During my pregnancy I was in my perfect zen mood: I ate and slept well. I did my yoga and meditation practice every day. I avoid drinking too much coffee, and of course, I didn’t drink any alcohol after I did my pregnancy test.
I was on a top of the mountain, but at the same time I did know, that this balance-like feeling wouldn’t last long – like any period in life doesn’t. There is always change waiting in a corner. I knew that in a couple of months my first mission was to look after the baby and my little girl, and that I wouldn’t have that luxury time to focus on my wellbeing that much. But: I wanted to believe that this balance that I had accomplish would help me when the time would be tight and I would be that busy mum multitasking in our every day life.
So, where are we now?
After nine weeks of the birth of our boy I woke up one morning feeling completely block. I had pain in my back and shoulders, and when I did my forward bent it felt clumsy. I realized that I haven’t had time to step on my yoga mat for a while. I was stuck in mentally and physically.
This is what it does to me when I don’t
have time to have my regular moments on my yoga mat.
Meanwhile my everyday life soundtrack sounds something like this: Wake up, feet the baby, make breakfast for the firstborn. Try to negotiate with her what to wear and eat. Try to get her ready to go to nursery with her father. Do the laundry, change durable nappies every two hours, maybe work two hours, and make lunch for my husband and me. Tidy the apartment. The firstborn comes home from day care. Diner. Tidy. Pyjamas on. Bedtime story. Then me getting up from the bed with the baby to feed him and then try to get sleep for two or three hours and then eat again. And bing the same all over again.
This everyday ritual and busy family life has made me forgot for a while what is really essential for me: my time on the yoga mat.
Luckily my body sent me a message to return back to my mat. It whispered to me and begged me to make that little time for myself. I learned my lesson, but I also learned a valuable lesson about busy everyday life that many of us are living. It is so easy when you have time and balanced life to give instructions to others, and as a yoga teacher I got good inside information and more understanding where most of us are coming from when they are entering in to a yoga class. Most of us enter in a class feeling tired and stressed. We have too much on our mind, and in this hectic life rhythm it is so difficult to stop and take that deep breath. Well all this I have learned.
Of course my mission for now is to look after the kids, but I do have to take care of myself so that I can be a happy mother to my children. I need to make space for my practice. So now when I have a little break (when the baby is sleeping) I enter to my mat and just do a short practice. It can be five minutes or a half an hour – you never know, but it is practice and I know that it is my petrol for life. And like in life, on my yoga mat too, I can always start all over again.
With the New Year there always comes an opportunity to change things, chance of new beginnings. To our family the start of the year has been really about new beginnings when our baby boy was born. And after that I have literally slowed down (that is why the favorite list of the months comes now in February). In these past weeks I have lived in a baby bubble. From our sixth floor apartment I have looked when it has been snowing, listened the silence during night times. The new everyday routine left me with the feeling that sometimes I don’t even know if it is day or night. Even when I have been feeling tired, I do have to share this: I am so happy about this baby boy, and that I am now a mother of two children.
After giving birth my body is in a slow
recovering process. This time I will give it its time to recover, and try not to
rush to be a woman again. This beginning of the year is literally for me a
slowly waking up process – that is why the theme of the month is slow waking;
maybe you feel the same, too. Anyway, below you will find my good mood list of
the month. Enjoy!
Book of the month: Late Bloomers
by Eveliina Nieminen. This short novel collection is all about today’s
overachieving people who try to be the best version of them self. These short
stories dive deep into our western culture and in its sharp and sarcastic way.
Also, there are beautiful illustrations in this book and you just want to stop
reading for a while and have a pause. I even got inspiration to start drawing
again.
Natural cosmetics: Mádara’s Gloss and Vibration Shampoo and Nourish and Repair Conditioner. I have used these natural cosmetics products a couple of months, and I can assure that these hair products are the best for my thin and blondened hair. The shampoo is giving my hair extra volume and shine, and the conditioner is making sure that my hair is soft and more silkier.
3 x yoga asanas of the month
I have returned to my yoga mat with
softness and in humility. Below you can find asanas, which I do every night.
Paschimottanasana “west stretching pose”
Did you know that forwarding bend has a
calming effect to your mind? It draw us into the inner mysteries and dynamics
of our lives. The energetic effects of forward bends are concentrated in the
lower chakras, often revealing base emotions held deep in the body. When you
hold this position at least five minutes, you have a time to explore your
feelings.
Sit tall in Dandasana. Check that your
sitting bones are grounded. If needed add a towel on your sitting bones to help
you bend forward. Bring the hands toward
the feet as far as possible without bending the spine. Clasp there to leverage
the activation of the legs, lengthening of the spine, and anterior rotation of
the pelvis. Draw the torso forward over the legs. With each inhale, lengthen
the spine, and with each exhale release the torso forward. Try not to get your
head at first to your legs, instead of concentrate on drawing the heart center
up and forward. Keep your legs active. Feel how the back of the body release,
and how the posture stretch the muscles around the pelvis.
Supported chest opener
Add a couple of blocks and bolster on your
mat as you see in the picture. If you don’t have these, you can always use a
pile of pillows. Then lye down and let your upper body rest against the
bolster. Relax your arms to the side. You can let your legs rest straight or
bring the feet together. Enjoy and relax. This is a good position to do a
little meditation.
Balasana “Child’s pose”
This is a nurturing pose; we are in this
position during nine months of gestion and naturally return to this fetal
position to nurture or protect ourselves.
You can always do this asana without a
bolster, but for me with this support balasana is just heaven.
How to get in Balasana?
Release the hips back towards and to the
heels. Then lay down. Let your other cheek rest on a pillow or a bolster and
release your arms straight ahead. Relax. After a couple of minutes change your
head to other direction and let the other cheek rest on your bolster.
In Sanskrit and Tibetan language the nearest words to meditation is bhavana (to grow, to cultivate) and gom. These words emphasize the point to do meditation: to find that true and clear mind that observes us and the world, and through that we can grow to become that better version of ourselves, and with only that we can serve the world and others better, too. This all demands practice, meditation. By changing ourselves, we can start to change the world around us and help others.
I have to admit, that it wasn’t easy to start to do meditation at the beginning. Listen to music or by reading a book was the closest to that I could get to meditation state. Then I found yoga, and little by little I started to find my focus, too. Thought, at first I was into powerful yoga practice and I found those slow yoga classes boring, to be honest. But with years practice I started to be more interested in meditation.
This summer I started to do meditation practice every day, and I have been doing ever since. I started in a complicated period in my life. Last summer we were making important decision about our future and where we are going to live. We decided to sell the house in Alella and move to Helsinki, as you know. But that wasn’t easy decision to make, and it still hurts me to think of it. Anyway, in that moment I found comfort, relief and more strength to deal my emotions when I started to do a little meditation practice besides yoga.
Every morning I went to this big empty room (that was planned to be our master bedroom in one day), lighted a candle and sat down on my yoga mat, put on my headphones and started to listen to a guided meditation. At first it was painful to deal all the stuff that kept coming out, every time I end up crying – but I kept returning to that space and to do my meditation practice.
When we moved to Helsinki I continued my practice, even when my mind kept returning to Alella and that empty room. I noticed that I started to become stronger, even when I was hurting inside. I believe, for me, meditation helped me be face to face with my emotions and thoughts – I didn’t escape, I dealed them. I became calmer and stronger.
With regular practice I have noticed some differences in me and I think I have became a better version of my self.
Here are the benefits that I have discovered:
1) I have more patience, and I don’t get nervous that easily.
2) I am more present
3) I stress less about the future
4) I think more positively
5) I have better concentration skills
6) I know better how am I doing
7) I sleep better
8) I am not in a hurry
9) I breathe more slowly
10) I accept the fact that some things I can effects, others not. That sometimes it is better to just let the things go as they go, and try not to force them.
11) I spend less time in social media
This is not a surprise that I have found these positive changes in me, because there are many researches about the benefits of doing meditation on regular base (Ricard 2008/2010 18–20).
Do you find meditation practice difficult?
Nobody is a master at the beginning. Start with slow steps. At first try to find 5 to 10 minutes a day to do your practice. Sit down in a quiet place. Find a good seated position that you can spend a little time. If you don’t like to sit on the floor, you can sit on a chair. The most important thing is that, your back is straight that all the energy channels in our body can be in straight line and this is how your mind is free.
Close your eyes and just start to pay attention to your breathing, how it moves your body with inhale and exhale. If you mind keeps wondering, that is normal. Minds mission is to create thoughts, but you can always turn the focus back on your breathing. Try to calculate your inhales and exhales, that might help too. Try not to control your breathing, let it go as natural it goes. That is how you start, learn, and keep your focus to become a master of meditation.
Or you can always try this easy mantra meditation. In your inhale say silently so and with exhale ham. That means I am that/he/she. Repeat it several times. Then later let go of ham sound, and then later give up repeating so. The idea in the end is to let go all the guided meditation and get to that pure state where there is peace and harmony – this is a place where you can enter with your mind.
Start to day. I promise that this is a best and free investment you can do for yourself in a long run. In life, we all have experienced some painful situations and we will. With solid and balanced mind we can deal what’s coming better, talking about the effects what regular meditation practice does your every day life.
The darkest season (in North) is here, and it is perfect excuse to carry light and warmness to your body and soul.
November is one of my favorite months. You might think, I am kidding, but nope, it is. And I am going to tell you why:
It is time to slow time. Literally here in North we need to start walk slower not to fall down. This is a perfect moment to walk more intentionally, to be more present.
November is a perfect month to turn attention to your inner self and get cozy. It is time to change cold drinks to hot ones, like Finnish glögi or tea, take breaks during the day on your yoga mat or just read a couple page of a good book on your sofa. It is time to light candles and praise the soft light. I would say that November is an official month of hygge.
Also, for me, November is a good excuse to start prepare for Christmas without the stress of buying gifts and all the other things we have to do before that big day. It is just the perfect time, slowly, to start enjoying Christmas lights and to eat chocolate, not to forget all the fun pre-Christmas parties that are waiting (well not for me that much parting this year).
Here is my pampering list for you to make the month even better:
In my diffuser: Last week, when I tried a new yoga studio, I smelled a little spicy, Christmas-like scent. “What was in the diffuser?”, I asked. “It is an essential oil called Thieves by Young Living”, answered the yoga teacher. I bought one bottle for myself right away. Thieves is a perfect essential oil for Christmas season. It is a mix of special aromatic combination composed of clove, rosemary, lemon, cinnamon bark, eucalyptus radiate. It definitely fills the place with seductive, rich and spicy aroma. The name thieves comes from 15th century French thieves who combined this special mixture. High recommendations. You can get your own bottle from here.
Drink of the month: Spicy Sweet Chai tea by Yogitea.
On my plate: dates and chocolate
On my skin:Himalayan Body Scrub by Flow Cosmetics. This vanilla & orange mix body scrub purifies my skin and makes it soft. After this I am addict to Melvita’s Argan oil, which I have been using this autumn non-stop. After adding the body oil, I like to put another layer of Mossa’s Intense Nutrition, Sea Buckthorn body lotion. This season calls for an extra attention to my skin. Oh boy, how the skin feels different when living here in North than it was in sunny Spain. Luckily we have the sauna in our apartment. My favorite routine after the sauna is to do a slow body nutrition routine and do it in mindfully.
Asana of the month: Baddha konasana, butterfly. For us women, we attend to have a lot of pressure on our hips. This asana helps you open more your inner tights and hip area. Make it a routine, do this asana every night before going to bed and you will notice the difference after a couple of weeks. This asana helps you also during periods.
How to do it:
Bent the knees and bring the feet together. Sit tall on the sitting bones (both sitting bones rooted) with the hands of the floor. Open the feet like a book, press the heels together while stretching the knees out toward the floor. Rotate the pelvis forward to draw the hearth center toward the horizon. If you feel any pressure on the knee area, add a block under the knees.
Recently, I listened twice a ten days meditation class Manifest Your Ultimate Goals & Dreams by Kenneth Soares via Insight Timer (yep, it is my favorite application at the moment). Kenneth is a mental coach, a member of a Power Thoughts Meditation Club (I recommend to check their web page) and free spirit. I really like this guy. Anyway, the topic of the ten days class was goals in life and how to reach them. The subject really spoke to me in this time, so I wanted to share Kenneth’s tips to you too. I mean, if you are wondering why the goal setting is difficult or often so out of reach. I felt like this when we were living in Alella. I had all the time during the day to do what I wanted, but I hardly get anything done really. I lost my focus and purpose, and most of the time I was wondering what I should do. To avoid this same feeling, here is what Kenneth propose for reaching the goals:
1.Write done what you want. Really, do this. Kenneth mentions that when you write down your goals it increases 75 % the chance to really reach them.
2. Make clear goals and make deadline. For example, I will meditate every morning for ten minutes till end of November or I will finish writing that article by the end of October. Also, do a planning on daily base so that the goal is easier to reach. Slice the goal like eating an apple. It works!
3. Why? This is your key question. Have you ever wonder why you really want to reach this goal? Why it is so important to you? Kenneth mentions that answering the question why you more likely will reach your target. To put it in other words: most unlikely you will reach your goal if you haven’t stop thinking ‘why’.
4. Engage and accept that there will be stones on your road – like in life in general.
5. How to get start? Make a one goal of each of these categories:
– mental growth
– physical well-being
– relationship (family, friends, relationship)
– working life / study
Follow the steps mention earlier.
I hope these steps will help you as they have helped me. I have made dream maps in every New Year’s Eve since 2014, and I noticed that some of the goals were forgotten on my fancy mind map. Afterwards I have realized that I didn’t make them precise enough and thought about the question why.
So to turn the new chapter from now on I will try to answer the question ‘why’ whenever setting new goals.
In Brittany I have been walking on the same hiking trail every evening. That gave me an idea that this is my power road.
You might have heard talk about power animals, and everyone seems to have their favorite quote of power sentence – I am not that into on those things, but walking and finding my own path, yes! At this moment my life is a bit chaotic. There is big moving ahead, and next week I need to finish packing all our stuff. Sometimes I feel myself like a gypsy and restless, because I don’t stay in a same address more than two years. Luckily we have this summer place in Brittany. There is one place that is always here and I feel safe, powerful, and in a way find my roots. Here I can find my walking path and the same beautiful landscape. Since I met my husband, I have been coming here every summer.
And every summer I walk the same hiking path. And for me this walking is therapeutic. It is my power path that gives me strength and clears my head. In the first summer when I walked in this path, I was pregnant with my first child, in the baby year I was taking my me time by walking, in the third summer I was convinced by the idea that I would like to participate a yoga teacher training. This summer on my walks I have been combining all the previous things: I am thinking of my second pregnancy, take time alone and feel even stronger calling to teach yoga. (It should be logic after the training that I want to teach yoga, but I can sure you that teaching is not easy at the beginning.)
When we arrived to Brittany, I was feeling sad and restless. After spending a couple of days in Brittany, I already felt much stronger and balanced. Day after day, walking by the same path, I feel like I have walk away all the sorrow, and find my self-confidence and positive believe in the future. It feels almost like I am returning from a mini pilgrimage.
Imagine a moment when you are at the hairdresser’s, with hair dye on, and then when it is time to rinse the color out the hair stylist starts buzzing and complaining to another hairdresser. Well this happened to me last Saturday.
The whole hair-coloring thing was an impulse. It was Saturday morning; I had just finished my yoga. My husband and daughter had left for a baby swimming class, and I thought that this was the moment to sneak out. So I walked to a hair salon nearby, not a very fancy one. Just one of those drop-in kind of places where you don’t need to make an appointment. I know, not very classy, but I didn’t have a lot of time, and during the week it is impossible for me to do anything on my own when I am at home with the baby.
So let’s get back to that washing station. It turned out that in Finland my hairdresser had dyed my hair with some ecological hair dye that turned out completely orange after applying bleach to get some highlights.
So the hairdressers talked to each other for a while and decided to do another bleaching. I was terrified at the thought of ending up completely hairless. The other problem was that I needed to be at home in half an hour. We were going to a christening, and I surely hadn’t thought that I would spend more than three hours at the hairdresser’s. So once again I was abandoned at the washing station with more dye in my hair. My hairdresser went to take care of another client. After a while another hairdresser came over and started to wash my hair. I tried to explain that I was in a hurry, but she kept chatting with her colleague, not really giving a damn that I was already late and super nervous, of course. She just told me that when you come to a hairdresser’s you need to reserve more time! (More than three and a half hours?)
Finally in front of a mirror how my hair would turn out. Of course it wasn’t what I had hoped for (but how often do you actually leave the hairdresser’s feeling completely satisfied?), but I didn’t have a choice or any more time. So I left and literally ran home. I changed my outfit in a minute and off we went.
In the Uber I did my make-up and tried to finally calm down. Luckily we got to the church on time.
And after the ceremony I was happy that we were at a French christening where they served champagne and different types of pastries à la maniere français instead of coffee and cake like they do in Finland on these kind of occasions. I surely did deserve a glass of champagne or two!
Note: After a couple of days I started to like the color. It is again in process, but in the meantime I am going to enjoy being more golden brown blonde:)
Normally the New Year starts with a lot of promises. Maybe you want to get thinner? Start a new diet? Or did you already get a membership at the closest gym? When you look at the magazine stand at your nearest supermarket you’ll see how all the covers of women’s magazines seem to make promises about how you can accomplish a good life or be happier.
As we know in life, there really isn’t any shortcut to happiness. And certainly a fast diet is not an answer to that. Me, I don’t believe in diets: I have been on one and never will. Also, this year, I haven’t made any hard promises or planned any radical changes. Instead, I will continue on the good old path that I started to walk a couple of years ago.
So this is it:
I will continue eating healthy and a 99 % vegetarian based diet. My whole body feels so much better since I became a vegetarian. Also, when I changed my eating habits, I started to learn how to actually cook.
I listen to what my body needs. I won’t go to the gym to do any hardcore training, if I don’t feel like it. I believe that we all experience different periods in life: sometimes you need more active training, sometimes some softer workouts. For me, in this cold wintertime, I need more of relaxing yoga than hard training at the gym. This I will respect. Before, I would force myself to go running ten kilometers three times a week. Not anymore, now that I know that it didn’t do any good to my body.
I will continue to be a more conscious dresser. That means I will shop less than last year, I will mostly buy second hand clothes or make them myself. Also, I will continue shopping in my own wardrobe. The key is being creative in everyday life.
On this channel there will be more talk about sustainability in fashion. This spring I am going to take part in an online course about ethical fashion and I can bet you, that I will share the information here. Furthermore, I have a pile of books waiting about the topic. I know that this talk about sustainability can be harsh, and you might wonder what I am on about, but it is a serious issue that we need to get more people to get engaged in. And I am not trying to be better than others, I am just a beginner learning about this topic.
So I am sure when continuing on this path I will feel better about myself inside out.
So I challenge you to join me in this three-step movement. The only rule is to be merciful to yourself and others – and think about the environment!
Perun puheeni. Olimme sittenkin miniloman tarpeessa. Jo kuukauden jälkeen tuntui, että olemme saaneet tuntuvan annoksen Pariisia, melua, ilmansaasteita — ja no muutenkin suurkaupunkielämää. Päätimme viettää pidemmän viikonlopun Bretagnessa. Syynä maalle pakoon oli myös kesämökin myynnin kauppakirjojen allekirjoittaminen.
Viikonlopun aikana päästiin taas siihen hyvinvoinnin ytimeen ja niihin yksinkertaisiin seikkoihin, jotka arkena helposti unohtuvat. Bretagnessa syötiin hyvin, nukuttiin aamulla syntisen pitkään ja patikoitiin kalliolla tyttö kantorepussa.
Eräs patikkaretki vei meidät uuden talomme pihalle. Löysimme salaportin talon puutarhaan, istahdimme terassin kivilattialle ja ihmettelimme henkeäsalpaavaa maisemaa. Teimme remonttisuunnitelmia. Muutaman viikon päästä saamme avaimet toiseen kotiimme.
Mutta kaikkein parasta tällaisissa minilomissa on se ihana joutilaisuus; istua vain terassilla ja tuijotella merta tai vain kävellä luontopolulla ilman sen kummempaa päämäärää. Juuri silloin syntyy niitä parhaita oivalluksia ja tulevaisuudensuunnitelmia. Niistä lisää myöhemmin, antaa uusien ajatusten ensin kypsyä.
Hyvää se vaan kuulkaas tekee ihmiselle, kunnon meri-ilma. Ja mikäs meidän oli ollessa, kun sääkin suosi lempeän aurinkoisella viikonlopulla.
Eläköön ihana joutilaisuus!
I take my words back: after a month in Paris, we already needed a little break from the city, so we headed to Brittany for the weekend. Also, my husband needed to take care of paperwork after selling the house.
During the weekend I re-realized the ingredients of a good life: sleep and eat well, spend time outside in the nature, walk, read and just do absolutely nothing. It is so simple that in the middle of busy city life you kind of forget these things fast.
And when you get to sleep enough, are well nourished and in a fresh oceanic climate you feel all new and your head is full of new ideas again. Suddenly, you are sure of what you need to do. It’s like planting new ideas when you get to the flow of doing absolutely nothing.
Oh, what a plasure it is to do nothing, it is a luxury that we don’t invest enough in these days.
Now after the weekend I am ready to return to Paris. Did they say that fashion week stars in town? It is going to be a busy week.
Kirjoitin aiemmin blogissani raskausajan liikunnasta ja sen merkityksestä hyvinvoinnilleni. Halusin palata aiheeseen nyt raskausajan jälkeen. Eli miten liikkuminen ja palautuminen ovat onnistuneet? Omalla kohdallani tunsin oloni jo sen verran hyväksi, että palasin joogamatolle jo kaksi viikkoa synnytyksen jälkeen. Olin siinä mielessä onnekas, että palauduin synnytyksestä nopeasti, ja olinhan harrastanut liikuntaa koko raskauden ajan.
Joka tapauksessa halusin tarttua tähän aiheeseen, koska viime aikoina olen törmännyt sosiaalisessa mediassa kirjoituksiin, joissa on suhtauduttu negatiivisesti siihen, että tuore äiti haluaa palautua nopeasti vanhoihin mittoihinsa synnytyksen jälkeen. Kritiikin kohteeksi joutuu tyypillisesti aktiivinen nainen, joka urheilee oman kehonsa sallimissa rajoissa ja katsoo hieman, mitä suuhunsa laittaa. Tämä on vastoin sitä äitikulttuuria, jota naiset keskuudessaan ylläpitävät. Tuntuu, että erityisesti suomalaisessa yhteiskunnassa ihannoidaan äitihahmoa, joka on jatkuvasti vain kiinni vauvassa, ja että omaan hyvinvointiin panostaminen koetaan itsekkäänä tekona. Ja kun oman kehon hyvinvoinnista vihjaillaan, vetävät marttyyriäidit äitikortin ja vetoavat liikkumattomuuteensa ajan puutteeseen ja väsymykseen. Tämä ”rankka” elämänvaihe myös oikeuttaa kohtuuttomaan herkutteluun, joka ruokkii edelleen tyytymättömyyttä omaan kehoon. Joukon jatkeena tyytymättömyys oikeuttaa taas kritisoimaan niitä, jotka haluavat panostaa liikkumiseen ja hyvinvointiin vauvanhoidon ohella.
Halusinkin puuttua tähän negatiiviseen ilmapiiriin, ja jakaa omat kokemukseni palautumisesta, ja siitä, kuinka pienin muutoksin olen taas voinut omassa kehossani paremmin. (Tosin en missään vaiheessa kokenut oloani epämiellyttäväksi raskauden aikana.)
Omalla kohdallani kevyt liikunta ja pieni ruokavalioremontti ovat tehneet tehtävänsä. On selvää, etteivät tässä iässä ylimääräiset raskauskilot (5 kg) lähde noin vain, vaan jotain on tehtävä. Omalla kohdallani liikunnan harrastaminen ei kuitenkaan tarkoita orjallista vaakaan tuijottamista tai väkinäistä laihduttamista. En edes tällaiseen kykenisi, sillä niin hyvä rouva olen syömään!
Mitä muutoksia sitten tein syömisen osalta? Ensinnäkin karsin ruokavaliostani satunnaiset lauantaipizzat. Toiseksi aloin noudattaa taas ranskalaista ateriarytmiä (aamupala, lounas, pieni välipala, ilta-ateria)ja syömään säännöllisesti, toisin sanoen jätin lukuisat välipalanapostelut pois. Kolmanneksi luovuin joka-aamuisesta suklaansyönnistä. Raskausaikana (ja ennen sitäkin) olimme mieheni kanssa omaksuneet tavaksi herkutella muutamalla suklaapalalla aamukahvin kera. Nykyisin herkuttelu on siirtynyt viikonloppupainotteiseksi. Jokapäiväinen tarve on muuttunut satunnaisiksi herkkuhetkiksi. Tämä ruokavalioremontti on tuottanut tulosta, ja siinä sivussa painokin on pudonnut– kai (en ole käynyt vaa’alla). Samalla olen myös siirtynyt entistä kasvisruokapainotteisempaan ruokavalioon.
Liikunnan osalta olen joogan rinnalle lisännyt tehokkaampia tunteja, kuten balettia ja zumbaa treenikalenteriini. Käyn myös kerran viikossa kuntosalilla. Ohjatuilla tunneilla en ole tietysti voinut jokaista liikesarjaa tehdä, ja olenkin vahvasti kuunnellut omaa kehoani ja jättänyt tekemättä liikkeet, jotka eivät tunnu vielä hyvältä. Joka tapauksessa on tuntunut mielettömän hyvältä löytää uusia liikuntalajeja, heiluttaa sitä takamusta ja antautua musiikin vietäväksi. Kotiin on aina palannut energinen pakkaus, jota eivät yösyötöt nujerra. Liikunnan ja pienen ruokaremontin myötä kuin huomaamatta myös ne vanhat farkut ovat sujahtaneet jalkaan. Ja ei: en todellakaan ole vielä vanhoissa mitoissani, eikä se ole varsinaisena tavoitteenakaan. Silti turha minun on väittää, ettenkö tuntisi oloani mukavammaksi aavistuksen hoikempana kuin muutama viikko raskauden jälkeen. Ja onhan toki ekologisempaa tehdä löytöjä omalta vaatekaapiltani kuin ostaa uusia farkkuja vain siksi, ettei mahtuisi entisiin – ja etenkin, jos en olisi yrittänyt tehdä asian eteen mitään.
I wrote earlier about doing sports during pregnancy. Now I wanted to return to the subject with a postnatal angle and share my story on how did I got back in shape after the labour. For me, as a sportive woman, I felt good to return to my yoga mat just two weeks after giving birth. Also, I have to mention that I was lucky enough to have an easy and pain-free labour.
Anyhow, recently in the social media I have noticed some criticism towards mothers who want to get back in shape after giving birth. It seems that the mentality is like this: it is ok to do nothing about your body, because you are a mother. Mothers have more sympathy towards other mothers who are doing the same: staying home with their baby and taking care of him/her all the time. And when you start to exercise and look after yourself, you are considered as selfish and a bad mother.
I want to interfere with this negative attitude and share my tips on how did I got back in shape by just changing my eating routines a bit and by adding a couple of effective sports activities in my schedule. Firstly, I got back to the French eating habits, where you eat at regular times (breakfast at 8–9am, lunch at 1pm, snack, and dinner at 8–10pm). So I gave up eating several snacks during the day. Then I gave up those fatty Saturday night pizzas and eating chocolate every morning. For my husband and me it started to be a habit to start the morning with coffee and a couple of pieces of chocolate. Also, I started to eat more and more vegetables food. By all these little changes I have started to lose weight – or at least I think so (I don’t weigh myself regularly).
Besides yoga, I have added a couple of new classes in my exercise routine: ballet barre and zumba – and oh boy: these classes are really something; they are effective but also super fun, too. Every time after a zumba class I return home with a smile and full of energy. By shaking my butt I also liberate my spirit.
When you are in your thirties it is a fact that besides changing your eating routines you have to exercise too, if you want to get back in shape. As for me, I am not in the same shape that I used to be before the pregnancy, and that is not even my goal. My goal is to feel comfortable and healthy in my body. But of course I cannot lie about it: it feels great to wear those old jeans again. And let’s also consider the fact that it is more ecological to wear your old clothes than to buy new ones just because you cannot fit in them (and if you haven’t done anything about it!)
Below you can find my training schedule from last week. But notice this: I don’t force myself to do certain hours of exercises per week; I do what I feel like doing and I change my weekly schedule a lot. And when I don’t have a chance to go the live classes I do yoga or gymnastic exercises from YouTube or just lie down on the sofa and read a book.
