Prenatal Yoga : Why I tried & My First Impresh

Okay friends, I’m writing again about a ‘future mom’ topic bc that’s what’s surrounding my everyday! If this doesn’t benefit you now it will in the next couple of years 😊 I know I’m only about two thirds through this pregnancy adventure but I am able to recognize that among many changes in life right now, there are two big effects that occur while your bun is in the oven: the physical changes & the mental. I’m not sure just yet which one is more demanding.

Physical: Pregnancy makes you feel like you constantly just ran 5 miles, like you just tried doing the splits in an adult dance class for the first time in 2 years (not speaking from experience), or like you just went horseback riding for 8 hrs straight, lol. The problem is that the only place I have been running is to the restroom, and the only serious stretching I’ve done is reaching down to tie my shoes. I do have to say that I was able to keep up my regular workouts at Orange Theory until 18 weeks and then one day, I just was not able to keep up anymore. I’m not going to lie –for how active I was before, I didn’t know it would be so hard on the bod. *current moms are all thinking “just wait!”* In our birthing class last week, the nurse asked “What do you like about being pregnant?”  My answer was that it has forced me to slow down. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am constantly going, going, going and for the first time it’s OK to take it easy. Let me clarify by saying in NO way do I think pregnancy is an excuse, it is a time to listen to your body, and what your baby is telling you he needs. It took me about 24 weeks to accept this, but I do think it’s okay for us to take this time and turn it down a notch. I hope there are other 1st time ‘busy body’ mamas out there that can relate.

Mental: The responsibility that comes with growing a baby can seriously be a big mind eff, if you let it. The anxiety is real, ppl. One second you are feeling your baby kicking and can’t wait to meet him, the next second you’re wondering how you’re going to be responsible for someone else’s life, forever. One day you’re feeling prepared and the next you’re wondering why your nursery doesn’t look like you’re Pinterest board yet….even though he won’t sleep in there for the first 6 months. I’ve found that it helps me to stay off of google and minimize my time spent on the “What to expect” community posts. While apps can be helpful for referrals on products and such, there are also posts called, “how many weeks are you and how much weight have you gained?” If you see this topic, just click away and never look back. Not something anyone needs to be comparing with others. You’ll see women who are on week 25 and have “lost 20 lbs” –bitch, no you haven’t.

Onto the topic of this post! So, this past Sunday I woke up and my body was sore as hell per usual, and I was definitely needing a mental pick-me-up/social interaction. I was laying in bed debating how I can convince myself to go to the apartment gym and at least get on the elliptical…the struggle! I finally decided it was time to look up prenatal yoga as an alternative. Besides the body pains, I think half the reason I haven’t wanted to hard core workout is because the tight spandex and double layer sports bra wearing is extremely uncomfortable. At yoga you can wear looser, comfier clothing… and honestly if you didn’t want to wear a bra you can prob get away without it. Jk, I wouldn’t do that to anyone. There happened to be a class 2 miles from our house at a studio called Honor Yoga, so I last minute got my ass to class. 

If I were explaining the progression of prenatal yoga (which I am) I would break it up into three parts:

1.) Introductions — We spent the first 10 minutes of the class getting to know each other. All of the moms were asked to introduce themselves, how far along they were, if they were having a boy or girl, etc. If I were in an actual workout class where I was actually trying to burn a serious amount of calories, I probably wouldn’t have patience for this. Before pregnancy I was a bootcamp teacher and took workouts too seriously — if it weren’t high intensity it was a waste of time. Considering we’re newer to the area and I’m always looking for others to connect with, I was super into  and excited about the introductions. Everyone else was between weeks 17-19 (I probably should have started this sooner) and also having their first baby.  What a great way to meet people in my same life sitch and listen to what they are experiencing. We can learn a lot  by simply listening to others.

2.) The practice — To be honest I don’t know many of the formal names for the poses but after the introductions we went into the actual practice of sun salutations, breathing, and stretching in a flow type format. At the beginning there was a lot of sitting in the butterfly and indian style positions (again, not the correct names of these positions) which isn’t super comfortable but they give you Mexican looking blankets and a thing called a bolster to sit on which the tail bone liked 👍🏻 If you can’t tell, comfort is pretty much the theme of my life right now. The practice was definitely not super difficult in a physically demanding way, but there were some poses that did burn in the shoulders and quads, and it was just enough to stretch the important parts.

3.) Savassana — Otherwise known as the last 5-10 minutes of class where you lie on your back and the instructor does a lot of talking. Although, you can’t lie flat on your back while preggo so we built an incline out of the bolster and blocks, which was pretty nifty. In normal yoga classes, I have a hard time relaxing and focusing during this last portion of the class. It felt different this time …she had us put one hand on our heart and one hand on our belly so we could show our gratitude towards ourself and baby. Baby C immediately started moving around (so. cool.) The one thing she said that really resonated with me was, “You and your baby were brought together for a reason. He needs you, and you need him.” Although I am already a big believer in ‘everything happens for a reason’ this was the first time I had thought about me needing the baby. There’s so much pressure to prepare for what we can do for the baby, that I haven’t fully grasped the joy, strength, and life he is going to bring to both Craig and myself. I can’t wait to find out.

Going into the prenatal yoga class, I had a couple of goals, to stretch and feel better physically, and to try and meet some other future moms. What I didn’t expect was the calming, mentally stimulating, aspect of the class. You just feel good after, like you did something beneficial for yourself and baby. Much more beneficial than playing bubble mania on your iPad and eating lemon cookies on repeat–although I would know nothing about that.

The conclusion: I will be going once a week on Sunday’s to continue to reap these benefits and think I will connect with others outside of class. Win, win in my preggo book.

Thanks for all the positive feedback so far on my bloggin’ journey. Comment below and let me know what you think!

Thanks for visiting 💕

Kayla

Advertisement

Let’s talk about Strengths, baby…

We spend sooo much of our life focusing on how we need to improve, what we can do better, or how someone else is better than us. Usually when we are looking at someone else’s life, it’s not even a fair comparison…no one else has your life except you. For example, looking at a 6 ft. tall blonde model’s page on Instagram and wondering why I can’t look more like her is just ridiculous…but we all do it. Have you ever seriously stopped to think about what you’re good at, and how you can take these traits to the next level in order to succeed? Maybe someone wants to be more like YOU. We all have different strengths, none better than the other. How boring life would be if we were all the same.

Next week, I’m helping to lead a StrengthsFinder training for my team at work and I’m seriously looking forward to it. Is that so dorky? We get to hear positive reinforcement for a whole afternoon! I actually like applying these types of “assignments” to get better instead of making them another box to check off the long list of daily tasks…or maybe I just like talking about what I’m good at… 🙂

The book this is based on, Strengths Finder 2.0, by Tom Rath, comes with a code that allows you to discover your top 5 strengths (out of a list of 34) based on a series of behavioral questions. I first took this test a couple of years ago on my own, and again this past July for a leadership training. I’ve actually taken both the StrengthsFinder 2.0 & the Strengths Based Leadership test by the same author, but they have the same 34 strengths. The results are creepily accurate and they really didn’t change much at all over time. “People don’t change!”

Step One – Learn what your Strengths are and the characteristics of each. I’ll go through my top 5 strengths quickly, so you can get an idea of how it works and get some examples:

Activator

“Only action can make things happen. Only action leads to performance. Once a decision is made, you cannot not act.”

If you feel like this you may be an activator as well. I rarely have a plan in place for how I am going to get something done, but once I get something in my mind I have to do it right then – I can’t stop thinking about it until I take a step towards making it happen. This is everything from a food craving to accepting a relocation assignment across the country without even knowing which state it was on the US map (I wish I were joking) to daily process improvements on the job. I will think about, or see the end goal and literally just start “doing” until it is done. I have very little patience for the details, evaluation, or analytical discussion. Just get me to the damn cookie…now. 🍪

Maximizer

“Strengths, whether yours or someone else’s fascinate you. And having found a strength, you feel compelled to nurture it, refine it, and stretch it toward excellence.”

This statement right here explains exactly why I am obsessed with this topic. I can’t wait for my team to discover their strengths and be able to apply. Watching people succeed is cool, ya’ll. I don’t like talking about what I’m bad at, I take it too personal and get borderline defensive. This also explains why I’m always giving people the benefit of the doubt, sometimes to a fault, instead of dwelling on what they need to fix. You won’t find me being too harsh on anyone unless they’re on like try #3.

Competition

“When you look at the world, you are instinctively aware of other people’s performance. You need to compare. If you can compare, you can compete, if you can compete, you can win.”

Being competitive is pretty self explanatory. I feel like you either like to compete with others, or you shy away from it completely and feel absolutely no satisfaction in doing so. My friend Lauren once told me during a bootcamp class that I’m the most competitive person she knows, which for some reason, I will never forget. I totally thought this was an inner trait that I did a good job of hiding, but I guess when you wanna win, you wanna win. I remember in high school, my principal cancelled the most important dance competition of the season due to a snow storm and I slammed my bedroom door out of anger so hard you would’ve thought the house was going to fall down. I had already done my makeup and we were supposed to beat our biggest rivals that day. God, I was such a jerk back then…my poor, poor parents. Needless to say, you can tell that this strength did not come as a surprise.

  Futuristic 

“You are a dreamer who sees visions of what could be and who cherishes those visions. When the present proves too frustrating and the people around you too pragmatic, you conjure up your visions of the future and they energize you.”

#TRUTH – I feel like this explains why I spend so much time talking about the future and making sure that decisions made today will be beneficial to the future as well. I have a hard time living in the moment, but am able to see down the long windy road ahead of me, even when it’s a bit foggy. I don’t get hung up in the details of the moment but rather am able to see the “grandness” (is that a word?) and opportunities in the big picture.

Command

“People are drawn toward those who take a stance and ask them to move in a certain direction. Therefore, people will be drawn to you. You have presence.”

Now this word – Command – just sounds scary to me…I promise I’m not going around shouting orders all day. Command is more like you are okay with confrontation and talking about difficult issues in order to get resolution. Once I have an opinion I need to share it with someone else or talk about it — I gotta be careful with that one. Yikes.

Step Two – Identify and learn the characteristics of others’ strengths. Have your team take the test. While it’s beneficial to learn and study your own strengths, it’s pointless to only learn about yourself if you don’t know how to work with others.  The other 29 strengths are:

• Achiever

• Adaptability

• Analytical

• Arranger

• Belief

• Communication

• Connectedness

• Consistency

• Context

• Deliberative

• Developer

• Discipline

• Empathy

• Focus

• Harmony

• Ideation

• Includer

• Individualization

• Input

• Intellection

• Learner

• Positivity

• Relator

• Responsibility

• Restorative

• Self-Assurance

• Significance

• Strategic

• Woo

When I was listing out those strengths I just caught myself thinking, “If only I were a bit more consistent, responsible, or intellectual…” haha, but just because something doesn’t fall in your top 5 doesn’t mean you have zero of that trait in your arsenal.

Step Three – Keep this ‘ish in front of you. The book gives action items you can apply right away against each trait and how to work with others with strengths outside of yours. Reading once and then forgetting about it doesn’t really count. Post your strengths on your beautiful cubicle wall that you stare at all day, so you can remember what you’re good at. Put your employees strengths in their personnel file, maybe on something you open often.

I know a lot of my friends & co-workers (some shown above) have taken this test — what are your strengths? I genuinely want to know! Make sure you are actually clicked into this post (click on the top photo or access from the “Career” drop down and not just on the homepage in order to leave a comment.) If you haven’t taken it, I hope I convinced you to try it out! You could even do this with your SO or friends, outside of work.

I’m still trying to work out all the nuances of running a site like this. Yes, I’m using some older pics I’ve taken for now but plan to have some new images to use shortly. If you have any suggestions or words of encouragement, open to hearing those as well! Follow me for notifications on the latest posts (shameless plug).

Thanks for visiting💕

My Pregnancy Style Picks : Fall Edition

Let’s face it, there’s a lot of stuff you have to buy as a new parent, and most of it isn’t for you! Like seriously, shit you never even thought of. I figured I would just want the basics until I found myself registering at babiesrus for a wipes warmer and bottle drying rack…

The last thing you want to do is spend hundreds of dollars on a new wardrobe that you can only wear for about 5-6 months at most. I somehow managed to squeeze myself into my normal clothes well into the 2nd trimester, but I finally gave in to all things stretchy around week 19…right at the start of fall 🍂🍁 I realized quickly that comfort is key, especially for long days trying to concentrate and perform well at work. Although I would have loved to sleep in, wear yoga pants, and lie around eating endless amounts of bagels at this point in the pregnancy, it just wasn’t really an option for this girl. My goal is to show you that comfort doesn’t have to mean “mom jeans” with tennis shoes…..

DISCLAIMER: In no way, shape, or form am I an expert on pregnancy — I’m simply sharing what I’ve discovered works for me SO FAR 🙂

Three pieces I’ve found myself wearing over and over are 3/4 sleeve length stretchy dresses, ponchos or scarves, and ankle boots. I’ve worn this look to work, on the weekend, and even to my baby shower back in October. The best dress I have found is the Liz Lange Maternity Scoop Neck dress, from Target which I own in both black and gray. They are literally the perfect length, weight and fit to wear all day and the side ruching feels like heaven to my growing belly:

Adding a layer over this will add comfort, warmth, and style to an otherwise seemingly plain dress. At first I thought wearing a poncho or blanket scarf would be “too much” on my 5′ 3″ height but then I remembered I am dressing for two, right? Also, they are super “in” this season –I figure this because they are everywhere! I have had good luck finding affordable and versatile ones at Forever 21 and Marshalls. For some reason the Marshalls here is literally amazing and overflowing with items– they probably get all the overstock stuff from NYC. Here is the look I’m talkin’ about. So freaking comfy to wrap around your bod:

Lastly, find some comfy fall boots to pair with these pieces. Although flats are most comfortable, logical, and the best way to keep your chiropractor off your back (haha), sometimes us preggos just gotta feel stylish. I would, however, recommend alternating days that you wear boots, wedges, or flats to avoid leg soreness, back pain, and swelling in your feet. I can only do wedges/even small heels about twice a work week. My comfiest boots are from Toms and Old Navy (I own both black and tan)- neutral colors such as black, tan or gray will be the most economical as you can mix ‘n match with anything. Here are some of my faves:

Here are some of the “looks” I’ve put together with these essentials while navigating through the 2nd trimester of pregnancy out here in the Garden State:

Most of all, I think it’s important that whatever you choose to wear is comfortable and makes you feel good. I’ll make sure to share my winter style picks/necessities with you all as the seasons change and holidays approach. Let me know what you think and what your fall “go to’s” are and how I can start to mix it up!

Thanks for visiting! 💕
Kayla