Beloved Friend,

Happy New Year! Life is continuing right along here in Southern California. Sometimes it feels like I blink and another year has gone by. I am guessing you might have had that same experience once or twice…

I have been reflecting recently on what it takes to live a successful life. This of course begs the question, what is a successful life? Successful according to whom? One definition that I like is "a successful life is one that is able to traverse the many ups and downs and turn-arounds of life, learning and growing all the while".

Just think of all that a human life entails: first you are born; and you really have no idea what the requirements are, and you have no idea how to do anything. You have to learn how to walk and talk. You have to go to school where you learn how to read and write, add, subtract, multiply, and divide. On top of that, you have to learn how to socialize.

As you mature, you have to learn how to take care of your health, how to adequately care for your body. You have to learn how to create and sustain friendships and romantic relationships. You have to learn how to earn a living and how to manage your finances. If you have a religious or spiritual inclination, you have to learn about that. If you decide to have children, you have to learn about that.

To live a successful life, you have to learn how to create, maintain, and sustain true health throughout this whole learning and living process.

How do you take care of your physical, emotional, and mental health after having children, or when you work a sixty or seventy hour week? How do you have emotional fortitude when you find out that your child wrecked your car, or that your best friend has cancer? How do you take care of everything that modern life entails after the death of a spouse? Even without catastrophic events, how do you take care of yourself on a day-to-day basis, while taking care of all the many and multiple demands of life?

For to be successful, to live a successful life, it requires not only knowledge in all the areas mentioned above, as well as many more, it requires that you learn constantly. In addition to never-ending learning, you constantly need to adapt and change, based on the constantly changing nature of life.

The great, great, great, wonderful news is that although life does not come with an instruction manual, it gives you everything you need to learn as you go. Life is a learning process and every human being, you included, comes equipped with exactly what is needed in order to live the life you are meant to live. Your job is simply to be open to the process of life and learn as you go. In this way, you will discover how to live not just a successful life, but your successful life. That is something that you, and only you, can do.

This month's article is from a recent Q&A with FitnessMagazine.com. And, take advantage of Special New Year Savings. For a limited time only, you can purchase the complete Renew Yourself Audio Series at a 30% discount! To help you learn to love your body and yourself in the New Year, you can learn from all six audios at a fraction of the usual price. Normally $75, I am offering the full 6-call series for $50 so you can become who you long to be in 2012.

Wishing you a successful and healthy 2012 – may you every day move closer to the beauty that you are.

Love Always,

Sarah Maria
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Fitness Magazine: Why are we (as a country/society) fixated on celebrity shapes? Is this healthy?

Sarah Maria: As a country we are fixated on celebrity shapes because, in large part, we live in an incredibly superficial culture. Many people have the false belief that if they just look a certain way, or have the “right” body, then they will be happy, or successful, or have the right relationship, or whatever it is. This is an incredibly superficial understanding of life that is ultimately unhealthy. It is unhealthy because it causes people to be obsessed with what is the most superficial parts of life and forces many people to be self-destructive in attempting to meet some unreasonable ideal.

Fitness Magazine: Is trying to attain a celebrity shape all too much for the average lady (we are focusing on the women in this piece) to hope for considering a lot of stars have special chefs and fitness people at their disposal?

Sarah Maria: Trying to attain a celebrity shape is a waste of time for everyone. It is a waste of time because everyone has a different body type and shape, as well as radically different life circumstances. It is much more useful to focus on taking care of one’s physical health and appearance in whatever way is appropriate for that person. The vast majority of people cannot put the time and effort into the size of their body that a celebrity can. For a celebrity, their profession and livelihood depends on their physical appearance in a way that is not the case for most people.

The problem occurs when people see images of celebrities on TV screens and then attempt to make their body look a certain way. My advice is simple: if you are interested in taking care of your appearance and health, figure out the best way to do that given your particular genetic predisposition, you current health and fitness level, and your overall life-circumstance.

It is self-destructive to try to force your body to conform to an image you see on the TV screen or in the magazine if your body does not have a natural pre-disposition to look that way.

Fitness Magazine: However, if you envy a certain body part of a celeb, say Michelle Obama’s arms, is it a healthy idea to try to go for it?

Sarah Maria: I would say that it is never useful to compare yourself to someone else and then try to achieve what someone else has because this is simply impossible. No one, other than Michelle Obama herself, can ever have Michelle Obama’s arms. It is simply impossible. If you think Michelle Obama’s arms are attractive, then learn what she does, if anything to strengthen and tone her arms. Then focus on strengthening and toning your arms and then see what result you get. Simply focus on strengthening your own arms and let them look however they look because your arms are not Michelle Obama’s arms and never will be.

Fitness Magazine: Please talk about the importance of wanting to improve yourself and also finding a level of self-acceptance. For instance, you don’t need Beyonce’s butt to be happy in life!

Sarah Maria: I can guarantee you that having Beyonce’s butt won’t make you happy in life. It might give you a butt that you enjoy, but at the end of the day, that really is not that much – it is just a butt. As I have said throughout, it is perfectly fine and even admirable to want to take care of your body and your health. Yet the key is taking care of your body and your health in a way that works for you, in your life, given the totality of the circumstances. The self-acceptance is that you are who you are and the body you have been given is the body you have been given. That is the gift you have been given and you are inherently beautiful no matter what your past, current, or future shape. You can always look to take care of your health, improve it if you need to, but ultimately, you are who you are and you are inherently beautiful simply because you exist.

Source: FitnessMagazine.com, The Best Celebrity Bodies of 2011

New Year Special Savings! Limited Time Offer: Purchase the complete Renew Yourself Audio Series at a 30% discount!  Normally $75, I am offering the complete 6-call series for $50. Become who you long to be in 2012. To help you learn to love your body and yourself in the New Year, you can learn from all six audios at a fraction of the usual price!

You can break free from unwanted patterns, habits, and behaviors. You can break free from needless anxiety, fear, and overwhelm.

The Renew Yourself Audio Series includes 6 recordings covering 6 different topics, all designed to encourage, uplift, and assist you in your journey.

Discover what is truly possible for your human lifetime, which I guarantee is more than you could ever imagine.  If you are ready to make a commitment to yourself to discover who and what you truly are, take advantage of this brand new product. You can also purchase calls individually for $17 each.

Take advantage of the New Year Special (only $50 for the entire series) today!

Do Are you ready to live your Unlimited Potential?

Are you ready to realize the Greatness that you already are?

Learn how to live a mythical life! Do you feel trapped in negative beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors? Learn about ancient archetypal figures from the eastern tradition. You can harness the power of the feminine to transform your life on every level. Discover which myths and stories resonate with you, and harness their power to live with love, beauty, and grace.

Within each one of us, there is a power, a profound power, that if we allow it to flow through us, it will transform our lives in ways we never imagined possible.

In this digital audio course, I will introduce you to the notion of archetypes. You will discover that you can learn to consciously embody archetypal energy in your life. You will learn about the mythical gods and goddesses of ancient India, and discover how to invoke and embody their powers to transform your problems and challenges into opportunities.

Connect to your source of Power today.

It’s time to love the skin you’re in!  If all you see when you look in the mirror is cellulite, wrinkles, or worse, you’re not seeing what—and who—is really there. 

A whopping 90 percent of us are dissatisfied with our bodies.  These self-destructive thoughts and behaviors are ruining our lives—but it doesn’t have to be that way. 

Learn how to feel good about your body—and celebrate its strength, vitality, and beauty.  Complete with exercises, case studies, and testimonials, you’ll learn how to stop obsessing over food and your body and achieve permanent peace with both.

Do you long to love your body and love your life?

Purchase Love Your Body, Love Your Life today.

Do you love your body?  Honestly, do you?

If you can't answer YES to this question, you may be suffering from Negative Body Obsession, or NBO.  Negative Body Obsession will rob you of your vitality, your joy, and your love.  But it doesn’t need to be that way.  

Love Your Body Now! is a downloadable audio CD, complete with music and guided instruction, designed to help you break free from Negative Body Obsession and live a life that you love.

It includes 16 MP3 Tracks, full of exercises and visualizations, designed to help you love your body and love your life.  Life should be a love affair – learn to live the love that you are starting today.

From the back cover of the CD:

“Living in this day and age, it is all too easy to believe that we are not good enough.  We are not thin enough; we are not toned enough.  We are not young enough; we are not healthy enough.  We are not beautiful enough.  In a culture that worships thin, young, fit, and perfect, few of us can measure up.  And this fixation with that we are not extinguishes the joy and vibrancy of who we are.

But there is a way out.  It is possible to love and respect your body, be at peace with your natural urges, and live without constant fear of gaining weight or growing old.  If you are ready to reclaim your creativity, your vibrancy, and your passion, this CD will help you overcome Negative Body Obsession and unleash the power of your potential.

Order your copy of “Love Your Body Now!” today.

Are you longing to transform your relationship to food and your body? Use 2010 to create the change you desire. Learn how to love your body, while improving your eating habits and eliminating your negative body thoughts. Take advantage of this extensive package of healing support.

You will learn how to love and appreciate your body with Sarah Maria’s Love Your Body Now! CD, improve your eating habits with guided meditations lead by Holistic M.D. Malynn Utzinger, and break free from your negative body thoughts and self-talk through discovering new strategies provided by Psychologist Clare Mann.

The Break Free Beauty Introductory Package includes:

... And now all of these valuable tools can be accessed in an easy-to-download format!

Click here for complete details and to learn more about each of these amazing resources.

Coaching is an opportunity to work one-on-one to transform your life on every level. Whether you're struggling to overcome suffering, or simply working to take your life to the next level, coaching will gently and persistently help you move in the direction you want to go.

Sarah Maria works with clients with any — and every — area of their life that they want to explore.  Here are a few examples of areas that she has covered with clients:

• Meditation
• Body image
• Weight
• Self-esteem
• Life / Work Balance
• Career Success
• Finding and Living your Spiritual Path
• Understanding Ayurveda to Improve Health
• Overcoming Loneliness
• Overcoming Depression
• Ending Anxiety
• Finding freedom from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder or OCD
• Body Dysmorphic Disorder

Is Coaching Right For Me?

Having a coach is an incredible gift. It is like having a trusted friend and advisor by your side. It is having someone in your corner, offering you the guidance, support, encouragement, to overcome any obstacles that you face.

Coaching FAQs:

1. How does your coaching work?
   
   All sessions are conducted over the phone.  They are 60 minutes in length.  Each session begins with a brief 10-minute period of silent meditation.  If you do not yet have a meditation practice, I will give you a mantra and instruction for an ongoing meditation practice.  After the silent meditation, we will discuss whatever is on your mind and in your heart.
   
   The coaching process is much less about me and much more about you.  I serve as a guide to help you discover and uncover what is already within yourself.
   
   If you are struggling with particular issues, those will come to the surface so that you can see and respond to them more clearly and appropriately.  If you are looking to grow or change in particular ways, this will become apparent as well.  All that is required is that you be willing to engage in the process.  If you are willing to show up, look at whatever needs to be seen, feel whatever needs to be felt, and process whatever needs to be processed, then it will lead you exactly where you need to go. If you are interested in coaching, you just have to ask yourself one question: are you willing to accept what is being offered?  Are you willing to transform into that which you truly already are?
   
   
2. How will coaching help me?
   
   Coaching will help you in whatever way is appropriate given your particular situation.  There is no set way – no one-size fits all – no cookie-cutter approach.  The reason it is called individual coaching is because it is exactly that – it is individual, customized entirely to your specific situation and unique needs.  As mentioned above, if you are ready and willing to change, then coaching will help lead you from wherever you are to wherever life wants you to be.
   
   
3. How do I know if coaching is right for me?
   
   Follow your heart.  This might sound cliché, but it is absolutely true.  Follow your heart.  If you have been reading my e-zines for a while, you have heard me talk about the heart being the seat of wisdom.  The heart is the master; the mind is the servant.  Often when you try to figure out what to do in your mind, you feel nothing but confusion.  But even when you feel confused in every way, your heart will lead you exactly where you need to go.  So simply ask yourself: do you feel called to coach with me?  Do you feel pulled to connect in that way?  If the answer is yes, then consider taking advantage of the Spring special and experience five sessions with me.  If the answer is no, then simply go where your heart tells you.  There are many teachers, many resources, many paths.  The best way to find your path, your teachers, and your guides, is simply through following the wisdom of your heart that is always there, quietly waiting for you to follow it.

Still have questions? Please feel free to email me at sarahmaria@sarahmaria.com or call 510-326-9610 to find out if coaching with me is right for you.

Sarah Maria is the author of Love Your Body, Love Your Life. The book outlines her 5-step process for helping you feel great in and about your body and yourself. Her work embraces the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual, so that true and lasting healing can occur. Click here to purchase your copy and begin to love your body today. To learn more about Sarah Maria and her work, you can visit her website at www.BreakFreeBeauty.com.

Sarah Maria is a body-image expert and teacher who can help you discover the beauty that you already are so that you can create a body and a life that you truly love.

She has studied with the leading experts in health, spirituality, personal development, and success, including Deepak Chopra, physician Dr. David Simon (co-founder of the Chopra Center for Well-being in Carlsbad, CA), Dr. Wayne Dyer, Jack Canfield, renowned Ayurvedic physician Vasant Lad, and many others. She is a lover of eastern philosophy and spiritual wisdom and passionately shares these teachings that have so transformed her own life.

Before founding Break Free Beauty, Sarah Maria received her law degree from Stanford University and her Master's in International Affairs from Columbia University in NYC. She has lived and traveled throughout Latin America, and has also visited many countries around the world. Her greatest passion is helping people discover the beauty and the greatness that resides inside so they can live from this place of grandeur, transforming themselves and the world.