The Slow Down

When it comes to learning styles, I am very much a visual kind of gal. Actually, I am a seer/doer. I need to see it happen and then I need to have the freedom to try it with my own hands (and possibly in my own way). Perhaps all of this explains why I prefer to be able to demonstrate postures when I teach yoga. I like to circulate and keep an eye on everyone in my class, of course, but I also like to hop on the mat and lead the way as we flow together for an hour. Demonstrating feels important for my Basic Flow class, especially, because many of the people who come are new or relatively new to the practice and aren't yet familiar with the asanas to the point of being able to find the pose by name only. I know there are some schools of thought/yoga that require absolutely no demonstrating - cueing and watching the students, only. While I am happy to keep working on my cueing skills so I can someday get students through a complicated (or even basic) sequence with words only, for the time being I am very grateful to be more of the see it/do it mold. One problem with my preferred teaching style, however, becomes apparent when injury occurs, as it unfortunately did this week.

I awoke Thursday morning and felt perfectly fine, perfectly normal until I got out of bed and instantly knew something was very, very wrong. Somehow my neck was completely out/locked up and I had shooting pain if I so much as tried to glance at my left shoulder, much less actually turn my head that direction. It was awful. And did I mention Ben was out of town?! Thankfully his mom was here so after I got HD to school, I was able to buzz up to GI to see my chiropractor and I then began the waiting game. The slow it down, take it easy game. No sudden movements and no activity. As you can imagine, that's not easy to do with a house full of Littles, but somehow I kept still enough through the rest of Thursday and Friday to get me to Saturday where I started feeling better and began to get some of my range of motion back with both my neck and my arms (try lifting your hands over your head to change your shirt or wash your hair when your neck is out...not fun!).

Thank goodness the relief came when it did because I had my regular Sunday Flow to teach this morning and on Thurs/Fri I wasn't so sure I'd be able to do it because I was in that much pain. This morning, feeling much improved but still not "better," I knew going in that I would not be able to do all - not even most - of the practice with them. But we talk all the time in yoga about honoring your body and meeting yourself where you are today, so today I had to live that. I showed up on the mat and did what I could. Nothing more. And, really? That was OK. It was strange to not flow right along with my class but I enjoyed watching my Sunday morning yogis find their own way through the sequence and trusting their bodies and their knowledge when it came to landing in the postures. They all got there and together they built a beautiful class full of gratitude, and, well, thanksgiving, which was totally the point of the class.

Those of you who know me, know I love themes. I've said before that themeing is one of my favorite aspects of yoga teaching and nothing has changed for me there. I love building a sequence based on a certain body area or chakra or goal, such as heart opening or gratitude building. Actually, those are pretty much the same thing because having an open heart is to have a grateful heart and what a beautiful way to move through a yoga practice both on and off the mat. So, yes. This week's classes are bent at gratitude - both for elements within ourselves and also within our lives in general. And that gratitude felt very real, very present for me today, even though I was limited in my movements, because just to be there at all felt like such a wonderful gift.

The other cat that clearly came out of the bag during class this morning, is that my music/playlists totally match my mood for the day/week. When I teach Happy Hour on Fridays? I get fairly sassy and start throwing in funkier songs with wilder lyrics. When I've been feeling run down or have hurt myself? The tunes chill way out and take on a whole different vibe. I like to keep the messages in the music positive still, if I can, because for me, the music and the movements are both essential parts of the practice. Clearly I am not the only one because I often have people make comments about the music after class and I am always happy to share the music love, whether it is the funkier and fun or the milder and mellow. To me, the music becomes about the connection with my head, my heart, and my breath; I realize this may not vibe historically with yoga, but again, I remain grateful to be who and where and when I am because these are the elements that make me feel full, even when I'm physically taken down a degree (or ten).

Even though it is easy to get spun up in the rush and hubbub of the holidays, I hope you all find your own slow down (hopefully not necessitated by injury!) and happy connection with others this week. Be sure to take care of you and honor where you are right now in life, so that your hearts remain open and full of thanks.

With much love and peace, Namaste!

The Board

While there have been times in the last few months that I've considered giving Facebook the boot (too much time sucked, too much negative energy, just too much too much), there are certain elements and connections and people I have via the social media mogul that keep me coming back for more. And actually, that's very much in line with the point of this post - how much better you can serve yourself by picking your company wisely and surrounding yourself with the very best - the people who will see and nurture the good in you no matter how bad things get. And thanks to Facebook, I was recently reminded that the people in our inner bubble - our true guides - are ones we need to choose wisely and hold close. The advice and counsel of others who might be talking in our ears? Well, perhaps not so much.

I first remember being introduced to this concept as an adult several years ago in Patti Digh's book Four Word Self-Help. It's a fab little piece and one four-worder that jumped out at me was, "Give Up Toxic People." At the time, I had a neighbor who, whenever we chatted in our front yards, would just go on and on and on about everything wrong in her life. It became so draining to talk to her that I started to avoid initiating conversation. I mean, I get it - we all have Tuesdays in our lives, but every day cannot be Tuesday. If it is, then please find a professional to help you see beyond those days, because even someone such as myself, who does not believe that every moment of every waking hour is filled with sunshine and roses, knows that attitude and perspective and HELP can go a long, long way in finding the better. Anyway - after reading Digh's discussion of toxic people, it was pretty clear to me that my neighbor was not someone in which I could invest any more of myself. We could still be cordial and polite but vulnerable and connected? No. In the years since I have come to this same place, this same conclusion, in other relationships and friendships, and while the giving up part can be very hard, I have found doing so to be beneficial in the long run. When you make these hard decisions and changes, you are ultimately healing and protecting your heart by walking away from those who do not truly support or see you. Naturally, my yoga practice of the last year+ has deepened this belief for me. As I continue my journey to self-acceptance and radical self-love, I see how beneficial it is to keep the company of those who will listen rather than lecture, offer acceptance before advice, and love me, faults and all.

As all of this has been rattling around in my head lately, it was a beautiful moment of synchronicity last week when a friend posted on Facebook about a speaker she had seen many years ago who asked the audience who, if given the chance, would they select to sit on their own personal Board of Directors for their lives. People to "council you, to support you, to offer solutions to your problems and to see the 'big picture' and to help you achieve a happy, successful life." My very wise friend (who totally gave me permission to steal all of this for a blog post - thanks, K!) went on to list examples (spouse, family members, teachers, coaches, friends, etc.) and then beautifully ended with the following:

            Evaluate the people you are surrounding yourself with, giving your time to, whether it be physically, emotionally, professionally. Evaluate what they are bringing to your long term "big picture". Take care of the people in your life that take care of you. And learn to value the opinions and advice from your personal Board of Directors. Your future self with thank you for it. 

After reading this, I was first grateful for the amazing connections and ideas the interwebs bring me on a daily basis; I doubt I could have survived this SAHM gig before Al Gore invented the Internet because how else would I, could I still feel like a part of the outside world while being consumed by the life and times of my littles and their daily grind? Secondly, I was totally inspired by the ideas in this question/post. We hear all the time that it takes a village to raise a child, but aren't we all children, in some ways, always? We all deserve a village of our own and having a wise Board of Directions within that village is a no-brainer. As much as I may be an introvert, even I believe that this life was not meant to be lived alone. Why on earth do we expect ourselves to have all the answers? To always know what is right? Why not take guidance from others and take comfort in their support, love, and occasional hugs or high-fives? If we are to give up toxic people, then we should also be motivated to find those who fit our hearts and our lives - our Personal Board. 

So what do you think? Could you sit down and make a list of those who you would like to add to your Board? You're the CEO (or whatever business analogy makes sense here - c'mon people, I'm an English major!), so you get to decide. Let go of the flapping jaws - the people who don't have your best interest at heart - and hang on to the ones who do (even if they sometimes disagree with you). And then ask them. Ask them to serve. Write them a letter (another idea from Miss Digh - through her Project 137 - that I participated in a few years ago). Let them know the importance, the role they have had in shaping your life, and how you hope they continue to do so. Let us nurture these connections, these relationships, so we can perhaps have more sunshine and roses days, or least know that we'll be loved and supported when our mood comes up more rain and thorns. 

I plan to do this. I don't know what number I'll land at for my final Board (six? seven? ten?) and I may bend the rules a bit (as in, can I put someone who is already gone from this world on my Board? Because I'd sure like to, in hopes that spirit guides count here, too) in order to get to my final number, but why not? Why not let people know you value them in such a way? This is not to say these people will lead every step of your life. But if they are already loving and guiding you, why not acknowledge their presence and say, "THANK YOU for helping me find my way."? After all, 'tis the season for giving thanks! 

My Lovable Lefty

When you are 16 1/2 months old, going on 2 or maybe even 3 years old, there's a lot of excitement in life. Or, at least there's a lot of excitement, growth, and change happening for Mr. Lincoln as of late, which might be why it feels like he's a baby turning into a toddler so very quickly. First there's this face. Do you see this face?! When did he get to be such a big boy?! His uber blonde hair is growing, growing, and even though it is starting to hang in his eyes just a titch, I refuse to cut it because he has the most beautiful curls in back with which I will not part. And I cannot trim the front because there's really not so much happening on the sides and I also refuse to give the poor kid a mullet. He's the cutest thing ever, but I'm not sure even he could pull off business in the front, party in the back. 

Sweet cheeks and locks aside, there's also the fact that he can now get up on the furniture all by himself which is also making him suddenly seem much older, too. When he started walking a few weeks ago, I knew I was in a totally different realm of keeping him safe, but now that he's also added climbing in such a short amount of time, I'm at a loss. Just this morning I looked up to see that he'd scaled onto the kitchen bench and from there all the way up its armrest onto the kitchen-flippin'-counter! And when I moved him to the dining room for safer keeping while I did some work on the computer, he made it onto a chair and then the table I don't know how many times every time I turned my attention back to my project. He's a complete Mt. Goat and a bouncy one at that:

This picture was taken on our mini-trampoline that has once again been moved inside our sunporch so we can get great winter afternoon use out of it and the kids have been having a blast jumping leaf-free the last couple weeks. HD has also figured out that it is quite fun to lift LT onto it (thank goodness HD is well trained in zipping the net shut behind them!) so all three kids can jump together. At first this terrified me, but it didn't take many times of watching Linky Monster hold his own and add his own crazy jumps to the mix to know that he's much rougher and tougher than I give him credit for these days. The kid is a nut! He jumps and jumps and launches himself up in the air, only to land straight on his seat from which he rolls over, laughs, and gets up to do it again (and again and again). Just when I made my peace with all of this, he started doing the same launching on the couch cushions (and over the side of the couch into the bean bag). Remember when I claimed he was the wiggliest to date in my tummy? Yeah....I'd better invest in some running shoes and foam padding because it looks like the next couple years might be quite active and quite accident prone! 

Jumps and bumps aside, this kid totally has my heart. Does it stink to try to take him anywhere because he refuses to fold in half to be strapped in his carseat and hollers at me for trying to do so? Yes. Does he reject more than half the food I try to feed him and toss enough cereal and pretzels and other crunchy times on the floor so that I'm constantly sweeping or stepping on things? Yes. Does he still try to bite his brother and sister when they don't give him enough space? Yes. But do all of these things melt away when he comes toddler-stumble-running to greet me when I walk in the door or rests his head on my shoulder as we snuggle on the couch or on a walk through the house with him on my right hip? Yes (well, not the biting. I really wish he'd quite doing that!). Lincoln is my adorable baby growling sound maker, banana, popcorn, and yogurt loving (but not all at the same time) eater, and sweet, sweet boy, who totally prefers to use his left-hand (what?!) and understands pretty much everything I tell him during the day. Except for "please sit in your carseat!", that is. 

Linky Monster on Halloween. Cutest baby monster EVER! 

Quiet Balance

Huh. Darn near two week in to November, and this is only my second post for the month. That's actually not that far off my norm - historically I manage 1.5 posts per week - but compared to the major upswing of posts in July, August, and October, one a week seems small. Quiet.

There are several reasons for this.

One reason would be no yoga trainings. If you look at the three months of this year with the highest number of posts, they all correlate to my various classes and workshops. And not that there is anything wrong with the trainings, but they certainly give my brain a lot of information and emotion to sort through, which is what writing always does for me. Without one of those in the last six weeks, I've had time to settle in and continue to get my feet wet with this whole yoga teaching gig. Less to process - more to do. But fear not - prenatal module No.2 is coming in early December, so I'm sure that will spark another flurry of posts!

The settling in and feet wetting, though, are more reasons for quietude on the blog. I've been teaching a LOT in the last month, taking on some extra subbing duties both at the studio and the Y and honestly, between all of that and my CCC teaching and managing/loving on my sweet family, there's been little time for anything else. My own practice has been pushed to the back burner a bit by of all of the goings on, too, and what I've come to realize now that the schedule itself is quieting down is that I have to better protect my own time. I believe that any teacher, in any subject matter, has to continue their own education in order to remain effective, but in yoga that is more true than any other area in which I've ever studied. If I don't continue to show up on my mat to do the work, I won't be able to help others do the same. I've had glimmers of this earlier in the year, but now I know for certain that I have to take in all that's going on in my house and my family and my three part-time jobs and still make time for me, and it needs to be on the mat. Beyond writing, it's the other place I process best.

As for the other reason for less posting? I think the last few weeks have just been a fairly introspective time for me, and while it may seem to some that I lay it all out on the blog (which is a fair assessment since not much isn't up for discussion here), there are times when my introverted nature takes over and my words stay wrapped up in my head. Again, this is not something I view as a negative or as a criticism of myself. It just is what it is. I love the times when I feel the pull, the need, to post a lot. I'm also quite fond of the days and weeks when my mind isn't narrating stories day in and day out. I like to think that having these moments of contrast means I have a fair amount of balance, crazy/full as life may seem these days. And for a busy mama who spends her days and weeks spinning countless plates, I cannot think of anything that sounds better than staying balanced.

Phwee

Normally, I don't load posts with lots of pictures, but November 4th isn't a normal day for us. In the Welschie house, November 4th is officially known as Raegan Leigh Day. And how is it even possible that it is the third - third! - time we are celebrating the day, the birth, of this sweet baby girl (who, incidentally, corrects me daily when I call her this. She is a big sister, not a baby, thankyouverymuch!)? However, since it is, I present to you some of my favorite photos from the last few months prior to Miss Raegan turning, in her word, Phwee: 

 Those. Big. Eyes! They get me and pretty much everyone else around her every. single. time! 

 I kid you not, this is RL wearing LT's size 12 mo. t-shirt and shorts. 

In September. Of this year! So funny and sooooo 

proud of herself. 

 If you ask me, Raegan is clearly ready to backpack through Africa. She's 

already figured out how to carry two bag at once! 

 The mind of an almost-three-yr-old is fascinating, as is the fashion sense. 

The whole leotard with a skirt over jeans and under a monkey hoodie, 

all while wearing a Leaf Crown look is priceless. 

 She claimed, on Halloween, that this was her angry face. I, however, beg to differ. As the second time around mama of an almost Phwee, I know quite well what her angry face looks like. As much as she's still my sweet, sweet baby (oops, there's that word again), she's also got a classic three-yr-old's temperament and temper. Thankfully, because this is my second time around, I'm much more skilled at responding to her moments with a calm, "Goodness, it's hard to be almost three" which allows her to have said moment(s) and then we move on....typically to goofiness such as this: 

So yes, three is adorable and ornery and an overall roller coaster. Or rather, almost three has been and I don't really expect any less from actual phwee, but I am so blessed, so honored to be on this ride as Raegan's mama. May her smile and her eyes and her heart and her mind always remain as bright and open as they are right now. And correct away as I say it again - Love you, Baby Girl! Happiest of Happies of Birthdays!