Melissa Ambrosini workshop review - Me, Myself and Winter - Babes not Bears

Melissa Ambrosini is the author of the heath and wellness blog Path to Wellness. After receiving and email from my local Barre fitness studio promoting a workshop hosted by her, I decided to give it a go.

The Babes not Bears workshop is all about getting motivated during winter to improve your health and wellness, here is what her web page says about it:

Babe, Excuses are for men. Fall in love with winter, and more importantly you. Forget the summer fling, it’s time for a Winter romance.

Remember there is a body hidden under all those layers, it’s time to change things up:

Track Pants for Gym Gear

Hot Chocolate for Herbal Tea

Couch for Yoga Mat

Ugg Boots for Runners

Join me to learn all about looking after yourself inside and out this winter. Think of this as the perfect Saturday afternoon with the girls. We’ll swap skincare tips, talk love and share our wellbeing secrets.

Workshops took place in various locations around Australia costs varied depending on the location. I attended the Hobart workshop which was $45. Within hours of receiving the email, the two sessions were completely sold out! There is definitely a high demand in Hobart for these events.

Prior to the workshop I checked out her blog and downloaded the free excerpt of her e-book so I had an idea of the kind of night I was in for. I found the content very relevant to me so I was quite excited to attend!

The Workshop

I arrived 10 minutes early and was the first one there. How embarrassing. The upside of this was that I got a one on one with Melissa as soon as I got there! The first thing I noticed was how open she was, and was shocked by how much she actually RADIATES happiness. She is very petite in person and was friendly, genuine and interested in talking to everyone and hearing what they had to say.

Me meeting Melissa

As a bonus she also brought her personal trainer Christian Miranda from One Personal Training Solutions in Sydney with her to lead us through a short workout during the session. While he definitely induced a swoon from the crowd (including a comment from someone walking past the studio) he provided some excellent insights!

Christian Miranda

The workshop started with the wellness component. Melissa talking to the group about her story and things that have helped her that might help us in our life. She had some really great messages and walks the talk. She said some things that people may go to a psychologist to hear and a lot of uncomplicated simple truths. Things that we may already know but need to hear someone say them, like being present in the moment or letting things go. She was truly passionate and believed in everything that she said.

Christian then gave us some insights about training and fitness and how to get more out of it, there were some very interesting concepts discussed about the purpose of the workout and staying present during training. Following that we were lead by Christian in short workout that we could do again anytime at home, that definitely got every one hot and sweaty!

To finish, they both came back and gave us some more information, then Melissa finished the workshop with some relaxing yoga postures.

A few yoga poses to end the workshop

At the end we all got to write on a card what we were going to swap for winter to fit in with the babes not bears theme. Here is mine but a lot of others did much more meaningful swaps! I liked this concept, it can be hard to get out of a rut sometimes (especially in winter) and this provided great motivation because you got to take it home with you and have that visual reminder on your fridge or wherever you want to put it!

Very deep and meaningful

All attendees received a goodie bag which varies for each location. Mine contained:

• coconut water
• a voucher for 2 free Barre classes
• info about Melissa's book and blog
• a gift voucher for a local clothing store
• grippy socks

Love me a goodie bag!

Everyone had lots of fun, there was also a competition to win a bracelet if you tagged her on instagram!

I am hiding in the back

Thoughts

The content was very real, honest and sincere, they did not dress anything up and did not feel like a Tony Robbins convention. Everything was explained in simple terms and the workshop was very interactive. It was an open forum, you could ask any questions any time and they were both happy to talk to you afterwards.

There were few key messages, a lot of things that you get by reading her e-book or blog but hearing it in person is completely different. It was very personal and a unique opportunity to have your questions answered one on one. For someone like me, it is a lot easier to take something on when it comes from a woman, close to my age, in person, having shared similar experiences. There was no sales pitch which I was surprised at, Melissa did not mention her book or web site apart from the information you got in the goodie bag.

The workshop left me feeling positive and fantastic, it was a great kick-start and left me wanting more. Call me a sucker but as soon as I got home I purchased, then proceeded to read her entire e-book and guess what I loved it (read the review here)!

I would definitely do this again, for the money you pay including the goodie bag, what amazing value! I would not be surprised after the success of this set of workshops that she does another spring/summer event. Have you been to a babes not bears event? Let me know what you thought below or send me a tweet @flick_kitty.

While I am not a quinoa eating, green juice drinking health nut just yet, it was a really great experience.

Flick of Approval: Approved

Disclaimer

I am not affilated with Melissa Ambrosini in any way, this review is my personal opinion.
Some images obtained from instagram @melissa_ambrosini and @christianmiranda