It is time to Play!

When was the last time you played?

The last time you laughed out loud or smiled for no good reason?

I see children having unlimited smiles all the time.  The more time I spend around kids the more I get to witness how they see the world with new eyes and the emotions that go with it.  Everything is new, amazing and has potential for fun! How great is that?!

As adults, especially around this time of year, we can easily get overwhelmed with responsibilities, stress, holidays and so much more.  We need to take a break of the adult world and re- learn how to play.  Its time to have some fun.  Recently in the Huffington Post, there was an article talking about the importance in play with children and how play actually helps them learn.  As adults, I think we need to listen to this research and maybe even give it a try for ourselves.  It is time we play, laugh and giggle like a kid again.

Miles just playing with a ball.

What a perfect theme for a yoga class!

 

This is the perfect theme to help out the students who –

gets angry in balancing / challenging poses

have a competitive nature

are too busy looking around

someone who needs to have a good laugh.

 

Some poses to go along with the theme –

Balancing Poses – How often do adults stand on one foot?! There are different levels of balancing poses you can work into your practice and for different levels. I like to remind everyone not to make a “gargoyle face” or monster face in poses that take some concentration. Smile!  Tree , Half Moon, Warrior 3, Dancer, Eagle.

Chair Pose – I love this pose. You need so much effort from your body and mind.  I often see very serious faces when we hold this pose. So I challenge to smile, sometime even tell a joke to make students laugh.

Upside down poses – It time to change your view!

Downward Dog, forward folds, Wheel , Wild thing and legs up the wall just to name a few.

Lions Breath – Stick out your tongue and be real loud on an exhale!

 

What are some poses that make you feel like a kid again?

 

 

 

 

Does it Really Happen in 3’s? Tips to deal with stress.

I am not sure if you ever heard the saying that bad things usually happen in three’s, but this week I sure feel like there might be some truth to that.  In the past 7 days we have had our new dishwasher, new refrigerator and garage door all break. The dishwasher and garage door was fixable but the refrigerator is a goner.   Less than two years old and the Frigidaire start button just burned up – leaving us grateful that the house didn’t burn down and a valuable lesson – You need to always find the positive in every situation.

What are some things you do to help cope with a stressful week?  Here are my top 10.

Here is my list of attitude pick me uppers. 🙂

1. Go take a Yoga Class. Meditate and breathe.

2. Go out in nature.

3. Turn off the news/ radio / social media.

4. Play with the kids or let yourself act like a kid. PLAY!

5. Treat yourself.  If you have extra cash go get a massage, mani/ pedi or facial.  If extra cash is not an option ( I feel ya!) a DIY facial is fabulous or paint your nails a fun new color.

6. Change your attitude to Gratitude.  Start that list of things you are grateful for.  Every time I have to do the dishes and I just don’t feel like it, I remember how lucky we are to have had food to eat and water to clean.

7.  Go through your closet. I know, this one is a little … different. Sometimes thinking about cleaning your closet can be such a drag, but when you think of it as a shopping trip or a chance to create new outfits it can be fun.  For some reason I gain so much joy in finding old or rarely worn articles of clothes and re-imagining new outfits.

8. Move your body.  Sometimes, all you have to do is dance.

9.  Be creative.  Bake, color, craft even organizing requires creativity.

10. Laugh.  Put on a funny movie, read a funny book, hang out with people who make you laugh.

Yoga Mama- The Beginning

I would like to call myself a yogi.  I practice regularly, keep up with my reading and books while trying to live a conscious lifestyle.
I work hard on trying to go with the flow and be compassionate toward others while remembering that I am constantly learning, experiencing and creating.  Recently, I experience one of the hardest, scariest and wonderful thing in my life – the birth of my daughter.

Me at 30 weeks

I was the poster woman of a “perfect” pregnancy.  I was healthy, ate real, clean food, went to the chiropractor weekly, acupuncture regularly, taught yoga until the very end and practiced yoga up until I went to the hospital! We even did a wonderful course of Hypnobirthing and was so excited and ready to go through a healthy, natural birth.

Forty weeks came and went, I was sore from daily acupuncture and bouncing on the yoga ball non-stop when we got to 42 weeks. I had to go in to be induced. That was the first ,of many, to practice the release of the need to control and to just go with the flow.

We were at the hospital for over 8 hours, I was only one centimeter dilated and with every contraction my daughters heart rate dropped.  It was a sign that things were not going to go well. Before I knew it the midwife came back in with another doctor and gave us the news I did not want to hear.  A cesarean section was a must to have a healthy, living baby.

I was mortified, scared and felt like a failure.  All I could think is that I did absolutely everything I could, why?! What did I do wrong, what could I have done to prevent this?  Everything happened so fast.  From the time I signed the papers, baby Z was born 45 minutes later.  I barely had time to cry before they were shaving me and rolling me to the operating room. All I am going to say is the doctors and hospital were great, but it was one of the most scariest experience I ever had.  I was cold, everyone is in masks and I lost all control of my body from my breasts down.  CRAZY.  Thank goodness my husband was there and talking me through everything, I didn’t want to be crying or in hysterics the entire time.  Once the surgery began it was quick, I felt this weird tug , pull feeling ( which is why I believe child chiropractic is so important, but more on that later) and I heard her crying.  It was so beautiful and amazing to hear that cry.

My husband was able to grab baby Z and bring her to my head and shoulder to allow skin on skin.  She immediately started sucking on my cheek! That’s my gal!  But, instead of the surgery finishing up right away, my wonderful husband spent another 30 minutes holding her to my face while the doctors kept working.  I just kept thinking, “She is hungry , I want to feed my baby! What is taking so long?”  Finally it was all done, we were wheeled away and baby Z immediately latched and everyone was safe and okay!

I felt so lucky baby Z was such a good sucker. The way everything went, I was happy we got breast-feeding right!  For a 42 weeks, baby Z was pretty small but healthy.  When the midwife came to visit us the next day we found out WHY the surgery seemed to take so long.  When they pulled out the uterus for the c-section, my whole insides came out too! My bowel and stomach were attached to the uterus – completely blocking the left ovary and fallopian tube.  They fixed everything up while they were in there… but pretty much it was a miracle that we were even able to get pregnant, let alone carry her this far in pregnancy without issue.  Finding out this information made dealing with a c-section A LOT easier.  I went with the flow and it guided me to where I needed to be.  I had no control of the outcome, no control of preventing it and it was okay.  We have a healthy baby girl and I am okay.

Now come the healing process.  As a highly active person and yoga teacher, the 6 weeks of healing has been a challenge.  Just like everyone else, I just have to remember to stop, take a breath and be grateful for where I am now and release.