Every year we WBE women enjoy our annual retreat at Asilomar in Pacific Grove, California. We create special moments to rejuvenate, play, inspire, make art, let go, and laugh.

We laugh a lot.

Boardwalk to the beach

Post fingerpainting discussion

Welcoming the waves!

WBE community

Asilomar sunset

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it. Because what the world needs, is people who have come alive.“
– Howard Thurman

LENKA FEJT
Alexander Technique Alameda

Motto of Business: “A lifelong tool for better health”

Certified Alexander Technique Teacher, Member AmSAT
Office Hours: By appointment
1420 Santa Clara Ave,
Alameda, CA 94501
Phone Number: 510-517-1112
Website: LenkaFejt.com
E-mail Address: lenka.fejt@gmail.com

ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE ALAMEDA

The Alexander Technique offers a practical method for learning skills to ease tension in the body, overcome injury and rediscover ease of movement. The Technique provides the means to restore the good posture, balance and poise that we were all naturally born with.

The Alexander Technique was developed by Frederick M. Alexander more than one hundred years ago and has helped millions of people across the world to overcome physical challenges and achieve optimal health. The Technique teaches the use of the appropriate amount of effort for a particular activity, giving you more energy for all your activities. It can be applied to sitting, lying down, standing, walking, lifting, and other daily activities.

The Technique is taught in a private lesson format in which a teacher uses gentle, hands-on guidance combined with verbal instructions. It is not a series of treatments or exercises, but rather a reeducation of the mind and body to develop skills that students can use in their own in everyday life.

LENKA FEJT
I grew up in the Czech Republic and came to the United States in the 1980s. I worked in the hospitality industry for over twenty years, mostly as a professional hotel concierge. When I was introduced to the Alexander Technique, I suffered from chronic neck and back pain. The Technique has not only helped me recover from the limitations of my injuries, it has taught me how to improve the way I carry myself and use my body. As a certified Alexander Technique teacher and a member of the American Society for the Alexander Technique (AmSAT) living in the East Bay, I am very enthusiastic about passing on my knowledge and skills so that others can move through their lives with expanded ease, more enjoyment and freedom from pain.

Besides my private practice I also lecture frequently at introductory workshops on the Alexander Technique at the Alameda Adult School, Alameda Recreation and Parks Department and throughout the Bay Area.

My husband and I live in Alameda, trying to keep up with our two energetic and loveable teenaged sons. We are very proud of our daughter, who travels the world as a Merchant Marine Engineer – the first-generation sailor in our family.

INTERESTS
• Member of Organizing Committee for the 2009 San Francisco Alexander General Meeting (AGM), a national convention of the Alexander Technique Teachers
www.alexandertech.com/AGM09
• Qi Gong, Oakland Kaiser Permanente
www.permanente.net/homepage/kaiser/pages/d12901-top.html
• Hiking, biking, classical music, gardening, baking

ASSOCIATIONS
• Member of the American Society for the Alexander Technique
• Member of Women’s Business Exchange, Alameda, CA
• Former member of Les Clefs d’Or USA, an international concierge association
• Former member of NCCA, Northern California Concierge Association

BARBARA SAMUELSON – ANIMAL COMMUNICATOR
Category: Animal Communications
Motto: Communication is the key between all species

Barbara Samuelson
Owner
1701 Central Ave Unit M
Alameda, CA 94501
Phone Number: 510/523-0828
www.barbarascamera.com
Email: bds@barbarascamera.com

I facilitate the conversation between you and your animal by serving as an interpreter for you both.  It is like we have set up a conference call so that we can all speak and listen to each other.

In 1983 I took a class with Penelope Smith, a preeminent animal communicator, because I wanted to know if I could talk with animals the same way I could with people.  It was really interesting so I went to the circus and when the elephants came out, I opened my mind and asked one to speak with me.  I didn’t figure that I’d really get anything, but instead, clear as day, I heard “Not Now!  I’m working”.  Wow, I did it!  That started my work as an animal communicator.

INTERESTS
The Power of Now
Photography
Birding
Wildlife Conservation
Volunteering
Getting Outdoors

ASSOCIATIONS
• Golden Gate Raptor Observatory – www.ggro.org
• Volunteer, Alameda Animal Shelter – Find your new best friend at the Alameda Animal Shelter www.ci.alameda.ca.us/animalshelter
• Member, Women’s Business Exchange

WBE CATEGORIES
Animal Communications

Sarah Sutton,

Natural Solutions,

sarahsutton54@yahoo.com

I find myself thinking about Steven Covey. His quadrant concept rings true for me these days. I am sure many of you are familiar with this. Picture an axis with “urgent/not urgent” as the x axis and “important/not important” as the y axis. You end up with the following quadrants:

I. Urgent/Important

II. Not Urgent/Important

III. Urgent/Not Important

IV. Not Urgent/Not Important

The most effective quadrant is II and includes all of the tips everyone has shared. Planning ahead, realistic time management, not over committing yourself and taking care of maintenance activities to avoid the crisis, whether your health or your car. Not paying attention to quadrant II activities on a routine basis will result on landing squarely in quadrant I. (Unpreventable crises, like family illness and injury do happen, but you can’t control those) Quadrant III includes all those pesky interruptions (email, phone, etc) that are not urgent and can usually be limited to set times. Quadrant IV includes activities that are not urgent and do not serve your goals. TV watching could be in IV or II, depending upon how the activity fits with your life’s priorities and needs. Nothing wrong with deciding to kick back and get some much-needed R&R (which is a quadrant II activity), but random channel hopping on a regular basis could also land you into quadrant I. Balance, priorities and clear goals. Now to apply this concept and keep out of quandrant I.

Marguerite Nuccio, Marguerite’s Healing Center, marguerite@mnhealer.com

Since I organized my house & office, I find I can keep it that way so I have more time. I guess this is just my problem with paper, but not saving any now. Next step is filing. HELP!

I tend to wake up either too early or in the middle of the night. Instead of tossing & turning & because I cannot shut off my thoughts, I have been catching up on all the reading I need to do. A brief chapter & thought provoking ideas allows me to go back to sleep easily & awaken with continued excitement with my new goals. It really helps my vision & the ideas can be explored at a deeper level.

Gail Mitchell, MFT

gale@alamedanet.net

Books I have to lend:

1. Never Check E-Mail in the Morning by Julia Morgenstern
2. Organizing from the Inside Out
3. Time Management for the Inside Out
4 Getting Things Done by David Allen
5. Ready for Anything

Save time by using Tivo or downloading TV shows so you don’t have the
commercials. OR, watch with the commercials and do stuff during the
commercials or even during the show. Things like dusting the room
you’re in, decluttering, menu planning, going through mail, going
through in-box, filling out forms for school, etc., scrapbooking,
knitting, etc.

Also . . .

1. Use a timer (works for kids, too).

2. You can do anything for 15 min. Then, if you’re really into it, go
up to 45 min. in 15 min. intervals, then do something else (including
a break) for 15 min. Then, you can go back to the big task if
necessary.

3. Have a morning routine. This really works for me.

4. Have an evening routine that includes getting ready for tomorrow.
This is my biggest challenge.

Allison Bliss,

Allison Bliss Consulting,

www.allisonbliss.com

1. print out all emails over 1 paragraph, that are not urgent or collect a pile of any correspondence you get througout the day. Read the entire stack at night while on your excercycle. You’ll be more alert getting your heart rate up and be able to sift through all those important documents at the same time. That way, you can focus on getting work done while at work, hmmm, what a concept! That alone saves me 1/2 hr. a day

2. read “Making Work Work” by Julia Morgenstern. My fave lesson in that book is to start your day with your most difficult task, while you’re most creative and fresh. Do NOT start by reacting to hte zillion emails in your mailbox. Email is addicting so turn off those alerts that signal you each time a new email appears… it’s a time waster.

3. read the “One Minute Manager” and learn to handle a piece of paper only ONCE. If you keep moving it from pile to pile, rather than dealing with it, you’re sucking time.

4. don’t watch or listen to the news before coming to work. It’s often too depressing or fear-inducing (oy, the economy, etc.). And fear tends to affect people by making them freeze up from taking action.

5. download podcasts to learn your craft and take your ipod

Rebecca Stees

Art Yowza:

www.artyowza.com

I wanted more bold, creative, fun time. This is what worked for me:

1. Hire experts
This year I realized I can’t do it all and expand my life purpose without more trusted help.
So I hired, an assistant, a coach, a tax guy, etc.

2. Call for Connection.
It’s fun. Two heads are better than one. Connection helps.

3. Focus
I have three focus periods a day during my off-season.

Linda Tripp:

Five Star Health,

www.5pillars.com/tripp

The one thing that I do is top prioritize my top three agenda items in a given day – but only 3, no more. I do them FIRST. Top of the list is defined by importance, not by desire.

There are two tasks: “demand and batch”. The tele or email is not a demand, but gets in line after your top three agenda items are completed. Something to shoot for.

Look at your inbox. Anything that’s been in the basket longer than 30 days, just throw out. Chances are, if you haven’t needed it or had an inquiry about it, who cares? Of course that is assuming you have done the first thing Ali said: don’t move a piece of paper twice.