Intentions for 2019.

May this year be filled with self-discovery and growth.

I hope you move your body in new ways and explore cities and places that have always intrigued you.

I hope you talk to someone who doesn’t look like you or who you may think you share nothing in common with, and discover all the similarities you share as human beings.

I hope this is the year you take classes or lessons in the things you’ve always been curious about.

I hope if you’re a night owl that you experience the solitude and calm beauty of a sunrise, and if you’re a morning person that you experience the energy, buzz, and excitement of the nightlife.

I hope you make new things and adopt a beginner’s mindset. All masters started out once as beginners.

I hope you have the courage to have those difficult and uncomfortable conversations, because on the other side is emotional freedom.

I hope on your hardest, worst days that you speak to yourself like a good friend- with tenderness, empathy, and compassion.

I hope this is the year you tune out the nonsense and tune into your true essence. 

Blessings,

Julianne

Follow Your Bliss.

When I think back on the past two years, I can honestly say that the largest ‘joy-sparkers’ were those that piqued my interest and curiosity. It all started with getting still and quiet enough to listen to my intuition. One of my favorite quotes is from Ursula Le Guin- “The creative adult is the child who has survived.” As a child, I loved to paint, make pop-up cards, perform tap dance in front of relatives during family gatherings, and write letters to summer camp pen-pals and my teachers. Recently when I was designing a custom pop-up card for a friend, I felt so incredibly joyful. It was so visceral- and at that moment I realized I was tapping into my childhood love and bliss of making things. Namely, 3-D art.

I get it. Life is busy. As a Type 3 Enneagram, it’s never easy to break my habit of putting aside my to-do list and cultivating more space to just tap into solitude. But I am learning how integral and necessary solitude is for happiness and well-being.

Solitude is necessary for deep creative work.

Solitude is necessary to hear what your heart is telling you in a quiet, subtle way.

Solitude is necessary to strip yourself from the ‘shoulds’ of your life and tap into more things that feel like play. Things that bring you joy. Things that feel like bliss.

Newest card design available in my SHOP!

For now, bliss means brush lettering, composing on my keyboard, learning new chords on my ukulele, closing doors to certain opportunities in order to make room for exciting coaching plans in 2019. It means deep-diving into digital art, surrounding myself with mentors, and booking retreats for 2019. I am excited and ready for all that already is, and will be, in 2019. How will you cultivate more deliberate space and solitude into your life? How will you follow your bliss in 2019?

The Invitation.

“It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain!I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it, or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul; if you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see beauty even when it's not pretty, every day, and if you can source your own life from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, “Yes!”

It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up, after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done to feed the children.

It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.”

-Oriah Mountain Dreamer

Nourish Bowls.

As the weather gets chillier, windier and more rainy in these fall/winter months, those who identify predominantly with the vata dosha can easily find themselves feeling unbalanced, scattered, anxious, and more prone to dryness and cold.

Roasted carrots, roasted butternut squash, roasted beets and brussel sprouts, red lentils/quinoa, and sauteed kale with avocado.

Nourish bowls have recently become an integral part of my meals, and I’ve found that transitioning more to warm, cooked foods has helped me feel more grounded and aided with my digestion. And they just taste so darn GOOD, so it’s essentially a win-win.

Roasted brussel sprouts, roasted cauliflower, sweet potatoes, quinoa/red lentils with kale, pea shoots, sauerkraut, and avocado.

To save time during the week, I choose one day to make a large batch of quinoa and red lentils. Essentially it’s just 1 cup dry quinoa and 1 cup split red lentils boiled in 4 cups of vegetable broth. I add a dash of turmeric, cumin, mustard seeds, ground fennel, and cook it until the liquid has been absorbed. I’ve been adding kale or red chard at the end of the cooking cycle. From there, I’ll put together whatever other vegetables I’ve roasted- beets, brussel sprouts, carrots, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, delicata squash….the possibilities are endless.

Today’s creation- roasted delicata squash with a splash of balsamic finish, roasted beets, roasted cauliflower, quinoa/red lentils with sauteed baby chard, kale, and the fresh beet greens.

When I batch cook and roast my vegetables, it sets me up for success during the rest of the week. I merely put together my own nourish bowl ingredients and heat them up for a deliciously warm, nutritious and balanced meals throughout the week. Let me know what combos you’re inspired to try! The possibilities are endless.


Stepping into Yirah!

The beautiful thing about the internet is that it connects us together with people from across the globe. I received a heartfelt email from a lovely new friend living in South Africa, and included in it was a post I’d written almost two years ago. Reading my own words- written in a time of great uncertainty as I was preparing to leave a job I had been at for 11 years- was a gentle reminder that there are two different faces of fear, and essentially, how with a little faith and luck, things always work out.

I wanted to re-post this now, as I feel it’s relevant and can invite you to get quiet, to listen, and to step fully, wholeheartedly, bravely into YIRAH.

This whole time I thought there was only one type of fear. The deep-rooted, irrational, worst-case scenario lizard-brain fear. The kind that tells us to avoid that conversation when our partner says, “We need to talk” because it’s uncomfortable and we might get broken up with and never find love again. It’s the fear that tells us not to press ‘publish’ because people may not like what we wrote. It warns us that if we quit our full-time job, we won’t be able to pay our rent or afford health insurance. We’ll be forced to eat $0.10 ramen and everyone will shake their heads and say, “I told you so.” The Hebrew word for this type of fear is pachad.

There’s another kind of fear. But it has a much different type of energy. It’s what you feel when you step onto the stage to deliver your keynote speech and you’re ready and excited and the energy is pulsing through your veins. It’s standing underneath El Capitan and feeling awe-struck amidst the grandeur of nature. This is the overwhelming feeling of reverence and magic when we enter into a larger space (physical or psychological) than we’re used to inhabiting, or when we’re filled with more energy than we’re used to possessing. It’s when we’re in the presence of God and deeply connected to our spiritual essence. It’s a holy fear. The Hebrew word for this is yirah.

When we’re still and quiet, we can discern one from the other. Pachad keeps us small, safe and hidden, but discontentment silently breeds here. Most people’s lives are largely dictated by pachad. But yirah feels much different. We lean into this when we listen to our intuition, turn our heads to acknowledge what our hearts are crying out for, and follow our calling.

Truly stepping into our lives means learning how to manage the screaming pachad. To soothe it, quiet it down, rock it to sleep. And then tiptoe away and swing open the door and step fully into yirah, which has celebratory balloons and streamers and confetti and has been waiting for us all along.

Red Lentil Soup with Coconut Milk and Turmeric.

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 medium/large onion, diced
  • 2 large garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 teaspoons ground turmeric
  • 2 teaspoons garam masala
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 1 (15-ounce/398 mL) can diced tomatoes, with juices
  • 1 (15-ounce/398 mL) can full-fat coconut milk
  • 3/4 cup uncooked red lentils, rinsed and drained
  • 3 1/2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, or to taste
  • Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
  • Red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper, to taste (for a kick of heat!)
  • 1 (5-ounce/140-gram) package baby spinach
  • 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice, or more to taste

Directions:

  1. In a large pot, add the oil, onion, and garlic. Add a pinch of salt, stir, and sauté over medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes until the onion softens.
  2. Stir in the turmeric, garam masala, cumin, cinnamon, and cardamom until combined. Continue cooking for about 1 minute, until fragrant.
  3. Add the tomatoes, coconut milk, red lentils, broth, salt, and plenty of pepper. Add red pepper flakes or cayenne, if desired, to taste. Stir to combine. Increase heat to high and bring to a low boil.
  4. Once it boils, reduce the heat to medium-high, and simmer, uncovered, for about 18 to 22 minutes, until the lentils are fluffy and tender.
  5. Turn off the heat and stir in the spinach until wilted. Add the lime juice to taste. Taste and add more salt and pepper, if desired. 

Trust the Process.

Whatever season you're currently in, know there is beauty tucked underneath the snow, in the promise of spring buds, and in the falling of dried leaves that have known the summer sun. The hardest, coldest, loneliest seasons of my life taught me resilience, wholeness, and healing, and to this day, I see them as gifts that made my 'spring' that much brighter and warmer.

Seasons of grief, loss, job transitions, relocating, singleness, or new partnerships all have gifts. Waiting for you to see them.

The Ripple Of Impact.

"Anything worth doing is worth doing because it changes someone."

I don't know who said it, but it was was meaningful enough for me to scribble these words down in my notebook last year. It's true. Art, work, writing, whatever it is that we "DO", becomes 10x more meaningful when it helps someone else. 

The ROI is something I like to refer to as the "Ripple of Impact." When my clients' new healthy behaviors positively affect their children, it reminds that our ROI expands far beyond ourselves. It impacts our relationships, our children, our friends, our coworkers, and our communities. 

This most recent testimonial from my client May was touching because it shows this ROI. Her children are now enjoy eating healthier food and also are her biggest advocates for continuing a healthy lifestyle. She is now stronger, more radiant, energized, and mindful about her eating habits and movement, and working together was an extreme joy. 

“I am so grateful that I had a chance to meet and work with Julianne. She was truly a Godsent during a low time in my life. I was eating extremely poorly, I was exhausted every day and I made very little time for physical activity.

Julianne showed me the importance of nutrition and how I can use food to fuel my body and kill hunger and sweet cravings. I was able to lose 15lbs while on the program, get out and enjoy nature and physical activity and I found all sort of delicious ways to incorporate the four components of eating healthy.

I am truly amazed at how much my energy as well as confidence has changed over the course of eight weeks. The skills that have been shared with me have benefitted my family as well. I will never go back to my old ways of living and eating. My family and I will follow the Kanzaki Method™ for life.”
— May Stephens

CELEBRATING VICTORY! May's final hike after eight weeks of fueling her body properly and moving in nature.

The Ultimate Creamy Vegan Mac 'n Cheese

INGREDIENTS

  • 8 oz. gluten-free pasta (I used brown rice pasta)
  • 1 cup raw cashews, soaked for a few hours (you can also pour boiling water over them and let them sit for ~45 minutes if you're time-crunched)
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 2 Tbsp. full-fat coconut milk
  • 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 Tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • 2 Tbsp onions, chopped
  • 2 tsp smoked sea salt, or more to taste  

DIRECTIONS

  1. Cook pasta according to package directions until al dente. 
  2. While pasta is cooking, drain the cashews and discard the water. In a high-speed blender, blend together the cashews, water, garlic, coconut milk, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, paprika, onions, and smoked sea salt until it becomes a creamy consistency.
  3. Pour over pasta and mix until pasta is fully coated.
  4. Add roasted vegetables (optional, but encouraged!) and enjoy!

 

This vegan mac 'n cheese dish fits into that sweet spot between foods that taste delicious and foods that are good for you. 

The Sun.

“Have you ever seen
anything
in your life
more wonderful

than the way the sun,
every evening,
relaxed and easy,
floats toward the horizon

and into the clouds or the hills,
or the rumpled sea,
and is gone—
and how it slides again

out of the blackness,
every morning,
on the other side of the world,
like a red flower

streaming upward on its heavenly oils,
say, on a morning in early summer,
at its perfect imperial distance—
and have you ever felt for anything
such wild love—
do you think there is anywhere, in any language,
a word billowing enough
for the pleasure

that fills you,
as the sun
reaches out,
as it warms you

as you stand there,
empty-handed—
or have you too
turned from this world—

or have you too
gone crazy
for power,
for things?”
— Mary Oliver, The Sun