​The pandemic was/is a weird time.  Sunrise had not been opened long enough to get well established when the world’s “on/off” switch, was turned “off”!  My life seemed to get busier.  People had the time and opportunity to make yoga classes and other fitness classes that may not have been able during non Covid times.  Since most of Sunrise’s classes are during the day, it limits the demographic substantially, but during the Covid shutdown, ladies were able to attend classes.  I hope what we offer gave them a sense of okay-ness during such a dark, scary time.

As classes filled up, it seemed like Sunrise was on the rise, and it was I guess.  There was a comforting sense of community in that little yellow house for those months.   But when the world reopened, class sizes dwindled.  Part of me has been scared that what we offer is not as relevant, AS IF taking care of body, mind and spirit could ever be irrelevant!  But the truth is, I became complacent.  Maybe it was Covid working on my spirit as it had so many others.  I didn’t think it was weighing on me, but a bit of self evaluation said otherwise.  

The ego is a strange bed fellow.  It always tries to trick me into believing I am better than, or not good enough.  Weird how, even knowing how tricky ego can be, I still believe the lie sometimes.  Being “right sized” takes looking inward and gathering information to move forward.  So Sunrise is still a place of community, although the community is evolving.  We will adjust to the needs of our community, add classes and class times and add other healing modalities.  Stay tuned, Sunrise Wellness Community is working to meet the needs of our beloved community. 

​My Yoga Journey
 
I don’t remember when I first heard about yoga, but it isn’t in any childhood memory.  I grew up in a small West Texas town, and the only sport anyone cared about was football.  You know, Friday Night Football?  Yeah, that!
 
So I was an adult by the time I have any memory of hearing about yoga.  From the beginning, it seemed mysterious….and intimidating.  It seemed more like an art form than an activity for any regular Joe.  And I am not and never have been athletic, so most anything that looked like exercise, I avoided. 
 
As I matured, yoga seemed to be gaining in popularity so there was more exposure on TV and in the media.  All of those who “did” yoga seemed to be thin and bendy.  It appeared to me that they all had excellent balance and strength, so it still didn’t look like anything I could or would do. 
 
Later in life, yoga became much more accessible so I signed up for classes here and there.  When I moved to a large city that had a reputation for being cool and hip, yoga was everywhere.  I tried a few classes, but always left feeling like everyone knew something I didn’t know.  It was more than feeling unable to “do it”, but I always felt defeated.  In this town, yoga was more like a religion and I just didn’t get it. 
 
I always wished I could find a class and a teacher that would take a personal interest in me as a student and tell me the secret.  More and more I found classes that were less intimidating, but still, felt something was missing.  I opened a wellness center and had various types of yoga and various teachers visit.  Some I loved and some were just “eh”.  Enter Covid lockdowns….
 
While we were locked down, all yoga schools went virtual!  PERFECT!  So I researched various school and signed up to get my certification.  Through that process (which is still ongoing), I learned more about various types of yoga and various styles of teaching.  Of course all of my judgement were more about me than the classes I took in the past.  But I learned to have compassion for myself and to honor my journey.  I decided to BE the teacher I always wanted.  Although my “style” is still developing, my mission is to provide the type of instruction I was always looking for. 
 
My yoga classes are a combination of Pilates and various types of yoga.  Yin, Vinyasa and Restorative yoga all find their way into many of my classes.  I also understand that the teachers I had in the past were perhaps finding their style.  It is harder to plan and execute a class than I would have ever guessed, and that being said, I had some great teacher.  Until the student is ready, no teacher will ever appear.  

​When I say “Magic”…
I sometime talk about magic, but not the kind witches talk about.  Then what do I mean by magic?  For me it “just” means the power we were born with.  It isn’t sought from an entity other than the One that gave it to us before we had breath.
What it means to me is the intuition, the Power of Good, the ability to bless others, the gift of seeing blessings make a difference.  The most powerful “magic” is that that doesn’t get touted but comes to me in the silence and the reflection of a day or an event.  When I can clearly see that knowledge came from God, because there was no other source available, Magic.  The clarity that something I was able to do or see, that didn’t exist in the material world, that is magic!
Magic to me is something we all have but have never learned how to pay attention to its gifts.  What with the constant barrage of social media, TV, and so on, we have forgotten how to be quiet and listen.  We have been told that if we want to enjoy our own company or communing with God, we are isolating.  Life has become so busy and noisy; we no longer listen. 
Others may mean something dark or evil when they speak of magic, but I think God is the magic in our spirit.  Learning to be quiet and listen to the small quiet voice, learning to be in tune with the Spirit is where I find my magic.  Not listening to this is a rather new phenomena and being shamed or dismissed as odd or weird further hushes our Magic.
To practice “listening” to our intuition, the messages from our Creator, is to experience the Magic.

I get a ton of questions about hypnosis.  There is a lot of interest in the “mystery” of it all.  Can it help with this or that? What does it feel like?  Will you make me bark like a dog?
The reason many people feel skeptical is probably an experience at a stage show at a bar, or in a movie.  I am not saying none of that is true or accurate, I’m just saying that is not what hypnotherapy is about.  An ethical hypnotist is not interested in making you bark like a dog or get your secrets out of you.  I want to teach you how to use your subconscious mind to empower yourself. 
What does it “feel” like?  That is different for everyone, but it is also the same for everyone.  Some people feel the “drop” very clearly.  To me it feels like an exhale.  Like my entire body exhales, feels heavy and relaxes.  I lose time.  An hour feels like 5 minutes.  Waking feels a bit groggy at first and then a clean feeling of exhilaration.  The suggested change tends to be gradual.  Sometimes I remember the suggestions made by my hypnotist, sometimes not.  Sometimes I question if my subconscious mind did the arm raising or other convincers suggested by my hypnotist, but the truth is, I couldn’t do some that those things as smoothly and effortlessly as it happened.  I’ve tried, and there are movements that happen when it is done intentionally, that are not present when the subconscious mind does the work.  It is interesting.  Mystical?  No, it is just amazing how the subconscious mind work and how powerful it can be.
Can it help me with this or that?  It doesn’t even matter what “this” or “that” is, the answer is YES.  But here is the caveat….it isn’t magic!  Some desired changes take time and several sessions.  Each person is different so what one person does in one visit can take another person multiple visits.  Sometimes there is “homework”.  If the client doesn’t do the homework, the results may not be what the client hopes for.  It is like any other self-improvement journey; you must WANT a solution and you must be willing to invest in that solution.
If all the people that express interest in hypnosis followed through with appointments, we would need hundreds of hypnotists.  There would also be a multitude of changed people.  Everything from weight management, to stress management to smoking cessation.  Hypnosis works for those who WANT a change and are willing to participate in the solution.  It isn’t magic, but it is amazing!

​Building your dream, one thought at a time
 
Construction is finished, the space to heal has been created.  There will be tweaking here and there, but the back-breaking labor is behind us.  Now the work of healing can start.
But how did this come to be?  How does anyone have the motivation, the support, or the funds to “build” a dream?  It is interesting to contemplate.  Some may say its luck; others might think it takes a nefarious act to get that “lucky”.  Perhaps I was the BIGGEST skeptic when this all started, but I wanted to learn about holistic nutrition, and this was part of the certification!  But then this certification had me doing some hippie dippy, new aggie (I thought), exercises regarding dreams and the power of positive thinking. 
My MO, when something seems too good to be true, a “I’m going to do this, but only to prove it is horse feathers” kind of attitude.  I don’t usually voice that, but it’s there, in the back of my mind.  We did vision boards, affirmations, positive thinking exercises.  I did them, because that was the assignment and in the same place my doubt resides, so too does my eternal optimism.  When I would read the comments from other students it was sometimes frustrating, and I was often very judgmental.   Frequently thinking either I was defective, or they were embellishing their experiences. 
So here is how the homework became a catalyst for building my dream.  This was the result of thoughts, even if you think it is a coincidence.  One week we would do a vision board and we were to meditate on it daily.  I did the vision board and meditated on it for awhile.  Side note:  At this point we were not getting a paycheck.  We went 10 months without a paycheck.  My boyfriend was selling cars, equipment, etc. just to pay bills for two households. 
One week we were to do affirmations.  Write them and affirm them daily.  I did the assignment, hoping it would work, but not believing it.  Obviously, I am affirming abundance and prosperity and that looks very unlikely at this point.  But I am doing my homework.
Writing and speaking gratitude was another assignment.  I’m scared to death about finances, but I do the assignment.  I write and speak gratitude to our home, our family, our animals, our finances being resolved in a positive way.
Then, around the holidays, I got notified of a windfall of sorts.  This was the result of a lengthy family matter and was an absolute shock.  No one knew this was going to happen.  The timing, the amount, the obvious connection to the work I was doing….it was astounding.  Again, you can call this a coincidence or happenstance, that is fine.  I KNOW, this is because the Law of Attraction is real.  What we speak is what we create.  It creates a ripple, good or bad, it ripples. 
My dream to build and open a healing space was created by thoughts, prayers and blessings.  No more, no less.  If your life is headed in the wrong direction, TURN AROUND.  Change your mind! Do it even if you don’t believe it!  Do it if you don’t want to!  It is a powerful thing, the power of thought!
 
 

What do you think about when you think about abundance? Money? That is what most people think of, and that is a place it shows up or doesn't. It is easy to see the zeros in the bank, or the lack of zeros. My personal belief regarding abundance moves way beyond the bank account, and is in many ways, is connected. For example, if I have had to trade abundance in one area for abundance in another, do I have abundance? If I have traded time with family, or time for self care, for money, do I have abundance? Which takes up more space in my spirit, the "lack" in my life or the "abundance" that results?
This way of thinking comes after years of trading one for the other. For many years I pursued the success in a career. In that pursuit, I missed much time with family. Grandmother's birthday parties, nieces and nephews being born, growing up and having children of their own. I'm an not at all sorry for the path I traversed, because it landed me here. There is no way I would understand the trade offs if I hadn't made the trades. But it was a trade and it did not result in abundance. Yes, it was a decent living, but what lacked in my life was sold pretty cheap in the end. We don't know until we know, and now I know.
When life changed directions, without my consent, I was forced on to a different path. This path was riddled with financial uncertainty and opportunities to reevaluate. Stepping through the fear and meeting those challenges with various new tools. Studying various forms of self improvement opened so many doors. Prayer, meditation and self evaluation had been a part of my life for years, but exploring new and different ways to practice and apply these tools had resulted in so much abundance.
The abundance in my life isn't just showing up in a bank account. I have been provided a way to start my business, and that is really just the icing on the cake. The real abundance has been in time. Time to spend with loved ones. Time to learn. Time to show up for the people that need me. It seems to be a circle of abundance. One seems to fuel the other. They are all connected. Each blessing feeds the next blessing. I can't separate them, they are woven together in a beautiful tapestry. There have been challenges, but almost every moment, I have what I want and want what I have. Abundance is not even close to what I thought it was, it's even more!

I know, it has become so cliché to say, “I’m living my passion”.  Until it happened, I never really believed it when someone said that.  It sounded too “otherworldly” or like someone would try to sell me some scheme once I bit.  But now that I am living it, I seem to have more and more people in my life that live their passion. 
 
The best part of my job is that…it doesn’t feel like work!  It feels like I get to play all day and get paid for it.  The fact that I get to make other lives better in the process, is just part and parcel of living my passion.  Starting my day with getting connected to God and letting that connection be the fuel for my work is living within my values.  This time was once a tool for “getting through the day without losing my mind”.  Same action, entirely different motive. 
 
So, the best part of my job is…  EVERYTHING!  Feeling like my “why” is not only certain, but attainable.  Knowing that my natural gifts and my education are joining forces to make the lives of others better is very fulfilling.  Helping others find their “why” and live their passion…there is nothing better!  The best part of my job is making your life better.
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It’s hard to say, which comes first, feeling blessed or being blessed.  I can tell you this, and it is a fact, not theory; the more blessed I FEEL, the more blessed I AM.  Now this may seem like fluff or wishful thinking, but it is an absolute fact.  My default setting is “now what? See?  I told you it would all go to hell!”  And for many years that is exactly how my life went.  I would expect things to not work out, things wouldn’t work out, and I would confirm to myself how on point I was about how crappy things work out for me.  Then, as an assignment in school, I started expecting things to work out, ON PURPOSE.  Every time my head would start telling me how bad things were going to be, I would reframe and think how blessed things will turn out.  One thing at a time, my life was getting blessed.  Business challenges getting resolved, financial situations turning around, relationships growing in a blessed direction.  Even now, my default negativity will sneak up on me and things will start a downward spiral.  I will change my mind and things start go right again.  Make what you will of it, but I am an absolute believer!  My challenge to you is to think in a blessed direction ON PUROSE and see what happens.  It is a little harder than you expect it to be, especially if you have a negative default, but it is so worth it.  Just try it, let me know what happens.  If you don’t follow through, you can’t say it doesn’t work.  Try it, let me know what happens!  Good thoughts produce good results, promise!

​This is my first blog, so bear with me. I hope to share my journey with you in such a way that you know how passionate I am about my vision. My younger years were spent bouncing from relationship to relationship and job to job. The job part really depended on the relationship at the time, but I have done everything from cocktail waitress to administrative assistant. My strength has always been administrative and accounting, since I was raised by a banker and an accountant. My aptitude was likely a result of my upbringing and I had no idea that these skills were so valuable. I opted not to go to college upon graduation because making money sounded like it provided more freedom. Boy was I wrong :) Throughout my 20s and 30s nothing seemed to satisfy my wonderlust and malcontent. At 30 I made a life change. I decided to stop drinking and that led me on a spiritual journey and provided some stability. The spiritual journey led me to a passion for helping other women, or "coaching" if you will. It also introduced me to a career I fell in love with and excelled at. I started a career in multifamily property management. Not only did I love it, but I was really good at it. This career allowed me to move around the country and provided a good life. Then, out of the blue, the company I worked for for 8 years laid me off. Now that sounds like a terrible thing, but it ended up being a huge blessing. Out of a need to take care of a loved ones health, I developed an interest in holistic nutrition which inevitably led to where I am now. My interest became more of an obsession as I learned more and more about how powerful our minds are and how passionate I am about teaching others how to use their mind to create positive change. Studying life coaching has allowed me to apply coaching in many areas of life.  Studying hypnosis, visualization, guided imagery and meditation has allowed me to help people of any background, be the best version of themselves. Creating Sunrise Wellness Community is a result of a vision and a whirlwind of blessings. I believe that sharing this knowledge and these blessings will create an avalanche of blessings, and we can't have too many blessings.