My friend discovered a mallard duck – she named her Daisy – nesting in her backyard planter. Two of the eight eggs hatched, and two small ducklings emerged.

One of them quickly made its way out of the planter, and began trailing its mother, but as you can see in the video clip here or below, the other duckling couldn’t figure out how to escape.

So Daisy left that little duckling behind.

Apparently, that’s how ducks roll. It’s survival of the fittest: The mother duck leaves with the ducklings who are strong enough to follow her to the nearest pond that she pre-selects as their new starter home.

Any ducklings that can’t keep up and follow mother duck’s lead are abandoned. The mother duck never returns to retrieve the remaining babies, so my friend brought that fledgling duck to an animal rescue.

Daisy Duck got me thinking about the meetings industry.

As we finally emerged from the pandemic, I fear that meetings and workplaces are forging right ahead with in-person conferences, le...

My salsa dance addiction started in 2002, at the beginning of a 12-year divorce from hell.

Dance was my exercise. My escape. My solace.

I lived in Toronto, within minutes of salsa socials and studios. I was a single working mom with a live-in nanny for my then one- and three-year-old kids. When they went to sleep, I went dancing, five nights a week.

It was as if I had another life: Working by day, dancing by night. No matter how badly I felt, all my stress disappeared on the dance floor. Dance changed everything in my mind and body.

Twelve years ago, I shelved salsa and transitioned to west coast swing dancing, which was gentler on my aging body. West coast swing is an improvisational, playful smooth partner dance to music ranging from blues to pop. The dance features an extension-compression style of partner connection.

Now separated and single again, I’ve added salsa back to my dance repertoire. I love moving to the beat of Latin music. I needed something uplifting to take my mi...

As human beings, we all want to better ourselves. Now, how that betterment translates for you will be different than what it means for your child, neighbor, colleague, partner, friends, etc.
 
Of course, though our journeys may be different, there are universal themes that remain the same: We, as human beings, cherish and strive for many of the same outcomes i.e. love, acceptance, connection, happiness and a sense of meaning and purpose. 
 
In order to achieve these outcomes, we have to be vulnerable and open ourselves up to new experiences. To this end, I took on a new challenge: I participated in a 20-day salsa “warm-up musicality marathon " in November 2022. While this was a team challenge, the focus was on solo freestyle dancing. Spoiler alert: My team won the challenge! 

"Frigid Freestyler" -- My Journey to Vulnerability

My goals were to embody musicality and become a more improvisational and creative dancer. I aspired to move my body like a musical instrument, to better connect ...

Do you talk tango or speak salsa? If not, you needn’t worry: people don’t have to speak a foreign language nor be a professional dancer to enjoy the many spiritual, physical, and mental benefits of dance. 

How A Virtual Dance Challenge Changed My Mindset

If you follow me and my journey as a mother, academic, professional coach, and dance enthusiast, you’ll know that dancing is in my blood.

As such, this past November, I joined a 20-day international salsa challenge! No, we weren’t meeting in Cuba. We all meet and danced online. Yup, online and the energy was infectious! There were 250 salsa dancers competing from all over the world! And, these competitors embodied a range of ages and skills – from beginner to super advanced.

TRAINING & STRUCTURE

How did it work? Well, there were 10 teams with approximately 25 dancers per team. On my team, there were 8 local (D.C. area) dancers. The remainder of the teams were from overseas.

Each day, during the 20-day challenge, the eastern Eur...

Want to hear a sad truth? I did not think I could ever love another Golden Retriever as much as I loved my Benji throughout, and especially at the end, of his short life.

However, just like we do with the humans in our lives, we love our pets in unique and special ways. Case in point: I find that I love each of my dogs differently. As you may have read in my last post, I am now the proud mommy to Charli, my sweet Golden puppy.

While I’m still grieving the loss of my Benji, I meet myself where I am in the grieving process and “loving again” stages: with self-compassion, kindness and grace.

Love Language Learnings

Whether it’s with our pets, children, friends, parents, or romantic partners, everyone can benefit by applying lessons learned via the classic “love languages” about ourselves and our loved ones.  For instance, I’m learning more about loving human relationships through my dogs by applying the 5 Love Languages to all of my relationships.

You can learn which “love language” ...

This year, my birthday was a special one.

First of all, my college-aged son “surprised” me with a visit (well unlike last year’s “surprise visit”, my son couldn’t hold in his intended surprise visit and told me in advance). 

And, I adopted a new Golden Retriever puppy whom I named Charli. Charli came home with me at 10 weeks old on my birthday.

Charli is now my third Golden. The pattern illustrates that I wait six months between each of my dogs (Barney, Benji and now Charli) - from the last one’s passing to their adoption/homecoming of the newest pup.  You may remember that my beloved Benji passed away in February.

Welcoming A New (Furry) Lease on Life

It has been a whirlwind of adjustments for me – from a “bachelorette” lifestyle of late night salsa dancing and finally being able to enjoy solitude and freedom with no kids around (my two young adult children were away all summer), no responsibilities, and a new lease on life since my separation. 

…to a lifestyle that’s akin to ...

Since moving to the U.S. from Canada eight years ago, I gained 22 pounds. On my small five-foot frame, that is a significant and noticeable weight gain.

The weight gain was insidious and it wreaked havoc on my physical and mental health – not to mention my wallet – as I needed to buy a new wardrobe to accommodate my changing sizes from what had always been a petite frame!

And, while I do maintain an active lifestyle and don’t drink alcohol, coffee, or sugary drinks like fruit juices and sodas, I now believe that the weight gain was primarily due to the extreme stress I endured, which included: moving to a new country in mid-life, a new marriage that subsequently didn’t work out, extensive business travel, COVID, and the death of a beloved dog. 

Stress affects cortisol levels (leading to weight gain) and mine seemed to be skyrocketing. The result:

• Mindless eating, snacking, and overeating
• Cravings for sweets, fatty and salty foods
• Increased blood sugar levels (pre-diabetes)
• H...

Two weeks ago, an unbelievable and scary thing happened to me while I was driving a friend from my home in Maryland to Dulles airport in the Washington D.C. area.

We were in the middle of a massive rainstorm. Driving on a busy highway with cars moving incredibly fast. With torrential rain teeming down.

Now, from my Canadian driving perspective, drivers generally (and politely of course) slow down and let you change lanes. However, D.C. drivers are notorious for “staying in their lane” and often put blinders on, pretending not to see signal indicators or speeding up to prevent nearby cars from moving over.

You’ve Got a Fast Car

In the midst of this chaos, I hit something in the road which caused an immediate warning of “Low Front Left Tire Pressure” to light up on my dashboard computer. This is an indication, of course, that I should slow down.

Within seconds, I saw another dashboard warning: “Flat Tire…” This was not good.

While the air was being sucked out of my tires, I started...

On the last day of June, my favorite local yoga studio, Village Yoga, shut its doors. While this may not seem like a big deal to some people, it definitely hit my tight-knit community of yoga lovers right in the heart.

You see, my fellow yogis and I met happily here each week for over five years. Known as the “athletic yoga” studio in our area, our leader, Freddy’s flow classes were THE best. I felt like we were in Cirque du Soleil in the way we mastered inversions and arm balances.

And, my passion for this studio and for yoga has manifested in a variety of ways including completing Freddy’s 200-hour yoga teacher training just before COVID hit. Becoming a certified yoga instructor is just one of the many ways I’m “living my truth” as a personal coach.

More Than A Yoga Studio

Village Yoga was more than a yoga studio:

• It was a kind, compassionate community, a family – my second home.
• It gave me structure, strength, support system, and a social life (including our Golden Retriever
...

Let’s face it, there’s nothing better for our overall wellness than sleep. No matter how many vacations we take, how much yoga we complete, or how many glasses of water we drink, if we’re not getting enough good-quality rest, everything else we do to boost our health and wellness will suffer.

And, let me tell you – am I ever getting familiar with sleep - and lots of it! Last week I tested positive for COVID and, while I’m very grateful to be experiencing only minor symptoms, I was absolutely exhausted - sleeping up to 15 hours per day.

I’ve Been Where You Are – And I Can Help

Even though I teach people about wellness for a living and embrace a holistic, centered, and healthy lifestyle, I’ve literally been there, done that when it comes to sleep – insomnia; sleep trackers; restless leg syndrome; cramming all night for my Ph.D. dissertation; staying up and getting up all night with my babies, post-menopausal sleep apnea…

In fact, here’s a “byte” from my other related articles on th...