Showing posts with label wellbeing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wellbeing. Show all posts

Thursday, January 1, 2015

January 1, 2015 - A New Years Prayer!



















Wishing all my butterflies a new year filled with abundance in all its many forms, opportunities to keep you challenged not just busy, love, health and happiness!

If you set resolutions for this year, what are they?

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FTC Disclosure: This is NOT a sponsored Post!

Friday, June 14, 2013

Calling all 'fashionistas' and 'intentionistas', if you like your jewelry with Style AND Meaning, this #Giveaway is for YOU!

#SPONSORED: This Giveaway is Sponsored by: (see full disclosure statement below)

BuDhaGirl Logo
BuDhaGirl Logo

Ascending Butterfly began in 2009 with daily breathing affirmational meditations, for the first year we focused daily and exclusively on mind, body and soul wellness as a path to overall wellbeing. If our spirits are out of balance, invariably our bodies will be too.

I have had the pleasure of partnering with a wide variety of intention jewelry designers and sharing their amazing designs with you. I'm a fan of bold, statement jewelry, and when that jewelry is also intention based for me it's a super powerful combination that helps me feel more attuned to myself and the energy I'm putting forward.

I have had penpals my whole life, we all share a love of stationery and the fine art of putting our thoughts to paper. It is one of my penpals who introduced me to prayer boxes, a tradition she shared with her mother, that I was introduced to when she gifted me one for a birthday many years ago. Years later I discovered the power of using pyramids to make new moon wishes or new years goals and putting the paper inside of them. (I have a red pyramid I like to use to make New Years Goals for myself, on my birthday, NOT on New Years Eve and I also use it to add New Moon wishes throughout the year) it resides in my Meditation area.

After years of using my prayer box and my Pyramid, I hit on a stroke of brilliance, it's just so smart, I only wish I had invented this myself, a core cuff bracelet that allows you to carry intentions with you everyday in the form of super stylishly designed jewelry with a hidden secret inside!

Reminders on Display for the BuDhaGirl Core Cuff
Reminders on Display for the BuDhaGirl Core Cuff


About BuDhaGirl

BuDhaGirl is deeply rooted in the present while being elevated, informed and inspired by the past. Their products straddle the line between ornament and spiritual touchstones; they are enhancements for both body and soul. BuDhaGirl’s core foundation begins with fascinating objects and glamorous jewelry created to inspire awareness, knowledge and create brain health through purposeful interaction. They aim to re-introduce that wisdom into our lives in a simple yet powerful fashion. Their attitude and aesthetic is a unique combination of iconic and witty, traditional and edgy…and definitely, always chic.

BuDhaGirl Core Cuff Bracelet
“Clear your mind, breathe, and visualize intention(s) for the day. Think of it as a personal ritual.”

BuDhaGirl Core Cuff Bracelet

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - The BuDhaGirl Core Cuff is a jewelry piece with pedigree. Based on an extraordinary 1930's French creation, this modern version will hold your intention 'Reminders' in style!

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Stainless Steel micron plated in 18kt gold that is finished and polished by hand

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Resin Bars add a modernist Art Deco Style

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ- Opening coffer lid reveals compartment to add your BuDhaGirl Reminder Daily (you can interchange with a large assortment of beautiful reminder inserts)

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Weight: 3 oz

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Includes: Golden Guanyin First Level Reminder

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Packaged in a gorgeous acrylic Temple Display Box

How it works:



I included the YouTube Video on the Cuff because I thought it would be helpful for you to see it in action, it's a super fast, super simple way to align yourself to your intentions and be more vibrationally aligned to your purpose!


How I styled it: Jewelry: I am wearing the BuDhaGirl Core Cuff Bracelet in the color 'Jade', Handbag: Elliott Lucca Blue Cordoba Flap Front Shoulder Bag (in 'Teal' Exotic),  Jeans: Coldwater Creek Denim Bootcut Trouser Jeans

My Take:

I am living in this bracelet, I've used it daily to add pizazz to more casual outfits as well as with dressier outfits, and it has turned heads each and every single time I've worn it, I am absolutely obsessed with my BuDhaGirl Core Cuff Bracelet and with BuDhaGirl and I want to get ALL the extra intention reminders for my bracelet now! I have my eye on the 'Healing Buddha' reminder next!


The artwork on the reminders that go inside the cuff are simply beautiful, and also if you use a very thin paper you can also write your own intention and add it to it, I love that the reminders also have Mantras that you can say as you slip them inside the cuff out loud and then do it again silently during the day anytime you want.


I couldn't imagine a more perfect collaboration, Ascending Butterfly and BuDhaGirl are definitely a match made in intentional living and spirituality heaven!



BuDhaGirl Core Cuff Bracelet
BuDhaGirl Core Cuff Bracelet


Win It:


You know I'm always looking out for my butterflies, and I am super happy that our friends at BuDhaGirl have offered to sponsor a BuDhaGirl Core Cuff Bracelet Giveaway for one super lucky butterfly!


Just use the rafflecopter widget below to get in your entries, as always, the first entry is easy peasy, so just be sure to do the main/mandatory entry FIRST and then do as many of the others as you'd like for 'extra credit' :-)


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Get Social With it

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Follow @BuDhaGirl via twitter

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - 'Like' BuDhaGirl on Facebook
Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - You can also become 'pin' friends with BuDhaGirl on Pinterest too!

(And don't forget to tell them you saw them featured on Ascending Butterfly! And doing so gives you extra entries in the giveaway too!)


So Butterfly what intentions would you use this bracelet to help you align to?

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FTC Disclosure: This is a Sponsored Giveaway. Visit our Disclosure Policy Page for full Disclosure Information.

Thursday, March 21, 2013

I want to be #Latina health leader for @Hispanicize 2013 #UHCLatino #Hispz13



Ascending Butterfly was established in 2009 to create a space online that I couldn't find, one that shared motivational messages with an emphasis on breathing affirmational meditations. I love reading quote of the day type posts, but realized shortly after reading them I'd forget them. I wanted to find a way to make quotes, motivations and positive life lessons memorable, and the breathing affirmations helped to bring those to life and sharing not just the motivation and the breathing affirmation, but how I applied them in my day to day life gave me a true 'mind, body and soul' approach to wellness and wellbeing.

About two years later, I wanted to get myself in better shape and began including healthy changes in lifestyle that included recipe substitutions, getting more active (even incorporating my Wii and Wii Fitness into my daily routine) and had actually dropped 3 dress sizes and 26 pounds. Our most popular recipe substitution posts based on your views: http://www.ascendingbutterfly.com/2011/07/healthify-your-summer-with-fage.html, and: http://www.ascendingbutterfly.com/2011/07/healthify-your-summer-with-fage-recipe.html, and: http://www.ascendingbutterfly.com/2011/08/healthify-your-summer-with-fage-recipe.html)




Things were going very well, both body, mind, and soul as well as physically, until New Years Eve, December 31st of 2011 I was experiencing severe pains in my lower chest region and couldn't lift one of my arms at all without being in agonizing pain. The ambulance of course assumed heart attack, but after a battery of testing and two days in the E.R., a specialist that is a 35 year veteran in her field, diagnosed with me a lung mass that they all felt was end stage cancer that had already spread to my bones (which would explain the pain near my rib cage) and that I had maybe hours at best to get my affairs in order. I was told I might not even  get to ring 2012 in, nevertheless see it end, and be here alive and kicking now in 2013.

I shared my journey here every step of the way. As a non-smoker (I mean like never even tried it) who has always lived a reasonably healthy lifestyle, my family and I were confused, devasted and rightfully so, angry.  I knew I had only one choice and that was to cast aside fear and with total faith, fight with every ounce of strength I had. (This post leads back to the whole saga and links to posts that outline what I experienced in more detail, it's called 'Thank You + Not Quite the way I had in mind to lose more weight')

And fight I have, I spent 2012 in and out of THREE different leading New York City Hospitals meeting with specialist after specialist across a variety of areas and teams. Each one more baffled by my case than the one before. In fact, 2 hospitals still use me as a case study and every doctor, from experienced to intern knows my story.

Sometimes my over a year nightmare seems like a blur, a distant and faded memory and some days it all comes back to me like a freight train. Today was a 'freight train' day for me, today it all came back to me as I was riding the express bus back from the city home and passed the hospital I stayed at most recently. I also go back to that hospital every 6 months for a repeat catscan, in fact I just had one recently.

I think of all the pain, the exploratory surgeries, particularly the one I woke up during and literally felt everything, and the care at the different hospitals both the good and bad. It sometimes seems surreal. Until something reminds you and brings it all flooding back.

When I got home and saw a post on the Hispanic Marketing and Online Media Facebook Group that United Healthcare is running an essay contest looking for someone to be a Latino Health Leader at this year's Hispanicize Conference, I literally jumped out of my chair because I knew it would be perfect for me!

At age 5 I spent most of Kindegarten in hospitals while my mother served as caregiver to both my grand-mother and great-grandmother, (her mother and grand-mother) who were both battling Cancer, as well as my Dad, all who passed within 3 months of each other. My mother, 'Mama Butterfly' as we call her around here, battled cancer twice, and she was by my bed in the E.R. when that specialist told me I wouldn't ring in another year.

Yet here I am not only still standing, but thriving, and I know for a fact that the healthy changes I had been making in my lifestyle well before all this started are what kept me alive.

It took me awhile to get the courage to share my story, but as flowers arrived to the hospital and my emails and social media pages were overloaded with messages to get well soon, and other readers were brave enough to share their battles with Breast Cancer and other life and death medical scares so that I would know I am not alone, I decided it was time for me to do the same. My story is a pretty unique one, so my dear butterflies don't allow yourself to be fooled by mis-conceptions, even the person who doesn't smoke, did NOT grow up in a house where they were exposed to second-hand smoke and living a healthy lifestyle can still end up in a hospital bed fighting for their lives!

I know I would make a powerful voice as United Healthcare's Latina Health Leader at Hispanicize, I was already well aware of how small but impactful lifestyle changes could improve things for the better, but after spending a year fighting for my life, now more than ever I truly understand that an ounce of prevention really is worth a pound of cure!

Check out this YouTube Segment called Hispanic Health on the Run:




There are mis-conceptions being brought to light in this video that not only affect the Hispanic Community but America at large! This nation and generation may very well be 'Super-Sizing' itself to death!

Oddly enough I had been invited to speak at Hispanicize this year on the topic of Lifestyle Blogging already, and somehow I saw this as a sign from the Universe that I really should challenge myself this year, and a sign I'm definitely meant to attend this conference! But with Medical Bills still very much being a huge battle for me to contend with, getting to Hispanicize is certainly going to take some help!

There is a quick and easy way to help support me as a nominee, it's as easy as copy and pasting this as a tweet:

I want @Tracy_Iglesias of @Ascending1 to be the #Latina health leader for @Hispanicize 2013 #UHCLatino #Hispz13

I think the Universe is telling me it's time to take my story from the behind the keyboard to in front of the public, and if it will motivate just one person to make the daily changes necessary to improve their habits and lifestyle then in my opinion it will be well worth it!

My path to well-being is ongoing, and I'm filled with gratitude because on this same day, one year to the date I was on my second hospital stay at a second hospital, being released in April just hours before my birthday. I have come such a long way from where I found myself just one year ago. And I tell you all the same thing, if I could overcome and triumph despite the obstacles I faced and still face, so can YOU Butterflies, seize every single day and every single opportunity that comes your way!

Latina Blogger

If you do tweet, please share the link to your tweet here as a comment!


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FTC Disclosure: This is NOT a sponsored post, no monetary compensation has been received by Ascending Butterfly. However this post is an essay entry to a contest that offers the winner a chance to attend the Hispanicize 2013 Conference as a sponsored guest.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Mid Month Moment of Health with Guest Blogger Heather Askinosie! - 'Yoga, My Saving Grace'

We are super excited to bring you our first official 'Mid-Month Moment of Health' for 2011, with a very special Guest Blogger! We plan to bring you a special Health Related Post every month on the 15th, with rotating Guest Bloggers, feel free to reach out to us if you are interested in contributing an article! And as always we encourage you to comment and show our Guest Bloggers some love, make her feel welcome everyone!

~ Ascending Butterfly

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@Pablo Lomeli 2011

I have been doing yoga for the past 20 years and it has been my saving grace. Sometimes my practice has been strong, flexible and powerful, while other times it has been reflective, slow and gentle. The one constant is that yoga always gives me what I need at that moment. When you are on a spiritual journey life gives you lessons, obstacles, joy and many choices. Our current state of mind determines how we choose to handle each situation which arises.

If the mind controls the body, then the mind needs to be calm, clear and balanced, which is much easier said than done. However a great meditation will help the mind shift to a state of nothingness, and some days this works better than others. One of the main reasons I find yoga vital in my life is because I do not have time to think. Rather the act focuses on the breath and the expansion and after an hour and a half my perspective changes. Everything becomes more manageable and clear. My personal connection with the divine is reinstated and my connection with myself is more complete.

Yoga has taught me that some of the greatest things in life take multiple years to learn. Poses can be perfected but in time that too will change. Each day on my yoga mat is different because each day I show up I am different.

"Yoga has taught me to be kinder with myself and accept where I am right now in this moment." ~Heather Askinosie

Yoga is a healer, a teacher and one of the greatest gifts one can offer to yourself. After every class I thank my body for being healthy and allowing me to do the YOGA.

Namaste,



@Pablo Lomeli 2011
About the Author: Heather Askinosie's mission is to educate and reconnect the world to the ancient wisdom and healing properties of crystals and gems. She has traveled the world to learn ancient healing and uncover lost knowledge that serves to help guide the mind, body and spirit. Her jewelry line, Energy Muse, serves as a tool to help you tap into your inner power and manifest your desires.
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FTC Disclosure Information: This is not a sponsored post. No compensation has been received in conjunction with this guest post. This is a regular feature on our blog where rotating Guest Bloggers speak on the topic of mind, body and soul health and wellbeing. All opinions expressed by our Guest Bloggers are solely their own, as are the experiences they relay in their posts. Our Mid-Month Moment of Health does not offer Medical Claims, it is recommended that you check with your own physician regarding physical fitness and any form of excercise.