Morning all,

I am about to rush out to connect with nature but before I depart, I am going to have a good groove around my house. I just love to move my body to open up my mind, to invoke the creative and the joy within. I connect with my body and in turn, I connect with myself. Shaking your booty is great for the soul, a rhythmic phenomena that heals mind and body. One the oldest forms of healing and transformation, as we dance it helps us to embody spirit and to express ourselves in ways that might be repressed.

This exercise is great for a laugh igniting the juices of the second charka. Turn on the music and let the beat of the music guide your body. Like doing the hoola hoop without the hoop spread you legs and grind your body in circles using your pelvic muscles and hips to guide you. No one is watching so let loose and go for it! As you move your body and release the movement in your body you will feel lighter. Close your eyes and let the music carry you. Use your visualization technique and see yourself happy, healthy and full of vitality. As you dance and enjoy the movement, challenge yourself to move in ways that you don’t normally. Be sure to take up space but just don’t hit anything. If your more energetic you can jump around and go a bit crazy on your dance floor or if your tired or have a body ailment just move slowly at a pace the suits you. I love to get down!

As you enjoy your dance, a new image or vision may come to you. This maybe a creative idea or message, write it down when your finished so that you don’t forget what came up for you. Dance can lead you into your internal world and brings great insight into your hopes, dreams and passions. It can also produce a euphoric feeling of joy, celebration and peace.

Have fun with it, laugh, cry, express! I usually blast the music and move around in ecstatic bliss. If only for five minutes move to your own beat! I guarantee you will feel alive and free as you connect to the beauty and power of movement and your body. If you want to take the process deeper, repeat a little affirmation. This one is great ” I flow with life. I hear my voice. I am connected to the beauty of me.”

“Dance is an experiment, an experiment to bring your body, mind and your soul in tune. If you are really dancing there is no other activity that creates such unity. If you are sitting, you are not using your body only your mind. Dance is movement, a joyful movement. The body is moving, the mind is flowing. And when these are all flowing they melt into each other. You become psychosomatic. A certain alchemy starts happening.” Osho

Much Bodylove,
Ingi xoox

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Food glorious food! I love food and the way it makes me feel when I enjoy a great meal with friends or devour a nutritious snack that tastes great and boosts my energy. But it wasn’t always this way for me. For 14 years I was on a constant diet that included binging and purging and a volatile love hate relationship with food. I had so many emotional issues and really had no idea how to nurture myself. It was in to be thin and in an effort to feel good about myself I contorted and controlled my body with food. Not eating for days on end to consuming diet coke, frozen yogurt and gummy bears was my diet of choice. This was then replaced by eating everything in sight and then purging. The drive to obtain beauty and love made me miserable and as a result I was an emotional wreck that left me feeling drained, ugly and confused about what to eat to be healthy. After years of this kind of crazy behavior I decide that I was not the woman I wanted to be and I was certainly not living the life I wanted to live. This kind of living was hell on earth and a total waste of my precious time. I wanted to be a strong, sexy and empowered woman.  The kind of girl that could go to dinner with friends or go on a date and enjoy a great time and actually eat without feeling guilty about it! By the time I reached 26, my healing journey began. I knew I had to let go of all my control issues over food to be the vital woman I wanted to be.  I had come to see that what I was doing was having a devastating effect on my physical and emotional health. My metabolism had been crushed and I was an exhausted mess. I decided to get well so that I could become that confident woman who embraced life and all the goodness that this world has to offer. I studied nutrition, the psychology of developing a positive body image and  healing eating disorders. I became dedicated to changing my mind set and my behavior. I learnt that my body is like a car that needs fuel to function. I learnt that food brings pleasure and  gives me the energy I need to live fully. I discovered that nurturing my body and spirit with good food, gives me nutrients that I need to thrive. I decided that having boundless energy, joy and great curves was a much better option to be thin, depressed and sick. Now I love food and my body is in auto drive. I look better than I ever have and most important importantly I feel fantastic. I decided it was time to practice Bodylove consistently as a daily ritual of self care. Eating six well balanced meals a day has revved my metabolism and continues to nurture my body and spirit, from the inside out. Finally I learnt to respect myself and took on the responsibility for my wellbeing. I promise you it’s totally worth it.

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Don’t forget that just when the caterpillar thinks the world has ended, it becomes a butterfly. I am sure all of you at some time have been through a period that is chaotic and intense? It’s part of life and I am doing my best to ride the wave even when it’s wild with spunk and strength and learning from the little wobbles along the way!

Just before things are about to blossom and move forward, life can throw you all sorts of curve balls and it’s how we deal with them that counts. The best advise I can share, is to be clear about what you want and how that would feel for you. Focus on the feelings and let the chaos move through you. It always passes. Life is a series of ebbs and flows but hopefully mostly flows. The best way to flow in my opinion is to live in your truth, to focus on our visions, desires and the feelings we want to experience. For me, it has always been to live in harmony, abundance, fun, freedom to be myself, feminine power, vibrant health and clarity. Least I not forget with lots of pleasure and yummy food!

What feelings do you want to experience? If you would like to share your answer, please share in the comments section at the bottom of the post. Thanks!

I have learnt a lot recently about myself when faced with an old pattern. Warning: it’s Mercury retrograde and things from the past can show up to be cleared, (for more from Astrostyle see below). My body was repelled and the old fear swelled in me. This was all male anger and issues relating to control. It was also about staying true to my  feminine power, my voice and ultimately my worth. One guy literally told me he hated everything I stand for! Really I responded with as much grace and compassion as I could muster, “what is it that I stand for”? He couldn’t answer but babbled on about in his drunken states about how being in my power and supporting women in some way was attacking men! Wow, what an interesting perspective to take. That has never been my intention. Rather my vision is to co -create with men. I love men! Bodylove is about loving ourselves, regardless of gender. I believe women can have more loving relationships with the men in their lives and much deeper intimacy when we love ourselves. We are able to give more, express and shine more without shame or guilt. For some this is certainly threatening but it need not be this way. I never intended to threaten men, I just wanted to be healthy and to live the best life I could with the self esteem we all deserve.Inspired when I  had my own health crisis, I had a vision and that was to create a Bodylove movement, and here I am years later doing my own small thing in the world to create a more joyful way of living for women regardless of shape, size, age, ethnicity of social standing. In time, I hope to include more men too! You know a lot of men reach out to me to say they love Bodylove! Yeah hah bring that on!

I sent love to all the men in my world this week who seemed to be challenged by me and Bodylove, cut all energetic chords and came home to my heart, full of peace and divinity. When I do this I am set free. It was awkward at first but extremely cathartic. Now I am stronger than ever, empowered by the lessons, flash backs from past mistakes observed, the intuitive messages and the fact that no matter what, I trust myself to make the best decision for myself and for all women. I honestly believe when we stand in our power we create a trickle effect, empowering others to do the same, male or female! I  believe that we are forever changed by appreciating and integrating these lessons. I believe that life is made up of so many of these moments and as long as we can heed the wisdom that is always waiting for us, we will grow in ways never imagined. In the middle of a wobble, ask yourself,  what am I feeling? Or what is the emotion behind the feeling? Tune into your spirit and your body to listen to what it is trying to tell you? Your body never lies, so ask and if there is no answer, chill out a bit and come back to the same question in an hour or so. Go for a walk or continue working with a deep sense of trust that the answer will rise in you. You might just get a flash of wisdom in a feeling and or like me, you might see a picture or a word. When we see beauty in the choas we shift our energy and then change the experience from something painful into something pleasant and even pleasurable!

“You must carry chaos inside you to give birth to a dancing star.” – Nietzsche

And finally, when in doubt reach out! If you need someone to listen to your quandary then your wise gal pals can be an invaluable sounding board. So this week a big thanks from me to sister goddesses Jackie, Andi, Lisa, Tricia and Susan, you are all rock stars. I feel honored to know you and truly loved and supported by you. And yes to the men in my life who think I rock, thank you for loving me for who I am in all my feminine glory. Thank you for supporting me when I have a wobble! You are the men who are making a huge difference in the world by partnering us in every way. I bless you!

“All true things must change, and only that which changes remains true.” – C.G. Jung.

General Astrology Overview for All 12 Signs:

Let the dating marathons begin. Love-planet Venus swoops into Gemini on Monday, activating the energetic, adventurous, communicative sides of us all. It’s time to venture beyond the standard “dinner and a movie” schtick or play-it-safe coffee date. Love blossoms when we see each other in action; attend events that provoke long, opinion-rich discussions. It can take a little nudge to see (or remember) the fullness of what another person has to offer. Instead of gazing into one another’s eyes, try looking out onto the world together. Venus in Gemini has the power to call our “soul twins” out of hiding. Like attracts like, so those who are on the hunt for love should fully put themselves out there. This is the way to be recognized by your other half.

On Wednesday, the vibes just get sexier, thanks to the full moon in scintillating Scorpio. Unspoken chemistry explodes into a passionate gropefest. For those who wish to avoid temptation, you’d be wise to stay far, far away from the object of your lust that day. Binding contracts are highlighted under this full moon, and may come to fruition after six months of build-up. This includes marriages, divorces, real estate deals, commission checks, inheritances, tax returns, and any other fiscal arrangement where the deal is not necessarily a 50/50 one.

For your daily or weekly horoscope visit the go to girls at Astrostyle. http://www.astrostyle.com

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“Elegance in my opinion, goes beyond whether your a fashionista or not. The seed of elegance sprouts by creating your signature style, it embodies how you hold yourself, they way you speak, express your truth, the way you treat others and your outlook and perspective on living. An elegant woman knows her worth but has grace, humility, spunk and passion.” Ingrid Arna, founder of Bodylove.

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Folks from all over,love my salad dressing recipe, men and women alike! You can use it on salads, vegetables, fish, chicken and even steak, to add extra flavor.

You will need a blender or my favorite, a magic bullet to blend all ingredients. Any good quality blender is great but I like to clean up in record speed. The bullet is small and easy to manage. The blending process is crucial to this recipe, because it gives a creamy consistency to the ingredients, namely the olive oil and garlic.

Add all the ingredients below into a blender and commence with olive oil and vinegar. By commencing with these two ingredients you avoid, mustard from sticking to the blender. Blend for about 1 minute and voila, you have a dressing and marinade in one swoop. Store remainder of dressing not used in the fridge, a glass jar is best. You can double the ingredients, if you wish to make more.

To note: Great quality fats are a wonderful metabolic stimulator, not to mention great for your skin. Make sure to select a cold pressed extra virgin olive oil.

The oil that comes from the first “pressing” of the olive, is extracted without using heat (a cold press) or chemicals, and has no “off” flavors is awarded “extra virgin” status. The less the olive oil is handled, the closer to its natural state, the better the oil. If the olive oil meets all the criteria, it can be designated as “extra virgin”.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoons Dijon Mustard
1/ 2 cup olive oil
2/4 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
3 garlic cloves
1 generous tablespoon natural Greek yogurt (if dairy free just leave this out)
1 pinch sea salt
1 pinch pepper
1 pinch stevia or 1 teaspoon honey (melt buy putting teaspoon into a glass and running hot water over it then pour into the blender)

More information on the health benefits of olive oil:

The beneficial health effects of olive oil are due to both its high content of monounsaturated fatty acids and its high content of antioxidative substances. Studies have shown that olive oil offers protection against heart disease by controlling LDL (”bad”) cholesterol levels while raising HDL (the “good” cholesterol) levels. No other naturally produced oil has as large an amount of monounsaturated as olive oil -mainly oleic acid.

Olive oil is very well tolerated by the stomach. In fact, olive oil’s protective function has a beneficial effect on ulcers and gastritis. Olive oil activates the secretion of bile and pancreatic hormones much more naturally than prescribed drugs. Consequently, it lowers the incidence of gallstone formation.

Much Bodylove,

Ingrid Arna x

Ingrid Arna is a food coach, if you would like a session, email today to set up your FREE 15 minute call to learn more about her process and how it can change your life.

Ingrid@mybodylove.com

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