The Heaviness Behind Weight

I've never been skinny. I've been fit and strong, but never skinny. I've covered a range of sizes and weights in my adult life. The smallest I've been as an adult is a size 6. The largest is a size 16, which is what I wear right now. I feel puffy and bloated, my ankles hurt when I get up from the bed in the morning, and I wobble like a penguin (not to be confused with doing the Wobble Line Dance!).

I know what's behind the 25 pounds that I've put on over the last couple of years: grief over family loss. First my mom passed away, which sent me into a downward emotional spiral. Then I found my sister two days after she had passed away, and two months later, my dad died unexpectedly in car wreck.

After losing my family members, I became an emotional wreck, and my body reflected that.With many days of depression, my thyroid became weak, my pulse rate became too slow, my metabolism slowed down, and my joints got used to not moving much and ached when I did move.

Exercise? Ha!

Says the woman who once rode her bike 350 miles over 4 days for the AIDSRide; walked 20 miles a day for 3 days for the Breast Cancer Walk; and coached women in weightlifting at a boot camp. I used to pride myself on physical endurance.

These past couple of years, I wouldn't have gotten out of bed if it weren't for my son and taking responsibility for feeding him and getting him to school on time. Thank God for that!

That's just my recent story of health and weight. I've always been challenged with health and weight, though. I remember, as a little girl, watching my mom and sister try diet after diet, seeking to improve their weight and body image. I absorbed that into my own consciousness and played it out to varying degrees. Many factors contribute to the heaviness behind my weight.

I've sought help from many and various healers and therapies over the years, including talk therapy, energy healing, bodywork, and psychic readings. All from wonderful healers, and all therapies have helped tremendously. I continue a combination of these therapies week after week, and I feel better and better all the time!

Today, my consciousness is being drawn to hypnosis with Mary Ann Walker to help me lose weight and feel optimum health. My understanding of hypnosis is that it gets down to the core of issues and helps change beliefs and behavioral patterns.

I don't look for any one of the therapies that I use to be the end-all cure; I use them in tandem, combining them as I feel drawn to them. I expect the hypnosis to work for me as I continue to walk around the track at PH, continue to increase my consumption of juiced greens, continue to journal, continue talk therapy, continue to line dance, and continue all the other goodies helping me along my path.

That's my story, and I know you have a story too. I encourage you to check out our services and practitioners here at Luxuria Holistic Center and see what you feel drawn to. I invite you to lighten your life with me!

Many Blessings,
Amy Jo

Who Will Be My Next Boyfriend?

Anyone who's known me for awhile knows that I've had a couple of boyfriends throughout my life. Okay, more than a couple. One wonderful boyfriend became my husband of 10 years. There were so many great days during our marriage, and then it was time to take a new path. I've had a few more boyfriends since, including the man who helped me create my beautiful son, Kendryek. Along with these relationships have come the heightened awareness about exactly what and whom I'm attracting into my life.

Someone reading the list of traits and pictures of my ideal boyfriend/partner that I've written on my vision board might say, "Gosh you expect a lot!" Well, yes. Yes I do.

I don't remember when I first created a vision board towards my ideal romantic partner, but I've been updating and tweaking my board ever since. Each time I've updated my vision board, I emphasize what I like about an ideal partner and relationship based on what I've recently experienced in a relationship. And each time I enter a new relationship, I get about 95% of what I ask for!

I'm not kidding! A wonderful man walks into my life, and I think, "Wow. He has the traits that are on my vision board!" And when the relationship has ended, I think, "Okay, I need to add ___________ (fill in the blank) to my board for the next relationship."

What is a vision board? A vision board is a board (poster board, canvas, construction paper, etc) on which you place images and words of the what or who you desire to manifest in your life. I have a vision board for career, health, finances, family, home, vacation, etc. You cut out images from magazines, write words in magic marker, add anything you want. The point is the process of immersing yourself in the idea of what you desire, putting feeling into it, imagining, believing, and being open to receiving.

So what's on my vision board?

Come to this Saturday's Vision Board Playshop to find out! And create your own vision board, whether you're currently in a romantic relationship and the relationship needs a lift; or you've been in a relationship for decades and want to redefine your relationship; or you are looking for someone new to complement your life.

For men and women alike!

Keeping with this month's theme of Surrounding Yourself With Love, our playshop is called

Passion Vision-boarding: Piece Together the Relationship You Desire
$42 includes light organic snack
February 23rd, from 1:30 - 4:00pm

Certified Dreambuilder Coach, Alexandria Pederson, and I will guide you with taking the steps to manifest the partner and relationship of your dreams. Once you become immersed in this vision board activity, you're on your way to matching the frequency of your life to the images and words that you choose.

All you have to do after that is receive your new relationship!

Click the "Buy Now" button below to register by Friday, February 22nd, or call 540/685-2975:

Vision Board Playshops

1 Playshop $42.00 USD 3 Playshops $125.00 USD 6 Playshops $240.00 USD

A New Direction

So for years, since junior high school, I've been walking or jogging around the Patrick Henry High School track in Roanoke, VA. In high school, I'd jog daily at 6am. After moving away from home, when I'd come home to visit, I'd jog or walk. The track is set into the woods, and I love listening to the birds sing, feel the warmth of the sun on my face, gaze at the mountain skyline in the distance, and express gratitude for each part of my body, helping me complete another lap. And lately, I've been practicing what I preach by visualizing outstanding health while I walk: what outstanding health feels like, what outstanding health looks like, what outstanding health sounds like, etc.

I've always walked or run in the same direction. UNTIL YESTERDAY! As I approached the track, I saw a woman jogging in the OPPOSITE direction! I watched her for a moment and thought, "WHY have I never thought to do that?" And it occurred to me how easily I get into a routine. Which serves me well, and may serve you well too! But something inside me was craving a switch in routine, so I did something radical and started walking, for the first time ever, in the opposite direction, against the grain! I smiled and mentally thanked the woman for opening a new door for me to spice things up a bit!

So starting yesterday, I'm walking in a new direction...which has inspired me to choose the movie, "Groundhog Day," with Bill Murray (remember this funny movie?) for our March movie discussion and exotic tasting! "Groundhog Day" is about doing the same thing over and over and over until you make a change towards positive growth. How sometimes it takes doing the same thing over and over and over for us to realize that we're even in a rut, and that the slightest change can get us out and in a new direction.

I encourage you to also find a way, large or small, to make a change in your life towards positive growth. Even if it's to take a slightly different route on your way to work, the store, or picking up your kid from school.

And mark your calendars for Sunday, March 10th, from 2:00 - 4:30pm, at Valley Community Church to enjoy exotic organic treats while you watch clips from "Groundhog Day" and discuss some of its messages.

Don't forget this Sunday's showing of "Chocolat," including discussion and a chocolate feast! Register by Friday the 8th in the blog below.

Have a fantastic new day!

Luxuria Holistic Center reveals Health can Feel Luxurious!

Why is it that so many people struggle with health issues? For some, it is a constant battle with themselves, their environment, their family and friends, even employers and health care professionals. The battle rages internally, with self talk that is negative, and more often destructive to a positive self image and good health. The battle rages externally, when people and other factors impose expectations and limitations, creating an oppositional relationship between our view of our own health and how the world would like us to be. As a result, many people know they could feel better and live a healthier and more active lifestyle, yet they hold the memory of failure and defeat and judgement, and choose to remain as they are.

There is a different approach. Luxura Holistic Center has been created to serve people in a new way. If you are struggling with pain, are feeling the stresses of life impacting your health, and are ready to relax in comfort, you are invited to visit us, soon! Founder and director, Amy Jo Wheeler, has experience providing reflexology, reiki, aromatherapy, and other treatments for the past few years with Luxurious Pampering. She heard from clients, practitioners and health professionals that they were faced with anxiety and stress in caring for their own health, and serving the needs of others. Amy Jo listened to clients who experienced anxiety finding the right practitioners and treatments, and practitioners challenged to connect with the right clients needing their services.

Amy Jo held a vision of meeting the needs of both clients and practitioners and her new business was born. Luxuria Holistic Center opened October 7th, with practitioners providing a variety of services in a comforting and luxurious environment. Amy Jo, pictured here with the gift basket given away at the Grand Opening Celebration, has the vision that health and wellness can be experienced as a luxury, instead of a challenge or negative experience.

The suite of services continues to grow with each experienced practitioners at the Grandin Village location in Roanoke, Virginia. Appointments are currently available for the following;

• Neuromuscular Massage
• Therapeutic Massage
• Guided Imagery
• Visualization
• Reflexology
• Reiki
• Aromatherapy
• Bio-turn Therapy
• Chakra Balancing
• Nutritional Counseling
• Strategic Intervention Counseling

Group sessions, classes and events are planned and the meeting space is available for reservation for outside groups. 

In the future, practitioners will be added providing services already requested, such as natural facials, manicures, pedicures, acupuncture, homeopothy, stress management, hypnotherapy and others. Luxuria Holistic Center is a work in progress, as is this website. Submit your comments, suggest additional services that connect with your needs and offer suggestions to us.

Health and an overall sense of well being can be developed and maintained, with the proper support. Luxuria Holistic Center is a place that encourages treating yourself, creating a sense of wellness in mind, body and spirit, in luxury as a standard.