This tends to be what yoga looks like for me when my kiddies are around. So much fun!
Wednesday 26 February 2014
Tuesday 25 February 2014
Earth and Art Yoga
I finally got around to starting a page for my yoga on Facebook. Packed with bite size bits of family yoga fun to give everyone a bit of inspiration for taking yoga off the mat and incorporating it into your lives. Give it a Like here.
This is gorgeous India when she was 3/4 years. Everyone can meditate!
Monday 24 February 2014
365 Handstands- Week 32
Day 218- Handstands beneath a gorgeous old tree with my sleeping babe.
Day 219
Day 220
Day 221
Day 222
Day 223
Day 224- Morning handstands in Fitzroy Gardens with Mio just doing her own thing.
Thursday 20 February 2014
The Link Between the Hips and Jaw
A recent trip to the dentist re-sparked my interest in the relationship between the hips and the jaw. I first explored this link in my yoga teacher training and looked at how un-clenching the jaw and making sounds during labour helps to open up the muscles in the pelvis and aids in a smoother more relaxed delivery. The link exists because of how the embryo develops in utero. The embryo forms two bulges, one goes on to develop into the skull and jaw, while the other develops into the pelvis. The spine grows between, linking these two parts. The hips and the jaw never lose their connection, it's often said that hips hold emotion and I'm sure everyone has felt tension in our jaws as we hold back anger or bite our tongue . If we are holding tension in either of these areas you can be sure that the other will be tight too.
So, back to my trip to the dentist... Needing some work done that I couldn't put off I found a holistic dentist in Melbourne CBD. As I am currently breastfeeding I needed to find a practitioner that understood the need to avoid any of the dangers often associated with dentistry and pregnancy/ breastfeeding and I was lucky enough to find one that took all the precautions to avoid anything entering my bloodstream that shouldn't. When the dentist had finished his work I stood up to discover my hips were aching, at the time I thought nothing of it, assuming it was just from lying in the chair for one-and-a-half hours. It wasn't until I woke up from a nap that afternoon that the realisation of the connection between the pelvis and jaw hit me. It's surprising how much a bit of dental work takes out of you and after the anesthetic wore off I spent the afternoon feeling like I had been hit in the head with a rock and my hips were aching.
Yoga, being my first port of call for everything, was what I knew I needed. I lay down to do some hip work to loosen my pelvis and essentially de-stress my jaw. Feeling like I needed the calm of Yin yoga to release energy I relaxed into happy baby and noticed straight away a sharp pain stemming from inside my right pelvic area and extending from my butt down my thigh. As it had been only 24 hours since last holding this pose I noticed the distinct change instantly and linked the cause to my dental work a few hours earlier. Being a busy mumma I didn't have time to hold poses for extended periods as you generally do in Yin yoga but I did my best and by the time the little ones were asleep and I was able to focus on some hip work again my hips were no longer aching and my jaw was nearly back to normal.
Using this understanding of the connection between the jaw and the hips enables us to work through a range of issues that come up in our lives. We can use yoga for the hips to treat headaches or releasing the jaw along with sound work to open the pelvis in labour or to shift energy from the lower chakras in meditation. We can use yoga for the hips to treat a jaw injury and we can use jaw, neck and shoulder work to aid in treating a pelvis injury. Our bodies function as a unit and paying attention to how it feels can lead us to a greater understanding of how to work through and overcome many short and long term issues.
So, back to my trip to the dentist... Needing some work done that I couldn't put off I found a holistic dentist in Melbourne CBD. As I am currently breastfeeding I needed to find a practitioner that understood the need to avoid any of the dangers often associated with dentistry and pregnancy/ breastfeeding and I was lucky enough to find one that took all the precautions to avoid anything entering my bloodstream that shouldn't. When the dentist had finished his work I stood up to discover my hips were aching, at the time I thought nothing of it, assuming it was just from lying in the chair for one-and-a-half hours. It wasn't until I woke up from a nap that afternoon that the realisation of the connection between the pelvis and jaw hit me. It's surprising how much a bit of dental work takes out of you and after the anesthetic wore off I spent the afternoon feeling like I had been hit in the head with a rock and my hips were aching.
Yoga, being my first port of call for everything, was what I knew I needed. I lay down to do some hip work to loosen my pelvis and essentially de-stress my jaw. Feeling like I needed the calm of Yin yoga to release energy I relaxed into happy baby and noticed straight away a sharp pain stemming from inside my right pelvic area and extending from my butt down my thigh. As it had been only 24 hours since last holding this pose I noticed the distinct change instantly and linked the cause to my dental work a few hours earlier. Being a busy mumma I didn't have time to hold poses for extended periods as you generally do in Yin yoga but I did my best and by the time the little ones were asleep and I was able to focus on some hip work again my hips were no longer aching and my jaw was nearly back to normal.
Using this understanding of the connection between the jaw and the hips enables us to work through a range of issues that come up in our lives. We can use yoga for the hips to treat headaches or releasing the jaw along with sound work to open the pelvis in labour or to shift energy from the lower chakras in meditation. We can use yoga for the hips to treat a jaw injury and we can use jaw, neck and shoulder work to aid in treating a pelvis injury. Our bodies function as a unit and paying attention to how it feels can lead us to a greater understanding of how to work through and overcome many short and long term issues.
Happy baby pose.
Monday 10 February 2014
365 Handstands- Week 30
This week hot days make indoor yoga practice inviting.
Day 204
Day 205
Day 206
Day 207
Day 208
Day 209
Day 210
Saturday 8 February 2014
Immortalising Children's Art
There is nothing quite like seeing your child draw a picture. As my daughter grows I love seeing her style change and skills grow. If your place is anything like ours then you will have a thousand art books and pieces of paper filed away because they art too amazing to throw out. Some of her pictures really grab me and I've taken to turning some of them into relief prints so that we can print her designs onto cards and clothing. Here's a few things we've created...
A tortoise print on a card finished with water colour.
A tortoise print made into a library bag for India
Robot print on a t-shirt
Sleepy Mio sporting an organic cotton singlet with her big sister's fox print.
An organic cotton t-shirt for a friend's little boy.
This is my home studio- the kitchen table. I call this operation t-shirt station.
Wednesday 5 February 2014
Photo Journals
With digital media I rarely print out photos these days but I do like having a few hard copies around because there is something special about flicking through a photo album. I've made my photo books from scratch including the paper and covered them in special fabric. Making my own books gives the photos a special place to live and give more meaning to the content.
The top one is covered with fabric my friends sent back from overseas and has pictures of Mio's first 2 weeks. The one on the right is covered with fabric that Dave gave me when he asked me to marry him and has pictures of my pregnancy with India and her birth. And the one on the left has pictures of India's first 2 weeks.
Mio's first 2 weeks
India's birth
India's first 2 weeks
Monday 3 February 2014
365 Handstands- Week 29
Day 197
Day 198
Day 199
Day 200- Handstand with a little face
Day 201
Day 202
Day 203
Saturday 1 February 2014
365 Handstands- Week 28
Day 190
Day 191
Day 192
Day 193
Day 194
Day 195- Handstands on the sun baked grass.
Day 196
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