Positive Self Talk Handouts

Ballet and success can go hand in hand - and riches are relative.

 Positive self talk handouts - in video. Search "brad yates eft youtube".

I was just watching a video (one of a large series) about success and riches.

He demonstrates and puts up a lot of videos about the Emotional Freedom Technique.

(link goes to video explaining EFT).

So who the heck gets rich in ballet, among the successful?

Riches are relative of course. A successful Wall Street broker would snort at the ballerina's pay.

It is all relative.

Yet, your world counts. You, the aspiring child, teen or adult ballet beginner.

You have a muse who invites you to dance. That muse is You!

And maybe you're a recreational dancer. Or a hopeful for dance competitions. Or a ballet student in a professional program.

Believe me, I know even the latter is not bereft of overwhelming anxiety and self doubts!

And I don't know where the science stands on EFT - it is related to acupuncture.

But you certainly can pick up many positive self talk quotes!

Yet, having viewed videos about the emotional freedom technique tapping points I don't think this is useless.

Have a look and see if this might be of some use to help you or another eliminate self talk.

See what you think. 

" In partnership with Dr. David Feinstein, Dr. Church has been able to confirm that tapping on specific meridian points has a positive effect on cortisol levels. Cortisol, known as the "stress hormone," is integral to our body's "fight or flight" response." Huffington Post an article by Nick Ortner, posted: 03/17/2012.

http://www.eftfree.net/latest-scientific-research/  - more about

emotional freedom technique tapping points.

Sound Machines For Sleeping

So you've got a good nutritional diet plan!

There is one way you can sabotage it and wonder why it's not working as well as "hers".

Lack of good sound sleep will affect a good diet every time.

Even if you're not on a weight loss diet - if you start to gain weight or feel a big appetite increase, reflect on how you've been sleeping lately.

Lack of sleep creates a hormone imbalance that results in hunger, and lack of satisfaction with the meals we're used to.

It also creates other havoc - exhaustion will increase our stress hormone cortisol - which then in turn decreases the quality of our sleep even more.

There is so much for a teen dancer to keep track of!

• school work

• extra stretching

• extra foot exercises

• sewing pointe shoes

• clean ballet wear ready

• social time (what is that again? lol)

And you may lie at wake worrying about all these things, the competition, family arguments and much more!

I totally love sound machines for sleeping! 

Without sound sleep that diet plan will not work so well.

Here's one that comes with a sound card pre-loadedwith soothing sleep sounds - and you can stream your own favorites from a Bluetooth enabled device.

There is a variety of these white noise type of machines for sleep.

Get a good night's sleep every night - and get the most out of your good nutritional diet plan.

Easy Tips - Lose Weight

Symptoms - Hormone Deficiency

One of the symptoms of hormone deficiency is bad sleep.

And also hormone deficiencies cause bad sleep.

That is why the word "balance" is key!

One of the best easy tips for losing weight is sleeping well.

Recently Dr. Mercola author of "Effortless Healing" wrote an article "How To Stay Thin For Life". Yeah right that's so easy!

Many of us know it's not.

And his article was about sleep. Good sleep = good body weight!

I believe this and I'll tell you why - recently I started Intermittent Fasting -which I talked about here.

I lost four pounds suddenly but then slept quite badly one night - and the next morning had gained three.

But 2 mornings later after 2 good night's sleep - I had lost six pounds since the start of the Intermittent Fasting.

Dancers often suffer from aching muscles - and that's a deep ache!

About 300 to 400 mg magnesium will help relax muscles. Yet it's good to add some potassium and B6 since these vitamins act in concert - yup they have their own choreography in those muscles!

In extreme cases of insomnia ask your doctor about melatonin and do your own search. Some medical doctors shy away from it because it's a hormone. But if you're not sleeping...well it's a late night brain released hormone that cleanses your brain.And helps you sleep, deeply.

Melatonin can be deficient for different reasons. Lack of sunlight. Or simply a personal deficiency.

I wear Amber tinted glasses when I'm on the computer in the evening. That eliminates the blue-light brightness that stimulates the brain. The UV spectrum.

In fact I'm yawning now - so I'll say - g'night and sleep well! Time to go take my melatonin and keep losing weight!

Click here to get "Effortless Healing"  with some more easy tips to sleep well and lose weight:

Teen Diet Plans Research Overload

I decided to start a second Kindle book (first one done but not published yet) called Teen Diet Plans - tentative working title.

Talk about overload! I couldn't avoid the issue of grass fed meats, dairy and wild caught fish. And organic vegetables.

Because the conventional GMO or pesticide/herbicide laden foods mess with our hormones.

As I've written here  I grew up with a progesterone deficiency which plagued me all my life.

I struggled with staying thin having no clue about stress hormones or estrogen dominance (which can lead to cancers).

And now that I'm looking at the latest research on what's in our foods - it's a horror story!

As an example - a few years ago it became illegal in the US to feed cows cow products. This was to prevent the spread of Mad Cow Disease. But chickens don't get that so they get fed cow “products” - usually blood, bone meal and unmarketable parts that don't go into hot dogs.

But it is legal to feed cattle “chicken litter” which is chicken poop, feathers and other unmarketable bits and pieces. So it is still possible for cows to eat recycled cow products with a chance that Mad Cow disease could be passed on.

We eat cows fed chicken poop.

But the good thing is:

You can vote with your dollars! Even if you're not a voter.

Because of the persistence of consumers buying organic and grass fed foods, the prices have dropped. Availability has spread.

Yet the yuk factor of what I now feel obliged to put in this short guide book on healthy teen meals (mostly “fast food” Nutri Bullet drinks made at home) has increased.

BPA's, flame retardents, household cleansers, antibiotics...and more! All estrogen mimickers or endocrine disruptors.

Which disrupt what would have been a teen's normal weight, given the growth/hormone spurts and lulls.

But we can still beat this thing!

"The Meatrix" - the first 3 minutes address the situation.

I really don't want to get political. I just want to provide info about healthy fat burning meal plans. 

Simply spending your dollars on the healthy foods is all one has to do.

I Didn't Mean To Lose Four Pounds!

Honestly I didn't - a few days ago I started reading up on hormonal balance and wrote  "My Own Teen Weight Gain Story".

I picked up a Kindle version of Dr. Joseph Mercola's "Effortless Healing". I bought it a couple of months ago and had read it and put it down a few times.

He recommends the usual sensible eating habits as well as "intermittent fasting" to re-train one's body for fat burning instead of sugar burning, for energy.

I had read a couple of his newsletter articles about this but had never thought I could do it.

I have the symptoms of insulin and leptin resistance. My body has forgotten how to burn fat even though I have rarely eaten grains for five years. This means:

• no sugar

• no breads

• no crackers

• no cookies

• no rice

As grim as that sounds I eat well and am pretty healthy.

I also gave up chips of all kinds, and popcorn.

Exceptions would be at other people's dinners. I would enjoy some mashed potatoes or baked, or some chips on occasion.

I still did not lose weight no matter what.

So last Sunday evening I decided I would try the Intermittent Fasting. It looked easier once I did the math. Which is:

Fast for 16 hours a day.

I decided to eat breakfast at 10:30am, lunch whenever I next got hungry, and dinner before 6:30 pm. So my meals are within an 8 hour period. After dinner I drank water or herbal tea.

This was almost what I was doing anyway! 

Plus, I cheat a bit because I make coffee as soon as I get up and I put cream in it. I know from experience slow change works best.

By Wednesday I had lost 1 pound. Cool! I wasn't expecting more than that.

On Friday I was wearing heavier shoes and when I got on the scale I expected to see an additional pound because of the shoes.

And I was 4 pounds down from the previous week! Huh?

I am going to keep at this and will be happy with a pound a week loss.

The factor of hormone balance is related to fat (and not sugar) burning as well as slowing down the aging process.

I have to recommend this for any retired athlete especially if you have a desk job. Ihave no medical problems so I just went ahead and did it. But if you have any health issues take stock of them and maybe consult a health practitioner.

This isn't a diet however. It's simply grouping your meals differently. And its success is related to overall healthy habits, like anything else. Everything is connected.

The "Effortless Healing" book is a great reference for all kinds of health issues.

And really good if you're a teen with a weight gain story!

My Own Teen Weight Gain Story - Hormone Imbalance

Teen Weight Gain is agony

I rarely talk about personal stuff but since you all have stuck with me for a few years now, I feel comfortable to share.

Teen weight gain is agony - and if you're a ballet dancer, cheerleader - or "any" girl - it is horrible. And this is way before social media or every day bullying at school.

I wrote a slightly clinical post about hormone imbalance on my other toe shoes blog today. But this is my own story.

When I was young I was so skinny my mother called me "the skull". But for ballet that's good right? I ate anything that I wanted to and was thin.

When I went to the summer ballet course in Hockley Valley, Ontario Canada, the ballet teachers were all from the National Ballet of Canada and the National Ballet School teacher course. I was in good hands.

We had 3-4 ballet classes a day and we gobbled up our boxed lunches - 2 sandwiches, some raw vegetable snack and a cupcake.

Our ballet teachers were horrified. They picked the sandwich contents out of the bread with a fork and threw away everything else.

And that summer I auditioned for the National Ballet School of Canada and was accepted. All was well for about a year and a half.

Then the teen weight gain began. Nightmare! I was eating what I had always eaten. There were a few other girls who gained weight too. We were lepers, let me assure you.

What I didn't know was hormone imbalance was involved. Nowadays a parent and a family doctor would suspect. But not then.


Here is a video that discusses stress and progesterone deficiency:

If a girl has heavy and had painful periods, that's a sign. Weight gain (while exercising and eating the same) is a sign.

Worry, anxiety, fatigue and social withdrawal are all signs of hormonal imbalance.

No one realized we needed a hormone balance test.

I was impressed by an interview I read with Suzanne Somers today and her new book "Tox-Sick Suzanne Somers".

It covers many causes of ill health. The interview covers the hormone imbalance issues.

All I can say to another dancer, or another woman (including you teen dancers!) be forewarned! 

 

Sadly, Suzanne Somers died of her cancer in 2023.  She had achieved some healthy periods during her long fight with this illness.

 

A key element to long fights with cancers is the prevalence of hormone mimickers everywhere in our food chain, in our house hold cleaners and furnishings, and in our clothes.

 

How can you get better, or prevent disease when you're surrounded by the causes of said disease?

 

 Common Carcinogens

 

Consider these:

 

Popular air sprays, plug-ins and dish and laundry detergents, even unscented

 

Carpet detergents and powdered scented "refreshers". 

 

Formaldehyde and other caustic chemicals in new clothes, furnishings, paper products and packing material

 

Most things plastic 

 

Pesticides in everything shipped across the world, or country. 

 

Search the ingredients. 

 

Your favorite brands aren't going to come up on a list of cancer causing products, you know, like cigarettes. 

 

But if you search the ingredients of these, one by one, you will be, at a minimum, concerned.

 

Don't be fooled by the label NATURAL on products.  

 

Almost everything is natural. 

 

Before it gets altered for shelf life, persistence of scent, wrinkle-freedom, guarded from stains, bacteria-killing capability, and all those other handy things.

 

As for teen weight gain, it's not as related to carbs as we used to think. There goes the whole keto approach. Yeah, I fell for it too, along with a lot of doctors. 

 

Sadly, nutritional research goes slowly, which I think is why FADS come and go roughly every ten years. 

 

Healthy saturated fats still matter, but a measured amount of carbs ingested at the right times give you energy.   

 

Eat pesticide-free foods as much as you can. Pesticides  are hormone mimickers, which means they fill your hormone receptors, blocking the reception of your own natural hormones. 

 If you're a teen dancer, wanting to be thin, and still grow properly with the muscles and endurance for ballet training, you need to understand how this works.  

 

Find out all you can about hormone imbalance and lead a very healthy and happy life.

UPDATED NOVEMBER 2025

I Would Still Be Teaching Ballet If I Could

Yes, I would be still be teaching ballet if I could.

So why aren't I?

A bunch of reasons -  I emigrated and had no idea how long it would take to re-credential.

And that I was in the wrong place to do that.

And I had a (wonderful) child. Any mother knows what that does to one's other plans!

But many years later and after some financial catastrophes, I had not yet re-credentialed.

Things change. Years ago (when I was in Canada) I was offered a 3 year contract and a Green Card to teach in the Dance Department at UCLA.

Yet not too many years after that, UCLA dissolved its dance department. What a shame.

In the early 21st Century I discovered blogging. So here I am and here we are.

Recently I started reading a book "The Thinker's Way" by John Chaffee, Ph.D.

It was very disturbing. Firstly, it is probably wonderful for younger adults. It gives practical advice on plotting one's life.

What was most disturbing, is that no matter what I can still plan as a senior, for my life, that my favorite thing would be to be teaching ballet again.

I am still happy and optimistic about my future. And I'm so amazed that I have a ballet blog with so many followers - yes you!

I wanted to share this and mention how much I've enjoyed writing all the technical posts on this blog.

I am determined to keep writing - for instance, recently Stephen Woodjetts (once my room mate in Toronto) posted a link to a wonderful production of Swan Lake on Facebook. I couldn't find a picture of Steve that is copyright free - darn.

He remarked that this Swan Lake was exceptionally musical. And it is! Way back when Steve and Liz (a flautist) and I shared a dumpy apartment, Steve used to play Swan Lake on his piano.

Liz and I would sit in the dark on a very hot and humid summer night. I was transported by the music and Steve's special talent.

And every time I see Swan Lake I think of that.

Steve had a score (Russian) given to him by Babs MacKay who was concert pianist for The National Ballet of Canada, and later The National Ballet School. I am sure Steve can think back to the sound of her playing for class as well as I can.

Here is that wonderful Swan Lake with musicality :

Thanks Steve!