Follow Our Journeys of New Beginnings

December 10th, 2014

You may have noticed we're undergoing a big shift. We've got a brand new website, new team members and much more yet to come. To celebrate Good Shift, we invited some of our tuja expert Advisors and Contributors to tell us about a personal shift in their lives.

We hope you enjoy their stories and we'd love to hear yours too! Leave a comment below or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest to fill us in on your Good Shift.

tuja contributor Serena Matter's Good Shift

Serena Matter tuja contributor's Good Shift

I am a scaredy-cat. Even as a very young child, I always had a strong dislike for risk-taking.

As you can imagine, this aversion to risk has had a major impact on my life, especially with respect to my career. I stayed in an extremely toxic work environment for far too long because I was fearful of change and the risk of the unknown was just too great.

However, when an opportunity presented itself for me to leave my stable job for independent contract work, I was so unhappy in my current role I decided I had to push through the fear and at least consider the opportunity.

Around the same time, I randomly came across a quote that resonated deeply: “Feel the fear, then do it anyways.” This quote inspired an enormous shift in my outlook on life. I decided to recognize and honour the fear I felt at the prospect of becoming self-employed, and then I took a giant leap of faith and went for it!

In hindsight, this shift (in both perspective and in career) was one of the best - if not THE best - changes I have ever made. The shift from being an employee to being my own boss has brought me ultimate career satisfaction, which has naturally spilled over into every other aspect of my life.

Now I sleep soundly, I look on the bright side, I'm kinder to my boyfriend, I have more patience with everyone, I smile at strangers. I learned meditation is not a waste of time but actually time well spent, I don’t sweat the small stuff, and I've become passionate about supporting friends in making shifts in their own lives that bring them happiness.

The list goes on and on.

Serena Matter is a Vancouver-based freelancer, social media geek and cat lover with a penchant for trendspotting. Between running her digital PR services firm, Be.Social Consulting, and inventing unusual desserts in her kitchen,she's got her hands full – but always finds time to get outside and the enjoy the beauty of the West Coast. Get in touch via her website or tweet her @SerenaMatter to talk food, fitness and fun!

tuja advisors Kevin Becker & Katherine Calder-Becker's Good Shift

In the past year, Kevin and I worked hard to practice gratitude in our training, our racing experiences and our lives by taking the time to be thankful for what we have as healthy athletes.

Once the practice of 'gratitude' became an integrated habit, we then began to practice mindful thought. This was the simple step of taking a pause and bringing our complete attention into the present moment to embrace a deeper sense of emotions, thoughts and sensations that we were experiencing. It didn't matter where or when - it could have been driving a car, cooking, working, training or racing - simply taking a moment to be 'aware'.

This began a natural shift in our conscious awareness, where the 'negative-chatter' was momentarily quieted. The ripple effect became apparent in our everyday activities, as this new thought process slowly brought a more relaxed and calm self-awareness to our everyday lives.

Since it's a subtle shift, you don't notice it at first. Then, over time, this new mindful behavior begins automatically working in the background, which ultimately provides a positive SHIFT in your actions.

This has had a profound positive effect on our mental and physical well-being.

Ironman, Ultraman, UltraCouple! Kat and Kev began racing in the sport of triathlon in 2003 and since their very first sprint triathlon they've gone on to compete in several worldwide events. They've each raced in 16 Ironman events worldwide over the past 7 years, including the super hardcore Ironman World Championships in Kailua-Kona Hawaii. Their dedication and performance in ultra-distance racing earned them recognition as the 2012 Canadian Ultra Distance Male and Female Triathletes of the year. Check out Kev & Kat at www.endurancetriathletes.com and connect with them on twitter.

tuja advisor Andrew Bathory's Good Shift

It has been said that the world we live in is a continuously co-created experience of life, connection, and suffering. It is also true that either consciously or unconsciously, we are all participating in this dance called life.

The question then becomes: How can we become more consciously involved in our dance? Be it in our relationships, our career, or health-wise.

This past year for me was all about making positive changes. Some were smaller, and some were huge. Regardless of the perceived size, it’s the act of committing, the conscious choice to make a change that is important.

I noticed how tired I was of waking up day after day feeling that something was just not right. Wishing I had something else or that I was going to a place of work that was a bit more in line with my personal goals. I soon realized the only way to improve my situation was to pause, and get real with myself. To ask myself what I really valued in this life and what I wanted to participate in, and then to explore what was keeping me separate from that.

Through meditation I was able to see the parts of myself that were not allowing me to move ahead (fear, doubt, lack of confidence), and I could get more specific about what needed to change. After isolating these areas it was time to create an actionable plan to move away from what was not serving me, and to move toward something more in-line with who I wanted to be and how I wanted to contribute to my life and the world around me.

What came up was what some might call a radical shift. To leave a job that for over a year had served me in my growth, but that at this time was no longer in line with who I was becoming. Not an easy to do and certainly scary for me considering I didn’t yet know what I was going to do. But what I did know was I needed to honour the little voice inside that said “Enough is enough, make a change.”

Change can be scary. In order for us to make changes we need to lean into our supports; our friends, families, pets, yoga bolsters or our meditation practice. I believe change is available, possible and necessary for all of us. There is an element of trust required to surrender to the belief and knowing that we are being taken care of at all times and that the universe is on our side.

Yoga and Meditation have been the most valuable tools in my life - technologies that provide me with the support and strength of remembering how to show up. Everyday. Through practice I wake up my connection to my heart. And there I find a seed of gratitude. From that place, I expand my ability to connect to what has meaning and is purposeful for me.

To summarize, the main ingredients for transformation that have surfaced in my life this past year are commitment, communication and space.

Commitment to actively creating a life that I feel responsible to show up for.

Communication with my loved ones and the universe for what support I need to do so.

And lastly, I choose to maintain a sense of space in my life that allows opportunities to manifest more naturally out of abundance.

And here I am now, having taken the plunge and committed to the next big step in my journey. I’ve signed a lease on a space and have committed to opening a new yoga studio. This is a true creation of space (literally) and a reimagining of how a yoga studio can be. The project is based on community, education, accessibility, self-care and sharing. I believe so strongly in the power of community, of supporting each other by practicing together, and in co-creation. We can attain more together than we can individually, this is the greatest lesson I have learned in my short life thus far.

I am so grateful for the supports in my life that allow me to make this change, and to trust the abundance that is being revealed through this process. It’s thrilling, and scary, and oh-so-worth it.

As the New Year approaches, find a quiet moment and ask yourself: What do you want to create in your life? What can’t wait any longer? It could be as simple as more home cooked meals, or as big as asking the love of your life to marry you. Whatever it is, trust support is there; you might just have to ask for it.

I invite you to check out what is happening in your heart, and find a way to support one another in choosing to live from there more frequently. The result: a more connected, and engaged life. YOU deserve it, we ALL deserve it. What are you waiting for? Let’s make it happen.

Andrew is the co-founder of Element Yoga Montréal a community-based yoga centre operating in Point St. Charles, Montreal. With the intention to provide an accessible space of healing, transformation and creation we offer yoga, meditation, expressive arts classes, workshops and therapeutic yoga clinics. We are located at 2325 Rue Centre Unit 301 in Montreal, QC. For more information please email: [email protected] or visit www.elementyoga.ca or www.andrewbathory.com. Follow him on instragram @andrewbathory and twitter: @andrew_bathory.

tuja advisor Dr. Laura Imola's Good Shift

“Everything you go through grows you.”

This quote captures my personal experiences in health and my philosophy towards helping others with their health. It’s important to know that when we do something to shift our health to a higher level we evolve ourselves physically, mentally, emotionally and energetically.

Growth and transformation happen when we work on adopting the seemingly simplest health strategies such as drinking water, eating our greens and getting enough sleep.

Furthermore, seeking solutions that heal our body naturally from illness takes us to an even higher place. At times, this may be profoundly challenging and put us outside of our comfort zone. However, working at this stretches us, moulds us, teaches us, and evolves us for the better.

Over time we get closer to our best expression of health and self.

Dr. Laura Imola is a Naturopathic Doctor in Niagara Falls, Ontario, with over a decade of clinical and personal experience in proactive health care and preventative medicine. She actively shares her expertise through her writing contributions and live webinar events. Dr. Imola’s enthusiastic health focused philosophy has helped others live their best life through treatment, education and inspiration.

tuja's HEAL advisor Carla Cupido's Good Shift

"Get clear on how you want to live your life - don't waste a minute to start living it. This will elevate your health in ways you could not have imagined. This is your life; live it your way!"

I thought I had planned it all so perfectly. I graduated with a kinesiology degree; I married my one and only love; I became a doctor; I developed my skills and knowledge as a health professional; I learned about business first as a sole proprietor; I opened the clinic I thought I always wanted; I did my yoga teacher training; and then, my husband and I were blessed with the baby girl I’d always dreamed of.

Well, this beautiful little being flipped my world around. What I had originally thought to be the “perfect plan” now looked pretty darn wacky.

It’s amazing how life experiences can rock you to your core and allow you to see everything through a different lens. What I thought I wanted changed. But fortunately, what I did want became incredibly obvious.

The next steps I needed to take were clear: sell the clinic, commit my free time to re-connecting to my passion of health education, and do everything I can to make sure my family comes first.

It took a while to get over myself before I could do this. I had to let go of my ego, let go of my first baby, my business and let go of my previous, long-held dream. But when push came to shove, I freed myself of what had become a burden and felt as light as a bird.

My health has most certainly improved since making this change. My stress levels are lower, I laugh more often, I’m more balanced across the board (from exercise to emotional health) and most importantly, I feel a deep sense of purpose with what I am meant to do while on this planet. (Check out my interview with tuja wellness on How to Live to be 100 in which I discuss how knowing your life purpose is protective for your health).

This bird now has new dreams! I still have my practice, as I adore working with my patients. However, without the demands that come with owning a clinic, I can spend my career committed to my true passion: educating people to be as healthy as they can possibly be… AND… even better, I can spend more time with my wonderful family.

We all need to course-correct along the way. But the beauty in this journey is that we can learn from our exploration and from being honest with ourselves.

We can’t know it all from the beginning and even if we could, it would make for a boring ride. Don’t regret the past: learn from it. Find your true path and don’t waste a moment before jumping on the ride of your life!

As a well-rounded health virtuoso, Dr. Carla Cupido’s expert content has been featured in Oprah Magazine, CTV News and Air Canada’s EnRoute inflight media. If we didn’t have you at Oprah, she’s also been published in peer reviewed, medical research journals. Her educational background spans Kinesiology, Chiropractic, and Medical Acupuncture. She’s recently become a Registered Yoga Teacher and has an integrative approach to healing, utilizing therapies and techniques from Kinesio® Taping and Graston Technique®, to Active Release Technique® and Selective Functional Movement Assessment™. Learn more and connect with Dr. Cupido on her website , Facebook & Twitter.

tuja's HEAL advisor Drew Hume's Good Shift

Something that I've personally been working with for a while and teaching/preaching is that we commonly find ourselves subscribing to the paradigm that helping others comes from a place of self-sacrifice.

In the field of bodywork, we usually see this result in burn out and overuse injury. This ultimately takes more healers out of the registration books than you would think possible.

In our day-to-day existence, there are countless opportunities to help others - it's how we approach these opportunities that makes all the difference.

Helping others should come from a full vessel, from a well cared for body/mind/spirit and through the intelligent use of our body and energy, so that even as we help others we ensure that we are reciprocally helping ourselves.

Personally, this shift has created the opportunity for me to thrive and to create some of the most profound relationships and connections with others.

What would your life be like if you shifted from a perspective of sacrifice (when helping others for any reason at all) to one of self-care and personal thriving?

Drew Hume has a dream to help people reconnect with their bodies and to rediscover the feeling of true relaxation. The arts of Thai massage and yoga enable him to do this in an incredibly holistic way. Drew’s background in Human Biology is infused into his Thai massage trainings and treatments. One of his goals is to help reunite old and new sciences by blending the wisdom of the East with the methods of the West to build a more complete picture of wellbeing for the individual. Check him out on his website, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube.

tuja's MOVE advisor Jennifer Thomson's Good Shift

My husband often compares me to a Border Collie. I know this sounds like an insult but it actually sums me up quite well; daily mental stimulation and exercise make me tick!

A few back, I began my journey into the world of CrossFit and became immediately hooked on the heart pounding, adrenaline-pumping MetCons that were programmed daily at the gym. I changed my eating habits and I started training every single day.

I began to notice that my emotions toward physical activity were changing. I started feeling anxious the night before training until I saw the next day’s programming. I felt guilty if I missed a workout and I felt pressured to perform well.

These emotions, when I became aware of them, were a little unsettling. Sport and exercise were usually fun, social, and stress-relieving hobbies for me.

Exactly one month before our wedding, and well into my honeymoon phase with CrossFit, I clumsily tripped over a platform while moving some equipment AFTER a workout. I tore most of the major ligaments in my ankle, damaged a nerve in my leg, and suffered some minor tears to my plantar fascia. I was devastated. I went into exercise withdrawal within the first 2 days of sustaining the injury and being informed by my physiotherapist that my rehabilitation would take at least 4 to 6 weeks.

As I began rehabilitating my ankle with my physiotherapist, I sat aside some time at the gym to work on upper body movements for the purpose of reaching my OWN health and fitness goals, like getting my first strict muscle up.

I stopped comparing myself to others at the gym, because my workouts were completely different from the regular programming. I began to integrate knowledge of mobility, stability and pre-habilitation into other areas of my training so I’d be able to avoid injuries in the future.

Most importantly, I went through a major mental shift and began to appreciate being able to move freely, and without pain, for my own enjoyment.

By the time I was ready to return to full-scale exercise, I had gotten my first muscle up, and due to all upper body and rehabilitation work I had done, I was stronger than before I hurt my ankle.

I learned some major lessons from this experience. The first being that when life starts to whisper at you, you should listen. Otherwise, it shouts!

Secondly, I was able to reframe my ideas of exercise and sport and to once again value them for the joy they provide!

Lastly, I learned that injury can often be a grounding and an empowering experience; one that allows us to re-evaluate perspective and involvement in exercise. Injury allows us to gain both mental and physical strength, moving us forward on our journeys to health and wellness.

She’ll make you smile and kick your butt all at the same time. With an enthusiastic and passionate personality, Coach Jenny creates workouts that challenge clients and athletes of differing backgrounds and varying goals. She currently works out of Academy of Lions, where she offers personal training and Fascial Stretch Therapy as well as CrossFit and Nike Training Club classes. Jenny obtained a Bachelor of Phys Ed and a Bachelor of Life Sciences from Queen’s University and holds a graduate certificate in counselling, as well as a Master’s degree in Fitness Science. Connect with Jenny on Twitter.

tuja's EAT advisor Katherine Feeney's Good Shift

I used to look at food as a composition of grams of fat/carbs/proteins and calories. I was living in fear of becoming obese and that lead me to doing everything in my power to be skinny.

There were several breaking points to my unhealthy relationship with food and my body. Here’s the top two:

The first is that I felt so depleted, lacked energy, and had foggy brain. And I was.

The second is that I had a client who was in her mid-60’s and had been stressing for her whole life about her weight. She, too, was living in fear. It was then that I committed to treating myself better.

I committed to developing self-love with the help my inspirations, Gabrielle Bernstein and Mastin Kipp.

I decided it was time to put into practice all the wonderful knowledge I had gained in nutrition school.

I shifted from a place of restriction and disordered eating to a place of loving my body and learning to nourish my body. I no longer see food and think about calories and grams, but rather how this beautiful food is going to nourish my body and mind.

My relationship with food has become so positive and my fear of weight gain... well, it's vanished. I've learned that with knowledge of nutrition and listening to what your body and mind need - you know longer think "I should" but rather "I want".

At that point, health is inevitable.

From rock climbing to homemade raw rocky-road chocolate bars, Kat Feeney is uber passionate about sharing her love for livin' a healthy life. As a Holistic Nutritionist and Adventure Seeker, she believes a healthy body is not measured by weight, size, BMI or body fat %, but rather it’s ability to carry your awesome self through all of life's amazing experiences. Kat designs recommendations based on her clients individual assessments and needs. She helps her clients set smart goals and provides the tools and support to reach them. She believes the key to health and happiness is being in tune with and honouring our body’s physical and emotional needs. Adventure seek with Kat by e-mail and her website.

tuja's MOVE advisor Kristen Stuart's Good Shift

The season of fall always feels like a new year and an opportunity to hit the reboot button. It’s a time when I pause for reflection and decide what habits, thoughts and practices I need to recommit to and which ones are ready to be let go.

Clean eating, green juices and smoothies, ayurvedic self-care practices (dinacharya), yoga and time spent in nature are a key part of my wellness routine.

But despite these practices, I’ve noticed I can lose a lot of energy when I find myself worrying about the future or falling into the past. This season I am committed to making a conscious choice to stay in the present and to keep my inner environment clean and clear through greater awareness of my thoughts and words.

Our beliefs create our environment. They have the incredible potential to attract more kindness, abundance, gratitude and beauty, thus setting the tone for greater wellbeing and self empowerment. My morning meditation practice is one way to bring myself into the present, to set intention and create an I AM statement that will serve me for the day.

I’ve also noticed when I take time throughout the day to check in with how I’m feeling and be fully present to observe 'beauty moments' - the sweet juiciness of the peach I am eating, an act of kindness between two people or the stunning colors of a mountain sunrise - my day flows with more ease and is filled with a sense of richness and harmony.

I remind myself that each day and each breath is an opportunity to shift my perspective to one of empowerment, positivity and beauty from the inside out.

Kristen Stuart Yoga Teacher tuja wellness Advisor

Kristen Stuart is a yoga goddess and spiritual superstar, who blends ancient teachings for modern day living that's relevant, radical and real. Drawing on her studies in yoga, ayurveda and shamanism she challenges her students towards greater consciousness and balance on the mat and in their hearts and lives. Inspired by the power, flow and spirit of nature, when not lighting up lives or guiding people to their bliss, you'll find her climbing, skiing and playing up high in her Rockies backyard. Do yoga anywhere with Kristen and try her recipe for the best morning ever. Plus, visit Kristen's website and connect with her on Facebook and Instagram.