Life Coaching, Professional Women's Groups,
Organic Cooking Classes, and Inspiration
December 12

A Few Important Notes -

1. Gift Certificates for Cooking Classes
2. 2008 Cooking Classes
3. Weight Loss Groups (starting in January)

Gift Certificates now Available

Gift Certificates for Cooking Classes are now available. Purchase by December 19th, and get $5 off. The recipient can choose any class they would like to take through the end of 2008. melissa@myheartdances.com" target="_blank">melissa@myheartdances.com

2008 Cooking Classes

Organic Food, Organic FUN, and Good Company

"Thank you for sharing your home, knowledge, great recipes, and warm friends. There's something very intimate about creating and sharing a meal with others. It was interesting to learn about your holistic health background and cook with new ingredients. I look forward to taking more classes with you." - Heather

January 8 - 6:30 class/Tuesday
Sweet Potato Miso Soup
Buckwheat w/
Tahini Sauce
Sauteed Swiss Chard w/ Portabello Mushrooms

January 20 - 11am class/Sunday
Creamy Tofu Soup w/ Mustard Greens
Roasted Delicata Squash
Basic Brown Jasmine Rice
Vegan Peanut Butter Pie

February 7 - 6:30/Thursday
Veggie Quiche
Red Wine Vinaigrette Potatoes
Steamed Eggplant w/
Sweet Miso Dressing

February 24 - 11am class/ Sunday
Thai Peanut Soup
Vegetable Spring Rolls
Lime Peanut Sauce
Coconut Millet

Pre-Register Today - Only $50 per class -
Gift Certificates Available
All classes are held on the Upper West Side

Class is from 6:30 until 8:30p.m. unless otherwise noted.

All classed include the following:

• Hands-on instruction
• Meet new people
• Learn cool facts and tips about the food you're preparing
• Get healthy tips
• Receive a copy of the recipe to take home
• Enjoy a DELICIOUS meal at the end of class!

Made by The Fabulous You!

Please contact Melissa at melissa@myheartdances.com" target="_blank">melissa@myheartdances.com for more details and to register, or call 917-689-6530

**Classes are fun, relaxed, and not intimidating! They are great for beginners!

**Private classes are also available, more details at:
http://www.myheartdances.com/
services/cook_class.htm

Women's Weight Loss Group

I am beginning a women's weight loss group in January. There will be one in-person group, and one lunchtime phone group. Sign-up before January first and get $10 off. 917-689-6530

Do you want to lose weight but you keep getting of track? Often this is because we get stuck in social situations where tempting food is available, or because we eat for emotional reasons like stress and boredom. Weekly group will help you strategize how to get through these challenges and also support you in eating a healthy whole foods diet.

*Small intimate group environment

*Individual attention

*Have accountability through seeing (or talking to) the same members every week, and sharing your goals and successes.

*Learn from others about what works and what doesn't

*Build relationships and laugh

*Build body image and self-esteem while working on your weight loss goals

*Get e-mail support between group sessions

*Weekly meeting

*$75 per month

*Month to month commitment

For more information, or to schedule and interview for the group, please contact me at melissa@myheartdances.com or 917-689-6530

A Quote from One of My Clients


"You are non-judgmental and so real and practical about dealing with these issues. I tell everyone about you. You are so young, but you are so smart and have great insight. I love working with you, and I'm a tough customer." GG, NYC

Fasting in Order to Get on with Life

The focus of this article is spirituality, but the principles will still be beneficial to you even if you are not very spiritual. Enjoy!

When most people think about fasting, they think about detoxing the body by avoiding food and drinking only water or liquids.

But coming from a Christian background, I was taught about fasting as a way to grow spiritually, to spend more time with God. I was taught that the purpose of fasting was to spend the time you would normally be eating, meditating or praying instead. Also, hunger pangs could be used as a reminder to think about God.

Well, I never fast in that first context - by avoiding food. All that does is make me miserable and to think about food all the time. It definitely doesn't help me to be more spiritual. But spirituality is important to me; my relationship with God is important to me, and I think most people are interested in growing spiritually no matter what faith road they are on. I think it's an important component to being human.

The Purpose

For years I have been approaching fasting from a very different perspective - by breaking it down and thinking about what it's purpose actually is. The purpose is to remove something from your life so that you have more time to think about or do something else that's important to you. So, I often will think about what in my life is consuming me. What is getting in the way. What takes up too much of my time, or what distracts me. Sometimes this thing can be important to me and sometimes it can be unimportant but intrusive.

Then, I will decide to eliminate that thing for a certain period of time, and choose to use that time to either pray or offer praise to God (and sometimes that means using that time to bless others...it's not always reclusive in nature).

Why am I bringing this up today?

So why am I bringing this up? Honestly, I have been feeling pretty dry spiritually lately, and I long to have a deeper spiritual desire and closeness to God. I decided that I wanted to do something that would help me to redirect my focus. I thought about what in my life consumes my time, but is either unnecessary, or I could do without. I immediately thought of the internet. I receive so many health and wellness newsletters so I can stay up-to-date with what's happening in my field. These newsletters lead me to links online that lead me to more links online. I asked myself how valuable these newsletters have been to me over the last year. The truth is, most of the information doesn't help me that much. Only a few of the newsletters have really made a difference to my work.

So, I decided that I'm going to "fast" from the internet for the next 4 weeks. I'm choosing 2 sites where I can get important news. The New York Times Online, and Democracy Now (if you don't know about Democracy Now www.democracynow.org, it's an excellent, independent news source for world, political, and local news. It is hosted by two leading journalists They broadcast on WBAI at 9am every morning). That means I'm deleting all other newsy newsletters that come into my inbox, and I'm only going online when I have to look up something specific, or if I'm getting news updates from the above sources.

The idea for doing this is that I want to use the extra time this will leave me to spend more time praying, and more time giving my time to the people I love.

If You Are Creative

This is a great exercise if you are a creative individual who procrastinates on projects as well. Looking for something in your life that you can "fast" from in order to spend more dedicated time producing something else that's in your heart.

If you are not spiritual or creative, but have a project that you are trying to get around to doing....again, this is another way you can move forward.

I'm starting TODAY! :-)

Next week I'm going to start talking about preparing for the New Year! Stay tuned!

P.S. BLOG UPDATE: I will no longer be posting these articles on the blog. My business coach told me that it causes your ratings in google search engines to go down because you are posting the same thing on two different sites. But for now, the blog is still up if you want to make comments or interact with other readers.

Have a fantastic Thursday and Friday!

Love
Melissa

Private coaching is available in-person and via the phone. melissa@myheartdances.com