about how to infuse more freedom in to my life. See, this manifesting thing, it’s not always about someone you don’t know sending you a check for a thousand dollars, sometimes it’s about welcoming the divine inspiration to get into action about ideas that will help you bring them into your life.

Take some time today to write  a little about what you want to bring into your life. Think about how you want to feel, get really clear on what that life looks and feels like and then think about some things you can start doing right now that will make you feel that way right now. Make whatever those things are part of your daily ritual. It can be something as small as wearing a certain piece of jewelry that makes you feel abundant, disconnecting from the internet while you write because it makes you feel free, drinking a green juice every morning because it makes you feel energized, etc. Most importantly, KNOW that whatever you got clear on, that feeling you desire and the seeds you’ve planted, are on their way into your life.

SIT BACK, RELAX, YOU’VE GOT THIS.

I had the amazing experience of going to Wanderlust in Squaw Valley (Tahoe, CA) this past weekend and I can’t wait to share with you my favorite classes and my biggest breakthrough in this recap video! Be sure to subscribe to watch all the individual videos of my favorite classes as well as exclusive interviews from the weekend!

I am still so blissed out from all the wonderful yoga classes I was able to take over the weekend, still feeling great and so inspired to up my yoga practice even more. I’m so grateful to Tumeric ALIVE for collaborating with me to go out there and cover some of the fantastic classes they sponsored over the weekend but I do want to let you know that my opinion of their amazing tumeric elixir is truly MY OWN and was not influenced. This video was NOT paid for by Tumeric ALIVE, I’m just genuinely dorking out on how much I love the stuff! 😉

If you’re interested in finding out more about Tumeric, feel free to visit their website here.

I just got back from Wanderlust (in Tahoe, CA) and I’m missing it dearly as I edit my video diaries of it for you guys. Can’t wait to share all the gems I learned this past weekend with you – be sure to subscribe to GoSweetandSkinnyTV so you don’t miss a thing! The first video will drop tomorrow afternoon and I’m going to let you in on my biggest BREAKTHROUGH of Wanderlust! SO exciting!!

One thing that I am happy about now that I’m home is getting to make myself delicious smoothies again. There’s nothing quite like homemade food after a few days of living off festival food, albeit pretty damn healthy festival food at that but nonetheless, there is something comforting about my own blender. 🙂

Here’s the recipe for this EPIC green goodness smoothie bowl I whipped up for breakfast this morning. Enjoy!

Green GOODNESS Smoothie Bowl

1 cup of coconut- almond milk

5 leaves of Romaine Lettuce

1/2 of an avocado

1 cucumber (minus seeds and skin)

1 green apple

1 large tbsp of nut butter

Topped with: chia seeds, hemp hearts and unsweetened coconut flakes

green smoothie bowl

Whoever said that plane food was gross clearly never traveled with me. In all seriousness, despite some attempts (more in some airports than others) to make plane food more appetizing and slightly more health conscious, it’s still best to B.Y.O.P.F. – that’s right Bring Your Own Plane Food! I had a super early flight this morning to go out to Tahoe, CA for Wanderlust Squaw Mountain and I was not about to settle for some refined carb-loaded breakfast from Au Bon Pain for breakfast, so I packed my own. I’m writing this in the airport right now and I can already feel the envious stares as people watch me nosh on my fresh sweet cherries from the farmer’s market.

So here’s how I pack healthy plane food for a flight:

1. I think about what I’ll likely be in the mood for depending on the time of day I’m flying. This may seem obvious but the easiest way to thwart your good efforts is to bring healthy plane food you don’t actually want to eat. Trust me, I’ve done it, then you end up spending money on over-priced mediocre airport fare and you’re beautiful healthy plane food goes to waste. A sad story. So make something you’re excited about eating! In my case, I made my vanilla spice chia seed pudding topped with blueberries, brazil nuts, macadamia nuts, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds. I’m on a huge chia seed pudding for breakfast kick lately so not only was it easy to prepare last night but it was a great healthy plane food choice!

2. Bring sweet & savory SNACKS! This is one of those times where I highly recommend slightly overpacking. You want to cover your bases so that when you are a couple hours into the flight and they walk around giving out free potato chips, you have something even more appetizing and good for you on hand! Today I packed sweet cherries that I picked up yesterday from the farmer’s market to satisfy my sweet tooth and dry roasted edamame with wasabi as my savory. The cherries are perfect for pre-boarding when my appetite hasn’t quite kicked in yet but I feel tempted to nosh since everyone around me is eating breakfast as they wait for their flights. The edamame is packed with protein and little spicy so that in the final hours of my flight, after I’ve consumed my chia seed pudding, I have something to snack on to hold me over till I get lunch.

3. HYDRATE. Regardless of what you choose for your own personal healthy plane food, the number one traveling healthy tip I can give you is to always stay hydrated. Spend the five dollars or whatever crazy price they are charging for the water bottle at the gate or just be a pain in the bum to the flight attendants like me and ask them for water every time they pass by. I’m probably not someone you’d want to sit next to on a plane because between guzzling water and eating my delicious healthy plane, I get up to use the lavatories quite frequently. But hey, I arrive to my destination feeling great, looking good (cause my skin isn’t dehydrated and funky since I’ve properly hydrated and been eating good for me goodies!) and ready to take on my next adventure!

I’d love to hear from you: what’s your favorite HEALTHY PLANE FOOD options!? Comment below and let’s share ideas! xo!

            I had the wonderful opportunity to go to a very special event held by Live in the Grey called “Whiteboards + Wine” featuring special guest Fadia Kader, the fabulous woman behind those little reminders all over the city to “Protect Your Magic”. It was a gathering of all different kinds of magical, motivated minds who love to live in the grey [ Living in the Grey: Loving what you do and living what you love. Blending the professional with the playful. ] to discuss what exactly what our individual magic is and how we protect it.

         Upon arriving, I was greeted by my lovely friend and fellow The Taste/team ludo lady, Sarah Ashley,  and her magically delicious toasts! Enter gratuitous food porn because.. why not?

This deceptive little treat is actually vegan! The chocolate spread is made from cacao and avocado. Clearly, I ate more of these than I'd care to admit. ;)
This deceptive little treat is actually vegan! The chocolate spread is made from cacao and avocado. It tastes so deliciously decadent, you could never tell! Clearly, I ate more of these than I’d care to admit. 😉

 

Sarah's "Mexican street corn" on toast!
Sarah’s “Mexican street corn” on toast!

 

Peach and Marscapone Dessert Toast
Peach and Marscapone Dessert Toast

 

Okay enough of the food porn! Back to the MAGIC.

So the whole group of us, lead by Fadia, started discussing our individual magic. I loved hearing about what was going through everyone’s mind. We had different versions of our magic but they all really resonated. One man said his magic was discipline. That really spoke to me. He said that his magic came from his willpower, his ability to work hard every day for what he wanted. I kind of love that. I feel like that IS a lot of it. It’s MAGICAL to be able to get up everyday and hit the ground running, for anyone who’s ever launched a business or started a new diet plan, you can understand that magic. Sometimes our magic is our accountability to ourselves. What do you do when no one is looking? What do you do when no one is going to check up on you?

Another magic buzz word was AUTHENTICITY. Of course, this also sets my heart a flutter. How could you not agree? Your magic is in being that person that only YOU can be. Being your authentic self in every area of your life is magical. Ready to create some magic in your romantic relationships? Try adding a dose of authenticity. Want your business to blow up? Yup, you guessed it, be your authentic self. Trust me, people really dig that shit. It’s a blessing to be so connected to who you are and not let circumstances force you to be a less real version of yourself. Now, that’s some stuff worth protecting right there!

Protect your magic event with Living in the Grey

Well now that you have this magic, what do we do to protect it?

Someone offered,”Being selective with who you spend your time with and who you let in your life.”

Ah, yes. That quote about how you become most like the five people you spend the most time with. It’s increasingly hard to be around others who aren’t as tapped into their magic and not forget about your own. I think people forget that this process doesn’t have to judgmental. There are plenty of people I choose not to spend my time with yet don’t think anything negative about them. It’s a matter of making active choices to engage with people who energize you, fuel your fire and make you feel alive. Keep choosing those interactions and those relationships and you will naturally find the others falling to the side. I agree that this can be a tremendous part of protecting your magic. Ask yourself who in your life makes you feel energized, excited and expansive. Spend more time with them. When you find someone bringing you down or into their negativity, it’s okay to be a friend and help them out but be careful about letting it drag you down as well. Relationships with people who are constantly negative or unaligned with our highest good often need to be kept at a distance to protect our magic.

Along with that, respect people for where there at and find their magic, popped up in our discussion.  Not everyone may be the glittery, magical being you are, so it’s important to respect them for where they are on their path. I like to call this “looking for the gold” in people. Everyone has their gold or magic at all times, sometimes it’s just a little harder for us to see it because of what they’ve put over it. It’s a truly magical skill to be able to see the magic in someone who might not be able to see it in themselves but we have something to give. Making it your mission to see that nugget of gold in other people can be a really magical mission.

protect your magic white board

Confidence. Living in the moment. Purpose. Tools. So many beautiful thoughts floating around the room. I couldn’t help but change my mind about my magic. Hearing all these beautiful ideas made me realize that we all have A LOT of magic in us and that “making healthy food delicious”, which is what I initially wrote on the board when I entered, was just the very tip of the iceberg.

It became apparent to me that my magic is my mission. It’s what has me waking up everyday with a big smile on my face. It’s what gives me the energy to write a book, shoot a TV show, post on this blog and see all my clients every week. It fills my days with sunshine and sparkles. When I’m connected to my purpose, everything else can just fall into place. It’s the greatest gift I’ve ever been given. So how do I protect this magic of mine? Well, I mostly protect it in my morning  meditation ritual. I use my tools whether it be a kundalini meditation or just sitting and doing a visualization (like this one here for your inner rockstar). For me, it’s non-negotiable. When life hands me lemons, I can easily get thrown off track and lose my magic for a bit if I’m not practicing my protecting. Staying connected to my purpose, waking up everyday and being incredibly present to the work I’m here to do, the message I’m here to spread about health and happiness and all the people who I want to help, inspire and mentor to start living the life of their dreams, that’s my magic. And you best believe I’m going to protect it! 😉

What’s your magic?!

I’d love to hear in the comments below what your magic is and how you go about protecting it!

 

 

Watch me make this super delicious and very vegan chocolate avocado pudding on Shape Magazine’s website. It’s easy to whip up and tastes even better than regular chocolate pudding because the avocado adds such a rich, creaminess to it. Perfect for when that crazy chocolate craving hits and you want something that will really satisfy your sweet tooth with out making you feel guilty!

Vegan Chocolate Avocado Pudding

1 ripe avocado, peeled, pit removed

½ cup soy, hemp, or almond milk

4 tablespoons natural, non alkalized cocoa powder

6 dates, pitted

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Berries (to Garnish)

Vegan ( coconut milk)  Whipped Cream (to garnish)

Now just puree all the ingredients in a high-powered blender and spoon into small bowls or cups, add berries and a dollop of whipped coconut milk, if using, and serve.

  This salad was spur of the moment inspired when I got invited to a potluck picnic in Central Park! I wanted to  bring something hearty and satisfying while also being fun and summery. Whenever I get invited to a potluck anything, I always try to bring something I’d be happy eating as entire meal just in case there’s nothing else I can eat there. Luckily, that wasn’t too much of a concern for this picnic because I was with some other health savvy ladies but it’s become a habit of mine. Most of the ingredients in here are things I picked up from the local farmers market a couple days before. I decided to do a “cooked” salad because I’m pretty sensitive to raw vegetables (have a lot of trouble digesting them) so I try to switch it up when I can and incorporate lightly steamed or sautéed vegetables when I can.  This summer superfood salad is not only good for you, it’s delicious and despite it being light and summery will really satiate you and leave you feeling satisfied. Try it yourself and feel free to mix up the greens and berries with whatever is in season for you right now!

Summer Superfood Salad

1 cup cooked quinoa (I added a little basil + oregano while it was cooking)

2 cups of kale lightly sautéed in 1 tsp of macadamia nut oil (or coconut/olive)

3 baby spring onions diced and lightly sautéed with the kale

1/4 cup of finely chopped walnuts

3/4 cup  of fresh blueberries

3 whopping tbsps of hemp hearts

all seasoned with garlic, onion powder, and oregano.

I didn’t add any dressing to it because I honestly enjoy how the natural flavors compliment each other while still keeping it very light and airy. Great, easy-to-make dish to bring to your 4th of July BBQ or just your work for lunch on any given day! Hope you enjoy this summer superfood salad as much I do but feel free to post your own inspired variations of it in the comments section below!

            Today marked the first of 40 days I will be spending practicing this Kundalini meditation for self love. It was such a beautiful experience starting this journey and such a hurricane of events that lead me to it that I felt immediately compelled to share it with you once I finished my first day. This month I’ve been learning more than ever that everything comes back to our relationship with our self, self love is so paramount to our experience of every single day. Want to know why you’re not attracting the right guy or the right job or maybe even the right friends? It’s all a reflection of our self love and it doesn’t have to be a bad thing, it’s just a sign that there is more work to be done! Too often we associate lack of self love with people who have no self esteem or confidence, and that can be true but it’s not exclusively them. More of us than not suffer from some sort of self love deficiency at some point in our lives. For me, self love has been a continuous journey as I’ve gotten older, I’m constantly evolving, loving myself more, taking better care of myself but always looking to go even further, clean up even more negative beliefs.

             Of course, like any good break up does, my recent romantic unraveling brought up some pretty important issues to the surface. More importantly, it showed me I still had even farther to go on my journey to self love. It’s when we are in the midst of rejection that our self love is truly put to the test. And I have to say, to a certain degree, I really impressed myself. I have come a long way and I certainly am in a very different (better!) place now than I’ve been with some break ups in the past. Although, I must admit when someone you love leaves you, it’s easy to fall into the whirlwind of negative thoughts like “what did I do wrong?” “why wasn’t I good enough?” “what made me so unlovable?” and on and on and on. I am certainly not immune but it did shake me up and make me realize that I needed to get to work. I KNOW that my truth is none of those crazy thoughts but sometimes it takes going a step farther to really kill those negative self thoughts at the root instead of just slapping an affirmation over them. With this meditation, I’m digging deep, bringing whatever is there up so it can be healed and loving myself and taking care of myself through this  However, I do want to stress that self love isn’t just important when you are in the middle of crisis or feeling rejected, self love is important in your everyday life. It plays a major part on what practices we incorporate into our lives, everything from what we eat, how much we sleep to how we relate to other people. When our self love is burning bright that’s when we’re feeling our best, that’s when we attract amazing things into our life and that’s when we effortlessly eat healthy, commit to a daily exercise or meditation practice and set boundaries with people in our lives who bring us down, that’s when everything starts FLOWING!!

So I ask you to join me (or just follow along and hold me accountable) on the 40 day journey using the kundalini meditation for self love. In kundalini yoga it is recommended to do every new meditation for 40 days to get it’s full effects and then to continue it beyond that to further ingrain it in your subconscious.

The meditation consists of three different parts. Each have a different allotted time and a different arm posture.

PART 1: Sit in a comfortable position (cross legged – easy pose for me) with your spine straight. Place your right hand palm down a maximum of six inches over the crown of your head. Bend your left elbow in by your side and bring your left palm up to shoulder height with the palm facing forward. Focus your closed eyes downward on your chin. Breathe in slow, long, deep breathes with feelings of affection.

Hold this posture for 11 minutes. ( you can chop the time in half if 11 is too long when your start off)

PART 2: Still seated, extend your arms straight out from your shoulders, parallel to the ground and palms facing down. Same eye focus and long deep breathes.

Hold this posture for 3 minutes or chop it down to 1.5 to correlate with the previous section.

PART 3: Stretch your arms straight up in the air, with no bend in the elbows. Keep your eyes focused on your chin still and continue long deep breathes. 

Hold this for the same amount of time you held part 2.

To close, take a long inhale and hold for 10 seconds while reaching your hands high to the sky and then exhale. I personally like to sit with my palms up for a little while afterwards to really soak in the energy of the work I’ve just done before I open my eyes.

My personal playlist for this meditation is “I am light” by India Arie, “Magic” by Cold Play, “Just Do You” by India Arie, “All of me” by John Legend, “Moved by You” by India Arie. I set the timer app on my iphone for the allotted time spans and it plays a little chime when I’m ready to move on to the next part! Feel free to comment below if you have any questions, comments or want to share with me what meditation your currently working on!

Sat Nam,

Cassandra