The Call
I was around 16 years old, my Dad was sitting on the couch with his hands in his head, depressed… he had been made redundant and fallen into depression. I handed him the book ‘BEING HAPPY’ by Andrew Mathews an Australian Cartoonist author I loved. Dad looked at me as I handed him the book and said ‘What you think a book is going to help me!!!!” He pretty much through it back at me. I became obsessed with the power of the mind from that day forward. I read every book under the sun on positive thinking, the power of the mind and quickly became passionate on goal setting. I wanted to help my dad feel happy and as a young teenager it was the most painful experience to see my dad so depressed and down. My mum was so patient and a great support for him, and still is today. Thank fully over time he found a new job and pulled himself slowly out of his depression, but I know that moment of losing his job, he loved changed him for the rest of his life. I wanted to do something fast to help him, but there is no fast fix to depression. I also wanted to desperately prove to my Dad dreams are free and you can achieve anything you put your heart and soul into if you want it enough. In that moment I made my mind up I was never going to be made redundant and I would build my own empire one day. The Pit. Not long after, I decided to fast track my career, and become my own boss.I had no idea what I wanted to do but loved fashion. I knew as long as I chose something that would be forever changing, and innovative I would be free for the rest of my life. I chose hairdressing, as I could get an apprenticeship without school certificate. I had a dream to get through training and begin working formyself. I left school at the tender age of 16 years old and signed my five year 8,000 hour apprenticeship. I became a top senior stylist by 19 years of age and was made a manager at of one of the six leading hair salons of the Jo Douglas of Headquarters, Dunedin. I loved and hated every moment with Jo Douglas. We worked extremely hard and long hours. I worked 3-4 late nights a week and every Saturday, our day off we had staff training, it soon became my entire life. I was forced to sell my horses, because the lack of time. I hardly saw my family and could only make time for my hairdressing friends as we would often hang out together. I was involved in the industry on all levels, and at a competitive level, a top senior stylist making and earning good money for my boss and my pay packet was back in those days abundant with ‘over hours.’ But I couldn’t stop dreaming if making this kind of money for myself, and building my own empire. I saw an empty building at the tender age of 22 years old, me being me, no fear, I knocked on the door of the owners building, and asked if they wanted to rent the empty shop out. I got the lease and started to build from scratch, my empire. It was amazing. My father gave me a small loan as a deposit and I borrowed the rest, I built and designed a shop and made it a huge success, I had paid off my loan my Father gave me, and paid the bank back within the first six months, it was a great feeling and a great success. I felt so powerful, and successful at 22 years old. I had built myself a house hold name in hairdressing and became New Zealand Judge on The Judges Panel, living her own dream life. Five years later, I fell deeply and passionately in love, got married and went on and built a second more up market salon with higher pricing services. I stepped right out of my comfort zone and was the first salon in my city to go up market and increase my pricing structure. I felt so confident and powerful in many ways, having my own teams, and two successful salons, but over the years I did fall out of balance. Reaching burn out is easy when you physically work in your business, not on your business. The business began to control me. With working over 80 hrs every week, and falling sick every time I went on holiday. I became unfit, and little overweight and could see my body changing as I was aging through my the years of 20’s and 30’s. I was drinking and binge eating, mostly because of no food throughout the day. I always had energy as we were always too busy to worry about being hungry or tired. I was gifted with a determined and positive mindset, but it wasn’t until I would stop, I didn’t know how to relax without food or drink. I wasn’t happy and slowly began my own journey to a lifestyle change. I hired a Personal Trainer three times a week. I was the corporate client back then spending over $200 a week on training and a weekly massage. My life was busy I had a cleaner, massage therapist, Personal Trainer, eat out most nights, when I wasn’t competing for a fitness competition, and a husband loved to massage my tired aching feet at night and often massage my body to sleep, if I hadn’t already fallen in a heap. I should have been the happiest girl alive. BUT I was always sore, tired, and not feeling balanced within and possbibly anxious. Looking back I was anxiously thinking into the future, the next client, the next meeting, the next competition, I was not present, I felt moody and demanding. I couldn’t even wrap a present neatly as I was always in a rush. My staff use to do all of these things for me, knowing it would be rushed if I did it. I expected people to run around after me. Thankfully I had wonderful staff who looked after me well. I wanted everything on demand, because I had the power of my business to pay for it, and always felt worthy to receive it. I use to eat out every night, and eat desserts or chocolate at nights. The one thing I knew I was great at was educating my staff, motivation and inspiring my staff to be positive, happy and healthy. Over the years I wanted to transform my career to health and wellness, by doing a Personal Training Course, but the gym environment wasn’t really where I wanted to work, it never felt holistic for me with the loud banging music and the hyped up gym junkies, I was on the search for something else. I came home from the salon very late around 10pm, I went straight to the cosy music room and collapsed on the floor, exhausted out of balance and unhappy. I remember lying back and thinking there must be more to this life than working, and chasing my tail. I felt out of control, crying in a heap, it is a moment I will always remember. But I was married, living on a farm and had everything I could have dreamed of. I had a horse in the back yard to ride, but no time to enjoy it. I felt so out of balance and disconnected to my body, my head was spinning. Not long after I booked myself a business retreat in Queensland Australia, Noosa, for Hairdressing Business Owners Retreat, to develop their business strategies. I couldn’t believe it, we did yoga, tai chi, and spent and time around nature, we were taught on the retreat to develop daily rituals. The Business Retreat created a massive break through for me, I began clear on how I wanted to live my life, and begin to design it around all the things that were in alignment and congruent with me. I became a wife, a mum and booked in for my Yoga Teacher Training, around this time I published my very first book, How to be a Happier Mum. This was the breakthrough to my own happiness. Luckily while I was married I had found Yoga at the age of 27, but I had already started my own inner work journey on myself from the teenage years , I had always embraced self-development and self-healing work, and I still refer to some of my favorite authors today. The late Louise Hay, Tony Robbins, the late Wayne Dwyer, Deepak Chopra, Bikram Choudry, Bruce Lipton and Lisa Messenger, to name a few. I enrolled in courses along the way from Essential oils, coaching, naturopath, homeopathy, hypnotherapy, reiki, and more. I wanted to experience it all and work out how to bring my body, my temple into total alignment, harmony and inner happiness. The final collapse on the floor that night, was the beginning of my own breakthrough. I needed to change some old patterns and habits. I was burn out, impatient, impulsive and demanding, unhappy, I wanted everything to happen NOW. Yoga taught me to pause and to become in the present moment, it taught me to slow down and pause. The pause is in the practice of solitude, the power of silence, but I had to make time for this and make it a daily ritual. The Search: After attending the retreat, I made yoga part of my everyday life. I found an Ashtanga school and began my journey. It wasn’t always easy to get to a class being a business owner and a Mum but slowly over time all my deeply rooted goals and dreams have come to fruition. With goal setting, planning a having a business mentor slowly I began to strip back the layers to my authentic core self. While I was digging deeper in my Yoga Postures, unleashing tightness in my over worked body, and stilling my busy anxious mind, then, I was having this amazing transformation, a shift. The shift came at a huge cost, my marriage collapsed through the change, I was going in a completely different direction, I wanted nature stillness and simplicity but I was getting opera and drama… We decided to part and go our separate ways, it wasn’t easy but once I got myself set up in a whole new area by the ocean I found my core, my calm, my solitude to make the changes to my environment and who I began to circle myself around. The lifestyle I have worked so incredibly hard to create, is difficult to put a price to what it is worth, because it was time I wanted back in my life, the time to fill my days with the things I dreamed. Spending quality time with my two young daughters is the time I treasure today, to have had that gift in life is something I will treasure for the rest of my life. I was like, "I now know the authenticity truth of life." There's a truth that I've realized that I can share with people. Maybe the path they're going down isn't the way they should be going down, maybe their environment or work is causing suffering. I started filling out my own blueprint, and I went out after that, I became a teacher, ran my won retreats and created my first online 10-week Mind Body Transformation blueprint in 2010. If you've heard my story before, the story goes on, and now I get paid consulting clients 1-1 to create significant life changes. I have a few streams of income, earning me money while I build my and update my technology for my own users, I one on one coach, speak at seminars and events. I've created an amazing online lifestyle program, I'm a bestselling author now of three successful published books and about to publish the forth. That's an extraordinary thing. My whole life has changed and I have a whole new lifestyle and belief in myself. This moment of insight, of truth, that I am loved, I am good enough, becomes one of the core parts of my message. This whole inner transformation was my breakthrough. Then, from the inner transformation comes the reality of action. My credibility that I share is not just how one dynamic of my life changed. It's on all my different dynamics. I became more compassionate for mankind and passionate about creating change for the planet. My relationship changed, I found self love. My family life changed but I found began to feel peace with my family upheaval and appreciation with my New Zealand family that I travel back to see my family and we’re closer than we've ever been. I am blessed to have both parents still alive to witness my happiness and success.
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AuthorNICKY ARTHUR A world renowned Fitness & Yoga Coach who started her journey 20 years ago in a hippy and rustic Ashtanga Yoga studio in Dunedin, New Zealand. Now a Certified Iyenger and Bikram Yoga Teacher and Fitness Coach has helped lead thousands of people to Yoga. https://nickyarthur10weekmbt.blogspot.com.au
Mood BoostersHi there, Have you had a massive week! Restoring your temple and your mind is everything for living life with passion and VITALITY. We all need a little mood boosting from time to time. These Tips are practical and they work. Mood Booster Techniques Control the direction of your thinking- choose to identify and eliminate negative thoughts from your mind. 1. Choose your peer group wisely-they can either lift you up or tear you down. Be bold and be honest in your assessment of your circle of influence. 2. Get plenty of quality sleep- invest in a comfortable mattress, pillows, soft sheets and tranquil thoughts. Use the mediation CDs to help you relax and to clear your mind before sleep. 3. De-clutter your space- an organised environment at home and at work results in an increased sense of calmness. 4. Keep your work and home environment bright and airy- light increases serotonin levels and lifts mood. An airy environment helps increase oxygen flow and energy levels. 5. Listen to uplifting music- Music is the ultimate mood changer. It can take you from the depths of listlessness to the heights of exhilaration. Invest in an ipod or MP3 player with your favorite mood booster play lists on it. Try Wilson Phillips 'Hold On', Savage Garden 'Affirmation', your favourite band, or embrace some yoga music such as 'Deva Premal', spiritual, sensuous and relaxing. 6. Stay aware of your body language- posture and facial expressions are powerful influences on the brain's neuro-transmitters, so walk tall, sit straight and smile! 7. Take a break and do something different- just doing something different will help break the state that you're in (e.g. if you've been working on the computer for a long period, just get up and walk around or try having a fresh glass of cold water or telling a joke). 8. Use the power of visualization- we can re-live a previous highlight or future utopia (and its associated positive emotions) at any stage by using the creative energy of our minds. 9. Look for reasons to laugh- the act of laughing, or even faking a laugh can elevate mood levels significantly. It is my mission to make people laugh again and be happy! 10 Aromatherapy-when lavender and rosemary scent oils are emitted from an oil diffuser, people tend to feel more contented and relaxed. Try my blend at night of geranium and lavender oil. 11. Massage-touch creates measurable changes in brain wave activity. Treat yourself to a professional massage or get your partner to stimulate energy flow and mood through massage. 12. Engage in acts of kindness- helping others not only makes us feel good, but it helps other people to feel better, because they see that you care about them. 13. Nutrition- You are what you eat. A healthy diet will provide you with more energy and vitality. 14. Get out and about around Nature. Research has noted that spending time at around trees helps increase good quality oxygen to your body. For me this is my number one too along with yoga & meditation. 👌🏻🌾 Archives
April 2020
Let me introduce myself, I’m Nicky Arthur International Author, Yoga and Fitness Coach, Vegan specialist, & Fitness Model Competitor, above all a mother of two beautiful healthy energetic young girls. For me that’s my most prized accomplishment. However, being a Mum and juggling it all can be challenging. But it doesn't necessarily mean you have to stop setting your own goals and dreams.
I love physical challenges and yoga has taught me the power of your mind. Often the mind stops you from doing the exercises than the body, are bodies are much stronger & flexible than we think and our minds are even more powerful. My work is based on helping women and mums transform their body and life. The 10 week Body Transformation program is aimed to help you look fit & healthy but more importantly feel good in the inside. I have the right recipe ticking all the right boxes for living a holistic, drug free, pain free happy exciting satisfied life. It is not just about weight loss, or fitness, it is about internal health and happiness, learning how your body works. In 10 weeks. I provide you with a plan, the tools and help you to you dream body so you can live your own dream life. Categories |