Posts by Rebecca Simmons

posted on September 2, 2016 by Rebecca Simmons

Baby girl turned ONE

Welcome September. My baby girl’s birthday month is over. She was officially one on August 14th and we celebrated with gusto. Her party happened on the day of her birthday and I knew I needed to stay insanely busy or I would get sad at the too fast passing of her baby days.

I could say I don’t know where the year went and how fast time flies. But everyone says that about babies because it’s true! Part of me wishes I had spent more time documenting her sweet life here. It’s an awesome history book for my family and I love having readers to share it with too. However I was too busy sniffing her head, snuggling her and being present because I do know how fast time flies with babies. Her first year of life might be my favorite year year of parenting so far, watching my family grow. My girls have shared so much joy for her and with her. They have had so much patience with her every day. Their love for her is amazing. So on her special day we all celebrated life with baby girl. Mostly big kid style.

Her first year was hard but it pushed me to my edge of knowing what I can handle, how I can handle it and when to say no. It pushed me to be brave and showed me how much courage I have deep within me. It took a lot of courage bringing a baby into life with three established sister relationships and a pre-teenager who runs at a fast pace with big dreams and pasions of her own. We did a lot with this baby girl! We asked a lot of her! She hung with older kiddos a lot. I coached a Girls On the Run team when she was a newborn. She Trick-or-Treated late and in the rain. She endured a lot of taking kids to after school activities when she wanted no part of that. I took her to an overnight trip to Gatlinburg with eight kids because someone was turning 11, when she was two months old. She’s been on my paddle board with me in the ocean for pete’s sake. She’ll go to Leaf Festival in October. My point is…while I have been busy not blogging much this year, baby girl has been busy! I didn’t ever want to tell my girls no we can’t do that because we have a baby. So I made it all work.

For her birthday we all celebrated baby girl, family style. We had baby birthday party for all ages. With baby pools, a free outpouring of ice cream and beer for adults to say a big cheers. Because we made it a year with a baby plus three kids. I celebrated too. Because let me tell you – four kids is hard. Everyday is a marathon. And everyday I get rewarded with love from these girls and a husband who after 17 years of marriage still loves me enough to bring me coffee in bed every single morning (among lots of other things).

Enough sappy stuff….on to the party. Because we ALL made it through the first year. And we did it smiling, and pouring out love and adoration out for one small person who brings us bundles of joy.

Break the Mold photography came out to document the day. The first two are by that talented Momma. The rest were taking by friends. I didn’t do much documenting that day. I was too busy being a part of it all.

This was our wake up birthday breakfast and naptime before the party. She’s eating birthday biscuits made by dad. Breakfast is his specialty in the kitchen. Thank you so much to my aunt and uncle who came to help with the party and be there to help us celebrate this awesome day!
On the eve of turning one the girls wanted to read the book “Welcome with Love” and sleep with baby girl in “her room.” They sang Happy Birthday to her in the bathtub and snuggled into the pullout sofa in “her room” before the birthday girl tucked in with me for the night, as usual. But dang it was the sweetest sister love ever! I’m obsessed with taking sleeping photos of baby girl and it’s not often I catch them all in the act. It helps me remember in the sticky times that yes, they really DO love each other! However I decided not to share the sleeping kid photos because the bigs might not approve. And while the balloons in the bathtub were adorable, she was naked and the bathtub tile was in need of a good scrub. But this. I can’t resist. The monday after, when the bigs were back to school and baby girl and I realized we had a party hangover. Then I redecorated the dinning room with the party stuff just to make the day linger a little longer.

And now it’s September. I have a ONE YEAR OLD. She’s pretty fun! And the girls have TONS of fun with her. We are all so thankful she is here to share life with us.

I look forward to a slow(ish) month before more birthdays this fall, the holidays and then boom it will be 2017. I know how fast time rolls. I know! This block truck has rolled through all the Simmons’ days for nearly 12 years!

posted on June 30, 2016 by Rebecca Simmons

Lovely messes live here

Summer is kicking my butt, plain and simple. I’m not one to post pictures of my messy house and be proud of it. Clutter makes me insane. I’m practicing lots of patience and peace with myself this summer to over look it all, and choose to be in the moment. I don’t love the mess but I love the people who live here. Therefore this summer I’m choosing to let a lovely mess live here.

There are books everywhere, all the time. I cannot complain. At least they are reading. I usually don’t even know what they are reading. When they read to each other it’s so sweet that I do not even care about those details. If it were a great classic book that was boosting their future SAT scores that would make me a great mom. Chances are it’s something girly and hopefully not about a fictional popularity contest, or based on characters from a Disney movies. Only one out of the six book reports due the first day of school is finished. The “homeschool drawers” the middles set up on the first day of summer with activities and things they wanted to work on have gone untouched. Oops. Ok honey. You are right. I would be a terrible homeschool mom. They need teachers and I need a clean house.

But instead of getting frustrated about the mess that lives at my house this summer I’m choosing to ignore it. We are spending lots of days away from home. Amusement park? Sure why not. We even went Splash Country and Dollywood both in one day. We closed one down at 7:00 and the other at 10:00. Because why not? What to take an Asheville trip on a Wednesday? Yep! What about that music festival on Saturday? Sure! Baby in tow all the way? Of course! It’s how we roll.

Back at home the laundry is piled high and there might be a mildew smell coming from one of the dirty bins. The well-meaning overflowing donation bags in the attic don’t ever make it to the car. I don’t have free hands or even an extra big toe (it feels like) these days for household chores. Everyone gets fed. That’s the bare minimum each day at home this summer. Clean clothes? Who needs them? Borrow your sister’s underwear socks.

The girls have been playing the game of Life. It cracks me up because my free sprit girl always needs a second car to hold all her kids. Yesterday she was homeless with five kids and kicked her husband out so she didn’t need a second car. Her little sister had a luxury home with five bedrooms and no kids. She moved in with her. I’m sure it was a mess after that. Hopefully it was lovely. Maybe they ate cookies for dinner. At least they ate dinner.

And this is how summer goes with a baby and three kids ages 6, 9 and 11. It’s pretty much been survival. Stay sane, breathe deep, stay busy, say yes to fun things, reuse the towels, forget the clean sheets and be thankful hubs remembered to feed the dog.

I have been avoiding Pintrest and all loftily ideas of magazine like anything at home. My leisure ideas of sewing projects have been abandoned because the basement is a mess. Like the attic, it too is overcrowded with things that need to be donated. When I was pregnant last Spring I cleaned out a lot of areas knowing I wouldn’t be able to manage a big purge until baby girl goes off to some sort of mother’s morning out program. I was right. As of now I’d still rather love on my baby girl, make my nursing soul some nourishing lunch and leave the mess for later. Right now I’m going to love my mess. And keep wishing I had a sister with a luxury house to move in with. But I’ll keep my husband. He’s handling this messy life quite well.

posted on May 23, 2016 by Rebecca Simmons

Summertime eating

It’s not quite summer. But when you have an impromptu dinner feeding this many kids and friends while they play in the backyard on a giant blow up waterside – it’s officially summertime. My girls get out of school tomorrow. The round the clock feeding will begin first thing Wednesday morning. I’m talking about when you can’t get the kitchen clean before someone else is hungry again. I can not even imagine having boys.

Below are just a few of the things that have been real food features in our kitchen lately. The adults in our house have been eating more mindfully; borrowing inspiration from low carb, gluten free, Paleo style and Whole30 diets. The girls are following suit mostly, because they don’t get a lot of choice expect when there are seven kids to feed (hence the paper plates). We’ve all been eating less bread, all our CSA veggies and more meat. Yes meat. I still can not believe it after being a vegetarian for 20 years. But it’s true. However I don’t think meat is very pretty to photograph so I don’t do that yet.

Along with homemade awesomeness by the girls, I got spoiled on Mother’s Day with these goodies which makes food prep even more fun.
This was my leftover kale salad with beats I took for to-go food in a hurry from my fridge. It was SO much better than coffee drive through food or just snacking on nuts and being hungry. Photographing fresh strawberries never gets old. It’s the first year in about 7 years (I can’t remember because it’s been that long) that I have not canned strawberry jam. We are eating much less sugar, few homemade biscuits and the peanut butter sandwich consumption has gone down here. We will all survive. Which is kind of the point actually. Pun intended.

Baby girl eats everything I eat these days. This was our brunch plate for two today. With homemade salsa and eggs from the flock at the girls’ school. Because our chicken’s can’t lay enough to keep up with our egg consumption. And I realized keeping more chickens in our backyard is not the answer.

Baby girl was a little surprised to wake up to a fresh bite of arugula pesto after a babywearing nap before dinner last week. I’m sparing you the photo that I think is adorable because her nose was snotty and you might not feel the same way about it. But she warms up to food quickly. And she eats a lot! Much more than I remember my other girls eating at this age. It must be the weaning table my dad built her. It is the cutest thing ever. She crawls up to her chair when she wants to eat and tells me when she is done. More about that will be featured on the next Montessori baby post. For now, I LOVE this face.

This was her humus face at a pizza restaurant during our mega crazy dance rehearsal month. Between the three girls they were in five dances, with five costumes to keep up. We saw this pizza place a few times in April and early May. I think it had something to do with the health food kick that came next.
I still can not believe we have FOUR little eaters. I could eat her! Every day. All day.

posted on May 23, 2016 by Rebecca Simmons

Babywearing yoga

The popularity of babywearing has grown significantly since my last three girls were born. Snazzy carriers fill up the crunchy mom stores. The market is huge. Moms collect them. Moms do everything in them from laundry to dancing to shopping to yoga. So when our local Babywearing International of Knoxville chapter asked me to teach yoga at their annual open house, I jumped at the chance.

After that day a few moms asked me to post some ideas for doing yoga at home with their babies. A quick Google search can send you a flood of videos and sequences for moms. I’m not attempting to offer advice and a workout plan here. Instead I’m giving a little peek into the real life way I do yoga at home while babywearing. Nothing takes the place of a class with face-to-face instruction and inspiration. Therefore I recommend coming to a class to see how we use babywearing as a tool for creating peaceful movements with our babies while honoring where we are at mentally and physically as mothers.

I started teaching a weekly mom and baby yoga class at the Glowing Body yoga studio when my baby girl was 8 weeks old. For months she slept through most classes in a carrier. She takes all her naps in a carrier. She has logged many hours being worn. So yes, I have practiced a lot of yoga while babywearing. Because when practicing yoga everyday was my goal and she slept most of the day while my older girls were at school, what else was I going to do?

Now that she is 9 months old and crawling, I have discovered other fun ways of incorporating her into my practice that doesn’t require as much babywearing. But in the early months it was a sweet bonding time for the two of us as I rediscovered my non-pregnant body and found peace and stillness in my new mom days.

Here I am doing a restorative child’s pose in my living room, in February. Baby girl was deep asleep. Restorative poses are wonderful for moms with newborns, during sleep deprived days and in the blur of everything being so new. I often turn to them when I just need to ground myself in my busy days with four children. Sharing that space with my sleeping baby connects us in a way where the peace is so much more profound.

For moms with older babies and for those who are trying to regain muscle tone after being pregnant, there a many standing poses you can do while babywearing that do not require props. Plus doing them with a baby adds some extra weight to your workout challenge. I honestly do not think my legs have been this strong in a long time, since I spend countless hours a day wearing a now 20 pound baby.

Recently I got in a few standing poses while wearing her, before she woke up. Another recent day my practice started out with her asleep, but not for long. We began in tadasana with a standing meditation. Then we moved to a standing reverse namaste and some shoulder opening exercises to counteract all the babywearing strain on my shoulders. That movement woke her up. Therefore I flowed into what worked for us in that moment. The photos are taken from a video so the quality is not wonderful. But it gives you an idea and some possible motivation for the yoga you can do while babywearing.

Like her mom, the girl likes to hang upside down. But after that she wanted out of that carrier and to crawl around. So I used that time to do my own yoga and get upside down myself. It was a win for both us.

Doing yoga and teaching yoga with babies has taught me to be comfortable without a plan. We have to follow our baby’s lead, while discovering what we need as mothers and creating a compromise to achieve both. It doesn’t always work perfectly. However most times by end of the mom and baby classes I teach, the non-mobile babies are asleep in savasana on their mom’s chest while the moms calmingly breath in a moment of peace and love with their sweetest little beings on earth.

This summer I’ll have my children with me while I teach my mom and baby classes, with my now mobile baby. Therefore siblings are welcome in class as well. My girls might have baby dolls in carriers and follow along with the class, or offer to read a yoga book to other siblings, or sit and color. I have become comfortable with not having a plan and trusting that it will all work out beautifully.

I’ll be posting here about all our adventures doing yoga together while my girls are out of school this summer. If you are local and want to follow along I’ve created a new Facebook page for my yoga offerings, Yoga with Rebecca for moms, babies and kids. In addition to the mom and baby classes and prenatal classes I teach at Glowing Body on Wednesdays, I hope to offer some inexpensive pop classes in parks to get us all outside and offer options to play on and off the mat.

Namasta ya’ll. Summertime is here. Let’s all find the peace in it.

posted on March 7, 2016 by Rebecca Simmons

Fat quarters, library bag, bib and more

I joined an Anna Maria Horner fabric of the month club when I was pregnant, planning to sew all these beautiful things for baby girl. Summer, pregnancy and three girls made that impossible for me. Then a new baby and three girls made that impossible for me. And now, with all my fat quarters staring out me so beautifully – I declared Sunday, Return to Sewing day.

With the book Fat Quarters:Small Fabrics, More than 50 Big Ideas at our side for inspiration, the girls and I got to sewing yesterday. Finally. It felt great. It was a little hectic because everyone wanted to sew something. Thankfully they start their own sewing classes on Tuesday with a neighbor. And a third sewing machine is on it’s way to live with us, being gifted to me from my mom who is retiring from the craft.

My oldest daughter takes trips to the public library for school reports. She is great at keeping up with her books and returning them on time. I am not so great when it comes to the other girls. Therefore we don’t frequent the library as often as we should. Because there was the time when my middle-big girl wanted a check out a book about a roach and it become forever lost in our house. A few months after I bought the dreaded book from the library, it magically reappeared. I don’t want to buy anymore books about a roach or pay more in fines than it costs to go to the local bookstore and just buy the books. Which is a lovely place, indeed. But still.

I plan to make three more of these library bags. This is was the first completed one, just in time for my oldest girl’s trip to retrieve her library books for her report on the history of origami. All library books will stay in these bags, complete with a pocket for each girls’ library card and the receipt with the due dates of the books.

This one was finished last night, about 10:00, with my oldest girl helping as I snuck her out of her bed for secret mom time and chocolate from my “good stash.”

I made this little basket for baby toys. I hope to make a few more and use them on her Montessori “lesson shelf.” The bib is new too.

The bib is reversible and was made with my middle-little. She picked out the fabric, cut it and helped push the machine peddle. A do-it-herself gal, she can’t wait for her sewing classes to begin. I have already found her sewing pillows on my machine, by herself before I ever taught her how to do that. oops. No fingers were lost. She was a proud big sister here. It’s still a bit surreal that she is a big sister. But yep, there really are four girls in my life. It’s a full life. And there is lots to sew.

posted on February 15, 2016 by Rebecca Simmons

I’m officially 40

Friday was my birthday. I’m officially 40. And I’m totally okay with it. It snowed on my birthday. Which was amazing. The girls had school. It was the Valentine Bake sale that I’ve organized for years. The day was filled with love. I took a mediative walk in the snow through the woods at school. I received lots of messages and phone calls of birthday wishes. My four girls showered me with love. I was served coffee in a “free range” mug. And I thought, yeah I’ll keep living free range. I bought myself flashy yoga pants to rock out. Just because I can. My husband went to his first official yoga with me, and baby girl came too. We celebrated my 40 days of yoga till I turned 40. Friends met us for a beer afterwards at our local dive pub. I wore my flashy yoga pants, ate from a food truck and nursed my baby sitting on a sofa in a bar. Because what the hell? I’m 40 and why not? It’s a good life.

posted on February 9, 2016 by Rebecca Simmons

Natural Bob Soaps

My Oldest Girl and her friends have a business called Natural Bob Soaps. They have been crafting away stocking their supplies for Valentine’s Day.

They had a sleepover recently to make bath salts, perfume, essential oil roller bottles, heart soaps and more. I took a few photos of them in action.

The three friends started Natural Bob Soap in 2015, when they 10-year old, best buddies. Their first batch of Natural Bob products were a hit with their school friends and neighborhood pals. So the kept making things. And friends kept buying them. The girls donate 100 percent of their proceeds to a local animal shelter. So far they have donated almost $500. All their bath products are made with simple, natural ingredients.

They have a Facebook page, if you are interested in see more of their awesome work. They have an Etsy account too. But their products sell out too fast to keep it stocked.

posted on February 9, 2016 by Rebecca Simmons

Montessori Moments

Baby Girl is getting big enough to sit, grab items, put them in her mouth and explore everything she can get her tiny hands on. Therefore I’m being inspired to get back into the Montessori groove at home. It’s always here. Since my girls have been in Montessori school since they were two, the philosophies are part of life and it oozes in everywhere. I’m grateful for that.

My Little Middle Girl, who is 6 and officially kindergarten age, had a “mommy day” last week. She decided to set up “lesson shelves” for baby girl in the living room. It’s cold now so most of our baby play happens by the cozy fire. Little Middle first set up small baskets with one toy in each basket. She soon learned that was a bad plan because baby girl just grabbed the baskets and put them in her mouth. This is what she came up with. It’s a temporary set up for now. We are planning on creating her own real Montessori infant shelf in her room for Spring.

We skipped the jumper seats and exersaucer seats with all the connected toys, lights a jazz for her. She has enough stimulation in our house. But I did need a practical place to put her when she wants to be upright and part of the gang. She can sit unassisted for small bouts of time surrounded by pillows but when things need to get done in the kitchen, mom needs to shower and the girls are having dance parties – she sits in this plain and simple walker. We can give her one toy at time. Or I just pass her a spice jar to shake like I did here. She gets wheeled over the house observing everything around her. Soon enough she’ll be crawling all over. I’m savoring the stationary play for now. It was the perfect Christmas gift for her, from grandparents.

We have a weaning table and chair on order for Baby Girl, being made by my dad. I don’t like that term. Because she is not weaning any time soon. But when she is ready for food, she’ll have her own little table just her size. I suppose that is officially the beginning of the weaning phase. BUT my babies have nursed into toddlerhood. I have a love for child size tables around our house. There was a time when all the bigs were all little and we had one in every room of the house.

This one was my husband’s as a child. It makes me so happy.

When Little Middle had her “mommy day” she already had her lunch packed. She sat in the kitchen and ate it at home. She lined it all up. She’s totally a little Montessori kid.

My Oldest Girl brings home lost of Montessori influences that I love. At the end of the day they have a time where they explore different forms of “games, exercise and music.” The general time is known as GEM. She has learned to knit, do origami, henna and recently her teacher brought in her a book about making sun bread on snowy days. My oldest girl brought it home and instantly went to work baking the bread. She has so much independence and confidence in the things she chooses to do. She teachers her sisters and they share the similarities and appreciate her passing on what she learns. She gave me the okay to share about this here.The Middle Big Girl was home sick yesterday. She was super bummed she missed the annual Chinese celebration at school. Her favorite part is making Chinese lanterns and decorating for their Chinese lunch they have catered by a local Chinese restaurant. Last night we took our usual Monday taco night and turned into a Chinese celebration. Both big girls surprised us with all the knowledge they shared about Chinese culture and the New Year. I couldn’t believe we pulled it all off and I hope to write a full post about it. We just happened to have five sets of chopsticks, asian spices to add to the tacos (hehe) and gold coins (never mind they were American money). I haven’t been able to pull off something like this on the fly since baby girl was born. It was a great child-led dinner. My Montessori kids made it happen. It warmed my heart.

posted on February 8, 2016 by Rebecca Simmons

Release and realign

Last weekend I had the honor of attending a local workshop with Gabriel Helpern of Yoga Circle in Chicago. He is an Iyengar yoga teacher who has spent his life studing yoga and the teachings of B.K.S. Iyengar. When I get the chance to study under an Iyengar certified teacher I gobble it up. Because it’s yummy to my mind, body and soul. My introduction to yoga happened pre-kid years in Atlanta when I lived down the street from an Iyengar yoga studio. Even though it’s a new thing I’ve started blogging about here, getting on my yoga mat is old. It’s like revisiting my own roots every time I ground my feet on that mat.

What is new is me taking the time to do yoga, lots of yoga, guilt free, as me time. I learned the art of this last year while spending 12 weekends doing 15 hours of yoga while I left my amazing husband home to take care our girls. There were lots of mornings when I left a household of folks not too happy about me leaving for the day…again. Learning to release has been a process. I know the end result fills me up with goodness and I return a happier, balanced person.

When I get to the studio alone (which is the only times I have been away from baby girl since she was born) I breathe deeper, appreciate it more and sometimes just hang my head over to release. I made it. I made it out of the house. Alone. And it will be okay. They will all survive. I really have to tell myself this. Still. Eleven years into this mothering job.

Once I’m there I release and realign all my parts – mentally and phyically. Last weekend I learned more about the poses giving my trouble because my hips are out of whack. It could from babywearing, sleeping with baby and now propping her up on my hip. Or maybe I’m still pulling myself back together from birth. It took nine months for my body to grow a baby. By no means am I completely back to normal yet. I’m still running on a wonky sleep cycle. And I suppose I will be as long as we are night nursing. I’ve just adapted.

Generally I hold on so much emotion in my hips. So I’m working my tail off right now to get myself back up straight and keep myself aligned everyday. Deep twists, revolved poses and standing postures are my focus as I level my hips. Which I have learned, level my mind.

I think it’s safe to say that all new moms have some anxiety to some degree. It manifests in different forms of postpartum mental states. I’m a very laid back person and chilled out mom. But with my first three babies I was a nervous wreck at the thought of being separated from them. Even for a short time. They never took bottles and I just put off leaving them until they were old enough to eat solid food and drink from a cup. Date nights meant bringing the baby. I was fine with that.

The weekends away from my family last year taught me to release my mom guilt of being away. My husband was going to be fine too. He’s a great dad! He can handle a gaggle of girls better than a cheerleading coach.

Last weekend he had baby girl the first two hours and the last two hours of the eight hour day. The middle part she was with me. Because I still really like it that way. She is my little yogi. And the studio always welcomes her.

She went home in time for me to practice standing on my head. Because a new perspective on life always brings fresh outlooks.

Sunday she stayed home for five hours. It was the most time I have been away from any of my babies. Ever. I checked in periodically for my own sanity. Just to know things were okay. My husband responded like this.

And like this.He was holding the fort down just fine. Baby girl was a-okay. I finally released. I was realigned. I had a new perspective. When I got home I learned he did it all while handling the surpirse situation of the kitchen sink falling out of the cabinet. Oops. A neighbor came to the rescue and the contractor fixed it the next day. Dinner resumed as normal.

Monday morning I did more standing on my head. This time with my baby by my side. I’m super grateful for my home practice on these days when I must release and realign at home, in my living room. And for those of you keeping up with my 40 days of yoga, Friday will be the last day. That’s when I’m turning 40! But me doing yoga every day is here to stay. It’s finally become a habit to get on my mat every day, no mater if I’m at home, at the studio, with or without my baby. Yoga every damn day is here to stay. Because it’s in my bones. I just had to come to the place where I could close the door behind me and go. And do it for me. And also find my grove where I do it at home. Forgetting the piles of to do items, and stand on my head with a room full of daughters watching me. Because I have a room full of daughters. That’s the truth.

Every stay-at-home-mom needs something for themselves. No mater how small. Even if you can’t even do it alone. I’ve had a few moms ask me about classes they can do at home when they don’t want to leave their babies, or when they can’t make it to my momma and baby yoga class.

I have an answer for you. Actually, it’s a solution for anyone who likes doing yoga at home. Check out Yoga Vibes. You can get a free 15 day trial membership. Jennifer Coffin, a teacher Glowing Body Yoga Studio, has four full length classes featured on the site. She is also co-owner of Inner Space Yoga who makes and sells the beautiful bolsters you see me using at my house. If you sign up for a year membership on Yoga Vibes you get one of her bolsters for free. It’s a win win. Check it out.

posted on January 27, 2016 by Rebecca Simmons

It’s all yoga

It’s day 25 of my 40 days yoga. Getting on my mat everyday gives me a more fresh, calm attitude in my days when I’m needed in four different directions by little people.

It is also the best time I spend with baby girl, staring at her from all different perspectives and watching her grow. She found her toes lying in front of me on my mat. She rolled over for the first time on my mat. It’s a place she has zero distractions, zero toys, zero sisters (on school days) and plenty of room to wiggle, roll and explore just how those feet are attached to her legs. While lying on her belly, she been discovering her future crawling muscles. She makes doing poses lying my belly a lot more fun. I get a great view while doing cobra pose.

Yoga gives me something to focus on rather than the things I can not accomplish in a day. Some days I only find five minutes to lie on my mat, between a fussy baby, errands and big kid demands. But I’m grateful for every five minutes I get.
Taking a deep breathe while I simply ground my soul, finding stillness in a restorative pose, or loosening my stiff joints with a more rigorous vinyasa flow with backbends and inversions – it always leaves me feeling ok about leaving the dishes and piles laundry for later (maybe tomorrow). I never regret dropping what is happening and taking this time for myself. Even when it’s 11:30 at night when I finally get a moment to sneak away for alone time, sans the baby.

“It’s all yoga,” my teacher Cindy Dollar says. Everything we learn on the mat transfers off the mat. My awareness for self always run parallel.

Through my 30-day guide to self discipline via the book Making a Change for good, I’m making an effort to do less at one time and gain more self awareness. This brings peace and more calm to a busy day where conversations, requests, questions, needs and sometimes sass (I DO live with three talking daughters) leaves me with no defense other to just breathe. One breathe at a time. Because motherhood is a big job. And I do my best everyday to limit the times I screw up. All parents screw things up sometimes.

Motivating myself to practice yoga everyday brings awareness to how I cope and react to everyday life.

I always want to get to the final place, the finish line for the day, some reward (in baby days that can simply be a shower alone) and the place that feels like I’ve accomplished something.

Through my practice I’m learning to slow down on and off the mat. To breathe deeper, to pause a little longer, to take an extra lunge, to find a new muscle or awaken another part of my core that slept for 9 months while I was pregnant.

“Stop, look and listen,” I tell my girls more often now. As I ask them for better eye contact, acknowledgement of my requests and a polite response. Believe it or not sometimes we are too hurried in our lives for things to be that simple.

But I also discover things about myself to when I stop, look and listen. In class Sunday when I really focused on pulling my lower ribcage into my spine, I was reintroduced to abdominal muscles in my core. They were not in the same place I remembered leaving them before I grew my baby girl and those muscles shifted to house her 9 pound body. A light bulb went off in my head. And since then I’ve been more aware of finding the little treasures about my new self at home too.

Most things I observe about myself I also observe how I project them onto my kids. It’s how we unconsciously condition our kids. Being aware of it makes me a better parent. When I have more focus on less things, I can better pinpoint where emotions are coming from in my little spawns of life. Just like I can find a part of my right upper psoas muscle behind my ribcage, I can relate to where the joy is coming from when my 11 year-old baked bread by herself. When there is frustration, I do little better job remembering to stop and breathe, and think about how I can help. Before I just react.

It’s all yoga.

This little book has been going everywhere with me. Some days my daily journaling is minimized to notes in the margins. Some days it’s writing in notes in my phone while I nurse. Some days it’s sharing my thoughts here with others. Bottom line is it makes me think. It makes me more aware. It makes me a better yoga teacher. It makes me a better person in all the people I care for in a my day. Because in life, it’s all yoga.

« Previous Page
1
…
3
4
5
6
7
…
47
Next Page »