If you missed the How To Feel Good In Your Skin Teleclass from last week, or forgot to register in the first place, here’s your chance to listen in.

REPLAY TIMES:

Thursday, September 2nd at 8PM Eastern, 7PM Central, 6PM Mountain, 5PM Pacific, 1AM London, 10AM Sydney

Tuesday, September 7th at Noon Eastern, 11AM Central, 10AM Mountain, 9AM Pacific, 5PM London, 2AM Sydney.

Do you find yourself saying no to fun outings because they involve wearing a swimsuit or shorts? Do you look in the mirror and dislike what you see, or avoid the mirror as much as possible? Are you waiting to lose weight before you do what you really want?

Most women are accustomed to living with the pain and shame of body hatred. And yet, that body hatred causes a ripple effect of problems, from a general feeling of being unfulfilled to intense shame and depression.

In this 60-minute teleclass, Golda Poretsky, H.H.C. (founder of Body Love Wellness and leading authority on Health At Every Size) will share some of her top techniques for feeling good in your skin– the same ones she shares with her private coaching clients.

You’ll walk away from this call with surprisingly powerful, yet simple techniques for feeling at peace with your body.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

• How to reconnect body and mind in a pleasurable way.
• The top mistake that women make when they’re trying to feel better about themselves.
• How to start loving parts of your body that you dislike now.
• Easy ways to heal from habits that no longer serve you.
• Powerful meditation/visualization practices that you can use anytime.

Whether feeling bad about your body is a new problem for you or you’ve been feeling that way as long as you can remember, you’ll get at least 3 BIG insights into how to heal from negative body image that you’ll be able to use immediately to feel more confident and comfortable in your body.

Note: Everyone who registers will receive a link to listen to the recording of the class, so you should still register if you can’t make it live!

Just enter your info in the boxes below, and you’ll receive the complete call details via email.

I am SO EXCITED to share this with all of you!

For a long time, I’ve only had two options for you.  You could either take advantage of the free offerings on my site, the blog, the podcast and teleclasses, or you could become my client and work with me one on one.

And while I positively love providing both of those options, I’ve been dying to offer a program that would allow my clients to connect with and support one another, all the while getting support from me.  In other words, I’ve wanted to create a group program that would be accessible to more women and would allow for all of us to build a community of like-minded women who are dedicated to empowering one another and breaking the chains of body hatred for good.

I wanted to create a group program that would support you in healing from the pain and isolation of body hatred and food issues.  I wanted to create a community of women who were really committed to supporting themselves and one another in feeling great in their bodies and moving about their lives as the radiant and empowered women that they were born to be.

For over a year, I’ve been working on creating the curriculum for a program that would give its members the tools to really love their bodies, heal from food issues, and more.  And it is finally ready!

So without further ado, I would like to introduce you to The Empress Club.

The symbol of the Empress (in tarot decks and elsewhere) is usually depicted as a beautiful, powerful, plus sized woman.  She is an image representing abundance, power, Mother Earth, divine knowledge, sensuality, and much much more.

Because of this, the Empress is a fitting symbol of a group coaching program designed to support powerful plus-sized women in attaining their desires.

If you are ready to own your beauty, own your body, and own your health, then you are ready for the Empress Club.

Register here, or just keep reading…

Let me tell you a little bit about what you get as an Empress Club Member.  You will:

• Learn powerful tools to IMMEDIATELY change the way you relate to your body
• Get my unique process for healing from long held emotional eating patterns
• Get support from other women who know your struggles and will support you in moving forward
• Own your beauty like you never have before
• How to understand what cravings really mean and give your body the nutrition it needs
• Receive Health At Every Size based counseling — scientifically proven to positively influence health indicators more than diet programs
• Set healthy boundaries based upon your needs and desires
• Build your business or career by networking with other Empresses
• And so much more!

Now, you’re probably wondering how all of this works.  As in, “What exactly do I get as an Empress Club member?”  So here’s a breakdown of all that you get to participate in as an Empress Club member.

First, there are the calls.  You will get 12 food and body image group coaching sessions in a teleclass form.  Each session will be 60-90 minutes long. These classes will be in a workshop style, with a mixture of teaching and Q&A. These are calls where you’ll learn tools to support you in transforming your food and body image issues.  And, you’ll get my personal, in-depth coaching on your specific questions.  And you’ll learn a lot from the questions and successes of your peers!

Then, there’s membership in the exclusive Empress Club community site. You’ll be granted access to your own members-only protected site where you can get your questions answered by me and my team, share knowledge and inspiration with other members, and access the downloadable audios and other program resources. This is the place to share your experiences, get support, post pictures, network, and so much more!

Plus, we have the bonus Live Event, which I call the Empress Club Coronation.  This is a 2-day, private event, where you get your chance to meet the amazing women that you’ve connected with in the Empress Club in person.

Day 1 is a plus size shopping event, where we’ll head to Brooklyn to visit Re/Dress NYC and Lee Lee’s Valise — two wonderful stores dedicated to fabulous plus-size clothes.  There, trained stylists will help you create fantastic looks that look great on you.  Day 2 is our spa day, where you get to pamper yourself at Spa Castle, an amazing, multi-level spa.  We’ll talk body love as we relax and chat in jacuzzis, saunas and whirlpools.  Please note: Attendance at the Empress Club Coronation isn’t required, and no new material will be covered.  However, it is my personal wish that everyone be able to attend.

Plus, because I love my clients and love to over deliver, we’ll have some additional start up and follow up calls so that we can all connect and digest all that we learn.

Plus, now through September 7th, I’m offering a crazy amazing deal on this program.  So if you’re ready to sign up, or just want to learn more, just click the button below.  You’ll be taken to a link where you’ll get even more info about the program, and get the opportunity to sign up at this really low early bird rate!

I can’t wait for you to join me, Empress!

xoxo,
Golda
Body Love Coach
www.bodylovewellness.com

Golda Poretsky, HHC
www.bodylovewellness.com

I’m posting an oldie but goodie again this week, but it may be new to you!

And, by the way, there’s still time to join me for my teleclass, which was rescheduled to Tuesday due to technical difficulties — How To Feel Good In Your Skin — Free 60 Minute Teleclass And Group Meditation. Just click here to register!

Listen to the podcast here:

I know you’re in shock that I’m actually a proponent of a diet, so I’ll give you a moment to recover. Okay. Are you ready?

Introducing . . .

The Media Diet.

It’s the only diet that I would ever encourage my clients to go on.

With the Media Diet you will:

• Lose your self doubt about your appearance
• Reach your goal of liking yourself and the way you look
• Melt away your resistance to feeling good about yourself right now
• Maintain your belief in your own attractiveness

GUARANTEED!

Here’s how you do it:

For the next week, as much as possible, limit your exposure to images of:

1) Ultra thin women and men
2) Advertising of diets and diet foods

Both components of the media diet are important. In a study published in 2002, scientists reported that the introduction of television in Fiji completely changed women’s views of their bodies. Prior to the introduction of television, most Fijian women were satisfied with the way they looked no matter what their sizes. Less than a year after television became available, at least 77% of women reported dissatisfaction with their bodies and a desire to lose weight. In fact, there were no reported cases of anorexia or bulimia in Fiji until television was introduced! Other studies have shown that at least 24% of women on television are actually underweight by BMI standards – which means that many are starving themselves to fit the required norm. Television sets us up for body hatred and a desire to achieve body weights that even mainstream doctors deem too thin. Avoid it!

Additionally, Americans spend approximately $60 billion a year on diets and diet products. This is an incredible statistic considering all of the problems with diets including the fact that at least 90% of dieters gain all of the weight they lose back – plus a few extra pounds – within 3-5 years.

So let’s send a message to television producers and advertisers that we’re not interested in seeing ultra thin actors and ads for diet products. And, more importantly, let’s change what we look at every day so that our eyes are not deceived into thinking that underweight is an ideal.

While on the Media Diet, use your “willpower” to avoid the following:

1) Typical fashion magazines (it’s tempting to peek in the line at the grocery store but distract your attention with something else)
2) Internet fashion sites (except as described below)
3) Soap operas
4) Other daytime television (this is the time when diet ads are most prevalent)
5) Primetime sitcoms
6) Newspaper ads

Now, there is no need to starve for media on the Media Diet. Take this time on the Media Diet to replenish your system with healthy alternatives:

1) Check out some really fun online plus size magazines, like Plus Model Magazine, Venus Diva Magazine and BBW Magazine.
2) Check out plus size fashion groups, like Fatshionista and the livejournal Fatshionista community. Enjoy all the pictures of fabulous fat women of all shapes and sizes dressing up in their favorite clothes. Post your own too. And for more gorgeous photographs, check out Adipositivity.
3) Read great Fat Acceptance blogs.
4) Check out this  youtube video showing the process of putting a model’s image on a billboard. You won’t believe all of the airbrushing!
5) Watch shows starring fabulous plus sized women and men, like Huge on ABC Family.
6) Take a little field trip to Brooklyn (if you’re in the area) and check out stores like Re/Dress NYC 109 Boerum Place, Brooklyn, NY 11201 and Lee Lee’s Valise, 368 Court St Brooklyn, NY 11231. Seek out size positive stores in your area.
7) Spend some time perusing all the great articles and blogs on More Of Me To Love including mine!

I guarantee that after a week spent on the Media Diet, you will look and feel better about yourself! Let us know how it goes!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Golda Poretsky, H.H.C. is a certified holistic health counselor who specializes in transforming your relationship with food and your body. Go to http://www.bodylovewellness.com/stay-in-touch/ to sign up for her newsletter and get your free download — Golda’s Top Ten Tips For Divine Dining!

Have you picked up Golda’s book yet? Get your copy of Stop Dieting Now: 25 Reasons To Stop, 25 Ways To Heal today!  Get it for your kindle too!

© 2010 Golda Poretsky. All rights reserved.

Golda Poretsky, HHC
www.bodylovewellness.com

Due to a very full weekend at the Ladies Rock Camp, I’ve decided to repost this Body Love Wellness favorite.

And, by the way, there’s still time to join me for my teleclass this Thursday — How To Feel Good In Your Skin — Free 60 Minute Teleclass And Group Meditation. Just click here to register!

Listen to the podcast here:

Since I find myself spouting heresies every week at the Body Love Wellness Blog, I want to give you one more to chew on.

You Are Not Broken.

I say this because you are not an agglomeration of problems to be fixed and you are not in a race to see how fast you can fix them. I say this because you are really okay, right here and now.

I know that most of us go through our day connecting with what we see as our chronic problems. For many of you reading this blog, you have lived your life under the the spectre of your “weight problem”. Your “weight problem” colors everything you do, the way you interact with the world, the products you buy, the way you expect your body to function, the way you choose everything from your clothes to your lovers. And you think if you could just fix the weight problem, if you could just solve for x, everything else would fall into place, and you and your life would no longer be broken.

For others it’s not a weight problem. It’s some other problem that we’ve identified as being ours. It could be anything from infertility to cancer to crow’s feet. We all have certain problems that we magnify and see as the source of further problems.

We get lots of support in seeing our problems as the focus of our lives. Whether it’s an advertisment on television or a doctor’s advice, we’re constantly told that we need to get our problems under control, fix them, mitigate them, etc. We get the message that it’s our duty to elminate the problem so that we can then be happy and make everyone else happy. We understand that we shouldn’t rest until the problem is appropriately counteracted.

When we live our lives constantly focused on problems, we end up identifying with the problems themselves. As a result, we make poor choices and miss out on much of the good of life. (I can feel the chronic dieters out there nodding their heads as they read this.)

Only people who see themselves as having a weight problem would ever sign up for a diet program. Only a person who saw their weight problem as a major issue that had to get solved would sign up for getting weighed in at a meeting every week, eating prepackaged food for three meals a day, drinking diet shakes, starving themselves, making themselves vomit, etc. etc. If you don’t think you have a weight problem, you don’t do those things to yourself.

In other words, if you don’t see yourself as having a weight problem, you might actually be able to eat relatively healthfully, regardless of your size. You would be able to hear that voice inside your body that says, “I would like to eat that” or “I would not like to eat that” or “I’m hungry” or “I’m full.” You might also be able to hear your intuition more when it tells you things like, “I’d like to go back to school” or “I’d like to break up with my boyfriend” or “yoga is fun” or whatever your particular consciousness most desires. When you’re stuck in the problem, it’s hard to hear anything other than “I need to get this fixed right now in order to be happy.”

So, I will write it again. You are not broken. You are not a problem to be solved. Solving your “problem”, whatever you perceive your problem or problems to be, is not the key to happiness.

This week, I want you to identify whatever you think your big problem is. (For most of you, you’ll know it instantly.) Live this week as if your big problem was not a problem. Live as if it were already solved or wasn’t a problem at all. Notice what feels different. Notice if you feel better. As always, let us know how it goes in the comments below.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Golda Poretsky, H.H.C. is a certified holistic health counselor who specializes in transforming your relationship with food and your body. Go to http://www.bodylovewellness.com/stay-in-touch/ to sign up for her newsletter and get your free download — Golda’s Top Ten Tips For Divine Dining!

Have you picked up Golda’s book yet? Get your copy of Stop Dieting Now: 25 Reasons To Stop, 25 Ways To Heal today!

© 2010 Golda Poretsky. All rights reserved.

Abby Lentz Of Heartfelt Yoga

For the last eleven years or so, I have had an on-again-off-again affair with yoga.  I truly love yoga, I’ve taken a variety of classes, I have books on it, I think it’s great for so many things, etc. etc. etc.  But I’ve also had numerous struggles with it that go beyond being the fattest person in every class I’ve ever taken.  I have joint issues (diagnosed with fibromyalgia and arthritis which I’ve healed from pretty well with a few residual issues) which make a mat on a hardwood floor a really uncomfortable place to be.  I also have that really short torso/long legged body type that makes forward bends and sustained leg-in-the-air stuff kind of uncomfortable.

So when Abby Lentz of Heartfelt Yoga asked me to review her DVD’s, HeavyWeight Yoga: Yoga For The Body You Have Today (” HWY 1″) and HeavyWeight Yoga 2: Change The Image of Yoga (“HWY 2″) I was happy to do it but certainly took my sweet time.  (Sorry, Abby!)

Over the last two days, I finally took the time to try them out.  They are both truly wonderful.  After doing the first customized workout on HWY 1 and the main workout on HWY 2, my bodied felt stretched out and more relaxed.  The warm ups and main classes are made up of mainly traditional Hatha poses and breathwork (with a sprinkling of pilates-like moves during the warmup) with a savasana (relaxation) at the end.  This is really the kind of yoga I like — slow-moving and relaxing, with no really challenging moves like shoulderstands. There’s also no chanting (which I really dig but I know not everyone does).

Although HWY 1 is more customizable in terms of creating a variety of routines, I really enjoyed HWY 2 the most.  HWY 2  is set in a class and features a variety of folks of various (fat) shapes and sizes, and I really enjoyed seeing how each person modified the poses based on their body shapes.  HWY 2 also includes some additional features, like the choice of listening to it in Spanish or English and interviews with the class participants.

Since this a review, I will note just a few things I didn’t like, but certainly got over very easily.  One is that Lentz uses the terms “overweight and obese” in the introduction to each DVD, which are two words I don’t really love, for a variety of reasons.  However, that’s only in the introductions, which are easily skipped.  On a more technical, yoga-related note, during the very beginning of the warm-up part of each workout (but more during HWY 1 than 2), her tone felt sort of rushed, which had a rather non-relaxing effect.

Anyway, I hope you’ll try the DVD’s and let me know what you think.  And if you’re in Austin, Texas, I’d definitely check out a live class!