“When you make friends with fear, it can’t rule you.” –Anne Lamott For the past several weeks, we’ve been hearing stories about olympic heroes and heroines overcoming obstacles. Quietly, and just as heroically, parents have been overcoming obstacles of their own, on their own. So, what do Olympians and parents have in common?
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ASANA AS RITE OF PASSAGE
“A prayer couched in the words of the soul, is far more powerful than any ritual.” ―Paulo Coelho, Brida Through parenthood we die and are reborn a thousand times. We go from couple to family, parents of infants to parents of toddlers. Each of these transitions can feel like loss. In the birth of the Read More
The Myth of Balance
“The key to keeping your balance is knowing when you’ve lost it”. Anonymous “Can parents have it all?” There is a lot of talk going on in the media, again, about the balance between work and family. Does your life feel out of balance? You’re not alone. In fact, most parents feel out of balance. Read More
TAKE FIVE: HOW YOGA MAKES US BETTER PARENTS
“Forgiveness is having given up all hope of having had a better past.” ―Anne Lamott, Operating Instructions I took one last look at the ripped-up kitchen covered in dust, shut the door on the sounds of saws, hammers and boom box, and walked toward the car with baby and toddler in tow. It was the Read More
One Minute Practice For Parents: Chest and Heart Opener
As parents we spend hours folded around our children, hugging, scooping, holding. As a result the muscles in our back can stretch and lengthen and our chest contracts. This is also the posture of fear and it can lead to feelings of heaviness and anxiety as well as love and protection. Here is a chest and Read More
The Yoga of Parenting Turns One: What’s Next?
The Four-fold Way: Show up, Pay attention, Speak your truth, Let go of the outcome –Angeles Arrien I am celebrating the first birthday of The Yoga of Parenting by reflecting on what I learned this first year and what is coming next. It reminds me of my son’s first birthday. We decided to have a big birthday bash (bad Read More
Boredom Busters
“Your problem is how you are going to spend this one and precious life you have been issued. Whether you’re going to spend it trying to look good and creating the illusion that you have power over circumstances, or whether you are going to taste it, enjoy it and find out the truth about who Read More
Life is Suffering, Just not for my Kids
The Buddha said “Life means suffering”, but every mother thinks, “just not my kids, leave them out”. When my children were growing up, my first and immediate response to thier physical or emotional pain was, of course, to prevent or cure it. As they grew older there were more hurts that I couldn’t prevent and Read More
Peace: Ending The Mommy Wars Within
A new round of debates about motherhood and feminism have been spawned by the book, “Conflict”, by Badinter. In The Eternal Internal Mommy Wars, Dell’Antonia describes the debates as an expression of the constant war within mothers (and now more frequently within fathers) between satisfying their own needs and those of their child. This dichotomy Read More
Ending Parent Self-Neglect: One Downward Dog at a Time.
Child neglect is a form of child maltreatment. In the absence of poverty, child neglect can be defined as a deficit in meeting a child’s basic needs like supervision, nutrition, rest, emotional nurturing, shelter. Thank goodness, most parents do not neglect their children. As a matter of fact most middle class parents are giving their Read More