Get Gal VanIZed

This past Tuesday morning I spoke at the Kiwanis Club in Bixby Knolls (Long Beach, CA). I decided to record the presentation and I’m publishing it here as a pocast. You can listen here or click the download MP3 button to download to your computer. You can also subscribe to the show in iTunes.

In this show I talk about many things including:

I’m getting more and more Gal VanIZed all the time.

The show is about 25 minutes long. I hope it galvanizes you too.

This weekend I went to a fun party at Shaun and Mary’s house in Long Beach. I originally met Shaun during our beach workouts with Jaiya in the Bluff Park area of Long Beach. His home was absolutely beautiful. All the people in this photo are part of the Your Next Victory team. We work out HARD but we also have fun. Earlier this week we met at May’s restaurant for a gathering. May is also one of the people we workout with. You can see her in the picture below. Jaiya is really developing a team atmosphere. Not only do we workout in groups, but by adding these social occassions to the mix, we also feel more accountable and connected with one another.

(L to R - (back row) Jaiya Figueras, Lindsay Hudgins (front row) Sandra Lepore, Me, Darian Jones, Jen Wescott)

What I love about Jaiya is that he never emphasizes or focuses on weight or looks as a determinant of fitness. Instead, he measures our strength and our improvement. We just had a fitness test, I ran faster with less struggle and could do more push ups and sit ups. I am truly starting to feel good in my body and all of my clothes fit more comfortably and I haven’t lost any weight. That’s right. I have not lost a pound. But I feel sexy in my body again. I feel like I have my body back and that feels fabulous.

Jaiya tells us about nutrition and body mechanics but he doesn’t emphasize fat or calories, instead he shows us why its important to have certain foods at certain times and to keep the body fueled at all times. In fact, he encourages us to eat every 3 hours!

The team is educated, dedicated and talented. Jaiya used to play college footback at Oregon State University, Jen Wescott ranked second in the United States in trampoline when she was 17. Another team member, Sage Crum studied to be an M.D. but was discontent with the pharmaceutical crazed medical industry and decided to use his talents more constructively.

I am also a team member. I offer hypnosis sessions to all Your Next Victory team members at a discount.  Jaiya says our work together has increased his business. I feel very proud to be in association with such great people.

Here’s a picture with even more Your Next Victory members:

Jaiya offers free workouts on Saturday’s at the bluff near the end of Redondo Ave. in Long Beach. You should come check it out.

(L to R - Marlene Nelson, Cecilia Acuna, Darian Jones, Ashley Sibille, Jaiya Figueras, Lyndsey Hudgins, Dave Utterback, May (owner of May’s Thai Restaurant on Anaheim in Long Beach), Me, Shaun Bennet, and Sandra Lepore.)

I have grown up my entire life looking at magazines. It was a teen magazine, with Brooke Sheilds in the centerfold that provoked my first memorable thought that “I’m not good enough, I’m fat, I should lose weight.” I was 12. I didn’t even weigh 100 lbs yet. But that day when I saw that picture and had those thoughts was the beginning of my obsession with weight and eating. I began counting calories, I eventually started smoking and then I started taking legal and illegal drugs to suppress my appetite and make me thin.

A couple of years ago, I proclaimed a complete hiatus from women’s magazines. I cancelled my subscriptions, I ignore the envelopes from In Style telling me they “want me back.” Just the other day I was reflecting on how my fast from fashion magazines has made a noteable impact on my self-esteem and body image. My need, want and desire to consume or to shop for the sake of shopping is totally gone. I feel more at peace with myself right now than I ever have.

It turns out there is at least one magazine that I can read from cover to cover and feel like a better person for it. The magazine is called The Ray and their website is at www.theray.org. I met the editor, Sierra at a recent workshop with Kathe Schaaf. I know that Sierra’s heart is dedicated to empowering women and being her best self.

As I read this magazine, I felt compelled to get out a pen and start underlining things and writing notes in the creases of the page. I want to share more about that with you in an upcoming blog. I want to share some of the quotes and my reactions to them and I want to get your reactions too. If you’re sick of the same old women’s magazines with starving models on the cover and articles about where to find the best bra and if you feel full of untapped potential that you want to tap, you just might love The Ray as much as I did.

Today I went to Venice Beach to meet up with a few of the Derby Doll Fresh Meat for a beach skate. We congregated near muscle beach then skated to the “end of the world” (Santa Monica) and back. It was fun, exhilirating, energizing and freeing. There were five of us all togehter:

L to R: Buttersnatch Sundae, Gritty in Pink, STEPHCON1, me (Gal VanIZed), Jess (still waiting on a skate name, would love one that is somehow related to a douche bag), Lusty Loveless (I probably totally got that wrong, school me fellow freshies). Also, if you want me to add your myspace links, make sure I’m your friend and/or send me your link.

Now here’s something pretty cool. I was rolling around, sorta in my own world when I hear someone calling my name. First I hear “Sheri” then I hear “Gal VanIZed.” I know for sure, this is a person who knows me. I spin around, fall to my knees and there stands Wendi Friesen. She was spending time with her son on a beautiful Southern California Mother’s Day.

What you have to know is, Wendi and I have been Twittering and G-mailing about a creative marketing idea. It’ll have to do with food, with hunger, and with hypnosis. You will actually come eat with us! You’ll love Wendi, she is great.

Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that here we’ve been brainstorming this idea pretty consistently for like 2 days and then boom, there we are. Me, her, Venice Beach, 2:36 p.m., in a precise area of a sprawling landscape of choices. Add to that, it was really her son that spotted us. If it wasn’t for him, well, who knows. He told his mom “look at those roller girls” and Wendi thought, “I wonder if one of them is Sheri.” There I was, a glowing beacon of pinkness standing before her.

Thousands of people are milling the aisles of the boardwalk, catching the mime show, chillin’ with the guitar guy on roller blades. You know the scene. You’ve been there or you’ve seen it in a movie. So how did it happen and why? Is it just “coincidence?” I think you’re gonna have to wait and find out.

P.S. Can I just say, I am getting a distinct vibe of L.A. Story happenin’ here.

Saturday May 3 I joined with several female leaders as we discussed ways to develop and share our skills and also be compensated for our talents. The workshop was titled At the Intersection of Soverign and Sacred. Kathe started the workshop off by telling a story of The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell. King Arthur challenges Sir Gawain to discover what women most want. His answer is correct: women want soverinty, or the freedom to choose. Solving the riddle saved Sir Gawain’s life and giving his wife sovereignty broke the curse that made her ugly. She became beautiful day and night and Gawain fell deeply in love with her.

During the workshop, we talked about what makes us leaders and how we’ve utilized (or underutilized) our leadership up to this point in our lives. We wrote a list of some of our forms of resistance to change then shared them with each other. My list actually caused me to laugh out loud. It said things like: “I can’t be successful because I don’t have a country club membership.” I realized at a deep level that part of the reason I fear success is because I would have to become like the people my ego has equated with the word “success” and frankly, some of those stiffs are downright boring and arrogant.

I realized (and by the way, not for the first time) that I could create my own definition of success. May I add, this little tid bit was in a book I wrote and had published in 2000. How is it possible to write a whole book and forget what it’s about?

I have no idea.

The point is, I know now. I woke up, even if it was only for a few minutes.

Before leaving the workshop, we all chose an index card from a layered deck. Mine said “Never be the same.” I interpreted that to mean that I should stop trying to “fit in” and just be myself. Turns out, I think it means even more. My life will “never be the same” after that powerful meeting with feminine leaders. In fact is is only and always as a result of constructive, empowering gatherings with women (like my Master Mind meetings or even Derby Doll practice) that I am able to become more of who I am.

L to R Sierra (editor of The Ray magazine, more about The Ray in future blogs), Marilyn, Paula Easton, me, Carla Browning, Laura Swan, Kathe Shaaf, Julia from Unity Bridges and Tracy.

Most of the time my morning routine consists of hypnosis, meditation, affirmations and a solid ass-kicking from Jaiya and his team at Your Next Victory. Between workouts with Jaiya and workouts with the Derby Dolls, I can get pretty beat up sometimes.

This a.m. I opted for an entirely different type of exercise ala “just like when I was a kid.” I got on my pink beach cruiser with the wicker basket, put on my headphones, turned on my iPod and started peddling.

Although I do have an official workout playlist that I like to use for motivation, today I decided to leave the iPod on shuffle and see what would happen.

I didn’t realize my podcast was set on repeat>albums so the first 4 songs I heard were by Flipper. Which is totally fine because I LOVE Flipper. I heard Way of the World, In Your Arms and Ha Ha Ha. After that, I heard Transitions by the Beastie Boys followed by Rhythm (Devoted to the Art of Moving Butts) by A Tribe Called Quest. I finished off the ride with Steppin Stone (a Monkees cover) by Minor Threat.

It was an exhilarating ride. Something I lost touch with for a long time thanks to poor body image and food obsession. Today I can honestly say I love my body. I love the feel of my muscles burning. I like to challenge myself. I love the feel of the wind on my face. I like to guess what people on the bike path are thinking. I think the diet, fitness and advertising industries stripped the notion of fun right outta exercise and now, more than ever, its time to bring it back.

I watched a portion of The Brain Fitness Program on KOCE-HD. Here’s what brain researchers are finding: “Throughout our lives it (the brain) can be physically and functionally changed even improved on, depending on how we use it.” It turns out that exercise is one of the few things that can cause the brain to grow new neurons.

According to Sharon Begley, co-author of The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force “Something as simple as one hour of aerobic exercise 5 times a week will dial up the rate of production of new neurons in the brain.” That means memory loss is not something we’re completely powerless over. It is not an inevitable side effect of aging.

Don’t you think existence in modern day society is stealing enough of your brain already? Don’t make it worse by being a couch potato. This is your life. Live it. It is never too late to change.

The thoughts and ideas you pay the most attention to will create your life.  This can happen even if the thoughts are subconscious.  In this show, I use some of the quotes from Ekhart Tolle’s book, A New Earth to emphasize the importance of focusing on what you want to create (because all thought is creative.)   

One of the quotes from Ekhart Tolle’s book is, “Words, no matter whether they are vocalized and made into sounds or remain unspoken as thoughts, can cast an almost hypnotic spell upon you.”

Some of us have become passive recipients of the words that surround us and most of those words are dictated by advertisers. Even though the podcast emphasizes freedom from weight and eating struggles, it really could apply to other areas of life as well. Listen with an open mind.

I mentioned on the podcast that May 6 was International No-Diet Day and I read the 10 reasons to stop dieting list. You can read that list on the International No-Diet Day website.

Enjoy the show.

You can also get the Donate Your Weight podcast on iTunes.

I, like many Americans am feeling the impact of this down economy. At the same time, I know it’s important to keep my thoughts focused on what I want and to avoid worry. I have gained some solace by looking to nature for answers.

My friend Rev. Ahman just gave me a copy of A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle. The first few pages of the book are dedicated to the evolution of life on our planet. Tolle notes that the color and fragrance of flowers are a symbol of the invisible realm. He writes, “As the consciousness of human beings developed, flowers were most likely the first thing they came to value that had no utilitarian purpose for them, that is to say, was not linked in some way to survival. They provided inspiration to countless artists, poets, and mystics.”

So, in honor of acknowledging the unseen force that created flowers; the force that moves up through the soil and causes a flower to bloom, I clipped these lilies from my garden and placed them in a vase that my brother gave me in celebration of my open house two years ago. If I take time to notice, the flower and the vase together remind me of hope and right now, that’s the kind of reminder I need the most.

This video is a real eye-opener. I should make you Gal VanIZed.

This Saturday night, May 3 I went to the Doll Factory to see the LA Derby Doll All-Stars play the San Diego Derby Dolls.  The game was exciting to be sure, lots of energy, lots of screaming and the fact that LA won by 115 points, well…that just leaves me speechless.

I’ll be honest, its not just the game or the rules or the uniforms that keep me going to roller derby, it’s the people. Never will you find an assemblage of more cool people per square foot than you do when you enter the Doll Factory. 

If your only exposure to LADD is that you heard about it from a friend, saw a video or read an article about them in the paper, I’m sure you could make all kinds of snap judgments and analyses of what you think roller derby is and what you think the people are like but until you set foot in the building and feel the energy first hand, you really don’t know anything about what makes roller derby so cool.

I just wanted to share a few of my favorite photos from the evening here.  I have more favorites on my Facebook page and you can see even more action by visiting the photo gallery at letsgokings.com.

Aunt Flo throws free tampons to the excited audience

While the rest of the Dolls hold out their hands to “five” the crowd, P.I.T.A. keeps her hands on her hips and gives her ass for “fives” maintaining true form to her derby name.

Myna Threat supporters (mom and grandma?) wait in silent anticipation to see if they won the raffle. They just might be eligible for a skateboard without wheels or an oversized VANS (off the wall) tennis shoe.
 

LA Derby Dolls Fear Leader. Pink flower in her flowing blond hair, scowl on her face and skull belt buckle on her waist.

Dr. Rick celebrates his birthday with the LA Derby Dolls

With an 80 point lead on the scoreboard, Mila decides to finish off the jam skating backwards. The crowd went wild, the screams were deafening.

Dolls jumpin’ over Dolls, all in the name of Derby

Even though I arrived at 5:30 to work the guest list and stood on my feet for five or more hours, this is what I feel like after a Derby Doll bout: Charged.