Many of us have been taught to listen to your body. But are you listening to your home?

If you’re paying attention, and hear me out, you’ll learn that like your physical body, your home embodies a body, too. This is one of the interior design and life lessons I learned from one of my favorite design books, “Apartment Therapy,” by Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan. Yes, this is the same Apartment Therapy media company/website many of us design geeks adore. I was deeply impacted both physically and spiritually after reading it.

Today’s “Style Your Spirit” takes a page out of the book.

Maxwell explains your home is like a living organism that grows stronger with proper care and weaker with neglect. So how do you rate your home’s body?

Are you listening to your body, heart and hearth? If not, why? Now you don’t have any excuses.

Take Action

The home is like your body, “Apartment Therapy” explains:

Bones — Wall, floor ceilings, windows and fixtures are your home’s skeletal bones.
Action: Fix leaky sinks, cracks on walls, loose kitchen tiles, burnt out light bulbs.

Breath — The way you arrange your home. Healthy flow is blocked by poor placement of furniture.
Action: Declutter bookshelves, get rid of junk mail, clear out and use stagnant areas/rooms.

Heart — Expressed emotionally through the style, texture, shapes and themes.
Action: If you have too many different styles, colors, shapes and textures, pare them down and your home will feel much more in the flow.

Head — Home’s function, purpose, why you use it, what you do there. It should support your activities and needs.
Action: Reorganize kitchen drawers, get better reading lights. If there’s not enough seating for guests, get poufs, chairs or floor cushions.

Now that you know more about your home’s body, what will you do to take care of its creaks and crevices?

Think about how you’re taking care of your bones, breath, heart and head. If you’re feeling weak, ill or not in the flow, what actions will you take to become stronger in your body and your home? Oprah says once you know, you can’t pretend you don’t. So take action, boo. Your home + body needs it.

Extra Extra

I was so inspired by Maxwell’s book, “Apartment Therapy,” I decluttered my apartment and got rid of a carful of stuff. Talk about physical and spiritual healing.

True story: As Oprah says, “Listen to the whispers.” A whisper literally told me to reach out to Maxwell while I was in New York. By default, I searched my LinkedIn to see if any of my connections were tied to an employee at Apartment Therapy. As I searched, a voice told me to email him directly. So glad I did!

In my email, I told him I was inspired by his book to clear space in my home and make room to birth this “Style Your Spirit” series. He replied back to tell me he was inspired by my inspiration and graciously gave me a tour of the Apartment Therapy headquarters in SoHo, New York.

The conversation flowed and so many “ahas!” surfaced. I mentioned I read “Creating Sacred Space with Feng Shui” by Karen Kingston before I read his book. He told me that same book inspired him to pen “Apartment Therapy”! Our conversation included our emotional attachment to our homes, feng shui and spirituality.

YES, it’s because of him and his book that I had the courage to launch this series, put aside my perfectionism and create. Hope this inspires you, too. If this series has inspired you, tell me in the comments below or hit me up on social. I wanna know. If you haven’t heard of Apartment Therapy the book or website, check them out. Warning: get a pencil and paper ready. You’ll have so many ideas that will delight you. Keep creating, my friends.

Onward,
Toan

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The post Listen to Your Home and Body appeared first on Go Inspire Go.

Chris loved to hike, he loved nature and he loved his family. I know that 100 percent for sure.

I do not know why he chose to commit suicide.
I do not know why he didn’t tell anybody about his pain.
I do not know why he shot himself in the chest.
I do not know why he did it in his home, where my sister and niece could discover his bloody, lifeless body.
I do not know why he left us.

I just know that one year later, it still hurts like hell. Suicide — a selfish act that multiplies the pain 1 million times for everyone who cares for you. I search for answers by asking people who knew Chris, how they are doing? I do care, but surreptitiously, I am also seeking answers and ways for me to deal with this grief, this darkness inside me, this heavy heart that beats faster every time I see his two beautiful children.

Recently, I asked Chris’ best friend during dinner, “How are you feeling since the loss of Chris?” He looked me straight in the eyes, pursed his lips and said, “Chris left us. We didn’t lose him.” I could feel his pain transferred across the table.

Clearly, his BFF, and all of us touched by Chris’ charisma, kindness and energy, are still in pain a year later.

This week, we lost two legends: fashion designer Kate Spade and foodie, chef and TV host Anthony Bourdain from apparent suicides. The news of their tragedies triggered my grief — I couldn’t stop crying today.

I awoke this morning and found out about Bourdain’s death via Instagram. I wept in bed. I pulled myself up and headed to my CrossFit class, hoping to work out the pain, and cried in the car all the way to the gym.

On the way back home afterward, I spoke to my soul sister, Kala, who called to check in on me (she and I have soul connections). She wondered how I was doing after the news broke about Spade and Bourdain. We talked about stories of other recent suicides in our communities and how others have chosen to leave us.

After our short call, I prepared for a meeting then jumped in the shower. When I was drying off, I suddenly lost it. I couldn’t stop crying. I still have more questions than answers, but I do know this: people are hurting and we need to do something about depression and suicide. It’s OK to talk about it, though so difficult.

Chris passed when he was 52. His absence has amplified my awareness of the present moment. I turned 40 this past January and was pretty proud of how I handled the death of Chris. Both of my brothers told me how proud they were of me for showing up the way I did for the kids. I am a GSD person — you know, “get shit done.”

Immediately after my sister called me the evening of June 2, 2017 — minutes after discovering Chris’ body — I flew out to Florida, hugged the kids, prepared for the funeral and helped pack and move their belongings to Sacramento, where the rest of our family lived. I took my nephew and niece back with me to California and watched them for two weeks so my sister could clean out her home, close her business and say her goodbyes. I even came up with a list of 20 things to do to help her family readjust to their new life in Sacramento — and adjust to their new reality — without Chris. And hardest of all, I dealt with the family drama that comes with tragedy and loss.

Although I’m the biggest promoter of self-care, I know I wanted to, and did, take care of the kids and my sis more than I took care of myself. So it wasn’t until a month after my big 4-0 that I became riddled with sadness. Grief had set in. I realized I wasn’t taking care of myself as much as I should have and the heartache finally caught up with me. I’m still dealing with it now, the best way I know how:

1. I work out.
2. I eat well.
3. I feed my soul by being around people who nourish my soul.
4. I talk about how I’m feeling — this was the hardest thing to do. I’m not good at it, but I’m talking about it.
5. I let myself be sad, then think about the blessings and love that came from the experience.

I admit, it’s hard for me to talk about how I feel about Chris’ death — afraid that I would be judged for being mad at him, my sister, or anybody else who may have been able to help. There is a stigma around suicide, mental illness, mental health and grief.

And while I still have more questions than answers, I think it would be healthier if we opened up and started a dialogue around how we are feeling. We are not alone in what we’re going through. It’s OK to reach out for help and share your emotions and not hide them. SO, I am sharing my story of suicide and the grief I’m still experiencing.

Healing is organic and each of us deal with it in our own way. Some of us seek solitude and nature, while others want to keep busy and be around people, or both. But I urge you to talk about your feelings and let others know how you feel.

Since this tragedy, parents have asked me how they should talk to their kids about suicide or other difficult topics. “Should we tell them white lies?” “Should we tell them part of the story?” “Should we tell them at all?”

Shortly after Chris’ passing, I wrote a blog after doing research and seeking answers, to help other parents and guardians. I asked my friends who are psychologists and psychiatrists and penned this blog on how to talk to your kids about suicide in hopes it will help begin the conversation.

If you are going through depression and don’t feel you have people you can talk to, there is help — National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, 800-273-8255.

You’re not alone. There is hope. You CAN get through this.

Love,
Toan

P.S. Chris, while we are still here on earth grappling with why you physically left us, I know you will forever be in our hearts. You still have a major impact on us, including my zest for adventure, love of nature, crazy obsession with physical fitness and, of course, moving my furniture around every other week. As Serena “Sissy” says, “Love you to the moon and back.”

The post Chris, Can You Hear Me? Our Whole World Needs to Talk appeared first on Go Inspire Go.

Kim Shand, a nationally-renowned yoga expert, knows that life is not always fair. Born with severe scoliosis and vertebrae not fully formed, her prognosis was bleak. Doctors thought she would be paralyzed. She was expected to have stunted growth and a long list of medical complications. They wanted to pump her little body with medicine, screw a metal halo into her skull and brace down her back.

At age five, Kim’s parents introduced her to yoga and strength training. Her life changed physically, mentally and spiritually. She says her body self-corrected and miraculously, cartilage grew around her under-formed vertebrae.

Then in her early adulthood, Kim life fell off-balance after her father and uncle passed away and after losing her job. You’ll be amazed by how she bounced back and rediscovered yoga and is inspiring tens of thousands of people to take control of their health.

It’s hard to believe from these pictures and video that Kim endured such a painful start in life.

In a special edition of Go Inspire Go’s “Tea with Toan,” we met Kim on the mat in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park to share Kim’s inspiring and empowering story and life lessons that will inspire you to rethink yoga and rethink your life.

Instead of living a life full self-pity, Kim grounded herself on the mat and embraced the challenges — which in turn stretched her possibilities beyond the limits of what seems humanly possible.

Through yoga, Kim’s life mission is to inspire as many people as possible to be present enough to listen to their bodies. “I am teaching people how to take responsibility of their health and lives. They have choices,” Kim explained. “The health care system in America is broken. We need to empower the country to regain their health.”

Kim believes yoga should be accessible to everyone, that’s why she gives away “as many free yoga videos” as possible on her Rethink Yoga website.

At Go Inspire Go, we love ripples… many of her students are giving back to her by helping her produce many of the free videos you see on her website.

I’ve experienced Yoga with Kim in person and often start my day getting into the rhythm and rhyme of Kim’s yoga videos.

Her uniquely calm melodic voice and energy are as soothing as they are strengthening. You can’t meet Kim or experience her yoga videos without feeling recharged, refocused and ready to receive and seize life’s lessons. We’d love to hear your thoughts about how yoga has changed your life in the comments section below.

Make it your GIG to Be in. All the Time.

1. Move Your Body, Mind and Spirit: Free Yoga on Rethink Yoga’s YouTube channel
2. Download the FREE 31 Days/31 Poses ebook on RethinkYoga
3. Share this video with others who need to Rethink Yoga

What can YOU do?

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The post Rethink Yoga. Rethink You. appeared first on Go Inspire Go.