Meditation Classes, Yoga Classes - Althea Lawton Thompson

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Live Limitlessly by Althea Lawton-Thompson

Althea Lawton Thompson lives by her trademarked tagline, Living Life Limitlessly™. A former corporate executive, this serial entrepreneur is the President of Aerobics, Yoga & More™, an Atlanta-based corporate wellness company; co-founder of the online stock photo company, DiversityPhotos.com; and a founding partner of the business consulting firm, Consultuoso. Her fiction novel, Losing Control, and entrepreneur how-to book, Twenty, are both available in paperback and ebook on Amazon and in the Kindle store, and her album, Guided Meditation with Althea, topped Amazon’s Bestsellers list. As a 24-year certified fitness expert, Reiki Master, Yoga Meditation Instructor, and NOLScertified outdoor leader, Althea has led 17 wellness retreats to Bali, Costa Rica, South Africa, Puerto Rico, Turks & Caicos, Dominican Republic, Bahamas, Grand Canyon, and the Georgia mountains.

Before starting her Atlanta-based business ventures, Althea designed the youth fitness program for Johns Hopkins Hospital pediatric center, created the postnatal wellness program for Sinai Hospital’s obstetrics department in Baltimore, and led the Healthy Living exercise program for 13 Kaiser Permanente Medical Centers in Atlanta. As a media personality, she hosted the Altheatized cable fitness show, was the weekly wellness expert on an NPR radio show, and was the weekend fitness reporter for WBAL Channel 11 news in Maryland. Althea has been highlighted in magazines including Mantra Yoga+ Health, Best Self, Essence, Parenting, Upscale, and Oxygen.

In her spare time, Althea volunteers with many community organizations and has served on the board of several non-profits. During her three-year tenure as the President of the non-profit Gwinnett Pearls of Service Foundation Inc., she and her board doubled the organization’s scholarship giving to provide more than $170,000 in scholarships in one year alone.

Althea has been married to her college sweetheart, Maurice Thompson, for twenty-four years and they are the proud parents of two sons, Maurice III and Malik. Her key to balancing family, business and life is daily early-morning meditation, spending time in nature, and travel.

Althea Lawton-Thompson is the Founder and Director of Aerobics, Yoga & More (AYM Fitness), a corporate wellness firm that provides certified and licensed instructors and health care providers to companies, medical facilities, schools and religious institutions for fitness classes and health education.

She has spent years learning holistic healing methods from healers and shamans around the world. Blending elements from psychology, natural healing, and mind-body therapies, Althea has assisted hundreds of clients in managing wellness – physically, mentally, Spiritually and Emotionally . She works with individuals, families, and groups in several areas of healing and life management.

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Use These Tips to Practice Self Care During Lockdown

COVID-19 lock down has impacted our lives in many ways. However, there is not enough attention being brought to lock down’s impact on our mental health or self care. This means that we have to remind ourselves the importance of self care, mental health and relationships.

Althea Lawton-Thompson is a veteran Yoga Meditation Instructor with over 2 decades of experience. She combines wellness training with mindfulness techniques in creating a balanced lifestyle. Many professionals that follow her method has experienced reduced overwhelm and improved relationships.  

“I’ve realized that the challenge is not always in navigating other people’s personalities. The biggest obstacle is how we relate to ourselves,” Lawton-Thompson says, “many people have a very critical self-perception and subconsciously (or consciously) speak to themselves in a harmful way. This behavior impacts how those individuals relate to others around them”.   Lawton-Thompson’s work as a Mind Body Exercise specialist has allowed professionals to better engage with others at home and work, while improving relationships. Here are 4 self-care activities that you can practice while being in lockdown.

MAKE EYE CONTACT     Lawton Thompson references to a simple exercise she developed. You take out a handheld mirror. Get as close to a mirror as you can and gaze into your own eyes.  

Notice the shape, the color variations, lines and dots in your irises, and the size of your pupils. Notice as many positive elements as possible. Don’t see anything positive in your eyes?  

Search your whole face until you confidently find at least two attractive things – lips, teeth, cheekbones, hair, shape of your face or head.  

Lawton-Thompson mentions, “if you still cannot find one thing to admire, this may be an indication of negative self-perception and a need to speak with a professional who can offer support”.  

TALK NICE  

Many believe that we attract what we focus on. When we think about and believe in positive things, those things occur. But reverse is also true. If we think, say, and believe in negative outcomes, they will also manifest or become reality.     Watch your words, especially your self-talk. For this exercise, go back to the mirror and pretend you are speaking to a five-year old child. What would you say to them? Would you say mean, defeatist words and phrases, or would you encourage and lift them up?     Lawton-Thompson recommends looking back at the five-year old version of yourself, “tell yourself how strong, smart, resourceful, and talented you are. Tell the truth. Find your strengths and speak them out loud to your reflection”.     Encouraging yourself improves your confidence and makes it easier to positively interact with others. 

BE AWARE OF HOW YOU EAT    During a typical day, many of us eat on the go or while we’re doing something else. Not paying attention while consuming food may create undesirable results – overeating, gas and bloating, sleepiness, heartburn, and more.     For your next meal, stop everything and pay attention. Look at your food. What do you see, and how does that make you feel? Slow down and ask yourself why you’re eating at this moment. Does the food bring emotions of guilt and shame, or joy and pleasure? How are you eating – fast and furious, or slow and attentive?  

Althea Lawton Thompson emphasizes the correlation between how we consume food and our interactions with others, “listen to your body and mind as they respond to your questions of why and how you’re ingesting. If we feel sick, pained, or uncomfortable, it’s going to show and affect our behavior”. 

TURN IT OFF    Current political, economic, and global events keep many people glued to the news. Sometimes, we binge-watch popular tv series or search for an online movie simply out of boredom. If we’re not watching something, we may be listening to talk radio or podcasts.     Take a full day to simply turn it all off. Everything. Don’t log in to any social media; don’t turn on the tv, Netflix, YouTube, IGTV, Hulu, Roku, or any other content source; leave the radio off. For one day, let your brain hear only your own voice or the conversations of people around you.     “Instead of turning something on, tune into yourself and others”, Lawton-Thompson says, “whether reading a book, taking a walk alone, writing in a journal or getting creative… Disconnect from all to better reconnect”. 

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The Vision Board

Vision Boards. I never really believed in them or saw the point of doing a vision board. The first time I did one was as a team-building exercise with a company I was working for. When it was my turn to share my board and talk about what it meant, I burst out crying in front of the entire team, because I couldn’t see how any of the items on my board would ever be possible. Many years passed before I could bring myself to do another one.

The second time was this one – the one you see at the top of this blog. I did it on December 13, 2015 as an activity during my girlfriend’s book release. At that time, I still didn’t believe in the manifesting power of a vision board, but it was a fun activity to do while chatting with guests at the party. After the event, I put my half-finished vision board in the spare closet of my sons’ playroom and forgot all about it.

In December 2019, I was cleaning my office (the former playroom) when I found the old vision board. I didn’t remember pasting the pictures or the quotes to the poster, but as a I looked closely at each cutout, it slowly dawned on me that I had actually manifested every picture on the board over the previous four years.

I had created a  clean, minimalist room I call my sanctuary, just like the clean rooms I’d  put on the board.

I had published two books, just like the ones I’d placed in the middle of the board.

I had spent time retreating in the red rock mountains of Sedona, Arizona, exactly like the scene on my vision board.

I had shopped in  an open-air market in Qatar with incense and spices in glass jars lining  the walls, just like the photo on the top left of my vision board.

I had walked through majestic temples in Thailand and Bali, just like the one in the middle top of my board.

I had literally created a balance of being home in the US with my family and away in distant countries, just like the phrase I’d pasted on the lower left corner of the board.

In December 2015, I couldn’t begin to fathom a clean room in my house, or traveling to the middle east and southeast Asia, or having my novel become a book club favorite. In December 2019, I stared at the board, trying to remember when and how it had all happened.

At some point in 2016, I completely changed the way I think about things, people, and places. I altered my focus and priorities, and I began speaking and moving differently. Just like that… everything began shifting. This is the foundation of the “Law of Attraction”.

What we believe, think about, talk about, and do manifests more of the same in our lives. Therefore, if we pessimistically believe negative things will happen, say negative things are going to happen, and walk around expecting negative things to happen, we manifest the negative thing – even if we want and desire the exact opposite. On the other hand, if we optimistically believe positive things will happen, speak positively, and walk around expecting wonderful things to happen, we manifest positive outcomes. This is the Law of Attraction.

There was a period in my life when I simply didn’t believe it was that easy. It didn’t matter what Deepak, Oprah, Wayne Dyer, Abraham Hicks, or The Secret said – I didn’t think it could happen for someone like me. What changed my mind? Saying yes to an offer that I would normally have found multiple reasons to say no to. Saying yes instead of no has changed my entire life.

Now, it’s 2020. It’s a new year, a new decade, and a strange new chapter with new opportunities. We all have a clean slate with new chances to say yes to things that scare us. What will you say yes to in this new season of life?

Althea Lawton Thompson is more than a 25-year certified personal trainer and Yoga Meditation Instructor – she is also an intuitive healing guide. She has spent years learning holistic healing methods from healers and shamans around the world. Blending elements from psychology, natural healing, and mind-body therapies, Althea has assisted hundreds of clients in managing wellness – physically, mentally, Spiritually and Emotionally. She works with individuals, families, and groups in several areas of healing and life management.

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Yoga & Pilates,Chakra Balancing-Card Reading

Yoga & Pilates-Althea has been teaching various styles of Yoga and mat Pilates for over 20 years. Introducing yoga’s mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical benefits to individuals and groups through corporate wellness programs, international yoga retreats, yoga cruises, her videos, and various media outlets has been the foundation of her holistic wellness programs.

Althea’s wellness retreats are top-ranked internationally because of the variety of her programming and the inclusiveness of her Yoga Classes for all levels of participant regardless of ability or experience. Blending her background in martial arts with Pilates and Yoga, Althea creates dynamic classes the build balance, strength, focus, flexibility, and self-confidence for people of all ages and backgrounds.

Recognizing the lack of Yoga & Pilates instructors of color in the United States, Althea recruited Black women and men for her teacher training programs and hosts programs specifically for Black women and people of color to learn Pilates, and Yoga Meditation Instructor,.

Chakra Balancing-Althea is a gifted healer for the chakras and their associated emotional, mental, physical and spiritual energy. She can test an individual’s chakras, work on balancing chakra energy, act as a medium for messages regarding a client’s chakra energy, and provide recommendations for ongoing self-care. The tools Althea uses most often in Chakra reading and healing are pendulums, crystals, tuning forks, sound healing, essential oil aromatherapy, and nature connection/grounding.

Are you new to chakras and how they work? Read on to learn more…

There are major pathways of energy running through the body. Where these pathways intersect is known as “chakras” or wheels of energy. Within the body, there are hundreds of chakras, but the seven with the most intersecting pathways are along the spine from the base to the crown of the head:

Chakra One: Root Chakra

Chakra Two: Sacral Chakra

Chakra Three: Solar Plexus Chakra

Chakra Four: Heart Chakra

Chakra Five: Throat Chakra

Chakra Six: Third Eye Chakra

Chakra Seven: Crown Chakra

There are specific physical, mental, Spiritually and Emotionally

elements related to each chakra. In our daily lives, we each uniquely respond to different stimuli and circumstances. How we respond affects our chakras, and we can become either deficient (lacking energy) or excessive (have too much energy) in one or more of these areas, which creates imbalance.  

Card Reading- Althea Lawton Thompson uses a variety of different decks and card spreads to assist individuals in answering difficult life questions.

She combines the use of mediumship to fully pull messages from the cards. The different card decks clients can choose from include:

Animal Spirit Guides

Numerology

Black Angels

African Orisha Tarot

Goddess

Moon Cycle Cards

Card readings can be done over the phone, virtually online, or in-person.

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Guided Meditation, Self Love Healing- Essential Oils

Althea Lawton Thompson has assisted hundreds of clients in managing health, wellness, and life decisions. Combining mind-body exercise, nutrition and spiritual balancing, she has guided adults & children from all walks of life into healthy lifestyles – physically, Spiritually and Emotionally.

Guided Meditation

Options for Guided Meditation with Althea come in many forms to benefit individuals and groups from diverse backgrounds. Althea provides online and in-person guided meditation for:

Corporate Wellness Programs/Corporate Health and Wellness

Schools and Universities

Medical Facilities and Hospitals

Religious Institutions

Mind-Body Studios

Spiritual Retreats, Yoga Retreats, Health & Wellness Retreats

Her clientele focus includes working with:

Children

Teens & Young Adults

Mothers

BIPOC Individuals and Groups (Black, Indigenous, People of Color)

Corporate Executives and Employees

Entrepreneurs

Spiritually Gifted/Empaths

Experienced in a variety of meditation styles, Althea specializes in leading…

Meditation for Beginners

Chakra Meditation

Mindfulness Meditation

Vipassana Meditation

Buddhist Meditation

Taoist Meditation

Visualization

Meditation for Kids

Moving Meditation

Self Love Healing

Althea has created a workshop series for increasing self-love through various exercises including mirror-work, heart-healing Reiki, and self-talk restructuring. Her Self Love Healing sessions can be done online or in-person, one-on-one or with a group. They are perfect for both women and men, youth and adults.

Recognizing the unique needs of Black and indigenous women, Althea has created a dynamic self-love program specifically for the healing of women of color.

Essential Oils

Althea is certified in Essential Oil Aromatherapy from Trinity College of Natural Health. She leads essential oil training and workshops, creates healing blends for diffusing or topical use, and incorporates essential oils in her Reiki Healing sessions, Yoga classes, and self-love sessions. Althea’s essential oil healing blends can be used for sore muscles, on minor cuts and scratches, to relieve stress, increase focus, and lift a person’s mood and energy.

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Empath Guidance,  Crystals & Stones -Life Coaching

Empath Guidance

A gifted medium, Althea coaches empaths with various spiritual gifts like clairvoyance, clairaudience, and clairsentience how to use their gifts while maintaining safe boundaries with others.

Althea works with individuals and empaths that need clearing, guidance, spiritual protection, confirmation, and grounding. Sessions can be in-person, online, or via telephone. All time zones around the world are acceptable.

Crystals & Stones

Crystals and stones are formed by natural alignments of minerals within the Earth’s surface over time. The vast array of mineral and metal deposits in the Earth’s core that create crystals provide healing and therapeutic properties when holding or sharing space with them.

Althea uses a variety of stones, crystals, and organic resins to assist in the healing process. Inquire about adding them to your chakra healing specifically for the Crown chakra, Third Eye/Brow Chakra/Pineal Gland, Throat Chakra, Heart Chakra, Solar Plexus Chakra, Sacral Chakra, Root Chakra, and Earth Star Chakra. They also work well as a complement to your Reiki energy healing – in person or virtual.

If you want to learn more about their properties and how to use them individually or in a grid, schedule an educational appointment with Althea. 

Life Coaching

Althea’s corporate background in human resources and finance, executive leadership training, and group facilitation combined with her training in holistic wellness make her a wonderful life coach for individuals and groups, online or in-person. Having successfully navigated ups and downs in several areas of life and business, she is an experienced, non-judgemental support for people from all walks of life, including children, teenagers, and young adults.

She specializes in the following areas of life coaching:

·         Business and Entrepreneurship

·         Spirituality

·         Health and Wellness

·         Graceful Aging

·         Relationships

·         Adulting (for young teenagers and young adults)

·         Parenting (parenting infants to adults)

·         Money Management

Have Althea as a guest speaker or workshop facilitator for your retreat, group team building, or corporate program. Book a virtual appointment for you or a loved one here

Althea is more than a 23-year certified personal trainer and Yoga-Meditation instructor – she is also an intuitive healing guide. Althea has assisted hundreds of clients in managing health,  Meditation Classes, wellness, Yoga Classes and life decisions. Combining mind-body exercise, nutrition and spiritual balancing, she has guided adults & children from all walks of life into healthy lifestyles – physically, spiritually and emotionally.

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HOLISTIC WELLNESS

Althea is more than a 23-year certified personal trainer and Yoga-Meditation instructor – she is also an intuitive healing guide. Althea has assisted hundreds of clients in managing health, wellness, and life decisions. Combining mind-body exercise, Meditation Classes nutrition and spiritual balancing, she has guided adults & children from all walks of life into healthy lifestyles – physically, spiritually and emotionally. 

Private Sessions

Schedule a phone conversation, virtual video session, or an in-person private appointment with Althea.  She can help you improve your health & wellness; balance your emotional energy; overcome blocks from the past; manage your fear; and manifest your intentions.

Phone or Video

Schedule a 30-minute phone or virtual video consultation for $55. Need more time? Schedule a 60-minute phone or virtual video session for $95. 

In-Person

chedule a 60-minute in-person session at the Sanctuary of Peace & Tranquility for $130. Need more time? Schedule a 90-minute session for $199. (COVID safety measures are in effect.)

Corporate Wellness

Althea Lawton Thompson

is the Founder and Director of Aerobics, Yoga & More (AYM Fitness), a corporate wellness firm that provides certified and licensed instructors and health care providers to companies, medical facilities, schools and religious institutions for fitness classes,

Yoga Classes

and health education. Clients include PNC, Cigna, United Way, Oglethorpe Power, Georgia Transmission Corporation, and University of Tennessee.