Last night I let someone walk on my back.

Kao Lee, massage therapist at Vitalogy Wellness Center

Yesterday at the Vitalogy Wellness Center Open House Party I got an Ashiatsu massage from massage therapist Kao Lee. The massage was so wonderful I wanted to ask Lee to marry me, but I figured my husband wouldn't like that very much.

At first I was a bit reluctant to try Ashiatsu, figuring that having an adult stand on my already aching back would be pretty painful. But Lee explained she wouldn't be stomping on me as if smashing grapes, but instead using her feet to make long, gliding strokes across all my aches and pains. Lee also   would not be using all her body weight. By holding on to bars in the ceiling, the Ashiatsu massage therapist can control how much pressure is used during the massage. 

And so I faced my fear and I'm sure glad I did. The tension in my back and shoulders melted away during the massage and the dull ache I'd had in my low back all day was gone. And I got these results without even having a full hour-long treatment!



I attended yesterday's Vitalogy Wellness Center Open House Party as part of the B-Metro Blog Team. It was our job to cover the event live through social media outlets like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

The B-Metro Blog Team having too much fun

Massage therapy is just one of the many services offered at Vitalogy Wellness Center, which opened in Homewood last month.

Dr. Farah Sultan, the medical director and founder of the center, said she opened Vitalogy hoping that it would be a place to inspire Birmingham residents to be more proactive about their health and wellness. In addition to spa services like facials and nail care, Vitalogy also offers fitness and nutrition programs. 

While talking to Dr. Sultan and touring the facility at Vitalogy I began to think a lot about the importance of self-care. 

We women are often not proactive about our health and wellness because we convince ourselves we don't have the time to do so. 

We say we don't have time to exercise; we don't have time to try the yoga classes at Vitalogy that begin on March 18. But Vitalogy yoga instructor Lisa Bridges said it was after the birth of her fourth child that she became dedicated to the practice. As a mother of four Bridges could have definitely determined she was too busy for yoga, but she says it was yoga that helped her relieve stress and balance the demands of motherhood. Today Bridges has 1,000 certification hours in yoga.

Vitalogy yoga instructor Lisa Bridges shows shows B-Metro blogger Lauren Lockhart a few yoga poses.
Photos by Kelli Taylor of Kelli + Daniel Taylor Photography

If you're interested in starting yoga but intimidated by the idea, Bridges can certainly help you with that. Through a program called Body Work, Bridges will meet with you to first evaluate your posture, strength, and flexibility and then will develop a yoga practice customized to fit your needs and teach you how to continue this practice at home and even how to take these methods and modifications into group yoga classes. 

Oh no! Lauren and I need to detox!

We tell ourselves we don't have time to eat right. At the Vitalogy Open House Party last night I took a quiz that would help me determine if I needed to detoxify. 

According to the quiz you should consider a detox if you answer "yes" to four or more questions on the survey. I answered "yes" to nine! 

Personally, I've always been against detox diets as they often require you to starve yourself and drink disgusting concoctions. But Karen Bishop, the registered dietician who helps with Vitalogy's nutrition programs, informed me that when you detoxify with Vitalogy you are not asked to fast. Instead they focus on helping you replenish your body with the nutrients you need and they help you learn to make healthful eating a lifestyle, which, of course, is much better than trying some fad diet. A detox, Bishop said, shouldn't make you feel sluggish and sick. It should make you feel energized. 

When I left last night's event I had one thought reverberating in my mind: Self-care is not a luxury. 

As I've written before, yes, I do believe exercise is a privilege. It's a privilege to have a body that can move about. It's a privilege to be able to afford yoga classes and even fitness DVDs. And these days it's a privilege to have access to healthy foods. We who have these privileges should not take them for granted. 

But don't misunderstand this to mean that wellness is a luxury. It is not. Wellness is something we all need and deserve. And the key to wellness, I believe, is self-care. 

So take the time you need to exercise. Do what you must to change your diet. And if you can afford it, pay someone to walk on your back. Massage, Lee said, can not only help relax your mind and muscles but can even boost your immune system. 

Remember you can't take care of your loved ones if you don't take care of yourself first. 

Can you be happy 100 days in a row?

Ask me this question and the cynic in me wants to exclaim, "Did you just meet me? Of course I can't be happy 100 days in a row!"

But then I realize that the cynic in me is also a brat, a brat who often ignores all her blessings when one  thing doesn't go her way.

So tomorrow I'm beginning the 100 Happy Days challenge.

How does it work? Every day for 100 days you submit a picture via social media of something that made you happy. It's that simple.

Visit 100happydays.com to sign up.

And I leave you with this…

I'm a freelance writer and small business owner and this is all in addition to my full-time job as a teacher. In other words, my days have little to no downtime. There is always something I could or should be doing.

Yet, lately I've been spending (wasting?) way too much time on three things -- three things that are making me a bad blogger because I should be using this precious time producing blog posts. 

Netflix. About once a week you will hear me loudly declare "Netflix is ruining my life!" People who know me well know there was a time when I hardly ever watched television. I once went two years without even owning a TV. Netflix has changed everything. I watched the first season of The Following in a day and a half. I have a crush on nearly everyone on the show Arrow (including the girls) and 24's Jack Bauer regularly shows up in my dreams to help me fight bad guys. In fact, whenever my husband is watching anything on TV other than 24 I'm thinking to myself "We could be watching Jack Bauer right now." 

Buzzfeed. Oh Buzzfeed, I wish I knew how to quit you. But it's imperative that I take your quizzes to know what state I actually belong in or what woman from the Bible I would be. And when I read that article for people with unusual names it was like you had crawled into my soul. 

Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg, you are my pusherman. Facebook is feeding these additions of mine, alerting me to new Buzzfeed quizzes that I MUST TAKE RIGHT NOW and reminding me that 24: Live Another Day premieres on May 5 and thus I have exactly two months to finish all seasons of 24.

How are you wasting time these days? 

It's two days after the Oscars, but I still have movies on my mind. 

2013 has been deemed a great year for the ladies of film as writers of some of the most celebrated movies were praised for including strong female roles. 

As a feminist, I'm sad to say that I saw hardly any of the movies nominated Sunday night including Gravity and Philomena which centered on female protagonists. Life has been quite chaotic over the past year and didn't leave much time for trips to the theater. 

As a feminist I'm also sad to say that despite claims of this being a banner year for women of cinema, most of the movies nominated for Best Picture actually failed the Bechdel Test. 

The Bechdel Test, named for its creator, cartoonist Alison Bechdel, is a very simple test of gender equity in film. To pass the test the a movie only needs to meet three basic requirements: Does the film have at least two named women? Do they talk to each other? Do they talk about something other than a man? 

Sounds easy right? Wrong. 

Here's how this year's nominees for Best Picture measured up according to the BechdelTest.com database: 

Gravity — FAIL
Captain Phillips — FAIL
American Hustle — PASS
The Wolf of Wall Street — FAIL
12 Years a Slave — PASS
Philomena — PASS
Dallas Buyers Club — PASS
Her — FAIL
Nebraska — PASS

If you skim the commentary on the ratings you'll find folks challenging the verdict for several films. American Hustle shouldn't pass, some commenters say, because "the portrayal of women was very sexualized and degrading" and the conversation that two women have about something other than a man is about nail polish and perfume. Meanwhile, others argue that Gravity should pass because the primary protagonist is "a nuanced, interesting, sympathetic woman." 

So does this mean that the test is flawed and perhaps even useless?

Not necessarily. The purpose of the Bechdel Test isn't to judge the quality of individual movies. The point is to highlight a systemic problem within Hollywood as a whole. The fact that most movies fail a gender equity test that sets the bar so ridiculously low is, well, ridiculous. 

But I am optimistic.

I do believe that the strong female roles of 2013 show that things are changing, even if that progress is steady and slow.  

On Thursday, March 6 from 4 to 7 p.m. B-Metro magazine will help host the Vitalogy Wellness Center Open House Party and I'm excited to announce that I've been selected to be on the B-Metro Blog Team for this event. 

Vitalogy Wellness Center, located at 2704 20th Street South in Homewood,  is a state of the art center for restorative and regenerative medicine and is led by Dr. Farah Sultan, a board certified physician who is passionate about women's health and a holistic approach to a healthy lifestyle.

Join me at Thursday's event for wine and cheese and to learn more about the services offered at Vitalogy Wellness Center's, which include nutrition and weight management programs, as well as spa services such as facials, manicures and massages. 

I'll be on site interviewing the staff at Vitalogy and sharing information on women's wellness via my Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts. 

I hope you'll join me either virtually or IRL for tips on how to live a healthier, happier, more beautiful life. 

I want to be a cello. 

At Saturday's TEDxBirmingham conference 12-year-old cellist Malik Kofi wowed audiences as he flawlessly played compositions by music greats ranging from Mark Summer to Johann Sebastian Bach. 

Between performances, this child prodigy told a captivated audience in the Sirote Theatre of the Alys Stephens Center that he fell in love with the cello because of its wide range of tones and commanding presence. He saw the possibilities and the power of this instrument. Some people think that the cello is only for classical music. But Kofi and Summer know better. 

The message Kofi indirectly conveyed to me yesterday was to pick my instrument and use it in a surprising way to inspire others. 

I want to be a cello. I want a wide range of skills and a commanding presence. But my gift is not in music. My talents lie in the realm of the written word. But it turns out that storytelling just may be the key to changing the world. 

The theme for the conference was "Rediscover the Magic"with the goal of reigniting a fervor for helping our city. But in his or her own way, each speaker at Saturday's TEDxBirmingham event demonstrated the power of storytelling and helped me rediscover the magic of this timeless art form. 

I was proud to receive a scholarship to attend TEDxBrimingham
and to be recognized at the event as an Educator Fellow.

Graham Boettcher of the Birmingham Art Museum shared stories about the process of authenticating art, but through these anecdotes revealed that a work's true worth isn't in its monetary value but the experience of the beholder. 

Jen Barnett of Freshfully, the Birmingham local food market that closed in late January, ironically used the story of her business failure to encourage everyone in the audience to be brave. "We need a city full of brave people," she said. "Think of the one thing you're afraid to try and ask yourself, 'What could happen?'" Getting lots of laughs from the crowd, Barnett said if neither early death nor imprisonment are risks, go for it!

Glenny Brock's heartfelt yet humorous stories about her love for the Lyric Theatre have helped raise the $7 million dollars to restore this historic landmark and on Saturday she shared many of these stories with TEDxBirmingham attendees. Brock comes from a family of "show people," she said, people deeply entrenched in theater. And, as she said in her talk, "show people show people." They show people what they're passionate about and why so they'll be eager to support those passions too.  

As Larry Lawal, founder of the medical research crowdfunding platform Healthfundit, spoke I realized storytelling could even help lead to cures for diseases. It’s through storytelling, Lawal said, that people are motivated to help fund the research that could lead to lifesaving discoveries.  

Emmy-nomiated filmmaker Michele Forman left a job working with Spike Lee in New York to return to her hometown of Birmingham and co-found the media studies interdisciplinary minor at UAB. She returned because she wanted to help tell Birmingham’s story. And after listening to her talk I became inspired and determined to do the same.

But I can't tell these stories alone. Victoria Hollis reminded me of this. Just as all parts of the human body must work together to function well, change makers must work together too, she said in her talk. Hollis is the program manager at the Birmingham Education Foundation and is dedicated to transforming the city's public education system. And she urged the audience to share her concern. Whether or not your child is in Birmingham City Schools is irrelevant, she said. If you saw a child fall on the playground and no one rushed to his or her aid, most likely you'd go over to help. Likewise, you should feel compelled to help a child in a struggling school even if it means getting out of your comfort zone. 

"Our city won't reach its full potential if the ones who will inherit it don't reach theirs," she said. 

Just a little #TEDxBham selfie with the hubster.
Check out his recap of the event for AL.com.

The TEDxBirmingham conference was organized into three themed sessions -- Mystify, Evoke, and Transform. As TEDxBirmingham co-organizer Matthew Hamilton explained near the end of the conference, ideas mystify, words evoke, but only action transforms. 

The folks behind this conference wanted us to all leave the Alys Stephens Center ready to do something to transform the city. In fact, we were all asked to fill out a slip of paper declaring what we will do over the next year to help people rediscover the magic of Birmingham. 

I committed to telling the stories of the women of Birmingham through a new See Jane Write Magazine series I'm calling the Birmingham Jane Project. Taking Hollis' advice I'm going to step out of my comfort zone by exploring new ways to tell these stories and exploring a variety of areas in the city to find them.

Striking a pose with fellow ASFA teacher PJ Godwin.

Throughout the day we attendees not only listened to 15 live talks but also viewed a few extraordinary presentations recorded at larger TED events. One was by Japanese world yo-yo champion BLACK, who mixes dance and sport to create performance art with, yes, a yo-yo. He shared his journey to mastering the yo-yo then dazzled the crowd with an unbelievable performance.

See for yourself…

Watching this the thought once again crossed my mind that a change maker is one who chooses his or her instrument and uses it in a surprising way to inspire others. 

My instrument is storytelling and I will use this instrument in innovative ways to evoke, just as Kofi does with his cello and just as BLACK does with something as simple as a yo-yo.   

What's your instrument?

Image by Angst via Flickr/Creative Commons

Happy March!

I can't believe we're already into the third month of 2014. Here's what I hope to accomplish over the next 31 days.

Blog every day in March.
Attend TEDxBirmingham and leave ridiculously inspired.
Burn 3500 calories each week.
Attend four Grand Jete classes.
Be more active in the BlogHer community.
Guest blog.
De-clutter my closet.
Host a See Jane Write members-only workshop.
Visit my friends in Louisville.
Attend the Natural Hair and Health Expo.
See Joyce Meyer when she comes to Birmingham.


What are your goals for March?