The Goddess Workout is turning 10 this month! Unbelievable, but true! How amazing the journey has been to see it evolve from a single bellydance DVD to transforming into an eCommunity destination for women to be inspired to live an empowered and sassy life.

To celebrate this momentous event of ten years, please spread the word to your friends, family, co-workers, employees, book clubs, gyms, message boards, women's organizations, etc.  If you could, please write ten of your friends and tell them about www.goddesslife.com. You can forward them this newsletter (at bottom of this newsletter) and don't worry - they will not be added to our email list, unless they choose to sign up. If ten friends start talking and telling ten of their friends..we can start a Goddess Revolution!

I am grateful for all the support, faith and joy you have given to me over the last ten years. GoddessLife and I would not be the same without you. Here's to ten more - and ten thousand more!

Blessings,

GoddessLife 101 Workshops are coming to a town near you! Join me, as I teach an unforgettable day filled with & dedicated to the empowerment of women. Along with the support of a community of strong, fun and sassy women, you will learn how to unleash your magnificent inner Goddess.  Together we will turn the ordinary into extrordinary, the faded into fabulous, and the dreary into darling! Most importantly: It is a time for you!

Would you like to be a hostess of a Goddess 101 Workshop in your town? Contact us for info.

Join me each month in this section as I teach you simple tips to living a fuller, healthier and fun life. You are a goddess and it is time to start living that way!

Lesson #2: Give your self-esteem a boost: pay a compliment to another woman.

Most women fiercely compare themselves with other women - with a non-stop "competition" over men, looks, jobs, clothes and children. This grand contest among women chips away at our self-esteem, is exhausting and robs us of the chance to make women our allies.  Look at the women around you: your co-workers, your sisters, your neighbors, other mothers, your friends, the woman at the grocery store.  They are all Goddesses.  Some strong, some wise, beautiful, kind, talented, nurturing.  See their beauty, their unique gifts and pay them a compliment.  Women love to tell each other, "Nice shoes, purse, dress", but there is more to us than how we shop! Even the coldest Ice Queen will melt for an admiring comment.  This exercise has another benefit: when you begin to see and acknowlege the many magnificent qualities in other women, you will begin to see them in yourself.  This is how you can build your confidence and how we will begin to make a difference as women. 

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Your stories of how the Goddess Workout has transformed your life serve as great inspiration to me and now I want to share it with other Goddesses! Nominate a Goddess!

Name: Jessamina

Location: Long Island, New York

Story: The Goddess Workout was a gift to me in VHS form, from my Mother 10 years ago.  I found the movements to be liberating, exciting and quite frankly, challenging. It took me 3 tries to get through the entire video! I had two wonderful pregnancies, both of which I used The Goddess Workout as a tool to stay connected to my changing body.  After childbirth, shimmying with Dolphina smiling back at me through the television in my living room, kept me inspired to lose those 30lbs. Of course I did it! I'm a Goddess, I can do anything! I attended Dolphina's retreat in Hawaii and now I am a certified Goddess Workout Instructor helping women feel wonderful about their bodies, through all phases of their journey, with Bellydance.

Favorite Goddess Workout Dance Move: Snake Arms

Favorite Indulgence: In the bath, I give myself a sugar scrub while I sweetly, and with great reverence, rub each part of my body and call it "sugar": sugar thighs, sugar belly, you fill in the blanks..

Dream Job:  Goddess Workout Instructor!

Each month I will feature a woman who embodies the highest possible expression of her nature. Honoring the brilliance in other women will help all of us on our path to living our own true potential.

Martha Graham
Martha Graham was the dancer and choreographer who single-handedly invented a revolutionary new dance language. She is widely considered one the greatest artists of the 20th Century.  Her methods are routinely taught today in studios the world.  They are a part of the air that every contemporary dancer breathes.  Graham started her career at the ripe age of twenty (which is considered late for a dancer) and was told that she was too old to begin to dance and that her body did not have the correct build for it.  Fortunately, she did not give up her dream of being a dancer and her final performance as a dancer was at the remarkable age of 76!  Her profound quotes about dance can be interepreted as lessons of life.  This is my favorite: "There is a vitality, a life force, an enery, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of  you in all of time, this expression is unique.  And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost.  The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable it compares with other expressions.  It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open."

Who inspires you? Let me know!

From Gidget to Gilda - from Film Noir to Romantic Comedy - the heroines of these girl-power flicks have the Goddess attitude in spades. Each month I will feature one of my favorites. Email me your favorites.

Auntie Mame

A Goddess from our eCommunity wrote me an email and selected this month's Goddess Movie ( yes...I do read and delight in every email that is sent to GoddessLife!) Mary Rhudy wrote: " My favorite Movie Goddess is Auntie Mame as portrayed by Rosalind Russell.  She was a single parent during the Depression and through every possible rotten thing that could happen, including losing her beloved husband to an Alpine mishap, she maintained her poise and her sense of balance and humor. Rosalind Russell, herself is a Goddess".
Share with the community your favorites

From Biographies to Self-Help - the wisdom found on these pages will help guide you on your GoddessLife journey. Each month I will feature one of my favorites.

The Witch of Portobello
The Goddess Book of the Month is a mystifying story about the spiritual journey of a fascinating woman. Who was Athena? A troubled young woman? A teacher? A con-artist? A dancer? The only way Paulo Coelho (gifted author of the Alchemist) could put together the story of the  was to interview people who knew her.  And so he does, piecing together the wildly different accounts of her through the eyes of her adoptive mother, her ex-husband, a newspaper reporter who was in love with her, a teacher and many others.  Athena was brilliant, but unstable and she had a remarkable effect on people.  When she went to work in a large bank, hired as a favor to her parents, she transformed the workplace with unexplained good will and energy by teaching her fellow workers to dance. It is beautifully written and thoroughly engaging. 

Share with the community your favorites

Goddesses know how to celebrate! Connect with other Goddesses in person.These are events not to be missed... see you there!

Step Up Inspiration Awards

GoddessLife is not the only woman's empowerment organization that is turning 10 this year - Step Up Women's Network will also celebrate its 10-year anniversary.  I have worked closely with Step-Up for 4 years and this non-profit organization is truly inspiring and every other superlative you can throw at them.  Step Up is on the cutting edge of women's social philanthrophy: their programs are designed to engage women in a way that inspires a life-long committment to philanthropic involvement.

This month there are two annual Inspiration Awards galas (LA & NYC) honoring outstanding leaders who have made a tremendous impact in making resources available to women and girls in their community.  The LA Awards will be held on May 9, 2008 with honorees Andrea Wong (President & CEO of Lifetime Networks) and Jennifer Love Hewitt (Actress).  The NYC Awards will be held on May 29, 2008 with honorees Kelly Rutherford (Actress, Gossip Girl) and founding NY Board President Lisa Shotland (Creative Artists Agency) - I am proud and fortunate to also say that Lisa is my mentor!
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