The Wellness Wonderland with Katie Dalebout

I first met Katie Dalebout when she interviewed me on her podcast, Wellness Wonderland (which by the way, will be aired in the next couple months! I’ll keep you posted!). I was extremely impressed by her podcast, her knowledge, energy and mission. You must check her out!

AC: I’m so excited to be interviewing the interviewer! Katie, please tell us about the Wellness Wonderland?

KD: The Wellness Wonderland is my corner of the Internet for holistic wellness. Holistic wellness has been defined and redefined by my audience and myself over the years. WW started in college as a way for me to express myself in general and creatively. I loved reading blogs. I would identify with the writers and just lust over my favorite blogs like designlovefest.com, cupcakesandcashmere.com and A CUP OF JO. I thought to myself, “Wouldn’t it be cool if I could do something like that?” And so I did! I finally got the confidence and I started blogging.

I had no idea of what I was doing! I was super interested in physical health and wellness, almost to a fault. At the time I shared recipes, health tips and yoga stuff. Eventually, the umbrella term of Wellness Wonderland expanded beyond that, because my piqued interest in health and wellness spiraled rather quickly in college into an eating disorder. I was anorexic and orthorexic. I focused a bit too much on healthy and high vibe foods to the point where I was devoid of pleasure in my life.

I think pleasure is one of the most important parts of true holistic wellness and health. That bottom led me to spirituality and holistic living in another sense, which looks at the mind. I think holistic wellness goes far beyond the body and it encompasses the mind and spirit. This led me to the work of many, many teachers: Gabrielle Bernstein (one of my main mentors), Louise Hay, Wayne Dyer, the whole gang of like spiritual gurus and rock stars. I became a student and read a ton about self-help and personal development and did much spiritual work. I realized my true passion was teaching spiritual work and the tools that had helped lift me out of that dark place.

I didn’t leave behind my interest in healthy food, healthy living and yoga. I just added in some more things and I am slowly bringing in more pleasure. It’s not being dogmatic about any one thing such as any one specific diet. It’s acknowledging that bio-individuality exists, biodiversity exists and we’re not all meant to eat or live in a certain way or certain space. We’re all super, super unique beings and that’s not honored in the health world and a lot of places. There are a lot of labels and I think the labels are for containers and folders, right? People don’t need labels.

I love your story, how you and the Wellness Wonderland started and evolved. I have a similar story about how I went from architecture to holistic architecture and spaces, and it’s definitely part of my personal journey. It is truly amazing how the universe guides your life and everything synchronizes holistically. You know you’re taking the right path because one thing supports the other and touches every aspect of your life.

I have never really spoken about the Wellness Wonderland while taking everything into account like that. I could very easily just say, “Oh, it’s a space for wellness and happiness,” right? But I think it’s important to tell my story fully.

This quote comes up on almost every single Podcast interview I do:

“You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.”

–Steve Jobs

In every person’s journey, that’s really true! Everyone has the hero’s or heroine’s journey, as Joseph Campbell says. All the puzzle pieces fit together so perfectly when looking at the story and looking back on where you’ve been. However, when you got started, you probably had no idea that A would lead to B which would lead to C. Like for me, I studied broadcast journalism in college. I’m not a TV news reporter like I wanted to be, but all those radio classes I took ended up helping me for the Podcast. I would have never imagined that. Just like that, it all works out. It’s cool to see that looking back.

What are three tips for readers to create their own Wellness Wonderland?

Three things that I think are really crucial are:

1.    Mindfulness and Presence

I think this tip alone can get you really far. When you’re mindful of what you’re doing and you’re really there, that’s when your life becomes a meditation, right? In a recent interview, Oprah asked the Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh “How often do you meditate?” He responded: “I don’t meditate every day, I meditate every moment.” When your life can become a meditation and you can be fully present when you’re chopping vegetables or folding laundry or driving… When you are really present while having a conversation or an argument or whatever you’re doing.. When you can fully be there, you can bring your best self. I think we spend so much time multi-tasking. I’m a freakishly good multi-tasker, but there’s something to be said for mindfulness and presence and just being fully there.  

2.    Non-Judgment

Don’t judge yourself! You’re going to mess up all the time, like literally all the time! I mess up, but I try not to beat myself up about it. But this is the practice! Because sometimes I do judge and beat myself up. But it’s silly, and regretting anything is a waste of time. I think that you can be loving towards yourself and speak to yourself kindly. It will take you far and genuinely make you happier. We often speak to ourselves really meanly, right? We can be really mean to ourselves and speak in a way we would never speak to a child; we would never speak that way to the ones we love. So talk to yourself like someone you love and stop judging yourself.

3.    Be Authentic

The final tip, and I could give a billion tips, but the biggest thing is to be authentic. Be who you actually are. Be vulnerable. All people want is for you to be real with them. We go around our lives trying to paint ourselves a certain way. But people are pretty perceptive and even the least perceptive person can pick up on that. People can smell when you’re being fake a mile away. It doesn’t feel good for them and it sure doesn’t feel good for you, so you might as well be real. The people who like you are the ones you want to be around anyways. The people who don’t, you weren’t meant to be around them to begin with so it’s a win – win.

AND… the real you is perfect.

from Katie's Instagram @katiedalebout

from Katie's Instagram @katiedalebout

So Katie, how do you create holistic spaces in your home and workspaces?

Yay! I love this question so much because I never get to talk about this but it’s really important to me! My taste is minimal. I really appreciate minimalism and I de-clutter as much as possible, almost to a fault. I like to keep things simple because choices really stress me out. If I can have things as simple and as clean as possible, it's really advantageous.

I have an altar, which is also my bookshelf, with a heart that I made from scrapbook paper. It’s on my wall and I love it. It’s a focal point for my room. (see above!) The colors that I really like are white, gold and black with pops of other colors like pink. I really just try to keep everything really minimalistic, spacious, open and clean. I love all the feng shui tips that like I’ve gotten from you. I absolutely love feng shui and strive to think about it in every decision I make. Even when I go to work in a coffee shop I’ll sit in the commanding position. It’s always in the back of my mind. I try to face the door like you taught me and I’m trying to use all my burners. I really, really take it to heart, and it’s really impacted me.

Check in next Sunday for the rest of the interview where Katie talks about Enlightened Eating and incorporating new wellness habits for the new year! 

by Anjie Cho

Katie Dalebout is an author, speaker, yoga teacher, social media butterfly, life-coach, podcast host and most importantly, mayor of the Wellness Wonderland. Katie believes that every detail counts, positive thoughts make miracles, authenticity creates strong relationships, and that every day you should dress, eat, and act like it’s a special occasion.

With her grounded Midwestern roots and astronomical dreams, Katie has taken her passions for communication & wellness and blended them together to share them with the masses on this platform. And elsewhere including Over The Moon, MindBodyGreen, The Beauty Bean and Bella Life. 

With her thoughts, Katie truly lives in her own…well…wonderland, visit her there often and create your own state of  bliss. If you’d like more inspiration from the girl behind the blog, hop on over to Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr. Be well…

The Tortoise and the Yoke with Lodro Rinzler

Last week I shared part of my interview with writer, teacher and Buddhist practitioner, Lodro Rinzler. And here’s the rest!

AC:  How do you create holistic spaces in your life?

LR: I’m reminded of my teacher Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, when he said, “the environment is a support or deterrent for everything we do." It’s really that straightforward. When you wake up in the morning and you have clothes everywhere, on the floor, on your chairs. You go to use the bathroom but you end up tripping over your computer. Then you’re cursing…and all of a sudden, your mental state entering that day isn’t going to be one of joy or mindfulness. It’s going to be one of aggression. In that way, I’ve always taken care to create a clean environment free from clutter so that when I wake up, I feel uplifted by entering into it.

What that means for different people is obviously personal to them. For me, it means having art that I personally find uplifting; it means that everything has a proper place. There are basic Buddhist principles for arranging objects in one’s home where you hold certain objects up high and others down low. You could say it’s respecting the natural hierarchy of objects. Generally, in my environment I like to keep it clean and maintain things in the spaces, if that makes sense. 

In my work environment I have reminders of the Buddhist principles I want to cultivate. Right above my computer is an image. It’s a very traditional image reminding me how precious this human life actually is. Whenever I’m distracted or annoyed or whatever, I can look up and see a gentle reminder that I really should be so appreciative for this life that I do have. I think it’s nice to actually have inspiring art images and writing within your environment as constant reminders to wake up to what’s actually going on as opposed to being lost in your head.

What is the image mentioned that you have over your desk?

It’s an image of a tortoise with a yoke around its neck. Within Buddhist canon, this is used as an analogy for the rarity of a precious human life. The image is of a blind tortoise who lives in the ocean. This ocean is as wide as the world. He only comes up once every century, even though he lives many, many thousands of years. It is said that on the surface of this “world ocean,” there is a yoke. A yoke is what one would traditionally place around your ox or yak’s back. That yoke, with its little head-sized hole floats, on the top of this ocean. The odds of this blind tortoise who comes up once every hundred years, poking its head through that yoke… it is said that it is even MORE rare and MORE precious to have a human birth. Our lives are an incredible opportunity that we have. It reminds me that we should make the most of it.

What are some day-to-day meditation tips for my readers, especially for those new to meditation?

I think the most important thing in starting a meditation practice is to be consistent about it. I teach at Shambhala Centers, one could visit www.shambhala.org, to find a meditation center near them. Or just type your city and “Buddhist meditation” into your search engine and see what comes up. Most meditation centers have an open house night where you could learn the basic meditation practice for free or by donation. 

Once you receive the practice, try to do it consistently on your own at home. And there are many places that have regular open sittings where you can go and sit with a group and gain that level of support. As you engage your practice, starting to do it regularly, you don’t have to meditate for long periods of time. But you could pick it up in the same way that you would pick up a new musical instrument. 

If we pick it up once a month and play around with it, often we spend that time figuring out what we learned last time. But if we picked it up 10 minutes a day, it starts to become easier and easier to remember what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, how it goes and we actually get better at it. 

Just 10 minutes a day for 11 days, breeds a sense of consistency into our being. It becomes more habit-like instead of just something that we’re trying out. It’s said that after 11 days of doing anything, it could be stopping smoking, it could be writing, it starts to become a regular habit. Our brain fires differently to actually incorporate it and it feels weird when we don’t do it. 

So, if someone really wanted to launch a meditation practice, I recommend that 10 minutes a day, 11 days in a row. Scientifically they say that after 11 times is when a practice starts to become a habit in our mind. After 21 days, it’s the fully formed habit. But you must be consistent and practice regularly every day.

by Anjie Cho

Lodro Rinzler is a teacher in the Shambhala Buddhist lineage and the author of the best-selling "The Buddha Walks into a Bar...", the award-winning "Walk Like a Buddha" and the brand new "The Buddha Walks into the Office." Over the last decade he has taught numerous workshops at meditation centers and college campuses throughout North America. Lodro’s columns appear regularly on the Huffington Post and Marie Claire online and he is frequently featured in Reality Sandwich, the Interdependence Project, Shambhala Sun, Buddhadharma, and Good Men Project. He is the founder of the Institute for Compassionate Leadership, an authentic leadership training and job placement organization, and lives in Brooklyn with his dog Tillie and his cat Justin Bieber.

For more teachings and articles by Lodro visit www.lodrorinzler.com
Follow Lodro on twitter: @lodrorinzler

6 Brilliant Feng Shui Tips for Kids' Rooms

featured this week on SheKnows, article by Kim Grundy

Find out how to use feng shui in your kids' room to create a cozy space that promotes sleep, happiness and harmony. For example, did you know that having a framed photo of the family in their room provides a calming energy? Or that shy kids would benefit from having a full-length mirror? We chatted with experts on how you can incorporate this ancient science into your own home.

Feng shui is an ancient Chinese system of arranging your environment for a favorable flow of energy, also called qi. From how to arrange furniture to the right colors, follow these easy tips to create an atmosphere of zen in your child's bedroom.

Bed placement

First things first, let’s talk bed placement. Feng shui expert and holistic interior architect Anjie Cho says there is an ideal spot, called the commanding position, to place your child's bed to promote restful sleep.

"It's best to have the bed positioned so that you can see the door with the headboard against the far wall. You don’t want the kid to be directly in front of the door. Instead, across the room, diagonal from the door, is typically the most ideal position," she says.

...read full article

by Anjie Cho