Legal

Body Balance and Beyond – Legal Disclaimer

No Medical or Professional Advice: Body Balance and Beyond is run by a wellness and coaching professional, not a licensed medical doctor or health care provider. All content on this website (including blogs, newsletters, digital materials, and coaching information) is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice or professional services. Nothing on this site is intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any medical or mental health condition.

Consultation with Healthcare Providers: You should not rely solely on the information provided here for your health needs. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider (such as a physician or licensed medical professional) before making any health, fitness, or nutritional decisions or embarking on any wellness program mentioned on this site. Do not disregard medical advice or delay seeking professional advice because of something you have read on Body Balance and Beyond.

Personal Responsibility and Risk: Any reliance you place on the information obtained from this site is strictly at your own risk. You are responsible for your own health and decisions. Body Balance and Beyond cannot be held responsible or liable for any loss, damage, or injury allegedly arising from any information or suggestions on this website. By using this site, you agree to use your own judgment and due diligence before implementing any lifestyle changes or advice from the content.

No Guarantee of Results: Every individual is different, and outcomes will vary. No results are guaranteed or promised by Body Balance and Beyond. Any testimonials or examples shown on the site are illustrative only and do not guarantee that current or future clients will achieve the same or similar results. We share methods and tips that have helped others, but your success or outcomes depend on many factors outside our control, including your effort and personal circumstance. Body Balance and Beyond makes no warranties or guarantees about the effectiveness of any techniques, products, or services described on the site.Not Professional-Client Relationship: Use of this website or communication with Body Balance and Beyond does not establish any client-coach, patient-provider, or other professional relationship. If you choose to work with us through our coaching services, that relationship will be governed by a separate agreement. Until such an agreement is in place, you should not consider any information on this site as personalized advice tailored to your situation.Educational Purpose: All information, content, and material provided by Body Balance and Beyond is intended for general informational purposes and to promote a broader understanding of health and wellness topics. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Your use of the site indicates your understanding of and agreement with this legal disclaimer. If you have any questions about this disclaimer, please contact us for clarification.

Body Balance and Beyond – Privacy Policy

Introduction: Your privacy is important to us. This Privacy Policy describes how Body Balance and Beyond (“Company,” “we,” or “us”), based in New York, United States, collects, uses, and protects your personal information when you use our website, purchase our digital products, sign up for coaching services, read our blog, or subscribe to our newsletter. We aim to comply with applicable U.S. laws (including New York state requirements) and international standards such as the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). By using this site, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Information We Collect

We collect personal and usage information to provide you with our services and improve your experience. The types of Personal Information we may collect include:

Contact Information: When you sign up for our email newsletter, download digital products, purchase a course, or register for coaching, you may provide information such as your name, email address, phone number, and mailing address. This allows us to identify you and communicate with you as needed (e.g., sending purchased materials or scheduling coaching sessions).
Account and Payment Information: If our site allows account creation or if you purchase a product/service, we may collect account credentials and payment details. Payment information (such as credit card numbers or payment account IDs) is processed via secure third-party payment processors (e.g., PayPal or Stripe). We do not store your sensitive payment card details on our servers; any payment information you provide is handled and stored by these third-party services according to their security and privacy policies.
Health or Personal Details (Coaching Services): In the context of coaching services, you might share personal wellness information, goals, or challenges. This could include health or lifestyle details. We only collect what you voluntarily provide. (Note: We treat such information as confidential and use it only to personalize your coaching experience. We do not ask for or collect any information that is legally defined as highly sensitive (e.g., Social Security numbers, government IDs, financial account numbers) through our website.)
Usage Data: Like many websites, we automatically collect certain information about your device and how you interact with our site. This Usage Data may include your IP address, browser type, browser version, the pages of our site that you visit, the time and date of your visit, time spent on pages, and other diagnostic data. We collect this information to understand user behavior and improve our website functionality and content.
Cookies and Tracking Technologies: We use cookies and similar tracking technologies (such as web beacons and analytics scripts) to track activity on our site and hold certain information. Cookies are small text files placed on your device. They help us remember your preferences (e.g., dark mode or language selection), analyze website traffic, and customize user experience. For example, cookies allow us to keep you logged in (if our site has login features) and to understand which blog articles are most popular. You can instruct your browser to refuse cookies or to alert you when cookies are being sent. However, if you disable or decline cookies, some parts of our site may become inaccessible or not function properly.

How We Use Your Information

Body Balance and Beyond uses your personal information for the following purposes:

To Provide and Maintain Our Services: We use contact and account information to deliver digital products you purchase, schedule and conduct coaching sessions, respond to inquiries you send via our contact forms or email, and generally to fulfill the purpose for which you provided the information. For example, if you sign up for a coaching program, we will use your information to communicate with you about session times and deliver coaching materials.
To Communicate with You: We may send administrative emails (e.g., order confirmations, important updates about your account or transactions). If you join our mailing list, we will send you our newsletter and marketing emails about new blog posts, products, or services that we think may interest you. You can opt out of marketing emails at any time by clicking the “unsubscribe” link in the email or contacting us directly.
To Personalize Your Experience: Information you provide (and usage data we collect) helps us tailor our content and recommendations. For instance, if you have shown interest in nutrition-related content, we might highlight similar blog posts or products for you. Personal details shared for coaching will be used to customize the coaching advice and programs to best fit your needs.
For Analytics and Site Improvement: We process usage data (through cookies and third-party analytics tools like Google Analytics) to understand how users interact with our site. This data helps us improve our website’s content, layout, and services by identifying trends (for example, which blog topics are most popular, or where users encounter errors). Analytics may tell us, in aggregate, which pages are visited most or how users find our site, but this information is typically anonymized and does not directly identify individuals.
To Protect and Ensure Compliance: We may use your data to monitor for fraudulent or malicious activity, debug and fix errors, and enforce our Terms and Conditions. For example, IP addresses may be used to block abuse of our site (such as spam comments or hacking attempts). We also use personal information as necessary to meet legal obligations (such as maintaining records for tax purposes, or responding to lawful requests by authorities) and to pursue or defend legal claims.
With Your Consent: If we ever process your personal information for a purpose that is not stated here, we will explain it to you at the time and, if required by law, obtain your consent.

Disclosure of Your Information

We are not in the business of selling your personal information. We consider your trust and privacy a priority. Body Balance and Beyond does not sell your personal data to third parties for their marketing or any other purposes. However, in certain circumstances we may share or disclose your information to third parties, as described below, strictly for the purposes of operating our business and providing services to you:

Service Providers: We share information with third-party companies and individuals who perform functions on our behalf. These include email newsletter services (for sending you our updates), payment processors (to securely handle credit card transactions), scheduling software (to manage coaching appointments), web analytics providers (to analyze traffic), and web hosting companies. These service providers are given access only to the information necessary to perform their specific tasks, and they are contractually obligated to protect your information and use it only for those purposes.
Business Transfers: If Body Balance and Beyond is involved in a merger, acquisition, sale of assets, or other business transaction, your information may be transferred as part of that deal. If such a transfer occurs, we will ensure the confidentiality of your personal information and give affected users notice before your personal data becomes subject to a different Privacy Policy.
Legal Requirements: We may disclose your personal information if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g., a subpoena or court order). We may also disclose information in good faith belief that such action is necessary to (a) comply with a legal obligation, (b) protect and defend our rights or property, (c) prevent or investigate possible wrongdoing or enforce our Terms and Conditions, (d) protect the personal safety of users or the public, or (e) protect against legal liability.
With Your Consent: In situations where you explicitly ask us to share your information or consent to it (for example, if you participate in a joint webinar or program with a partner and consent to having us share your contact info with that partner), we will share your information as directed by you.

Third-Party Links: Our website may contain links to external sites, such as articles on other blogs or recommendations for third-party products. If you click on a third-party link, you will be directed to a site that is not operated by us. We have no control over, and assume no responsibility for, the content or privacy practices of any third-party sites. We encourage you to review the Privacy Policy of every site you visit via links from our website.

Cookies and Analytics

As noted, we use cookies to enhance your experience. When you first visit our site, you may see a cookie notice or banner. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our use of cookies for the purposes described in this policy. Key points about cookies and analytics:

Types of Cookies: We use both session cookies (which expire when you close your browser) and persistent cookies (which remain on your device for a set period or until deleted). Session cookies might keep you logged in as you navigate between pages. Persistent cookies might store your preferences or enable us to recognize you on subsequent visits.
Analytics: We use third-party analytics tools (like Google Analytics) which set their own cookies to collect information about user interactions. This information helps us gauge how our content is performing. For example, we can see aggregated data on how many users read a particular blog post or how long visitors stay on the site. Google Analytics may collect information such as your IP address, browser type, referring pages, and time of visit. (Google provides an opt-out browser add-on if you wish to prevent your data from being used by Google Analytics.)
Advertising and Social Media Cookies: Currently, Body Balance and Beyond does not display third-party ads, and we do not use advertising cookies. If in the future we partner with advertising networks or use social media “pixels” (like a Facebook Pixel) for marketing, we will update this policy and, if required by law, obtain your consent for those cookies.
Your Choices: Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. You can also clear cookies from your browser at any time. Please note that if you block cookies, some features of our site (such as remembering your login or preferences) may not work properly. We do not currently respond to “Do Not Track” signals, because there is not yet an industry standard for compliance, but if one emerges we will follow it.
More Information: See our [Cookie Policy] if we have a dedicated page for that (if not, the above serves as our notice about cookies). By using our site, you consent to our use of cookies and similar technologies as described here.

Your Privacy Rights

We respect your rights over your personal information. In accordance with applicable privacy laws (including GDPR for EU residents and CCPA for California residents), you have the following rights:

Access and Portability: You have the right to request a copy of the personal information we hold about you. We can provide this in a commonly used electronic format. This helps you understand what data we have and allows you to move it elsewhere if you desire.
Correction: If any personal information we have is incorrect or incomplete, you have the right to request correction or update of your data. For example, if you change your email address or discover an error in your profile information, you can ask us to fix it.
Deletion: You can request that we delete your personal information. This is sometimes called the “Right to be Forgotten.” We will honor deletion requests to the extent required by law. For example, if you unsubscribe from our newsletter, we will remove your email from our mailing list. Please note we may retain certain information as necessary to comply with legal obligations (for example, records of transactions for accounting purposes) or to establish or defend legal claims.
Withdrawal of Consent: If we are processing your information based on your consent (such as when you consented to receive marketing emails), you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. Withdrawing consent will not affect the lawfulness of any processing we carried out before your withdrawal. For example, you can unsubscribe from newsletters (which withdraws your consent to receive them) and we will stop sending them.
Objection and Restriction (GDPR applicable): If you are an EU/EEA resident protected by GDPR, you have the right to object to processing of your personal data in certain cases (for instance, object to processing for direct marketing or on grounds relating to your particular situation when we process data on legitimate interests). You also have the right to request that we restrict processing of your data under certain circumstances (for example, while we verify your data correction requests or if you contest the lawfulness of processing).
Data Portability (GDPR applicable): For EU residents, where processing is based on consent or contract and carried out by automated means, you can request to receive the data you provided to us in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format, and ask that we transfer it to another controller where technically feasible.
Non-Discrimination (CCPA applicable): If you are a California resident exercising your rights under the CCPA, we will not discriminate against you. This means we will not deny you services, charge you different prices, or provide a different quality of service because you exercised your privacy rights.
“Do Not Sell” (CCPA): As noted, we do not sell personal information. However, California residents have the right to direct a business that does sell personal info to stop doing so (opt-out). Since we do not sell data, this right is not applicable. If in the future we ever consider selling personal data, we will update our practices to include a “Do Not Sell My Personal Information” link and honor such requests.
Shine the Light (California): Separate from CCPA, California’s “Shine the Light” law allows residents to request certain information about what personal data is shared with third parties for those third parties’ direct marketing purposes. We do not share personal data with third parties for their own direct marketing, so we believe this is not applicable. California users can contact us for further clarification if needed.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the contact information provided at the end of this Privacy Policy. We may need to verify your identity (for example, by asking you to provide information associated with your account or transactions) before fulfilling your request, to protect your security. For requests to access or delete, we will confirm receipt within a reasonable time and respond as required by law (generally within 30 days for GDPR, and 45 days for CCPA, with possible extension). If we cannot comply with a request, we will explain the reason (such as a legal requirement that prevents us from deleting certain data).If you are an EU/EEA resident and believe our processing of your personal information infringes the GDPR, you have the right to lodge a complaint with your local Data Protection Authority. We encourage you to first reach out to us so we can address your concerns directly.Children’s Privacy

Body Balance and Beyond’s content and services are not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under the age of 13 in compliance with the U.S. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). If you are under 13, please do not provide any information on this website. If we learn that we have inadvertently collected personal data from a child under 13, we will delete that information as soon as possible.

If you are between 13 and 18 (a minor under 18), you should only use this site with the permission and supervision of a parent or guardian. Some of our content (such as general wellness tips) may be appropriate for teenagers, but any transactions (like purchasing a product or signing up for coaching) should be done by or with a parent/guardian.

Parents or guardians who believe that Body Balance and Beyond might have any information from or about a child under 13, please contact us immediately so that we can delete it.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or for other operational reasons. When we update the policy, we will change the “Last updated” date at the top. If the changes are significant, we may also provide a more prominent notice (such as a website banner or an email notification). We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we are protecting your information. Your continued use of the website after any changes to this policy constitutes your acceptance of the updated terms.

In the event of any substantial changes that affect your rights, we will seek to notify you in advance when possible. For example, if we plan to collect additional personal information not previously collected, or to use data in a fundamentally different way, we will notify users and obtain consent as required.

Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or your personal data, please contact us. We are committed to resolving any issues and answering your questions:

Email: laurie@bodybalanceandbeyond.com (or use the contact email provided on our website).
Contact Form: You may also reach out via the contact form on our website’s “Contact Us” page.

We will respond to your inquiry as soon as reasonably possible, generally within a few business days. Thank you for trusting Body Balance and Beyond with your wellness journey and your personal information. We value your privacy and will continue to work hard to protect it.