So, my sister Ashleigh is looking ultra toned and buff lately. Very cut. I learned her new physique is a result of her current (and I think long-term) obsession with "aerial yoga." In essence, it's an art that combines traditional yoga poses in the air using a soft fabric trapeze.

My sis, Ash, flying high














Instead of me trying to explain the details of aerial yoga, I asked Ashleigh to do a little Q&A with Micha Adams, a woman at the forefront of the Aerial acrobat movement and owner of the Detroit Flyhouse--one of the premier aerial yoga studios in the northeast.

ASHLEIGH: Please tell us a little bit about your personal description of The Detroit Flyhouse?
MICHA: It's adult recess!! It was our dream to create a safe space for adults and children alike to take healthy risks in a totally supportive, non-competitive environment. The Flyhouse is about creating community and we've done just that. You leave with tired arms, a big smile on your face and lots of new friends.

Micha instructing during a workshop: Photo courtesy of Spilt Sugar


















Private advanced lesson. Photo courtesy of Spilt Sugar


















ASHLEIGH: How would you describe aerial yoga to the layperson that has never experienced it? Please enlighten us!
MICHA: It's another word for trapeze or tissue... anything done in the air. Many of the poses mirror traditional yoga poses done on the ground. There is a bit of climbing, a LOT of hanging out upside down and lots of laughing.

Cirque workshop: photo courtesy of Spilt Sugar


















ASHLEIGH: How did you fall (um... ascend) into loving aerial yoga?
MICHA: Well, I taught yoga for about five years then decided I wanted to expand my practice and started learning from aerial circus performance instructors.

ASHLEIGH: What do women need to do to get started in Aerial yoga? Do you have to have a certain type of body to perform?
MICHA: It's for everyone. We pride ourselves on making this practice accessible to everyone. Showing up that first time is probably the most difficult part. The practice meets you exactly where your physical ability is at and then you grow "or fly" from there.

ASHLEIGH: Being the creator of The Detroit Flyhouse must be an incredible experience. What are some of the challenges that come with owning your own studio?
MICHA: I have found the Flyhouse to be an incredible and unique vehicle for my own, personal transformation. I have become better at setting healthy boundaries around time and energy. I have so many opportunities to show and share my love with the people who come through our doors. I love the fact that this studio challenges me to constantly find new ways of inspiring students and myself both physically and emotionally.

ASHLEIGH: You are very fit and perform with such ease. What do you do to stay healthy on a daily basis?
MICHA: Ha! I do everything! I do circuit training. I bike, swim and stretch. Of course I train on the aerial apparatus. I also have learned the value of sweet rest.

ASHLEIGH: If you could pinpoint it, what do you feel is the best health advice to give the average person?
MICHA: Keep moving!

If you would like to learn more about aerial yoga (I'm definitely taking a class next time I go back to Michigan), please visit www.detroitflyhouse.com or email micha@detroitflyhouse.com. As always, keep counting.

Labels: aerial yoga, count me healthy jewelry, countessess, fitness, fitness tips, healthy living, Micha Adams

So I was creating my travel calendar for the next four months out and I think I'm home two weekends! I'm not complaining though--traveling is up there on my list of favorite things... right next to online shopping and wine (which don't mix, by the way).

A couple of these upcoming trips require international travel, with connections and being on the plane for 10 hour stints. This is no issue, but you have to plan. Travel is broadening, but it shouldn't be for your waistline.

Here are my tips for maintaining a somewhat healthy lifestyle while traveling:

Bring Your Own Food
I'm not saying you have to lug around a full course meal or a cooler, but you do need to have back up snacks. I never eat the airplane food because I don't know what the mystery sauce is and there is ALWAYS a mystery sauce. It's not the time to be an adventurous foodie. You'll have time to do this when you land. You are stuck in a small space with lots of people for a long time. Sketchy cuisine = bathroom time.



Here is what I bring:
- Plain, instant oatmeal packets (if you have a nice flight attendant, she will zap this for you or at least ration you some hot water and skim milk)
- Tuna or salmon steak in a packet (they don't smell, promise, and you will be opening them when the airplane food smell is wafting in the air anyway)
- Light salt (low sodium salt) or Spike
- Almonds
- Energy bars (I know I preach against these, but I do use while traveling)
- Baggies of dry cereal
- Liquid stevia & splenda packets

I swear this doesn't take up a lot of room in your bag, and at least you know you'll have a fall-back snack.

Create a Comfy Environment
Here are some of the non-food items I bring to ensure a comfortable and awesome flight:

- My ful Gibson backpack
- Laptop with a stocked itunes movie library (I realize you can watch in-flight entertainment, but I prefer my screen)
- iPod
- Skull Candy headphones
- A splitter so my hubby can watch a movie with me if he's traveling too
- Kindle
- Those Colgate disposable toothbrushes
- Bottled water
- Extra thick socks because my feet are always freezing
- Lotion
- Eye drops
- Cuticle Pen
- Chapstick
- Magazines
- Huge Sunglasses (I don't wear eye makeup so I put these on when we land so I don't scare anyone)

Train in a foreign land
Just because you are overseas, it doesn't mean you have to abandon your workout. Sometimes it's hard. The treadmills aren't in English, there's nowhere to run outside, jet lag, they don't believe in air conditioning in the workout facility. There are a thousand excuses. You just have to push yourself and I swear you will feel better after the sweat session. Here are a couple things to bring to help you along:

- iPod
- Exercise bands (they take up no room)
- Workout clothes and sneakers
- A zip-front hoodie
- Workout DVDs to play on your laptop (Tracy Anderson's Mat Workout is awesome)
- My Count Me Healthy bracelet (I count water so I don't get dehydrated)











Believe me, I can pack as compact as a marine. But girlfriend, if you're traveling with me and you need something... I got you covered. What do you bring to stay healthy while flying? A little planning goes a long way. As always, keep counting.

Labels: chelsea gossett, count me healthy jewelry, countessess, fitness tips, healthy living, travel

March is officially Nutrition Month so I wanted to share some "food for thought." A lot of us get discouraged when the warm weather rolls around because we feel we need to overhaul our physique. It's been burned into our brains that we need to have this rock star workout routine, but sometimes our lives don't support it at the moment.










(Pink and her Rock Star abs)


My earlier post was my personal "Spring Cleaning," which included my workout routine I HOPED to achieve. HOPE is stressed. There are many times when my day starts at 5:00 am and I don't stop until late at night. And I realize that you are no different (um... especially new moms who are up at all hours of the night). However, I think it's important to maintain a positive attitude and continue to plan your workouts like you would appointments even if you know you'll have to miss some.

But, if you are at a place in your life when you can't hit the gym on a consistent basis, remember the golden, 70% rule. Your physique is determined by 70% nutrition, 20% sweat sessions and 10% genetics.

Based on your diet, the 70% rule can be a God-send or your demise. If you are a consistent, clean eater, isn't it fabulous to know that you can forgo that extra snack and two glasses of wine because you didn't get to pilates and still come out ahead?

Or that you substituted white fish for the hamburger you may have eaten if you ran those three miles (workouts and eating "entitlement" is a whole other topic) and you are still on your way to having abs like Alba? The first step toward a better body is a nutritional adjustment.









Guest Blogger: Susie Rahaim

I thought there would be no better person to blog on the positive life changes clean eating can bring than Susie Rahaim. Not only is she schooled in holistic nutrition, she's also the busy mother of three beautiful girls, ages 5, 3, and 1. Her personal quest for better eating is inspiring and I've had friends tell me that they've learned so much from her about how to raise their children to eat (and enjoy) whole foods.

Stay tuned for Susie's first blog with us, "Do You Know What You Are Really Eating?" And as always, Keep Counting for a balanced and beautiful spring!

Labels: chelsea gossett, count me healthy, eating healthy, healthy living

Aggghh it's finally March and THE BEGINNING OF SPRING! What comes to mind when you hear the word spring? I imagine flowers, green grass, spring cleaning and the start of my own personal "bikini body ready" routine! Yep, shapeless tunics won't cut it. I'm going to have to give in and show some skin.

I think you should read the health mags and blogs with their "bikini body ready" plans to get you in shape. But while reading, remember that no two people are the same. Motivation, taste buds, and "vices to adjust" are all personal. Read the articles with an open mind and always remember to adapt a program to you.

This year, I'm looking at my own bikini body ready prep as just a facet of the larger, overall spring cleaning of my current life. I think that winter naturally throws our lives out of balance due to poor eating, lack of sunshine, and the "laziness of a hibernating bear" that comes with darkness greeting us so early each evening. If you Spring Clean Your Life as a whole, I truly feel it is easier to lose weight and keep it off.

Here are some steps to Spring Clean Your Life (write these steps down and build your plan)

1). Choose your Motivation
2). Choose your Workout Plan
3). Change Your Eating Habits for the better
4). Healthy Habits that need to be priority
5). Organize Your Work Space

Please just use my personal plan below as a rough template to adapt to your own spring cleaning!

The 2010 Spring Cleaning of My Life

1). CHOOSE YOUR MOTIVATION (both "body" and "organization" motivation)

My Body Motivation! Hmmm... nice weather, my cousin Corey's June wedding in Michigan, photo shoot in late April, and getting body "baby ready" for whatever may come my way in a year (or three).

My Organization Motivation! Everything is easier when you have a clean work space. Plus, being organized means feeling less scattered, which would make me way more apt to stick to my workout plan.

2). CHOOSE YOUR WORKOUT PLAN

My Workout Plan (I plan for six days a week, but if I only hit 5 because of a busy schedule, no problem). I'm a morning person, so if I don't do it in the morning... it's not happening):

- Monday: 30 minute treadmill and pilates with Crystal B
- Tuesday: Rest
- Wednesday: 30 minutes on treadmill and pilates with Crystal B
- Thursday: 30 minutes on treadmill and Tracey Anderson video
- Friday: 45 minutes on treadmill
- Saturday: 40 minutes mix on treadmill/elliptical + legs
- Sunday: 40 minutes mix on treadmill/elliptical + abs & arms

3). CLEAN UP YOUR EATING
My Clean Up! These are the personal "eating vices" I hope to address, as well as healthy foods that I enjoy and would like to add more of in my diet. Everyone's tastes are different, so please insert your own. For some of the foods, I added my favorite brands and/or how I prepare. By the way, Count Me Healthy is great at tracking some of these bullet points!

- Ditch sweetener
- Reduce diet soda
- Ditch energy bars full of fake stuff because all they do is hurt my stomach
- Ditch soy crisps
- Reduce caffeine
- Reduce sodium
- Reduce I Can't Believe It's Not Butter (yes, I'm admitting that I spray it on everything)
- Drink more water



Foods I love and want to eat more of:
- Eggs
- Spinach
- Fish (love all white types)
- Brussel sprouts (broiled at 450 with olive oil spray, sea salt and pepper )
- Broccoli & cauliflower
- Sashimi (the salmon sashimi with chives from Whole Foods is AMAZING)
- salads
- Almonds and Unsweetened almond - milk (I am going to turn into an almond I eat so many. I need to watch my portion size)
- Green tea
- Stevia, (I prefer the liquid in the dropper)
- Decaf coffee (Newmann's Own)
- Oatmeal with fiber (I mix 1/4 cup of the dry organic with almond milk, cinnamon, stevia and Renew Life Fiber Smart)
- Protein pancakes
- Kombucha (GT's No. 9 is my fave and found at Whole Foods)
- Red grapefruit
- Hummus
- Kashi bars

4) Healthy Habits to Make and Break
Here are mine:
- Limit my drinking to one glass of wine a night (or not at all)
- Remember I owe it to myself. I AM WORTH IT.
- Stop eating snacks that are over 5 grams of sugar and don't contain fiber
- If I want to snack late at night... go to bed
- Read more (book club bound)
- Get more sleep
- Take my Vitamins
- Schedule my health maintenance: Doctor, chiropractor, dentist, hypnotist (yes, I want to try a hypnotist... it worked for Fergie, enough said)

5) Organize Your Work Space

This means cleaning my office at ful (picture below is my purple office at ful) and my home office. This also includes backing up my Mac on my hard drive, shredding documents that I no longer need and organizing my notes.

Here's to a healthy, fabulous spring. Remember, Balance=Beauty! As always, keep counting.

Labels: chelsea gossett, count me healthy, eating healthy, health tips, healthy living, March, spring cleaning

If you're like me, you revel in finding the perfect gift for someone. It doesn't have to be expensive; instead it should be thoughtful, individual, and original. And if it's really strong, bring about a possible "copy-cat give." (This is where the friend who received the gift from you creates her own "copy" to give as a gift because she wants the receiver to feel the same "wow" vibe she felt when opening.) Copy-cat giving should never be confused with re-gifting and I guarantee that a re-gift will not happen when you give a card box.

So, what is a card box? Well, it's a filing system for the cards you write to your loved ones throughout the year. I believe they have pre-made card boxes, but it's always more fun to create one. I am the antithesis of Martha Stewart and this project is tres simple. Plus, you will have a blast putting it together.

Go to Target and get a bright colored folio box with tabbed hanging folders. Add your flare (stickers, sparkles, marker, scrapbook appliques). Keep it cute, but tasteful. Label the tabs according to card types (Birthday, Congratulations, Sympathy, Thank You, etc). Then head to your nearest Hallmark and stock up. When I'm making one, I often buy two of each so I can add to my card box. You also don't have to go hog-wild on the amount of cards. It is the thought (and your creativity) that counts.

Reaching out to someone via snail-mail is one of the most thoughtful things you can do in our tech nation today. One of the uses for the Count Me Healthy Happy and Blessed bracelet is to count thank you notes or "thinking of you" cards written per week. It promotes good karma and well being. Aside from creating a card box, I want you to try to send, say, seven "hello"or "thank you" cards for a week. Just a test; see how it makes you feel. Do you have any gifts that result in a copy-cat give? Ooohh, I'd love to hear. And as always, keep counting.

Labels: count me healthy, friendship, gift ideas, healthy living