#BeTheChange

We all have the power to speak or be silent, to stand up for yourself/others or sit back, to stay or walk away, to fight for what you believe in or do nothing at all, to live in the present or stay in the past, to chase your dreams or let them fizzle, to snooze or wake up, to appreciate others for their differences or judge them, to learn from mistakes or keep making them, to be the change you wish for or to accept the world as it is. What will you choose today? #bethechange #bethelight

Just Breathe

I once read a blog post by Leo Babauta of Zen Habits. It was the most simple and short post, but I often reference it. It was called "Breathe" and it was a generous reminder to let go, enjoy, and breathe. I'd like to take my own spin on this with all the creative-beings in mind, because it really does apply to every thing. And, it is something I will continue to remind myself to do. Hope you can take something from it.

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Take a deep breath.

Whenever you feel worried, overwhelmed, frantic, or out-of-body, just breathe. Your muscles will relax and the stress will roll off your back.

If ever you are stuck on planning the future or so focused on making your big break, just breathe. You will come back into the present day.

When caught up in moving so fast in the dance of life, just breathe. Your pace will get slower, your rhythm steady, and you will cherish the transitions.

Just breathe and take a look around. See where you are, who you are with. Embrace who you are and enjoy the moments that make life worth living.

Music..."it gives you wings"!

Music has always been a big part of my life, and not just through dance. I used to play the alto saxophone from 3rd grade through my senior year of high school. In grade school, you were not allowed to join band until 4th grade, so my mom had me take a year of private lessons just so I could fulfill my dream. I used to love going to the music store and picking out different music books from Disney movies and other show tunes. In high school, I was so adamant about playing in the jazz band that my awesome band teacher, Mr. Guy, let me audition for jazz band  a year early as a Freshman. I was so happy to make the jazz band. Music was such an outlet for me growing up on several levels.

As a dancer, music has always powered my passion. There is nothing like performing choreography to a song that inspires you to give all of your emotion and hit every beat with the movement. Musicality is a huge part of being a dancer. I try to instill that idea in my dancers that I teach. Not just by yelling "stay on beat", but by having them really listen and feel the music they are dancing to. Also, thinking about what the music is conveying to others. You must establish that initial connection with the music before your move to it. Then, once you do, pair the movement to the music, finding those moments where you can "milk it" and be on top of the beat in a way that expresses that musicality to an audience. I've always been told that dancers have a different way of hearing music. I believe that. We listen for the back beats, the most subtle sounds, those hints of melody, and the intertwining rhythms that we can dance on. That musicality makes all the difference when it comes to dance.

Pictured:  Musician, Eric Schmidt & Yogis, Allie Brochet & Reggie Hawkins 

Recently, I have been exploring my yoga practice and music.  As a teacher, it is always a choice to add in music to your classes. Its just another level to the senses during practice. I've been creating different playlists based off of the mantra and intentions set for class. I find this to enhance the overall experience for my class. A few months ago, my exploration grew deeper and I decided that I wanted to add live music to the mix. I knew this would be something that I had to really plan out. I discussed it with a few different musicians. I also knew that I needed to pick the right musician for this project, because I wanted to find someone who was familiar with yoga practice and the bigger picture that I was trying to connect with musical stimulation of the senses. This month I was able to set this idea into motion, and I held my first classes of Soul Vibes + Live Music, a three week series that brought yoga and live music together in one place. It has been a great experience thus far, and I look forward to deepening this project in the future. 

Music is unifying in all ways. It brings people together; no matter their age, race, gender, etc. It aids in overcoming any challenges. Sometimes it just takes music to get us motivated to start a new day, or to bring us back to a special memory in time. Music is truly powerful..."it gives you wings"! So, find that song that does it for you and turn it up loud in your car, in your home, or in your studio and let yourself fly with the music! 

Good vibes,

Lee-Ann

Keep it Simple...

Lately, I’ve been really trying to settle into the idea of living a more simple life. Maybe because I am getting older (birthday is approaching ;) ). Or, maybe because of how chaotic the world news has been recently. Either way, the thought of simplicity sounds calming. Some things just do not need to be so difficult anymore. And, quite frankly, if it isn’t good to the soul and well-being, it just doesn’t need to be present. 

Fishing/crabbing dock in good ol' St. Mary's County, MD

I grew up in a small town in Southern Maryland, and every time I go back home, I am reminded of that simple way of living. There's something about driving by miles of corn fields and spending days crabbing off an old wooden dock that makes you refocus. Now that I live in a busy city like Philadelphia, I really appreciate my hometown so much more. Sure, everyone drives slower (probably because you’re on a two lane road and you are sharing it with a tractor!), but really, what is the rush? Think of how much energy you stir up when you are in a rush. Instead of honking and cursing, just turn on your music and relax. Right? I know, easier said than done there, but literally, take a deep breath and relax. Maybe you should have just left earlier, its not the tractor’s fault (things I tell myself)! Coming from city to country living; its almost like you have been dropped into a slow-motion video. It is hard to slow down when you live the day-to-day fast-paced hustle and bustle in the city. I am sure I have a few friends who can relate to this. Going home to Maryland, though, makes me I realize that maybe I need to revert back to these roots of simplicity. I recently picked up this book called, Chasing Slow: A Journey Worth Pursuing, by Erin Loechner. It's one of those books that really gets you thinking, and I recommend it to anyone.  I now think a little more deeply about prioritizing and simplifying life.

Here are a few note-worthy lessons that I took away from reading this book:

1.       Minimalism isn’t just a trend, it’s a #gamechanger toward simplicity.

The author, Erin Loechner, touches on this idea and I often listen to the Minimalists podcast, so I am very familiar with these topics. At first, it was really difficult for me to relate to these minimalist guys. What do you mean by giving up my things? Some of the ideas behind minimalism, can be a bit extreme; like selling your house to live in an AirBnB or getting rid of all of the clothes in your closet to prove that you can live with just 30 essential clothing items. Yes, there are people that do this, and they have their reasons. For someone like me, I don’t necessarily want to give away my hard-earned belongings just yet, but I have been practicing some of the minimalist themes that resonate with me. Decluttering is very rejuvenating (and difficult). But ultimately, having an organized living space really frees up the mind. Also, being able to donate your items to charities or organizations, knowing that your items will be put to good use, is rewarding. So on the grand scheme of things, I have adopted just a small sliver of minimalism, in hopes that will continue to grow. You may want to adopt some small figments of this and see where it goes.

2.       “Thinking about living is not the same as living”.

We all have goals we want to reach or that five-year plan that we envision. But you can still live your fullest life now! I am guilty of this; always thinking about the future and planning for things to come. On the course of life, you have to pull over and take a look around at where you are now. Enjoy it! Plan for your best future still, but don’t get so wrapped up in your future life. “Don’t get so busy making a living that you forget to live”.  When you find yourself doing this, take a step back, then decide to do something exciting that day. Spontaneity will take you out of your futuristic mind and get you living for the present.

3.       Wave that white flag and surrender.

You can’t control everything. Surrender to the things you cannot control. If you are anything like me, you may have a hard time with this.  Rest assure, when you let go of the things that are pulling you down, its easier to set sail. Let it go. Leave it behind. Then put all that energy into the things in your life that you actually can change.  Think back to 1 & 2 above. Live and let die, then live and let grow. Simple right? ;)

4.       Everything is going to be alright, really.

There’s something about the vibes of people who live on Caribbean islands. The idea of “island time” is real, and that no-worries-attitude is something we all could use. Let go of the bad energies and take hold of your happiness. Instead of looking at the what-ifs or worst that can happen, look at the bright side. The sun came up today, you are alive, and you have a new chance every day to do what you want to do. If you ever need to settle into the island vibes, just put on some Bob Marley and kick back. Remind yourself that everything is going to be alright, and it will.

Take it easy, my friend! – Lee-Ann

Wedding Dance Spotlight with Adriana & Anthony

As a dance teacher, it is a real pleasure to create choreography that is meaningful and full of emotion, then watch my dancers execute that essence in movement. But, none are quite like that of a wedding dance. With love in the air and thoughts of a beautiful white gown gliding across the dance floor, wedding dances are heartwarming on every level. There is something so charming about being in the presence of newly weds dancing in front of their friends and family on their big day. For me, I get to learn more about the couple, see how they interact with each other, watch them boil over with romance as they dance about, and sometimes even witness a little spat when one steps on the others toes (LOL)! It is a magical experience and I am thrilled to share it.

Adriana and Anthony came to LeRoux School of the Arts with the intention of making their wedding experience fun-loving! Fun and loving was my first impression of them as they walked into the studio holding hands, drenched from the rain storm. Adriana and Anthony knew they wanted something that was going to help them celebrate and bring them closer as a couple during this busy time of wedding planning and arranging. Dance was the answer!

Adriana and Anthony love to travel, run, cook, and spend time at the beach together. As hard-working professionals in the Philadelphia area, it is a balancing act to juggle work, play, and wedding preparations. With a February wedding date approaching, the couple looks forward to spending the next few months creating an experience that can bring joy and make for a lasting impression on their wedding memories. Their music choice for the wedding dance, a slow, classic love song, will be sure to shed a few tears and warm all the hearts in the room. 

It is great to have a forever dance partner! Dancing brings couples together. Holding hands, getting close, and laughing is the best way to spend your days. This was the first time Adriana and Anthony have done any dance choreography together. After learning some of their choreography, the homework I assigned to the couple was to practice walking in their hallways, facing each other, taking turns with leading. This is not only for them to prevent stepping on each other's feet, but for them to learn about compromise in terms of partner movement. For Anthony, the challenge was leading Adriana effectively and staying in-sync with her steps. For Adriana, it was giving up the control so he could lead her. Taking into account your partner's steps before you step is a basic lesson in couple's dance and a life lesson in itself. They will learn the most about each other from moving together.

As a teacher, sometimes I just step back and let them come together to figure out what works best for them in the next transitions of movement. Because in reality, off the dance floor, they are going to spend the rest of their lives doing just that! ;)

Congratulations Adriana & Anthony! 

Post-Workout Meditations...Made Easy!

No matter what you choose to do for your workout routine, there is always a way to find more balance in your overall fitness. For example, some may focus on strength training for an hour at the gym, but may overlook stretching after a workout. The idea of cooling down is holistically important to an active body. Allowing the heart rate to decrease gradually to a normal pace and letting the muscles relax back into a normal state will round out a workout. Although physical fitness activity is good for your body, it does put stress on your system. Let meditation do the recovery. Post-workout meditation has special benefits when it comes to recovery overall and is an important addition that will optimize any physical routine.

The essence of mediation is to allow yourself to “drop into pure experience”, or to be present in the moment, and relax the mind. There are many variations of meditative practices. If this is something new to you, the best advice is to find what works for you. That’s not a copout! After researching different practices, you may find that there are few that you like and can incorporate into your routine. Remember, it is a practice to build on.

Not sure where to begin? To get you started, here is a very basic approach to tack onto the end of your workout.

• Find a quiet place at the gym or wait until you are home, and set a timer for 3 minutes. Come to a comfortable seated position and close your eyes.
• Breathe deeply; inhaling through the nose, exhaling through the mouth. Generally, your inhales should take twice as long as your exhales, so count them in your head as you begin.
•  Let go of any external thoughts and bring your focus internal. Easier said than done some days, but it will get easier as you progress (hence, the practice). There may also come a point where you want to abort the mission; DON'T!
• Take an inventory of your body and how it feels. Notice each body part. from head to toe, letting go of any tension you may be holding. Relax and continue to breath deeply.                

To progress, you can increase your timer a few seconds each day or focus on certain practices that you choose during that time. Give it a try, and see how you feel! You may just form a habit that will contribute graciously to your post-workout recovery and change the way your brain responds to everyday stress.

If you had asked me a few years back about meditation, I would have not known a thing about it. Above, I told you not to abort the mission. That's because I wanted to when I first began. Your thoughts can get in the way or you will sit there thinking about other things you could be doing. The thing to meditation, or what I understand of it, is that it is okay if your mind wanders (and it will), just notice it, then reel yourself back in. A real practice of the mind. This is why we bring attention to our breath to start, an internal source and single point of focus to come back to. To continue, Leo Babauta of  the Zen Habits blog (one of my favorites) has many suggestions about meditation for beginners that has proven useful to me (https://zenhabits.net/meditation-for-beginners/ ). Above I also say to do it post-workout, but if that timing does not work for you, thats okay. Your recovery can happen any time of day.  Meditation has become a daily habit that I have formed for myself, and it all began with just a few minutes a day in the mornings. Hands down, its been a personal #gamechanger . When practiced consistently, meditation has a magical way of ridding the mind of useless clutter. My approach on every day crossings-in-the-road seem to be less cumbersome than ever before and I worry less.  Yes! Anyone who knows me will tell you, and the words "no worries" have literally taken over my vocab! If you want to know all the scientific stuff, just look it up! Studies show that meditation can change the entire way your brain functions ( #headexplodes ) ! Far from an expert here, but positive results happen when you devote time to meditation and others who practice regularly will tell you the same. If you are new to it, I challenge you to give meditation a whirl for 1 week straight, just 3-5 minutes a day, after a workout or whenever you want. Freeeeee your miiiiind! Then, let me know all about it in the comments below! I look forward to hearing about your discovery! ;)

Be well -- Lee-Ann

Picking Fruit

Everyday we are faced with choices. Should I eat this fruit for breakfast or stop for a bagel sandwich? Should I go to the gym after work or go to happy hour with friends? Life is full of choices. Like a basket of fruit, there is always one that is not quite ripe, fuzzy and bruised, or completely rotten. There is never going to be a perfect assembly of fruit for the picking. However, you can reduce the risk of picking that bad seed by sorting through and making your choice intentional.

I listen to the Minimalists Podcast occasionally, and they had a similar analogy to this, but I thought about it and created a different, new approach. By no means do I claim to make the best decisions or do I have the knowledge on telling you how to make decisions for yourself, but when it comes to choices there are only a few paths that we all have. Whether it is picking fruit or pursuing a new work or passion venture, there are generally three choices to it:

1. Blindly reach into the basket and a pick your fruit, wishing for the best one to appear in your hand.

2. Hold out, because you will find something better on another fruit truck.

3. Look over the entire fruit selection in the basket, assess the options, then pick the best one for you.

If you’re driven solely by luck and good juju, then #1 is your go-to. However, it isn’t the most practical way to get something to work in your favor. You have the same chance in picking a perfectly good piece of fruit than you have in picking a moldy, spoiled one. Not so optimal. Patience is your virtue if you go with option 2, because there is never going to be a perfect time. Although you may eventually find the perfect fruit for your tasting, who knows how long it will take for that next fruit truck to bring it. You will grow to be very hungry waiting, which could lead to frustration. Could also indeed lead to finding that very best piece of fruit, but you must be willing to compromise with time. The last option gives you a chance to analyze all the possibilities in front of you and make the choice that best suits you. You aren’t picking blindly, and you can see all the other possibilities lied out in front of you. With that said, there’s no guarantees that this is the best bunch of fruit, but at least you can choose the best among that given selection at that time. You are making an educated and analytic decision based on what you know of the selection. There’s no waiting on the fruit truck to come in with the next batch, rather you are finding the best with what you have right now in this moment with a set intention. Here’s to finding that nice juicy one, eh?

Whatever it may be, set your intentions and choose wisely at the pickings in life! ;) - Lee-Ann

Believing in Yourself = #CrushingGoals

“I am the greatest; I said that before I knew I was.” - Muhammad Ali

 If you want to achieve something great, you have to believe that YOU are great first. Whether it is for an upcoming audition, applying for college/grad school, presenting to a large group, losing weight, starting a new business venture, or working toward a short-term goal, the first step toward getting there is believing in yourself.

A few years back, I had a dance student that I taught for many years. He was one of the two boys in the classes I was teaching at the time. His parents were big into music and musical theater, so they enrolled him in dance at a young age. He was a well-rounded kid; smart, played an instrument, and polite to everyone. However, he was very shy and lacked stage presence. Dance seemed to bring him out of his shell a bit and he enjoyed it, especially tap. He was always a hard-worker in class, he asked questions, stayed after to practice, and worked on his technique at home (as a teacher, I could tell, because he would always come back to class having improved). His first year of high school, he wanted to audition for a play production. He was nervous to try-out and said he wasn't as popular as the other boys auditioning. During the auditions, he came to class early to show me the choreography. He even asked if he could perform it in front of his class, since he was comfortable performing in front of them. We would work on his stage presentation, and he would say “I just know I can do this!”. He put his heart into it, auditioned, and made the cut as a lead for that play! The judges saw that he had the positive attitude and potential. Fast-forward a few years now, and he’s currently performing his rookie season with a professional theater company in DC, while he attends college. He hopes to continue with his musical theater career in NYC after finishing school. All it took was an “I can” for him to reach for his goals.

Here are some steps I follow whenever I want to achieve a goal (small or big). I hope this helps you take your next step:

Believing in yourself is the first step. ;)

Step 2: Track your progress! You have to put in the work to succeed. Set small, measurable goals from the beginning that will get you closer to your big goals. It also makes it more of a reality if you write down your measurables or milestones toward the goal in a spreadsheet or calendar. That way, you can see the progress you are making from day 1 to get to where you want to be. It will motivate you to continue and will be rewarding for you to see what you have accomplished thus far.

Step 3: Be a student! If you want to ace a test, you have to study. If you want to be the best at something, you have to be a student first. Learn all you can about it. Find someone who is doing or has done what you want to do and learn from them. They may have the best advice since they lived it, and they can act as a mentor for you. Do your research! Read, watch videos, take classes, and learn so you can make the right steps toward success.

Step 4: Let someone hold you accountable! Find an accountability partner, friend, or teacher that will help you along the way. This person can help you stay motivated and give you honest advice on your progress. They can also hold your feet to the fire if you are ever thinking of giving up.

Step 5: Make it yours and own it! Find what works best for you. If you’re not a morning person, then don’t force yourself to be in the gym at 5:00am. Maybe you will have more energy and be more productive at a different time. Whatever it is, you have to find your personal routine and stick with it. Think of it as forming a new habit. Practice it enough and it will become second nature to you. You will become confident in what you do, and your confidence will be noticeable. Being a dance competition judge and audition judge in the past, I've seen girls completely fluff the choreography, improv an entire section, and still score high on the board. Confidence can be everything!  Own it, embrace that you are great (even if you mess up), and you will stand out!

 Special shout-out to my students who are auditioning this summer and anyone who is making that first step to achieving a new goal!

Now go crush it! ;)  -Lee-Ann

Peace & Gratitude

I am still getting my feet wet with this blog writing thing. I don't consider myself a writer really but, sometimes words just come naturally, especially words of the heart. I've recently started a gratitude journal. There have been studies on how just writing down a few things you are grateful for each week can be a game-changer to your overall outlook on life. I also don't consider myself a journaller, but yoga has opened me up to writing down mindful moments. And, honestly, if a successful icon like Oprah keeps a gratitude journal, then there must be something to it. She says, "You radiate and generate more goodness for yourself when you're aware of all you have and not focusing on your have-nots" in her "10 Ways to Rediscover Everything You've Got" article (Oprah.com). I'm sharing this with you because its actually working for me! Most importantly, I've noticed how peaceful it makes me. So perhaps gratitude=peace? That thought of "counting your blessings" and focusing on the things you have does put you at ease. Try it! What are you grateful for this very moment? I can't read your mind, but that one thing is likely to cancel out any stressful moment you may have had today. There are outside entities that may have an effect on you each day (work, money, people, etc), but being at peace and knowing you are making the best of what you have is essential to a positive living. 

My main point in saying all of this is that in the grander scheme of things, with all of the chaos in the world, recent terror attacks, politics, mind-boggling news and more, we must find peace within ourselves. Find what works for you. Whether it is journalling, reading, meditating, singing, dancing, taking long walks on the beach; make the positive choice to find that peaceful place every day. You will thank yourself. ;)

Peace out - Lee-Ann