About Blaine

BlaineWilkes

I’m changing my business

A couple of weeks ago, I shared that I’m making some business changes and that I would let you know more this week. It’s taken me years to make this decision. Sometimes, I’m lightning-fast, and sometimes, I’m a turtle.  This choice has been a sleepy-turtle-paced affair. In 2019, I started doing part-time contract work for Lauren Walker, founder of Energy Medicine Yoga. At the time, I owned a brick-and-mortar yoga studio and agreed to help her out on the side. In 2020, the pandemic reshaped both of our worlds. EMYoga, an online company, flourished while my yoga studio faced unprecedented [...]

By |April 18th, 2024|Categories: Personal Growth|Comments Off on I’m changing my business

What’s red, tart and helps in the loo?

OMG ya’ll, I learned so much on the vegan cruise. It was fantastic. I loved it so much! And every single one of my friends who went with me have already signed up for next year’s cruise. Everyone thought it was amazing! The only tension was that at nearly every moment you had to decide… Do I go to the pool or go to a lecture? Even when we were at port and could get off the ship at someplace like the Bahamas, it was: Do I go to the beach or go to a lecture? The lectures were that [...]

By |March 16th, 2024|Categories: Plants|Comments Off on What’s red, tart and helps in the loo?

My best energy technique to get to sleep at night

Tomorrow, I’m leaving for a Vegan Cruise! Really, it’s like a floating conference. There are dozens of doctors, nutritionists, authors and fitness professionals leading lectures and classes and every day is jam-packed with speakers, panel sessions, cooking classes and activity choices. And, of course, delicious vegan food!  To me, the cruise also marks the end of the long snow-bird experience I set myself up for this winter. I arrived in Florida on October 24th and I’m returning home to Colorado on March 14th, shortly after the end of the cruise. The pros and cons of snow-birding for this long are [...]

By |February 28th, 2024|Categories: Energy|Comments Off on My best energy technique to get to sleep at night

Trends in Health: What Women Over 50 Are Curious About

One of the things I love about leading Radical Health Accelerator is observing the types of questions I get and seeing what the trends are. I know that what the women in the program are curious about at any given time is a window into what other health-minded women over 50 in the US (and in other countries, we have 5 countries represented in this year’s RHA) are exploring in their own lives. Since we cover exercise, diet and energy in the program, the questions run the gamut but this year there’s a strong interest in eliminating dairy. It makes [...]

By |February 7th, 2024|Categories: Plants|Comments Off on Trends in Health: What Women Over 50 Are Curious About

Muscles for Life: How I’m Preparing for a Stronger Future

A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog about “training for my old lady body” and how all the work I’m doing now to build muscle and strengthen bone isn’t about how I look today (although I do like the aesthetic benefits), it’s about how well I’ll function in the last decade or two of my life. Since then, I’ve received several emails, texts and flexing-bicep emojis from lots of YOU so I know that this idea resonates and you too want to exercise for your old lady body. Recently, I got a DEXA scan (a special, full body x-ray) [...]

By |February 3rd, 2024|Categories: Personal Growth|Comments Off on Muscles for Life: How I’m Preparing for a Stronger Future

Reflecting on January: How Does Your Time Reflect Your Priorities?

Hi  I'm checking in today because we’re gettin’ round to the end of January which means that 2024 is almost 1/12th over. If you’re taking the 3-month program, Radical Health Accelerator with me, we’re almost at the end of week three. This means it’s a great time for everyone to pick up their head for a moment, take stock, and consider how this month has been for you. As I wrote about last week, my philosophy in life is BE-DO-BE-DO, meaning I go back and forth between doing things and resting and reflecting. I think that where we are in [...]

By |January 27th, 2024|Categories: Personal Growth, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on Reflecting on January: How Does Your Time Reflect Your Priorities?

It’s Time to Challenge Those Social Media Quotes

Do you have any phrases that just irk you? Ones that people post on social media all the time and talk about like they’re facts and you think, “No! I don’t think that’s how it is”? I’ve been noticing a bunch of popular quotes and phrases like that. Here’s one I’m seeing a lot right now, I think because we’re in January goal-setting season and counterculture is trying to slow that down. Here it is: You’re a human BEING, not a human DOING. While that sounds all nice and relaxing and everything, we’re not just here to chill out. Of [...]

By |January 20th, 2024|Categories: Personal Growth, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on It’s Time to Challenge Those Social Media Quotes

Food for Thought: Are We All Biased?

WOW! I’ve been cruising along here in Florida, doing my thing, teaching yoga, running a business, and watching sunsets.  But over the course of the last week I’ve been hammered every single day by text, email, direct message, you name it, with people asking me if I’ve seen the new Netflix documentary called You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment. The documentary is about a research study at Stanford Medicine where they took 22 sets of identical twins and placed one on a vegan diet and one on an omnivore diet and then tracked a range of health measures. [...]

By |January 11th, 2024|Categories: Plants, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on Food for Thought: Are We All Biased?

From Goal Setting to Goal Getting

OMG, I’m going extra crazy on my goal setting this year. Actually, it’s not the goal setting I’m spending all of my time on, it’s the research. Particularly neuroscience. Part of me is tempted to write you a huge synopsis on what I’ve learned recently, but the *smarter* part of me thinks you’ll yawn and delete this email halfway though so I’m not doing that. What I do want to share with you though is the most impactful book I read in 2023 that’s loosely related to goal setting but is actually closer to goal tracking.  The book was recommended [...]

By |January 3rd, 2024|Categories: Personal Growth|Comments Off on From Goal Setting to Goal Getting

A New Chapter of Strength: Why Women Over 50 Need to Prioritize Muscle Health

One of the things I love about getting older is that I can look back and see how my favorite subjects have both changed and stayed the same over time. It’s also validating because even when I was in my early 20s, I had a sense that this would be true and it’s exactly the reason why I don’t have a tattoo. When I was Miss-Aerobics-Instructor-of-the-Year I was sponsored by Nike. When I wasn’t working at the hospital, I was wearing Nike everything all the time. I freaking loved that company and I seriously considered getting a Nike Swoosh tattoo. [...]

By |December 27th, 2023|Categories: Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on A New Chapter of Strength: Why Women Over 50 Need to Prioritize Muscle Health

How I’m going for it in 2024!

Hi there! I know you’re in the bustle of holiday stuff, but in case you’re also slightly peeking into 2024 and trying to figure out what you want to focus on, I have a little story for you. It’s a story I’d forgotten about, but as I’m doing my own journaling and exploration about what I want 2024 to look like for me, this memory returned to me and I’m using it as a metaphor for how I’d like to approach next year. I used to do a lot of racing like marathons and triathlons. When you do a race [...]

By |December 20th, 2023|Categories: Personal Growth|Comments Off on How I’m going for it in 2024!

Are Your Choices Truly Yours?

Imagine you’re standing at the grocery store in front of all the plant milks. You want to buy some non-dairy milk, and maybe also a non-dairy coffee creamer. You’re looking at the marketing on the packages and maybe reading some labels. You might even have some criteria that you’re applying to your choice, such as a low amount of sugar per serving. You finally select one and put it in your shopping cart. Was that a conscious decision or an unconscious one? Most likely, unconscious. We know from neuroscience that a healthy human brain can process 400 billion bits of [...]

By |December 5th, 2023|Categories: Energy|Comments Off on Are Your Choices Truly Yours?

Unlock Inner Calm: Beating Irritability with a Simple Technique

Do you ever just feel edgy? I felt like that when I first arrived in Florida a few weeks ago (I’m here for 4 months this winter. Yes, I’m an official snowbird). I love coming to our home here and I’ve done it for several years now, so I was confused by all the internal irritability I experienced when I was settling in. I felt like I was on low-simmer and couldn’t get comfortable in my own skin.  After thinking about it for quite some time, the only thing I could come up with was that I was going through [...]

By |November 15th, 2023|Categories: Energy|Comments Off on Unlock Inner Calm: Beating Irritability with a Simple Technique

From Self-Criticism to Self-Compassion

Sometimes, I call our current era “The Zoom Age.” I already used Zoom regularly before the pandemic because it was how I met with the EMYoga team twice a week. But I didn’t teach yoga on Zoom or depend on it for my business to nearly the degree that I do now. And really, I wouldn’t even have the business I currently have or be working in Florida for the winter like I am if it wasn’t for technology like Zoom. But there is one thing that I dislike about using Zoom for several hours a day and it’s not [...]

By |November 8th, 2023|Categories: Personal Growth, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on From Self-Criticism to Self-Compassion

How to spice up your life: The chili contest that changed my cooking forever!

Have I ever told you about that time I entered a chili cooking contest? It was 2012 and I’d been vegan for about 3 years. A friend was holding a chili cook-off as a fundraiser for their local fire department and the judges were the firefighters themselves. Even though I didn’t cook with meat and this was a “normal” standard-American-diet chili party, I decided I’d enter a veggies-only chili. I went a little crazy preparing for it by creating and testing several chili recipes of my own design and deciding which one I thought was the most tasty.  Over the [...]

By |October 31st, 2023|Categories: Plants|Comments Off on How to spice up your life: The chili contest that changed my cooking forever!

The Ripple Effect of Quitting: How Giving Up on Yourself Can Sabotage Success

Last weekend, I was having lunch with some girlfriends and we got into a discussion about committing to do new things (meditation, journaling, eating healthier, getting up earlier for self care, consistent exercise, etc.) But then quitting while still in the this-is-new-and-uncomfortable phase OR not even showing up for ourselves and actually giving it a try. Fortunately, as often happens due to the intelligent ways of the Universe, I’d read some studies on quitting just a couple of days before our lunch.  And, since the science and energy of habit-change is one of my most favorite subjects, it was fun [...]

By |October 18th, 2023|Categories: Personal Growth|Comments Off on The Ripple Effect of Quitting: How Giving Up on Yourself Can Sabotage Success

From Trophies to Transformation: A Letting Go Story

Just checking in on you… have you got the memo yet? It’s fall which means it’s time to let go. Be like the tree, drop your leaves, trust that you won’t ever miss them or wish that you still had them when you’re shivering in the cold. Rejoice in your bare, naked, lonely and exposed emotions! Yes, I’m being a little sarcastic there, but I do feel like the relentless LET GO chant of autumn, while well intentioned, doesn’t dig deep enough into the fact that sometimes it is really hard. It’s true that you need to let go of [...]

By |October 11th, 2023|Categories: Personal Growth, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on From Trophies to Transformation: A Letting Go Story

A Journey of Healing and Connection: The Yoga Way

I’m going to start this newsletter for you today with a kind of sad story, but it gets better so hang with me. Not so long ago, in a past iteration of Blaine, when I was in the corporate career phase of my life, I didn’t have a lot of true friends. My closest friends were my triathlon training buddies, but I traveled 100% for my job so I wasn’t home to train with them that much. I had work friends too but they were merely that - work friends. For my job, a couple of times a year I’d [...]

By |October 5th, 2023|Categories: Personal Growth, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on A Journey of Healing and Connection: The Yoga Way

Connecting with Fall’s Essence: Three Ways to Tune In

This, my friends, is my favorite time of the year. On Sunday, the day after the fall equinox, I went out for a gorgeous paddle on a local lake with my girlfriends. Then we filled our bellies at a new 100% plant-based restaurant that one of the women in our group recently opened in Boulder, CO. Next, we walked around the Fall Festival that was happening right near her restaurant. All on a glorious bluebird day! I absolutely love the harvest season, which in Chinese Five Element theory is represented by the earth element. It is an earthy time of [...]

By |September 26th, 2023|Categories: Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on Connecting with Fall’s Essence: Three Ways to Tune In

How I finally found mental peace.

What you are is what you have been. What you will be is what you do now.                                   ~ Lord Buddha In 2013, I had a full-time corporate career with 100% travel. I was also a serious athlete, competing in marathons and triathlons in the US, Mexico and Europe.  I had a coach who, from a training and racing perspective, guided every step I took. What she said to do, I did. She was an Olympian who’d achieved every athletic achievement she’d set out for and I’m someone who’s great at adhering to a plan. Work? That was going great. Competition? [...]

By |September 14th, 2023|Categories: Personal Growth, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on How I finally found mental peace.

Mastering Consistent Meditation

Thank you to all of you who did the Fall Energy Reset with me. It seemed like everyone there was so smiley and joyful! Leading it was my favorite part of those five days. It’s crazy how fast 20 minutes flies by! If you missed it, each day had a theme. They were: Tune into your energy: You learn about your energy by paying attention to it. Energy wants to move. Energy needs space to move. Energy runs in patterns and habits. It takes consistency to repattern your energy. All five of the themes are true and important, but today [...]

By |September 12th, 2023|Categories: Energy, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on Mastering Consistent Meditation

Awaken Your Inner Vitality: The Magic of Daily Energy Practices

Have you ever learned a new thing that was so mind blowing that you wonder how you possibly lived as many years as you’ve been alive without knowing about it? For me, that’s how it was with energy medicine. Firstly, as someone who was formally educated in Western medicine and also had a 20+ year career in it, I always knew there was something else going on. Learning energy medicine brought me the biggest “aha moment” I’ve ever experienced! ~ Side tango ~ I think There’s Something Else Going On is a potential book title for a future book I [...]

By |September 5th, 2023|Categories: Energy, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on Awaken Your Inner Vitality: The Magic of Daily Energy Practices

How to energize your immune system

Did you know you have a small organ that makes white blood cells, called T-cells, and plays a huge part in training your body to fight infections and cancer cells? It's also vital to the body's chemical messaging or endocrine system (also known as your hormones). It’s called your thymus gland. Historically believed to only be active from when you're born until you become a teenager, energy healers (and now modern science) know otherwise. In Western medicine, there’s a disturbing trend where if doctors don’t understand something in our body it’s deemed unimportant, useless, and a candidate for removal (often [...]

By |August 31st, 2023|Categories: Energy|Comments Off on How to energize your immune system

The One Best Thing for Consistent Energy

Yesterday, I was interviewed for a program on depression and loneliness. We talked about how to energetically get unstuck, achieve emotional balance and feel optimism and joy in your life. Of all the energy practices and techniques we discussed, the one that I emphasized the most was The Homolateral Crossover Re-Patterning Exercise. I emphasized it because if someone is depressed, their energies are almost certainly running in a homolateral pattern. Homolateral simply means that the energies are not crossing over well.  Our DNA is a spiraling double helix which digs down into our bloodstream and spins out into our organs [...]

By |August 29th, 2023|Categories: Energy|Comments Off on The One Best Thing for Consistent Energy

Why Fall Beats January 1: Seize the Season!

I’m back from my trip to Vancouver Island (and Cortes Island where I worked at an EMYoga retreat at an incredible location called Hollyhock). I mean, just look at this garden at Hollyhock! When you combine the vacation part of my trip with the work part, I was gone for an incredible 18 days of new experiences and renewal. Now that I’m home, there’s a new moon (time to reset and create) and my birthday is on Friday (time to reflect and plan). And… to put the cherry on top of all of this plant-new-seeds energy, we’re approaching fall in [...]

By |August 16th, 2023|Categories: Personal Growth|Comments Off on Why Fall Beats January 1: Seize the Season!

My top tips for healthy eating while traveling

When you’re considering going out to dinner with a group and/or taking a trip, do you: 1) not even think about the food or 2) immediately launch into research mode so you know what you’re going to eat before you even arrive? Me? I do #2. There are several memes about plant-based eaters themed around how we memorize entire restaurant menus before we arrive. Two of the most common questions I get are about eating at restaurants and eating while traveling. I had a 100% travel job for 6 years after becoming a vegan (and 14 years as a vegetarian). [...]

By |August 8th, 2023|Categories: Plants, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on My top tips for healthy eating while traveling

The uncomfortable truth about vacation.

When you go on vacation, do you fully relax? Does your central nervous system actually calm down enough that you can enjoy yourself and get some well-earned rest? I hope it does. I’m not finding that on this vacation yet, but I can’t decide if it’s just because I’m so tuned into my body that I notice every uncomfortable energetic flutter. On other vacations that I’ve had in my life, I think I did get to check out of my daily tension caused by meeting schedules and a bulging to-do list. But at those times, I wasn’t tuned into my [...]

By |August 1st, 2023|Categories: Energy|Comments Off on The uncomfortable truth about vacation.

5 Weeks of Discipline: Embracing Change and Reaping the Benefits

5 weeks ago, I started a new diet and exercise routine. I don’t remember ever being on a diet before. Maybe when I was a teenager I tried something for 3 days, or I did a 5-day detox thing when I used to drink… but never a sustained calorie counting thing like this is. Since turning 50 a year ago and knowing menopause was just around the corner, I’ve been playing pitch-and-catch inside my brain about what the right course of action should be for me to increase muscle mass. I knew that there are two sides to that equation: [...]

By |July 25th, 2023|Categories: Personal Growth|Comments Off on 5 Weeks of Discipline: Embracing Change and Reaping the Benefits

Protein, post-menopause and… potatoes?

I hope you're sitting down because I’m about to share with you one of my favorite brain-boggling plant-based protein facts. Whenever I teach this in a class, people’s minds are blown. It’s just so counter to what popular diet culture says that there’s a juicy little moment of silence after I talk where people are trying to process what I just told them. You know how white potatoes get a bad rap? Supposedly, they’re full of starch and “bad” carbs and are nutritionally void? It’s not true. White potatoes are full of essential nutrients and vitamins and are an excellent [...]

By |July 19th, 2023|Categories: Plants|Comments Off on Protein, post-menopause and… potatoes?

This is the exact definition of menopause

I usually don’t send newsletters on Mondays, but today is a special day for me. It’s my menopause day! If you don’t know when the exact date of YOUR menopause day was (if you’re in post-menopause), I’d say you’re pretty normal. I only know mine because I’ve been tracking it for a couple of years. The exact medical definition of menopause is the day when a woman has gone 12 consecutive months without a menstrual period. So we’re only “in menopause” for one day. On average, menopause happens at age 51.  I’ll be 51 in exactly 31 days so I’d [...]

By |July 18th, 2023|Categories: Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on This is the exact definition of menopause

Ditching the dropout: How to stay committed from start to finish.

Last week, I wrote to you about how the Fire element (from the Chinese Five Elements) which is always up in the Summer, was making me a little unbalanced, ungrounded and mistake-prone.  If you missed that newsletter, you can read it here. The personal story I shared with you in that writing demonstrated the “negative” side of Fire-out-of-balance energy But Fire energy season has a fabulous positive side too! In this season, we often feel enthusiastic and want to accomplish a lot of things during the longer days with all the sunlight. I lived in Anchorage, Alaska for a couple [...]

By |July 13th, 2023|Categories: Personal Growth|Comments Off on Ditching the dropout: How to stay committed from start to finish.

Are you feeling ungrounded this summer?

How has the 4th of July week been for you?  Has it been a little frenetic? Or calm and peaceful? For me, four nights straight with fireworks disrupting my sleep and a Tuesday holiday that interrupted my workflow has me a little (really, a LOT) ungrounded. In fact, yesterday I had to email a few of my students a message entitled “I messed up!” because I taught an EMYoga class one hour early on Zoom (I taught it at my Saturday time and not my Wednesday time, on Wednesday.)  Those students had all patiently waited for me on Zoom at [...]

By |July 7th, 2023|Categories: Energy|Comments Off on Are you feeling ungrounded this summer?

The basics of tofu, plus recipes!

This is tofu. 😊 A couple of weeks ago, an incredible cohort of women finished my signature 90-day program, Radical Health Accelerator. Taking women over 50 through this program is often as enlightening for me as it is for them. No two groups are ever the same. Each has its own personality, similarities and differences which makes every program experience unique, fun and full of happy, high-five “a-ha” moments. In this most recent group, many women were intimidated by tofu - and overcame it! In case you’re not exactly sure what to do with the white jiggly stuff, I’m dedicating [...]

By |June 30th, 2023|Categories: Plants|Comments Off on The basics of tofu, plus recipes!

Could you have detox overload?

What detox isn’t: a short term, restrictive diet type of activity. What it is: a way that you take care of yourself every day to support your natural detox pathways. With a little support, your body is great at cleansing itself! If you’ve taken in more toxins than your body can reasonably deal with, it tries to expel them by any means it can. If you're struggling to keep up, that’s sign you could be in toxic overload. If you’re not sure if you could have (or ever have had) toxic overload, here are some common symptoms: constipation or diarrhea, [...]

By |June 21st, 2023|Categories: Energy|Comments Off on Could you have detox overload?

The opposite of the Law of Attraction

I have three business coaches.  Yes, you read that right, three. And a strength coach. I think all good coaches have their own coaches. If there’s one thing I’ve learned on my path, it’s that I’ve wasted too much time trying to figure things out on my own. If I’d just sought out help, I’d have avoided a lot of stubborn struggling that didn’t serve me or anyone else. Sometimes, business coach advice can just as easily be life advice. There’s a gem I learned early on as I was winding down my yoga studio and winding up my online [...]

By |June 18th, 2023|Categories: Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on The opposite of the Law of Attraction

Discovering the Surprising Ways We All Teach

Looking at what I do now, this may seem hard to believe but I never thought I’d be a teacher. Sure, I started leading group fitness classes and became a personal trainer while in college but I didn’t put that into the bucket of "teaching." That was a job. A way to make money while exercising, something I was going to be doing anyway. Same thing with coaching athletes, healthy lifestyle, plant-based nutrition, yoga, meditation - I took something I was interested in and loved to do and then became professional at it. What I know now is that we’re all [...]

By |June 8th, 2023|Categories: Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on Discovering the Surprising Ways We All Teach

Overcoming Fear: Embracing Change for a Healthy Life

Last week, in an email to you, I shared that I’m at a place in my life where I need a change. If you missed why, you can read it here. I make a living by teaching energy, health and longevity for women over 50. There are many components to it: daily energy routines, yoga, eating a diet rich in a variety of plants, getting enough sleep, eliminating alcohol, meditation and contemplation, regular cardiovascular exercise and strength training. I don’t teach anything that I can’t/won’t do myself. I spend a lot of time learning from my teachers and reading research specific [...]

By |June 8th, 2023|Categories: Personal Growth|Comments Off on Overcoming Fear: Embracing Change for a Healthy Life

The scary journey of personal growth.

I used to be a marathon coach for beginner marathoners. Many of my students were new to running and chose to tackle a marathon for fundraising purposes. Often someone close to them (a spouse or family member) had recently been diagnosed with cancer or another disease and they felt paralyzed and helpless. Instead of treading water in their stress and grief, these motivated souls would register for a marathon in partnership with a research organization and fundraise for a cure. Running 26.2 miles was the carrot to encourage people they knew to donate. At this point in my running career, I’d [...]

By |June 1st, 2023|Categories: Personal Growth|Comments Off on The scary journey of personal growth.

Learning to be comfortable being uncomfortable.

I have two friends who divorced one another over a year ago. I think it’s safe to say that, pre-divorce, they were both fairly similar to me. They cared about their health, ate a plant-heavy diet, exercised consistently, worked hard at jobs that positively impacted people and were fun to be around. The divorce was hard on both of them. Wrenching. Depleting. Exhausting. Soul-crushing. It was catastrophic. Observing what happened next, from the place from where I could see, illuminated the power of the choices that we make, both in and through a crisis. She changed careers and moved to [...]

By |May 25th, 2023|Categories: Personal Growth, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on Learning to be comfortable being uncomfortable.

Is your attachment slowing your growth?

What kind of a shopper are you? Do you go to the store every day and only have a couple of days of groceries on hand at any time? Or do you do big once-a-week shops? Berk (my partner) and I encompass both. I’m more of a daily shopper and he’s a hardcore Costco shopper. On one of our first dates, back when we were in that get-to-know-each-other phase, I asked him what his favorite thing to do was. His reply? Food shopping. (Seriously, that’s what he said.) I started eating a vegan diet almost 15 years ago. Back then people [...]

By |May 23rd, 2023|Categories: Personal Growth, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on Is your attachment slowing your growth?

The hardest part of being a woman.

Have you ever lost yourself in a relationship? It used to happen to me like clockwork. Whenever I’d get involved with someone new, Blaine as I knew her would disappear. Or so I thought... What I know now is that I entered the relationship already lost. I started straying from myself long before I was old enough to date. Like so many of you, I was conditioned from a young age to hold myself back and give, give, give to ensure the needs of others, especially men, were met before my own. It was my blueprint as a woman. I was [...]

By |May 18th, 2023|Categories: Personal Growth, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on The hardest part of being a woman.

The energy of worry

My partner, Berk, is a worrier. His sister is too. Berk and I have a rental property near Sarasota, FL and his sister lives full time nearby. Whenever some kind of weather event is headed that direction, I need to strategically leave the room when they talk on the phone. The conversation starts spinning fast, decorated with worst case scenarios and predictions of total devastation. Worry talk from Berk spills over to me in direct ways too: "Be careful driving…" and "Don’t leave after dark…" and "Don’t run outside…" These types of directives are issued my way every day. Berk [...]

By |May 16th, 2023|Categories: Personal Growth, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on The energy of worry

Is the “American Dream” all it’s cracked up to be?

I grew up programmed to live the “American Dream.” Be a good girl… go to college… climb the corporate ladder... buy a comfortable home… save a bunch of money… retire… die. I decided to skip the marriage and kids part though. I think that was a combination of childhood trauma and being too busy trying to be the best ever at all of the things above. [SIDE TANGO] I was at a Zoom meeting last week with a young woman I’m mentoring. She’s in her 20s. She said “You see Blaine, since the pandemic, women have to make this decision. They need [...]

By |May 9th, 2023|Categories: Personal Growth, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on Is the “American Dream” all it’s cracked up to be?

Traits of the modern matriarch

What does it mean to you to be a matriarch? It’s a role I’ve been thinking about lately, that of the modern matriarch. How women have so much power, even if we don’t see it all yet.  Our power can be used first to fulfill ourselves but at the same time, also forge a path to make it easier for other women to be leaders too. Even though I never had children, I’m fully devoted to growing myself into a modern matriarch. It’s eye-opening how many women around me who, even though they are educated, haven’t yet fully discovered that [...]

By |May 4th, 2023|Categories: Personal Growth|Comments Off on Traits of the modern matriarch

The next chapter after quitting corporate life.

Last week, someone asked me how I liked Anchorage, Alaska from my time working there on a high-stakes corporate project. “I don’t think I can give it a fair assessment,” I replied. “I was so miserable back then.” If you had met 10-years-ago Blaine, I’m not sure you’d recognize her as the same person I am now. Sure, I looked like a 10 years younger me, but my vibe was intense. I was fiercely competitive, relentlessly comparing myself to an impossible standard, managing large teams of people to meet aggressive work deadlines, living in gyms, hotels, boardrooms and bars, pushing myself [...]

By |May 2nd, 2023|Categories: Personal Growth, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on The next chapter after quitting corporate life.

Internet research: cautions and pitfalls.

One of my missions is to help women step into their own power about health and wellness. Each and every one of us is an individual. While we’re all human and female and over 50, which gives us similarities, we still have so much about us that is unique. In my personal health journey, I’ve learned that I need a team around me to help me see my blind spots. I used to think I could do everything alone, and that’s what made me sick! Now, instead of going solo in everything: understanding my health, growing my business or nurturing [...]

By |April 27th, 2023|Categories: Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on Internet research: cautions and pitfalls.

The truth about soy.

A couple of weeks ago, I was at a business networking event for women. As we were chatting and getting to know one another, a woman at the table next to me was talking loudly about a nutrition shake she enjoys. "It’s plant based! It doesn’t have soy" she exclaimed. I was mid-conversation with a friend who already knew me from before this meeting. She stopped what she was saying and locked eyes with me with raised eyebrows. I knew where she was coming from with that look. "Yes, soy IS a plant" I wearily replied to her. There are [...]

By |April 25th, 2023|Categories: Plants, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on The truth about soy.

How to make your own healthy hummus.

Do you love hummus? I grew up in Oklahoma City in the 70s and 80s. As you know, most grocery stores didn’t have near the variety back then as we have now. Especially, in small-ish oil derrick towns like what I grew up in. I stopped eating meat when I was a pre-teen so my mother didn’t quite know what to do with me. In our town, there was one little Mediterranean deli at the back of a tiny grocery store that had "exotic delicacies" like hummus and falafel. Neither my brother nor my father were interested in eating any [...]

By |April 20th, 2023|Categories: Plants, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on How to make your own healthy hummus.

Store bought plant milk vs. make your own

I’ve been vegan for a long time, from way before it was cool. Lightyears before major awards shows and events like Coachella served fancy multi-course all vegan meals to celebrities to display their "woke-ness" (and I’m really happy that’s happening!) Back in the day, I’d have to drive 45 minutes to a hippy health food store to buy powdered soy milk powder and stir it in some water at home to make plant-based milk. Well, just look at the "dairy" case now! You may have noticed that I’m writing a little email series on FAQs I receive. Last week I wrote [...]

By |April 18th, 2023|Categories: Plants, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on Store bought plant milk vs. make your own

Supplements: choosing wisely.

Are you confused by supplements? Have you found yourself wondering: Should I take supplements? If so, which ones? How do I know they’re working and I’m not wasting money? Can I take too many? Do they negatively interact with one another? What about side effects? Women ask me about supplements, a lot. So, I’m putting my generic answer here and also on the blog on my website where many of my newsletters find a permanent home. Firstly, supplements are drugs. It’s why your doctor asks you if you're taking any drugs or supplements. Supplements create chemical reactions in your body, so they shouldn’t be taken [...]

By |April 13th, 2023|Categories: Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on Supplements: choosing wisely.

A healthy, simple way to take care of dry skin

Yesterday, I returned home to Colorado. I’ve been gone a long time… but for happy reasons.I love the work I do and the flexibility I have to do it from anywhere, but each day I’m away from Berk and Jez (my cat) I feel a little more empty and now I’m in need of a deep soul refill.I was traveling to teach 90 hours of yoga teacher training over 3 training sessions - with 3 separate groups of women.None of these trainings were on skincare, however, in all three cohorts at least one woman asked me how I keep my [...]

By |April 11th, 2023|Categories: Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on A healthy, simple way to take care of dry skin

Clearing emotional and physical clutter

It’s Springtime and that means our thoughts turn to cleaning and decluttering our homes, opening our windows and letting in the sun. Do you have a growing pile of mail you've been meaning to get to but  just haven’t yet? Maybe there is a half-started project you're finding difficult to muster up enough energy to complete? Are there negative people in your life who keep bringing you down but you continue to put up with them anyway? I have a guest room downstairs that I wouldn’t allow any guest to actually enter. It’s the dumping ground of every box or [...]

By |April 6th, 2023|Categories: Personal Growth, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on Clearing emotional and physical clutter

How to Spring clean your energy

Last week was also both the spring equinox and the new moon, nestled right up against one another. I was personally feeling all of that new-beginning energy with the launch of the brand new Radical Health Accelerator, the new aerial studio, and I’m also starting a new running training program. It’s not too often that we have this kind of potent energy for planting new seeds, launching new projects, and setting fresh intentions.  So I've decided to use this time to take stock of what feels heavy and ready to be released and what I want to focus on to fill [...]

By |April 3rd, 2023|Categories: Energy, Personal Growth|Comments Off on How to Spring clean your energy

How to make needed changes stick for good.

I don’t know if you practice yoga or not… I know that many women in my online community do or have in the past, but not all of you.I’ve practiced and studied yoga for years. I get a lot from the ancient wisdom available within the teachings. It’s impossible for me to teach in my way without the influence of the teachers before me seeping in with their insight on how to live a life of peace, health, harmony, wellbeing and joy.Here in the West, we’ve reduced yoga to exercise, but yoga is really more of a lifestyle… a philosophy and a [...]

By |March 20th, 2023|Categories: Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on How to make needed changes stick for good.

How to change your own habits

I’ve sped way up since 2023 began. I think we've all had a similar experience: the years 2020 - 2022 were like walking through mud. Sure, I could list a bazillion things I did to keep a brick and mortar yoga studio in business during a pandemic and then deciding to jump though all the legal and financial hoops of selling it last summer… but it still felt like living life in slow motion. At the end of last year I did a big reset and now I feel lighter and motivated, with a fire-in-the-belly I haven’t had in a [...]

By |February 23rd, 2023|Categories: Energy|Comments Off on How to change your own habits

Your 50s: the best decade yet

Last Friday, I chatted on Zoom with a woman in North Carolina. A mutual friend introduced us to each other a few weeks ago by email and after a couple of written exchanges, we decided to meet last week. My new friend is a university professor who’s preparing to leave her career and start her second act in life. She’s looking for guidance and advice from someone who has already been walking that path for a few years. I’m always happy to support other women in whatever way I can so this was an easy yes. The meeting was a lovely 30 [...]

By |February 21st, 2023|Categories: Personal Growth, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on Your 50s: the best decade yet

How to prevent cognitive decline

    My partner, Berk, and I have been together for over 10 years. We met in a cycling club in Connecticut and were friends for a couple of years before we started dating. Our relationship has always had an easy flow to it. We’re both very independent and we respect each other a ton. I think that’s been a big key to our success. However, there is this one thing… Berk is close to his older sister, Heather. She lives in Florida and they talk on the phone almost every day. She’s retired now but she spent her career as [...]

By |February 18th, 2023|Categories: Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on How to prevent cognitive decline

Some advice about love

What I’ve learned about love… In 2018, I went to India to study spirituality, meditation, and a particular type of energy practice rooted in India thousands of years ago called Kriya. There, the spiritual master said something that I just did not believe: "You can’t love someone else more than you love yourself." He went on to explain that you can’t give something you don’t have, to which I thought: ok, I get that, but what about all those moms with their babies..? I pondered this ancient wisdom for a long time. When it came to training others how to be [...]

By |February 14th, 2023|Categories: Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on Some advice about love

Add in, don’t take out.

“I really don’t want to look like I’m incompetent,” I fretted to myself nervously… I was sitting in a sterile, clinical, hospital office in New York City, getting ready to see a new client, and my palms were sweaty. My feet were sweating too. This wasn’t my full-time, high profile corporate job where I would have been comfortable meeting someone new. This was a weekend “personal growth for me” nutrition client and I was very new at helping people in this way. I was seeing him for free but that didn’t make me feel any better. His name was Jeff, but I [...]

By |February 9th, 2023|Categories: Plants|Comments Off on Add in, don’t take out.

The top 7 foods for women over 50 continued

How would you describe your relationship with food? Do you eat for health, comfort, or distraction? Are you someone who stress eats? Is there guilt or shame around food for you? For the longest time, I didn’t understand food. I didn’t learn about eating like I learned about math, which was described to me as a necessary life skill. As I grew up, all I received was a little bit of guidance around the appropriate amount of food to eat. My mom was quick to tell me what was “too much” but that was really it. I was left to my own devices [...]

By |February 8th, 2023|Categories: Plants|Comments Off on The top 7 foods for women over 50 continued

The top 7 foods for women over 50

Many of you know how changing my diet radically changed my health and is a big part of my journey that led me to where I am today: writing you this email. In my personal transformation, there’s a key switch that was flipped, but it happened over time. Not so much like suddenly turning a light switch on, but more like a sunrise - slow, steady and beautiful. What happened was that my relationship with food changed from eating whatever I was in the mood for at the time to connecting what I ate with how I felt: my mood, emotions, self confidence, [...]

By |February 2nd, 2023|Categories: Plants|Comments Off on The top 7 foods for women over 50

Fighting to change that stubborn habit is worth it!

There was a time I considered creating my whole brand around habit change. I’d spent thousands of hours learning about it and was considered an expert. Whenever I’d put together a program to teach about habits, it would sell out. I also love to learn and teach about them. What else do you need to kick off a new career, right? I even considered branding myself “The Habit Queen.” Obviously, I ended up putting my brain power into another idea, so that one never blossomed. However, teaching about habit science / habit energy is baked into every single thing that I offer: [...]

By |January 26th, 2023|Categories: Energy, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on Fighting to change that stubborn habit is worth it!

Do you know what you want but find fatigue and frustration instead?

It’s already January 19th. How’s January treating you so far? For today’s newsletter, I partially wrote a piece called "The best and worst of 2023" to highlight a few things I see going on in the wellness industry, but I decided it was stating the obvious and let those words go. I'm sticking with the January theme though. As a group fitness instructor in gyms and studios for over 20 years, I hated early January. For the first two weeks of the year, I’d have to teach exercise classes to all the people who faithfully attended my workouts every single week, all [...]

By |January 19th, 2023|Categories: Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on Do you know what you want but find fatigue and frustration instead?

Did you read this bold article about the dangers of alcohol?

Last weekend, one of the lovely women in this community sent me a New York Times article called Even a Little Alcohol Can Harm Your Health. Overall, I’m a big fan of this subject going mainstream. HUGE fan. It should have happened 15 years ago. If more major publications publish the truth about the health consequences of drinking, then more people will quit alcohol for health reasons and it won’t be so weird for people to not drink. Just that title makes me cheer out loud… The subtitle is good too: Recent research makes it clear that any amount of drinking [...]

By |January 17th, 2023|Categories: Personal Growth|Comments Off on Did you read this bold article about the dangers of alcohol?

How not to get cancer.

Several years ago, I heard a statement that I didn’t quite believe. Cancer may grow undetected for a decade or more. At the time, I thought that was wild. Isn’t cancer a "thing" when you feel the lump or the diagnostic test comes back positive? Nope, it starts way before that, and we now know it can be over 10 years in the making because researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine can prove it. What I understand now, that I didn’t back then, is this: every day, our body creates cancer cells. Mainstream media presents cancer as this chance thing that [...]

By |January 12th, 2023|Categories: Personal Growth|Comments Off on How not to get cancer.

Do you know the difference between your brain and your mind?

We all have a story… When people ask me how I got from a ladder-climbing, part-robot, corporate girl to who I am today, one of the first things I try to explain is what I named "the mean voice in my head." I’ve carried this voice around with me since I was a kid although I don’t remember her as a small child. I think she started bossing me around when I was a pre-teen. I’ve always been competitive and I’m not exactly sure what year my healthy motivation morphed into obsessive perfectionism. It took years of self work to get [...]

By |January 10th, 2023|Categories: Personal Growth, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on Do you know the difference between your brain and your mind?

Energy Medicine: What is it and how does it work?

We have some newer people in the community so I want to say welcome to you, , if you’re new here! And if you’ve been around for a long time - I’m so glad you’re with us and that you let me be a part of your crazy busy inbox. If you’ve ever taken a class with me, or one of the monthly free trainings (or really anything I do!) you’ve noticed I always sprinkle in a little energy work to get us all in balance.Energy medicine is a funny thing to talk about so I thought I’d take a moment [...]

By |January 7th, 2023|Categories: Energy|Comments Off on Energy Medicine: What is it and how does it work?

The best role model for you is you

Happy New Year ! I hope you had a happy holiday weekend and maybe even got a little rest and time with people you love. Berk and I spent New Year’s Eve at the beach until it got dark and then headed home for football, which he watched more of than I did because I was in bed at 8:45 pm. Perrrrrrrrfect! On New Year’s Day, we went to a friend’s home for brunch. Here in Florida, there are a bunch of snowbirds like us so the guests at the brunch were from all over the US. Well… mostly the [...]

By |January 4th, 2023|Categories: Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on The best role model for you is you

Permacrisis

I’ve always found my closest friends from taking (or teaching) group movement classes. Three times in my life, I’ve moved to new cities where I didn’t know one single person. Whenever I’d move to a new place, I’d try out several local gyms and studios and decide which ones I liked. Then I’d apply for a job there so I could teach a few classes and get a free membership. When I’d workout or teach, person by person, I’d make new friends and before I knew it, I’d have a local community. I’ve done it so many times, the formula [...]

By |December 29th, 2022|Categories: Personal Growth, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on Permacrisis

Gaslit in goblin mode

Have you heard? Merriam-Webster’s 2022 word of the year is "gaslighting." I usually don’t pay attention to official words of the year, but I think this is an interesting one. Merriam-Webster’s gaslight definition is: to psychologically manipulate (a person) usually over an extended period of time so that the victim questions the validity of their own thoughts, perception of reality, or memories and experiences confusion, loss of confidence and self-esteem, and doubts their own emotional or mental stability. Back in 2018, gaslight was Oxford English Dictionary’s runner-up word, so it’s been a contender for a while. In addition, Oxford English Dictionary’s word of the year is [...]

By |December 28th, 2022|Categories: Personal Growth|Comments Off on Gaslit in goblin mode

How unsexy is it to say “move lymph”? (But you gotta do it!)

There are times when I don't want to exercise. I love exercise! But if I’ve been sitting too much and I’m stagnant, it’s really hard to get motivated and moving. I liken this feeling to getting up in the morning. It’s a state change. I have to take myself from a state of sleeping in the dark lying down in stillness to a state of being upright and moving in the light. State changes are hard. Changing from sitting at a computer no-moving girl to workout heart pumping-sweating girl is a big leap. So I have to talk myself into it. When I was younger, my [...]

By |December 22nd, 2022|Categories: Personal Growth, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on How unsexy is it to say “move lymph”? (But you gotta do it!)

Do this simple cooling thing for anxiety and hot flashes

Well, here we are, smack dab in the holiday season: crazy, busy, cold and (mostly) fun. Even here in Florida, the temperature tanked last night and I got to experience a 45 degree morning run. It was the first time I’ve put on long sleeves to exercise since I arrived here a couple of months ago. Post run, I went to my Monday morning 7:45 am yoga class and the before and after class chitchat was all about busy-ness and to-do lists and feeling behind on holiday preparations. I swear, the concept of turning future planning off and doing yoga [...]

By |December 20th, 2022|Categories: Energy|Comments Off on Do this simple cooling thing for anxiety and hot flashes

Your family medical history. Does it even matter?

A fun fact about me that you might not already know is that both of my parents are adopted, only children. That means I’ve never had aunts, uncles, cousins and other relatives like that. It also means I know very little about my genetic code. Today we can undergo genetic testing pretty easily, but when I was a young adult making lifestyle choices, that wasn’t as prevalent as it is now. Luckily, because I’ve been fascinated by health for as long as I can remember, I was exposed to the study of epigenetics early in my life and way before [...]

By |December 6th, 2022|Categories: Personal Growth, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on Your family medical history. Does it even matter?

The biggest health mistake that happens millions of times a day

My brother, Kyle, and his wife came to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with Berk and I this year. Kyle is an executive with the YMCA. It’s all he’s ever done. His first job out of college was to be a YMCA Aquatics Director and now, at almost 50 years old, he’s still with the Y and has steadily been promoted within the organization over almost 30 years. In his role, Kyle gets to talk to many experts in the field of healthy lifestyles and exercise. When he was here last week he told me something that shouldn't be a surprise to [...]

By |December 1st, 2022|Categories: Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on The biggest health mistake that happens millions of times a day

Even though I’m vegan, in this case I support milk.

There’s a crazy story from last May that’s keeps popping up every now and then. Whenever I read it I’m reminded that some people think it’s inappropriate to not drink alcohol at traditional events that have booze, but this tale is extra fun because there’s a bizarre twist with milk. Here’s the scene: There are three sisters. The middle one got sober 4 months before the oldest sister’s wedding. The youngest sister (too young to drink, only 15) was very supportive of her now sober older (middle) sister and packed a special bag of non-alcoholic drinks for her to have at the [...]

By |November 29th, 2022|Categories: Personal Growth, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on Even though I’m vegan, in this case I support milk.

Do tension or triggers at family gatherings create more anxiety than fun?

What do you do when you feel like everyone thinks you're weird…? Right now, I’m at our rental property in Florida through December. We didn’t come down here for three years due to the pandemic, then we were here for 6 weeks last Christmas so while I love this place, I just haven’t spent a lot of time here lately. This year, it’s all about hurricane clean up so when I’m not working I’m building fences, replacing the roof on the lanai, painting and doing hundreds of other small repairs (or helping Berk do the big ones). We’re also celebrating [...]

By |November 15th, 2022|Categories: Energy, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on Do tension or triggers at family gatherings create more anxiety than fun?

A mean voice in your head. Do you have one of those?

Turns out, a lot of us are hyper-independent. Many of you also shared with me other habit patterns you have borne from trauma and, honestly, I think we all have them in one way or another, even if they’re not obvious. When I owned a yoga studio, I facilitated many workshops and trainings filled with women seeking positive change in their lives. In these groups, when I would share my story, I’d always talk about the mean voice in my head which was the pivotal breaking point that led me to yoga to begin with. Every time I told this [...]

By |November 10th, 2022|Categories: Energy, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on A mean voice in your head. Do you have one of those?

Are you someone who won’t ask for help? It might mean this.

I’m confused about trauma. Trauma with a big T, trauma with a little t, ancestral trauma, psychological trauma, complex trauma, societal trauma, chronic trauma… I know trauma is all around me and within me and it’s so big that I just can’t get my arms around it. I never identified as a person with trauma which is super confusing because that’s impossible, right? I know we can’t compare… but when I look at my privileged white girl life, even though I’ve had my share of tough things it’s not even close to the same ballpark as "real" trauma, I mean, it [...]

By |November 8th, 2022|Categories: Personal Growth, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on Are you someone who won’t ask for help? It might mean this.

Is this fake fun or is it real? Thoughts on Halloween, yoga and adulting

When I was on my recent vacation, I did a lot of physical things including biking, hiking and swimming. I got up early every single morning (even when I was jet-lagged) and diligently did my meditation and breathwork practice which was great (because how I feel when I don’t do that is NOT great). I walked and saw sights and played and explored but there was one thing I did not do: the physical practice of yoga. My yoga mat flew with me all the way to Spain and besides sitting on it for meditation and a small amount of [...]

By |November 3rd, 2022|Categories: Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on Is this fake fun or is it real? Thoughts on Halloween, yoga and adulting

Are you a safe person?

Yesterday afternoon, I received a call from a friend. She’s got some tough things going on and wanted to talk.This woman, whom I love, has some unique qualities. She tends to take a stand and fight against the policies of the companies whom she works with. Therefore, she often finds herself backed into a corner where she can either fall on her sword over the matter and end the business relationship, or give into the company and not get what she wants.In these battles, she always has a point. Policies are created for the many and there are exceptional situations [...]

By |November 1st, 2022|Categories: Personal Growth, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on Are you a safe person?

How to plan for your future without missing what’s happening in the present

Whoa nelly… things have changed a lot over the past couple of years. For me, for you, for everyone we know. My job today is a completely different reality than my little brain could have ever dreamed up back in 2020. Today, I primarily teach online about how to be a thriving, healthy woman over 50 using the vehicles of: Energy (daily energy routines, exercise, yoga, meditation) Drinking less (or no) alcohol Eating more plants (and less animal and highly processed food) Just a few months ago, I owned a brick and mortar yoga studio. My whole life has led me to where [...]

By |October 20th, 2022|Categories: Personal Growth, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on How to plan for your future without missing what’s happening in the present

Does worry hijack your happy?

Taking a vacation with someone is a funny thing. I’ve heard it said that before a couple gets married, they should vacation together. If one person envisions their perfect vacation as lying on the beach all day and another as visiting a large city and museum touring the whole trip, there could be a problem. Luckily, Berk and I both like very active vacations. When Berk and I are on a cycling vacation, he’s the planner. He studies the maps, looks at the weather, thinks about the pros and cons of riding this way or that and determines our routes. [...]

By |October 18th, 2022|Categories: Personal Growth, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on Does worry hijack your happy?

Do you have the ticket to fun?

Last night, Berk and I went out to dinner in Mallorca. We have a VRBO so we cook dinner in the kitchen at our little house near the beach about half of the time and we go out to dinner the other half. Lunch is often at little cafes we stop at as we’re biking or hiking. As someone who doesn’t drink anymore, I can’t help but notice all of the alcohol consumption around here: breakfast, lunch and dinner. Including daytime drinking by cyclists who are going to get right back on their bike. I grew up in a house [...]

By |October 13th, 2022|Categories: Personal Growth, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on Do you have the ticket to fun?

Drifting, fear and the devil’s darkest work – all on a bicycle in paradise

For those of you who've read my past few newsletters, you know I’m one week into a three week bicycling trip in Mallorca, Spain. Berk (my Partner) and I chose Mallorca for this trip because it’s known as a fantastic place for two-wheeled explorations. The bike routes can be flat, steep and everything in between. The island has a mountainous northern coast and we love climbing the sweeping switchbacks and taking in the immense sea views. There are also LOTS of other cyclists here so we ride with crowds of other riders frequently. Riding close to someone you don’t know [...]

By |October 11th, 2022|Categories: Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on Drifting, fear and the devil’s darkest work – all on a bicycle in paradise

Do you have anxiety? Here’s how to turn that nervousness to joy

Hi , I'm still in Mallorca (this trip is three weeks long). I’ve received a few messages from people who haven’t heard of Mallorca. It’s a Spanish island in the Mediterranean. Berk and I decided to travel here because we like to take cycling trips together (we first met in a cycling club in Connecticut) and Mallorca is known as a great place for biking. If you’ve ever watched the Tour de France, many of those teams travel here to train every year. Yesterday, we rode our bikes up to a lighthouse on a cliff. On paper, the ride didn’t [...]

By |October 6th, 2022|Categories: Personal Growth, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on Do you have anxiety? Here’s how to turn that nervousness to joy

Want to know the best way to ruin a great trip?

I made it to Mallorca, Spain! I wrote last week about all the hurricane challenges that rattled the bones of this trip and there were a few more shakes along the way but I’m finally here and really happy. And thankfully my home in the Sarasota area is mostly ok! There’s damage for sure and huge trees down that missed the house by one inch! But in relation to what’s going on down there, my house is fine. International travel is typically challenging and ya'll know me: I like challenges! So much that I sometimes take already challenging things and add [...]

By |October 4th, 2022|Categories: Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on Want to know the best way to ruin a great trip?

My trip to Florida this week?

I’ve had a challenging couple of days… In April, my partner Berk and I hatched a plan and we chose this week in September for it to happen. It involves our second home in Sarasota, Florida that we rarely get to. The plan was we (he, I and our cat) would fly to the Tampa airport on Tuesday and hang out at our home in Sarasota until Saturday. Then, we’d leave our cat in the caring hands of Berk’s sister and fly to Mallorca, Spain for a three week biking (road cycling) trip. Annnndddddd, I’m still here in Colorado with [...]

By |September 29th, 2022|Categories: Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on My trip to Florida this week?

Do you feel like you have to hide your flaws and failures?

If you put shame in a petri dish, it needs three ingredients to grow exponentially: secrecy, silence, and judgment. If you put the same amount of shame in the petri dish and douse it with empathy, it can’t survive.   ~ Brené Brown Wow! I got a big response from what I wrote about my drinking story. Honestly, I was terrified to send it, but it’s part of my path to show people how to live authentically so I knew I had to do it. Even though I felt fragile and vulnerable. I took my courage even further and put the [...]

By |September 27th, 2022|Categories: Personal Growth, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on Do you feel like you have to hide your flaws and failures?

This is my drinking story (part 2 of 2)

I'm back to tell you the last half of my drinking story that I started a couple of days ago - but we know, the story’s really never over, is it? I’m currently in the chapter where I help other women… and who knows what will come next! On with the story… Two days ago, I left off with resistance. You know, that thing where you make a decision that’s good for you but your habits tell you to keep on doing things the same old way you’ve been doing them? That thing. I finally decided I’d quit alcohol, leave my job [...]

By |September 22nd, 2022|Categories: Personal Growth, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on This is my drinking story (part 2 of 2)

This is my drinking story (part 1 of 2)

Last week, a friend of mine who owns a popular business reached out to me because she wanted to pick my brain about creating a Sober October opportunity for her community. I shared with her that the first time I did Sober October for my yoga studio and sent an email about it, it was the most opened email I’d ever sent. By more than double. Twice as many people opened that email than any other email I’d ever written. That’s hundreds of more people!When I went into my studio to teach later that day, it was all anyone was talking [...]

By |September 20th, 2022|Categories: Personal Growth, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on This is my drinking story (part 1 of 2)

Partly sunny, with a chance of Groundhog Day

Last night, I was tired and glanced at my watch thinking, can I go to bed yet? The watch face said 8:45 so, yes! Then another thought creeped into my mind and trickled down my back like ice water. Damn, I forgot to get my strength training in… again. I’d put “strength” on my calendar but when that time arrived I wasn’t done with a project I wanted to finish so I mentally pushed going to the gym to something I’d squeeze in before cooking dinner.And forgot. I’ve been trying to start a consistent strength training program for years. I [...]

By |September 15th, 2022|Categories: Energy, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on Partly sunny, with a chance of Groundhog Day

Do you courageously let the part of you that is uncool shine?

Sunday night, I flew home from Cleveland where I led morning movement classes and co-presented at Energy Fest. It was an incredible experience, partly because the keynote presentations were mind-blowing and transformative, but also because it was so fun to be in community with others. Especially others who are a little… shall we say willing to be different from what standard American culture expects of us? Or, put more bluntly, Energy Medicine people are wonderfully weird, like me! I love my place on the fringes of society. When I am in groups of women who choose not to eat animals or animal products, [...]

By |September 13th, 2022|Categories: Personal Growth, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on Do you courageously let the part of you that is uncool shine?

What is Energy Medicine?

Yesterday, I arrived at Energy Fest in Cleveland. There hasn’t been an Energy Fest in 8 years so, as you can imagine, the vibe here is dynamic and lively. In many ways, being here is exactly like what we’ve all experienced when we see people we haven’t seen in years. It’s breathtaking and a little awkward… I need to dust off my social skills.I’ve only been here a few hours and I’ve already “met” so many people who I only know from Zoom. It’s a little trippy to go from seeing someone from 2D to 3D. People often move their [...]

By |September 8th, 2022|Categories: Energy|Comments Off on What is Energy Medicine?

A little bit every day over a long period of time

“I don’t understand what people are talking about when they say meditation makes them calmer. I don’t feel like that while I’m meditating. It’s like that runner's high thing… that’s never happened to me either.”A friend of mine recently shared that with me while we were talking on the phone about her frustration with meditation. I tried to explain to her that you don’t necessarily feel the effects of meditation while meditating, you feel them later when your boss gives you 3 new projects and tells you to work all weekend.You also don’t usually feel great during the run, it’s [...]

By |September 7th, 2022|Categories: Energy, Personal Growth|Comments Off on A little bit every day over a long period of time

Do you pass up the temptation today for a bigger reward tomorrow?

Would I like the fries or the side salad? Should I buy the new clothes or put the money in savings? Do I go to the gym or keep sitting here doing what I’m doing? Pleasure now over long term goals… it’s something we wrestle with every day. I’m a member of a few social groups that are focused on helping women stop drinking. I do it for a couple of reasons, one of them being that I am happy to support anyone who needs a boost, but I also learn so much from watching the psychology of what happens [...]

By |September 6th, 2022|Categories: Energy, Personal Growth|Comments Off on Do you pass up the temptation today for a bigger reward tomorrow?

Tapping on the chest

Last week, I was in Helena, MT at an Energy Medicine Yoga (EMYoga) retreat helping Lauren Walker. Lauren is the founder and creator of EMYoga and I met her through a mutual friend in 2017. At that time, we agreed that she’d travel to my yoga studio and lead an EMYoga teacher training, which I took. You never know who you’re going to meet that will change everything, right? You can’t pre-plan when you’ll be marching along your path and bump into someone who shows you a fork in your road you didn’t see before and you decide “now I’m [...]

By |August 30th, 2022|Categories: Energy|Comments Off on Tapping on the chest

Morning Pages

Earlier this week, I sent you an email about journaling where I wrote about how hard it was for me to start and how profoundly the practice has supported me since I started doing it consistently. One day, while I was running and listening to a podcast, I heard a woman talk about writing and how something called Morning Pages opened a new world to her. She went on to describe how Morning Pages are a daily writing practice and the brainchild of Julia Cameron.What you do is write as soon as you get up when you haven’t dropped into your to-do [...]

By |August 25th, 2022|Categories: Personal Growth, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on Morning Pages

The #1 helpful habit women resist (and why)

I love to watch women work through resistance. This includes my own resistance to new things (you know, change) and other people’s resistance too. If there’s ever a time we can rationalize like champions, it’s when we’re resisting something. Recently, I was with a group of women and we were talking about how much we love our Instant Pots. One woman in the group (who we weren’t trying to convince of anything) kept chiming in announcing to us all how she doesn’t need an Instant Pot and all the reasons that she hasn’t bought one and why she doesn’t want [...]

By |August 23rd, 2022|Categories: Personal Growth, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on The #1 helpful habit women resist (and why)

50th Birthday

Today I am 50 years old. Several people have asked me how I feel about this. I couldn't answer because I honestly didn't feel anything. I took that as a clue that I should probably dig deeper - so I journaled and did some contemplation practices and I still don’t feel much.Why is that…? I think it’s because I believe I’m in halftime.I’ve always loved sports and I’ve been an athlete my whole life. I started playing soccer at 5 years old and I’ve literally never stopped being athletic.Sports metaphors are obvious and I don’t use them often. However, this half-century birthday [...]

By |August 18th, 2022|Categories: Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on 50th Birthday

Lessons from an apple

Have you ever reflected on something that happened in childhood, something so minor it’s miraculous you even remember it? And then you realize that whatever that experience was is actually a little window revealing exactly who you are now? I’ve had that experience from an ordinary day chopping an apple.It was Thanksgiving, I was 10 or 11 years old and I was cutting apples for the apple pie. As I sliced each apple, I really studied it and felt its weight in my hand. I wondered about the tree it came from and where its brother and sister apples went.This [...]

By |August 11th, 2022|Categories: Plants, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on Lessons from an apple

Why does time go faster as we age?

It’s always been fun to have a birthday in August. When I was a kid, we had a backyard pool. Summers lasted foreverrrrrrrr. Remember that? I went to a private school so there was no school district. My friends and classmates lived all over Oklahoma City (which is a large, spread-out city) and moms carpooled us to school.After school let out in May, we didn’t see each other all summer and my backyard birthday party (which was joyfully timed right before the beginning of the school year) was the annual back-to-school get together for all the kids.My parents would set [...]

By |August 9th, 2022|Categories: Personal Growth|Comments Off on Why does time go faster as we age?

Was that a gun? Or a paddleboard?

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about my escapades learning to stand up paddleboard. The day after I wrote that email to you, it got worse.My paddleboard exploded. At this point, my friend and I thought we had this paddleboard thing down. As we drove to a small lake in Montana, we joked about how we were pros now and made our plan to pull up to the lake, easily inflate our paddleboards (a process that had not been easy at the last outing) and enjoy our lunch. It worked for my paddleboard, no problemo. Then, as my friend’s board [...]

By |August 4th, 2022|Categories: Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on Was that a gun? Or a paddleboard?

Do you know the difference between a food allergy and poor digestion?

When I was a pre-teen, I’d go to aerobics with my mother. It was the time of adult women wearing leotards and leg warmers and headbands, you know, that whole scene. I’d be the only kid in the room full of ladies. As soon as I arrived, I’d position myself as far away from my mother as possible, somewhere near the back row, do all the moves and I loved it!I adored the teachers and decided I’d become one (which I did when I finally arrived at 18 years old). Every week, I couldn’t wait to get to class. I craved how [...]

By |July 21st, 2022|Categories: Plants|Comments Off on Do you know the difference between a food allergy and poor digestion?

Cooking for two: tips to avoid frustrating food waste

Are you tired of recipes that will feed an army when you’re only cooking for one or two? Are you bored with eating the same thing several days in a row, or feeling guilty when throwing away uneaten leftovers? Well, my healthy eating friend, you’re not alone. Earlier this week, I sent an email with these thoughts and the #1 comment I received which was along the lines of “I can’t believe how much my family was on board.” Here’s the #2 most frequent comment I got: “I’m having a hard time with variety because I cook for two and we [...]

By |July 7th, 2022|Categories: Plants|Comments Off on Cooking for two: tips to avoid frustrating food waste

Don’t assume and take experiences away from people

Here’s a teacher moment I’ll never forget... I’d just returned from studying in India and I was excited to teach some new things to my yoga community in Boulder, CO. Among the new techniques was a lesser-known ancient Himalayan practice of meditative movement called Laya. Laya movements are very feminine and designed to balance the more masculine practice that makes up much of how we practice yoga in the West. These movements were completely different from anything I’d ever seen in a yoga class. They’re much like dance; very flowy and internal and intuitive. As a teacher, it’s uncomfortable to [...]

By |July 5th, 2022|Categories: Personal Growth, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on Don’t assume and take experiences away from people

I sold my business for this

Today is a big day for me. It’s the last day I have my brick-and-mortar yoga studio. The place that has consumed my life for the past 5 years.The new owner and I are meeting this afternoon, I’m showing her some things and dropping my key in her hand.When I walk out and close the door behind me, I can’t just walk into that sacred place, my second home, whenever I want anymore.When that door shuts today, a part of my life is closed forever. And a new door is open.I recently taught an in-person yoga class to 40 people. I [...]

By |June 30th, 2022|Categories: Personal Growth, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on I sold my business for this

Likes and dislikes are of the lower mind

Have you ever been totally convinced you didn’t like a certain food and then someone cooks it in a certain way, or you accidentally eat it, and suddenly you love it? I did that with beets. I grew up with canned beets and decided I didn’t like them and stubbornly held onto that for a loooooooooong time. Then one day, back when I was vegetarian, I was hungry and rushing through the San Francisco airport to catch a flight. As I ran, I rapidly scanned both sides of the terminal for the take-out restaurant with the shortest line, picked a [...]

By |June 23rd, 2022|Categories: Plants|Comments Off on Likes and dislikes are of the lower mind

Plant Based Diets are Cheaper

OMG, the grocery bill.I was mostly raised by a single mother who worked in non-profit and courageously and uncomplainingly raised two kids.Honestly, I was pretty sheltered from her money concerns, but I know they were there. I realized early on that I’d never have a lot of the things that my friends at school flaunted and I wanted to have too.Once a week, the three of us would go to the grocery store and buy the food for the week. When it was check out time and the clerk would ring up the items, my brother and I played a [...]

By |June 19th, 2022|Categories: Plants|Comments Off on Plant Based Diets are Cheaper

Here’s the answer to the question I get the most

Do any of you have dry skin? I do. We all have our “things” and dry skin is one of mine. More than that, I have a dry constitution. I’m always thirsty, even though I drink a lot of water and use electrolytes. Staying hydrated with not-itchy skin is daily project for me. And aging hasn’t helped matters. I bring this up today because I recently got a text that said “Morning Blaine. Just following up on your classes where you talk about toxins. I’m wondering would you share what kind of lotion or oil do you use on your [...]

By |June 8th, 2022|Categories: Energy, Plants|Comments Off on Here’s the answer to the question I get the most

Who do you want to be?

Many years ago, I dated this guy... and we were good together in a lot of ways.  We loved triathlon so we were workout buddies and motivation for one another.  We were both vegans, so we had fun cooking and trying new restaurants and seeking vegan recipes.  We had many similar interests, so it was a pleasant relationship. There was one thing that bugged me though.  When we went out to eat, I always picked up the check.  I didn’t mind paying, and I made significantly more money than he did, but it bothered me that he didn’t ever offer [...]

By |May 30th, 2022|Categories: Uncategorized|Comments Off on Who do you want to be?

How to calm down fast

Wednesdays are always busy days for me. I used to call them “my toughest day” but I’ve recently changed my internal language about Wednesdays to “my day with the greatest opportunities.” Wednesdays have a lot of standing meetings and work that needs to be done for Thursday deadlines and there isn't much breathing room. I plan for these days. I make breakfast and lunch on Tuesday so that’s out of the way and get up extra early on Wednesday morning in an effort to “control” the day as much as I can. The control part is funny, right? Because it never works. Almost every [...]

By |May 8th, 2022|Categories: Energy|Comments Off on How to calm down fast

Life Is About Creating Yourself

I have a milestone birthday this year.  A birthday with a zero on the end. The exact day isn’t for a few months but I’m already reflecting a little and it’s unbelievable how much I’ve evolved, especially over the last 10 years. It makes me appreciate our capacity and ability to change and, at the same time, reminds me of how many years I spent convincing myself that I couldn’t change.  Other people could change, but not me.  My life circumstances were so “special” that I was just locked into the corporate job life and that’s how it was. That [...]

By |February 25th, 2022|Categories: Personal Growth, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on Life Is About Creating Yourself

My Two-Year War With Myself

I’ve told some of you about how things were for me when I first started meditating.  I often describe my experience as a two-year war with meditation (and I also say that just because it took me two years to achieve consistency doesn’t mean it will take others that long). When I think back on that time – the starting and stopping and committing to start over again and failing and being mad at myself and thinking I suck and my brain just won’t do it and I’m so disappointed in my sucky-ness…  When I reflect on all that resistance, I have [...]

By |February 14th, 2022|Categories: Personal Growth, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on My Two-Year War With Myself

The role of ego

Social media… I can’t even describe my relationship with it.  However, as I sit to write about ego, it’s the first thing that arrives in my mind. As an athlete and yoga teacher, ego and I are very good friends.  I’ve spent years working on how fast I can run, obsessing over my place on a race podium (read: how can I defeat others in my quest for the finish line), and examining my body in the mirror to see what I need to change to increase my likelihood of making the podium more of a sure thing. I’ve also [...]

By |February 10th, 2022|Categories: Personal Growth, Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on The role of ego

The Power of What-If

Today is the first day of February.  Can you believe that 2022 is already 15% done?  If you haven’t already, have a seat with some tea or a favorite warm drink, maybe light a candle, grab your journal, and reflect on January 2022.  Journaling is a wonderful practice to help with clarity, progress towards goals, positive thinking, and overall mental health. This is an especially nice time to be reflective because we’re starting a new month in a time of the new moon. Yesterday, I taught a free 30-minute class to help us align with the energy of the new [...]

By |February 1st, 2022|Categories: Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on The Power of What-If

The Truth About Overwhelm

Overwhelm is a word that pops into my mind a lot lately.  It’s even become something I measure within myself on a day to day, and even minute to minute basis.  Do you know what feeling I’m talking about?  It’s not the same as stress.  Stress has a low-lying hum.  Overwhelm comes on fast.  In a moment, I can go from just fine to total overwhelm.  It’s a slippery trigger that for me, once it’s on, is a snowball rolling downhill of things I need to do. When I’m in overwhelm, I somehow lose sight of the fact that not [...]

By |January 6th, 2022|Categories: Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on The Truth About Overwhelm

This is my prayer.

May we all get through this pandemic. May we not return to the normal that got us here. May I be awake and ready for what happens next. As you can probably imagine, this was not my prayer two years ago. Honestly, I can’t even remember what it was. Two years ago, I was in Florida for the holidays and putting the final touches on Yoga Hive’s 2020 plans and I was super excited about the year ahead. And then new learning began… Oh, this time of lessons. My new daily prayer serves me now, today, in this moment, and [...]

By |December 22nd, 2021|Categories: Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on This is my prayer.

I know what to do but I just don’t do it.

I hear this often, especially now, in this era of pandemic. The level of struggle is palpable in both mental health and personal choices as we move forward in the new world. And when I say personal choices, I mean things as basic as “do I open another bottle of wine or go to yoga?” We all know that we need to move every day, drink plenty of water, avoid sugar and processed food, and meditate for clarity, but we don’t all do it. We invent justifications and delay another day. It seems like we may be “getting away” with [...]

By |December 15th, 2021|Categories: Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on I know what to do but I just don’t do it.

Chinese Medicine Five Elements

When I was in my early twenties, I worked in administration in a large healthcare facility. One day, Sonya from Marketing cruised by my office for a chat and casually dropped this at the end of our conversation, “Gwen in Accounting thinks you don’t like her.” What??? I thought to myself (without any real emotion or drama), well…. I guess I need to spend some time being nice to Gwen. And I did. Gwen and I ended up being great friends, having many adventures together and even orchestrating life so we worked together again, years later, at a different healthcare [...]

By |December 8th, 2021|Categories: Energy|Comments Off on Chinese Medicine Five Elements

Shake it off.

I was 23 years old working in a local clinic in downtown Oklahoma City. It was 9:00 am and I heard an earth shaking blast and the building started trembling, windows bowing out and in. There was construction across the street and, at first, I thought the giant crane that had been towering above us for weeks finally fell on our building. Then I saw the smoke. The Federal Building just blocks away had been bombed. We all jumped into action as it was only minutes before parents ran into our facility, holding children with shards of glass sticking out [...]

By |December 1st, 2021|Categories: Energy|Comments Off on Shake it off.

My whole yoga journey started with………… gratitude.

Seriously, this isn't a Thanksgiving gratitude thing. This is how my whole life changed. Back when I was traveling fulltime and living the hotel and business dinner 5- days-a-week life, I was… I don’t even know how to describe it... not as stable as I am now. Yes, I was financially stable, and I had all the stuff that goes with that, but internally - I was a mess. My mind was constantly telling me I wasn’t good enough and I needed to do and be more, more, more! The mean voice in my head was absolutely punishing. I can’t [...]

By |November 24th, 2021|Categories: Personal Growth|Comments Off on My whole yoga journey started with………… gratitude.

What am I doing?

You sit in front of your computer and are barely able to lift your fingers. You feel tired and don’t know why you are here. You’ve lost your motivation. Do you know this feeling? What am I doing? Not what am I doing right now…. what am I doing?!? In those moments, the inner fire may be burning low, or maybe not at all. Have you ever been camping and tried to start a fire? You’re walking around looking for wood – not just any wood but dry wood that is suitable to create a spark. Then the effort begins [...]

By |November 17th, 2021|Categories: Personal Growth|Comments Off on What am I doing?

This was a big ego check for me.

Late last year, a friend asked me if I’d like to visit her in Alaska. I used to live in Alaska so it’s not foreign to me, but she was talking north of the Arctic Circle in Alaska. I, somewhat hesitantly, said OK. She lives in Wiseman, AK. Wiseman is remote and small. Incredibly small. In winter, 11 people live there, in summer, 22. I knew 5 things about the Alaskan Arctic: cold, northern lights, the pipeline, hunting and bugs. There are two kinds of bugs in Alaska, annoying and very annoying. The Arctic has a third kind, bird-sized! The [...]

By |November 10th, 2021|Categories: Wisdom from Blaine|Comments Off on This was a big ego check for me.
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