I vividly remember the chapel. It was ethereal. Otherworldly. The peacefulness was in-my-hand palpable.

Their voices filled the chapel. They sang like angels. I’d count the days waiting to hear the sisters sing. I cried when it was time to go. I remember tearfully trying to convince my Aunt Bobbi, Sister Mary Magdalen, a cloistered Trappestine nun for 60 years at Mount St. Mary’s Abbey, to let me stay with her, that I could easily fit in the turnstile that separated me and my family from her cloistered world. “Aunt Bobbi, see, I’m small enough to fit in. Please, I want to stay with you.”

While abbeys, monasteries, churches and temples draw me in, likely because of a whole lifetime spent in their spaces, I’ve discovered a way to recreate some of the restorative benefits they offer.

I binge out on Gregorian chants and I immediately feel an energetic shift on a cellular level.

I literally feel more balanced, more relaxed, more peaceful in my body, more connected to my Higher Self and…  less stressed. Definitely less stressed.

As I’ve learned since those early days in the chapel, many cultures around the world have used sound as a tool for healing for thousands of years.

Gah! No wonder I loved the chanting so much! It was healing me on a cellular level!

The Aborigines of Australia are known to use sound for healing as far back as 40,000 years. Records from 4000 BC show that Egyptians believed that 7 vowel sounds were sacred, and incorporated them in succession in their rituals. But it was the Greek, Pythagoras in 500 BC who is known as the father of music therapy. He taught the use of flute and lyre as the primary healing instruments.

When I learned that Pythagoras attributed music to great health, if used in the right way, it all made sense. My sweet memories of my early days at the abbey, and later at the monastery my Dad joined, The Brigittine Monastery, came full circle in my healing work. Pythagoras and his followers would sing in unison certain chants in a method he called ‘musical medicine’ just like I was listening to, when the sisters and monks would sing ‘to me.’

And guess what? Sound literally shifts our brainwave state by using rhythms and frequencies to entrain our brainwaves. Certain sounds make it possible for us to down-shift from our normal beta state (normal waking consciousness), to alpha (relaxed consciousness), and even reach theta (meditative state) and delta (sleep; where internal healing can occur).

Chanting is one of those ‘certain sounds,’ known to affects every cells in our body, balance both hemispheres of the brain, change old patterns of behaviour, habits and ways of thinking that no longer serve us, and… are harmful to our health, plus so much more.

Some believe sound and music therapy to be the medicine of the future.

Makes sense, especially if you know that every single one of the roughly 100 trillion cells in in your body is controlled by an electromagnetic field which resonates at its own unique sound frequency.

In the Spirit feeling and looking your very best, I offer you two chant albums to binge out on, so you too can revel in all the healing benefits it offers, like cellular rejuvenation and balance, relaxation and peacefulness in your body. Why the heck not, right? If it’s been helping people for 40,000 years, seems like a pretty good idea to incorporate, yes?

One album is literally the sisters from my Aunt Bobbi’s abbey, and the other is Gregorian chants with monks singing, which sound exactly as I remember hearing at my Dad’s community.

To Pray in Beauty: Gregorian Chant, Ever Ancient, Ever New

Cistercian Nuns of Mount Saint Mary’s Abbey *Special note: Track 19: Hymn: Ave Maris Stella — every cloister sings this song.

Chant – Music For The Soul

The Cistercian Monks of Stift Heiligenkreuz *Special note: The bells on Track 4: Stift Heiligenkreuz Bells

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT MUSIC AS A HEALING MODALITY?

I’d love to hear about your experiences with music.

How do you feel about chants?

Have you ever tried them? How did you like them?

What questions do you have about sound therapy?

Leave a comment below and ask questions if you have them. I truly love nothing more than coaching you to take action in ways that make a difference for you in your life!

Horrified by what I saw, I cried as I ripped a short stack of old photos in half and hid them deep in the garbage.

When I was 17 years old, women would compliment me, “Dear, you have such beautiful skin.”

But in those pictures, only a few years later at only 25 years old, my skin was colorless and covered with regular breakouts of painful cysts. My eyes were sunken with dark circles. My face looked drawn with hard lines. I looked sick and exhausted and old.

I didn’t need a picture to remind me how bad it was back then.

I vividly remember the hours I’d spend standing in front of the bathroom mirror trying to artfully hide the evidence of illness in my body.

After all, I was one of the 4 Americans who suffered from 2 or more chronic diseases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

And while it could have been so much easier to curl into any of the typical reasons for why illness seemed to be my lot in life, like ‘this is normal, everyone takes medication, everyone feels like shit to a greater or lesser degree,’ when Jack Canfield asked me about the most important success principle, “Are you 100% responsible for your life, Carol?” it was like he plugged me into a Lear jet!

Bottom line, I heard Canfield say, “If you really want to look and feel better, make it happen. It’s on you.” And make it happen I did.

I completely turned around my chance of being one of the 50% of Americans who die from chronic disease every year.

If you are committed to playing full out in life, if you are committed to looking and feeling as healthy as you are successful, I offer you three key lessons I learned about reclaiming vibrant health and soaring energy, so that you can get back to what matters most in your life and career.

Give it all up.

Give up all the reasons, all the justifications, all the excuses, all the stories that stop you from committing to your health and wellbeing. This one lesson is your gateway to reclaiming your health.

Clients say things like, they are “too busy to eat healthy and get to the gym,” “my friends and family don’t eat healthy,” “I eat out to eat all the time,” “healthy is too hard.”

If you experience less-than-your-best symptoms like excess weight, exhaustion, and foggy thinking, they are no doubt impacting your ability to feel fulfilled at home and work. Look for the reasons that stop you from choosing healthy, and choose differently.

For example, choose to eat a green apple instead of a sugary snack in the afternoon, and when you notice your just-say-no to junk food muscle getting stronger, think of me when you feel energized. This health hack changed my health game.

Lean into it, but find your sweet spot.

I was recently reminded of the power of simply ‘leaning into’ eating more healthfully during my last run of the highly-acclaimed More Than A Detox program.

I encourage participants to find their sweet spot, the place between challenging themselves, so they feel growth and forward movement, and not overwhelming themselves, so they don’t give up. Like do what you can sans the struggle… but if you keep on doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep on getting what you’ve always got.

While most participants try to rally up to the group’s level of participation, I was super impressed with a participant this past season who held onto her ‘lean-into-it,’ space and said after the program was over,

“I learned I can change my behavior and I can change my eating habits in a positive way by not overwhelming myself, by doing what felt comfortable and challenging for me.”

By finding her sweet spot, she was able to release 4 pounds in just 10 days, and is now in control of her eating habits.

You get to choose. You’re the CEO.

When I read Invictus by William Ernest Henley for the first time, knowing that Nelson Mandela was so empowered by it’s message of self-mastery that he read it to other prisoners on Robben Island, I was blown away, especially by the last four lines:

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

I was struggling with food addictions, a sick body and all the ways they were impacting my life with not a whole lot of progress. Mandela, conversely, in spite of how difficult his experiences were, was using his time on Robben Island for self-examination and meditation. He looked for ways he could leverage what power he had, his mind, to choose thoughts that helped him overcome “bad habits and cultivate the good ones.”

This one poem, read by this one man, during this singular time of his life bespoke a level of personal power that I had never heard of or experienced before. I got, I mean I really got, that I was the CEO of my life, like he was, like you are, and we get to leverage the power of choice with every thought we think and every action we take, or not.

If you know you are settling for being less than your very best, and if you know it’s time to pick up your get-healthy game, take on Canfield’s most important success principle, “you are 100% responsible for every detail of your life.”

Lose the excuses, reasons and justifications.

Look for your sweet spot by challenging yourself to get healthy, without overwhelm, and fully step into your biggest role, as CEO of your health and watch your energy grow, your weight drop and your focus and mental clarity improve.

As business philosopher Jim Rohn said, “You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself.”

HERE’S WHAT TO DO NOW.

1. Leave a comment below.

2. Get my totally free guide to look and feel your very best. It gives you the foundational tools to change everything.

3. Come back next week to learn what else you can do to increase your energy and feel your very best.

You can look and feel as healthy as you are successful. You can take back control of your health. I can show you how. 

This juice is filled with cleansing and energizing ingredients like parsley and celery to boost you midday, when your energy lowers and you feel depleted.

Energy Pump

Ingredients

• 1 beet
• 3 carrots
• 4 celery stalks
• 1 romaine lettuce heart
• Handful of parsley
• Juice from 1 lemon

Preparation

1. Put all ingredients through a juicer
2. Add lemon and stir

Cheers!

Ready to take on More Than A Detox this Fall? September has always been the other January, so there is no better time to get back in the get-healthy game than NOW! Click here to grab the Early Bird Special, by September 19th, for the LAST chance to participate in 2016!

As I prepare for opening More Than a Detox: Fall, I’ve heard several questions from those interested in participating already.

So, in case you had questions like they do…

• What is a detox, really?
• Doesn’t my body detoxify itself?
• Is a detox safe to do?

I’ve put together my responses to the top 6 questions detoxers always ask, with the goal of encouraging this time-worn (yes, since ancient Egyptian times), yet hotly-pursued practice by so many wanting to feel amazing again, including educators and professionals, entrepreneur and celebrities.

1. Why is a detox necessary?

There are two types of toxins that can harm your body, external toxins and internal toxins. External toxins can be found everywhere like smog, pollution, contaminated water and household cleaners, body care products, old paint in your house, Bisphenol A and Phthalates found in soft plastics and even stress. Internal toxins build up in the body when it’s natural detoxification system cannot remove the excess waste matter caused by the body’s inability to digest the preponderance of processed-foods and food-like substances in the standard American diet (We deep dive into this in MTAD.)

Yes, your body brilliantly detoxifies harmful substances out of your body every day, but the modern lifestyle places a burden on your body’s systems that even your grandparents didn’t experience. Rest assured, when your body becomes overburdened with toxicity and obstruction, you will gain excess weight, experience low energy, have foggy and poor thinking and suffer from poor health.

2. Do I have to take supplements, pills or powders?

Some programs require supplements, pills and powders. More Than A Detox is a food-based program, and while I heartily believe there is a place for supplements in the healing journey, I recommend only a probiotic in the program for two reasons:

1. Supplements, like pharmaceutical drugs, can temporarily relieve your reason to eat healthier, which can thwart your urgency to achieve your result because you took a pill and lost the weight, albeit in a very unhealthy way. Without the symptom, you no longer have the leverage you need to do what it takes to create healthy eating and healthy lifestyle habits that last. Before anything, More Than A Detox is a program committed to providing an experience that alters your ideas of how and why you eat what you eat so you can get results that last!
2. Most of the programs that include supplements, pills and powders are part of the larger immediate gratification problem, where we take a pill for every ill. To achieve the real benefits a detox offers, you have to do the work. Plus, most of these products offered today are made from unnatural substances your body does not recognize, which further contribute to the larger problem of increased toxicity in your body.

3. Will I lose weight on a detox?

Your body stores toxins as fat on your body to protect you from their harmful effects. When you participate in a a whole, live-foods, nutrient dense program (like a detox) that eliminates common toxic-trigger foods and processed foods, you release those toxens. And by releasing toxins, you will also release excess weight.

In More Than a Detox, participants commonly lose 5-7 pounds (sometimes more!) in just one week. But everyone will achieve different results, depending on their state of health at the beginning of the program.

4. Is a detox safe?

Not all programs are created equal, but More Than A Detox is 100% safe:

• It is a clean, nutrient-dense, live-foods based program
• It excludes anything processed and synthetically made
• It supports your body’s own detoxification and elimination systems

While More Than A Detox encourages every participant honor the state of their health when they begin, it focuses heavily on the high-fiber, live, plant-based diet to magnetize toxic waster matter out of the cells to scrub your digestive wall clean. This approach promotes increased health and vitality, weight loss and glowing skin!

5. Will I experience side-effects on a detox?

Some people go through the detox feeling energized and high from eating healthier food choices, while others may feel tired or light-headed as they release toxicity.

This only happens if you detox too quickly, which simply means you are releasing toxins faster than you are eliminating them. This is called a healing crisis, and while this could be deemed super-great, in More Than a Detox I personally guide you in a private group throughout the whole process, to help you avoid experiencing any unwanted side-effects.

6. Is this like a juice fast, will I be hungry?

No, More Than A Detox is not a juice fast, so you will never be hungry. You will receive over 70 recipes in the Fall program for every juice, smoothie, snack and meal you eat. Funny thing is, detoxers often say how surprised they are with how much weight they lose, without ever feeling hungry!

With that said, this program attracts newcomers as well as seasoned-veterans, so I do offer a challenge or two in the program for you to uplevel from what you thought possible before the program. This IS the beauty of participating in a group program! What you might have initially thought impossible when signing up, is now so easy, that you’re ready to challenge yourself.

While these are the top common questions I hear from detoxers over and over, rest-assured that we deep-dive into every question you have throughout the entirety of the program!

As I always say in the group, the more questions you ask, the more learning happens, for you and everyone in the group!

Ready to take on More Than A Detox this Fall? September has always been the other January, so there is no better time to get back in the get-healthy game than NOW! Click here to join the waitlist and be the first to hear when it opens on September 15.

It is not only possible to embrace your age and look 10 years younger, it’s a slam-dunk, sure shot, if you follow all that I recommend on my blog, especially my numero uno recommendation to drink green juice!

But because I focus on creating radiant skin from the inside out, I’ve not yet offered up a few of my favorite skincare recommendations.

I know, it’s about time!

Do you know that your skin literally eats what you put on it? So, like making clean food choices, I recommend avoiding products with chemicals, sulfates and even fragrances that are not essential oils in facial cleansers, masks, serums and moisturizers.

While green juice will always be my number one skincare recommendation because of all the ways it nourishes us on a cellular level, when we feed our skin high quality nutrients from the outside, we promote supple, glowing youthful looking skin.

And make no mistake about it, in an age where skincare is mass-produced in factories, the products I recommend here are as luxurious, restorative and as high-performance as any exquisite anti-aging product on the market, sans the pseudo-science advertising that appeals to your insecurities! Plus, my recommendations are clean and chemical free!

Here are a few of my favorite skincare recommendations, and PS – they are all Unisex = super awesome for men too!

Cleanser

 May Lindstrom, The Clean Dirt

The beauty industry refers to The Clean Dirt as the Holy Grail of facial cleansers. I couldn’t agree more. It’s addictive, but good addictive. It refines like a microdermabrasion treatment but never tears or stresses the skin. Instead of feeling, “scrubbed” your skin will feel soft, toned, plumped & smooth as your pores start to disappear and blackheads vanish. It’s a little pricey, but like any product that costs a little more, I use it ‘carefully.’

Toner

Dr. Alkaitis, Organic Herbal Toner

Another beyond a ‘current’ favorite skincare product, Dr. Alkaitis Organic Herbal Toner, this could be one of my all-time favorite toners! I love how my skin soaks up this herbal skin toner and absorbs its nutrients quickly, leaving my skin feeling fresh, smooth and plump. This is a toner that you don’t want to skip, since the long term results on skin balancing are absolutely uhh-maaazing! Because it smooths & plumps, lightly hydrates, re-balances oiliness, it’s perfect choice for everyone, even men! Use it in the summer as a light moisturizer.

Facial Oil

Evan Healy, Rosehip Treatment Serum – Rose

While I’ve used some very high-end facial oils that I love, Evanhealy’s Rosehip Treatment Serum is one of my all-time favorites. It’s sweet, rosy-leaf geranium and earthy, vitalizing carrot seed combine to balance and regenerate diverse skin conditions. This silky oil of rose hip seed absorbs beautifully and literally promotes a noticeable healthy glow! I use this oil in the morning.

Jason, Natural, Extra Strength Vitamin E Skin Oil, 32,000 I.U

This recommendation hails from one of my teachers, that it’s the best facial treatment for our skin. Vitamin E skin oil helps minimize the appearance of scars, stretch marks and other problems to reveal smoother, healthier skin. This formulation is a super rich, anti-oxidant packed, emollient treatment that will leave your skin feeling soft and deeply hydrated. Since this oil is very thick and a bit sticky, I use it at night!

Moisturizer

Cosmedix EMULSION Intense Hydrator

Cosmedix Emulsion is a combination of science and botanical ingredients that help firm skin and smooth lines and wrinkles, with conditioning moisturizers that help attract and retain vital moisture in the skin. Oo-la-la! I love this moisturizer because it’s a deep-dissolving facial moisturizer that the skin soaks right up without leaving a shiny finish. It formulated with a renewing blend of jojoba oil & shea butter and is a beautiful pre-makeup treatment.

Mask

Dr. Alkaitis Organic Exfoliating Enzyme Mask

I love Dr. Alkaitis’s Exfoliating Enzyme Mask. Add a teaspoon to a small bowl and whip up with a little water to activate all it’s vital nutrients! This organic Exfoliating Enzyme Mask is ideal for skin that needs to be renewed, refreshed, and rejuvenated. It’s a super gentle, yet effective enzyme peel similar to those used at a spa with zero down time or irritation. It exfoliates & removes dead skin cells, delivers essential skin nutrients and brightens & lightens the skin.

Any specific questions or skincare needs you want to address? Pop your Q's in the comment box below! I'd love to help you choose!

And … if you want to do the real work of creating radiant skin, join me in my upcoming, More Than a Detox program! Get on the list now to grab the early-bird special!