blog | margot yoga ::: lcsw | prenatal yoga | childbirth education | “Love yourself. Then forget it. Then, love the world.”

One Strong Mama Program – My review as a prenatal yoga teacher

Posted on May 9, 2019 by margotyoga

When I got pregnant with my 3rd baby, one of my biggest fears was the impact it would have on my body. My 2nd baby was 10lbs 6oz and after birth I had a significant diastasis recti that took a very long time to repair. My body felt so foreign during that postpartum and I worried that a 3rd pregnancy would make my recovery that much more difficult.

So, when I heard that Lauren Ohayon of Restore Your Core, a program my prenatal yoga teacher trainer highly recommended, was teaming up with Lindsay McCoy of Mama Aligned to create a program for pregnancy, I was stoked.

Even though I was already teaching prenatal yoga and was a childbirth educator, I felt like I still had so much to learn, and what I love about the One Strong Mama program is how comprehensive it feels. They address alignment, bio-mechanics, anatomy, common discomfort, like SI and pubic symphysis discomfort, questions about pelvic floor function and always looking at ways to “stack the cards in your favor” to make your pregnancy, birth and postpartum go as smoothly as possible.

The classes and videos have such a great information and feel personalized, like Lauren and Lindsay are my friends IRL. It is the quality of the information that really helped me to feel prepared and more easeful in my 3rd pregnancy. I purchased this program in my 3rd trimester and I really feel like it was worth every penny. Also, as a prenatal yoga teacher, I regularly reference their information for my classes.

Here is a comparison photo from my 2nd pregnancy to my 3rd pregnancy. In the photo on the left, you can see the angle of my belly (as indicated by the blue arrows) is much lower, what is sometimes referred to as a pendulous belly. This can create excess pressure on the abdominal muscles, which exacerbated my diastasis recti AND put baby at a less than optimal angle for birth. In fact, we had to use the “lift and tuck” method from Spinning Babies to get him to full engage in labor.

I’m so grateful I found this program and for its support. They also offer a facebook group that is open to anyone, not just people who own the program, where they generously share their knowledge and time.

They very rarely have a sale. But if you want the to use my affiliate code for an extra $10 off, please contact me.

I’m happy to answer questions you have about the program and if you buy it, let me know what you think!

Posted in childbirth, fitness, motherhood, Postpartum, pregnancy, Uncategorized, Women, yoga | Tagged birth, childbirth, diastasis recti, doula, fitness, midwife, mindfulness, motherhood, one strong mama, optimal fetal position, pelvic floor, postpartum, postpartum recovery, pregnancy, prenatal yoga, spinning babies, yoga, yoga teacher | Leave a comment

33 Quotes on Pregnancy and Childbirth to Inspire and Empower

Posted on January 24, 2019 by margotyoga

“In actuality, there is never any such thing as solid ground, but strapped securely inside our heads, where we live most of the time, things seem pretty predictable and safe. We think we are the captain of the ship. We are prepared to steer, to give orders, and to reach our intended destination just the way we want to. How we fear our navigational errors! How earnestly we aim! When you go into labor, you see that you are not the captain of the ship. You are the ship. There is no captain. there are only waves.” ~ Karen Maizen Miller, from her book Momma Zen

“In this way, every birth is a natural birth: each of us is part of nature, not separate from it, and nature is always stunning in its variety. Your birth, then, is part of the natural world, however it unfolds.” ~ Lauralyn Curtis

“This, and nothing less, that’s what Birth wants from you: to go along with her wherever she takes you. To take a full body, head first plunge into this breath and the next, saying Yes! and Yes! again to the wild adventure of each moment. It is the adventure of your life time, the resounding echo of an agreement you made decades and eons ago when you first said Yes to this lifetime, to being on earth, to being born. Birth wants nothing new from you. She won’t ask you anything you don’t already know. Give her your whole hearted Yes, and she will dance with you in wisely measured ways. She will give you space to grow and time to rest, peak after valley after peak after valley. Birth’s wisdom is in her pacing. Everything has its place. Follow with her cadence. There is no other place to go. Be the storm, and sweep across the sky. Be the stillness in the quiet folds of labor, sweet heaviness of flesh and bones.” ~ Tina Lilly, from her book Labor, Love and Liberation

“Always remember that children are born exactly the way they need to born. We are born into this lifetime to grow, and it is only through experience we grow. Once labor starts, the process is bigger than any one person’s plan. Sometimes a soul coming through needs a certain experience for its journey, or many the mother needs it for hers, or the father needs it for his. We call it a complication, but it is a thread among the many thousands of threads that create the rich tapestry of life”. ~Gurmukh, from her book Bountiful, Beautiful, Blissful

“The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new.” -Rajneesh

“One of the most challenging things about Birth is that you have to go through it yourself. No one will take your place when labor starts. Blindfolded, barehanded, and with the timing that is not of your choosing, you have to cross a stormy ocean. You have to move in ways you haven’t moved before, and step into depths you didn’t Fathom. Your partner and friends can call out to you and keep in touch from the lighthouse of their love, but where you are going no one can follow. It is your solitary path to walk. There are no road maps, cancellations for second chances, and there is nothing you can bring along – Except yourself. How you let go. How you hold on. How you face fear. How you forgive. How you love.
When you are in the middle of this Ocean, you will meet yourself. It is a guileless encounter, and you will see yourself in your nakedness and innocence. Can you except and love, who you may meet? Can you see yourself like a newborn babe? Birth is not a time to bemoan your cries. Hear your cries, yes, and all they speak of – desires, fears and sorrows – and kindly smile upon them. Give them to the ocean, all. With nothing left to let go of, you become the ocean, and there is nothing left to cross.” ~ Tina Lilly ~
excerpt from her book, Labor, Love and Liberation

“Labor is one contraction. It just happens over and over again.” ~ Tina Lilly

“Expansion and contraction are the shuttles of labor. Those two processes move labor along and compose the rhythm of birth. They give rise to each other – inhale gives rise to exhale, exhale to inhale – and they happen simultaneously. When the uterus contracts, the cervix stretches (expands); and when the uterus returns to rest (expands), the cervix contracts. If you like, you can do a short practice to observe those co-existing rhythms. Make sure you sit with the relaxed posture and straight spine. Notice how inhale and exhale fold into one another. Notice parts of your body expanding while others are contracting.
Birth abides by this rhythm.”
-from Labor, Love and Liberation by Tina Lilly- Founder of The Yoga Way to Birth

“Birth is an initiation, a passage through the gateway that brings your child into life and you into your mothering role. You body expands to accommodate this new being and then gives birth to both the child’s body and life force. Birth itself is an act of trust, no matter how much you prepare, you will ultimately learn as you go. Still preparations are necessary and can enhance confidence, ease fears, and otherwise help you to feel ready for labor and meeting your baby.” ~ Tami Lynn Kent, Mothering from Your Center

“Everything grows rounder and wider and weirder, and I sit here in the middle of it all and wonder who in the world you will turn out to be.” ~ Carrie Fisher

“The whole point of a woman-centered birth is the knowledge that a woman is the birth power source. She may need, and deserve help, but in essence, she always had, currently has and will have the power.” ~ Heather McCue

“Imagine what might happen if women emerged from their labor beds with a renewed sense of the strength and power of their bodies, and of their capacity for ecstasy through giving birth” ~ Dr. Christiane Northrup

“…Respecting the woman as an important and valuable human being and making certain that the woman’s experience while giving birth is fulfilling and empowering is not just a nice extra, it is absolutely essential as it make the woman strong and therefore make society strong.” ~ Marsden Wagner

“My dream is that every woman, everywhere, will know the joy of a truly safe, comfortable, and satisfying birthing for herself and her baby.” ~ Marie Mongan

“It is not only that we want to bring about an easy labor, without risking injury to the mother or the child; we must go further. We must understand that childbirth is fundamentally a spiritual, as well as a physical, achievement. . . The birth of a child is the ultimate perfection of human love.” ~ Dr. Grantly Dick-Read, 1953

“Birth is as safe as life gets.” ~ Harriette Hartigan

“Many women have described their experiences of childbirth as being associated with a spiritual uplifting, the power of which they have never previously been aware. To such a woman, childbirth is a monument of joy within her memory. She turns to it in thought to seek again an ecstasy which passed too soon.” ~ Grantly Dick Read, Childbirth Without Fear

“There is a secret in our culture, and it’s not that birth is painful. It’s that women are strong.” ~ Laura Stavoe Harm

“When I say painless, please understand, I don’t mean you will not feel anything. What you will feel is a lot of pressure; you will feel the might of creation move through you. Pain, however, is associated with something gone wrong. Childbirth is a lot of hard work, and the sensations that accompany it are very strong, but there is nothing wrong with labor.” ~ Giuditta Tornetta

“Each woman brings her self to birth. Like a baby who needs to descend through her womb to be born, each woman needs to descend into the depths of her own truth to be born a mother. This is often a gradual process and one with many unknowns. It requires time and radical honesty…
How can self-knowledge serve us, and what do we need to know about ourselves on the threshold of a new life chapter? What stands in the way?
Pregnancy is a fertile time to ask those questions…” ~ Tina Lilly, from her book Labor, Love and Liberation

“When enough women realize that birth is a time of great opportunity to get in touch with their true power, and when they are willing to assume responsibility for this, we will reclaim the power of birth and help move technology where it belongs–in the service of birthing women, not their master.” ~ Christiane Northrup

“Birth is an opportunity to transcend. To rise above what we are accustomed to, reach deeper inside ourselves than we are familiar with, and to see not only what we are truly made of, but the strength we can access in and through birth.” ~ Marcie Macari

“So the question remains. Is childbirth painful? Yes. It can be, along with a thousand amazing sensations for which we have yet to find adequate language. Every birth is different, and every woman’s experience and telling of her story will be unique.” ~ Marcie Macari

“The instant of birth is exquisite. Pain and joy are one at this moment. Ever after, the dim recollection is so sweet that we speak to our children with a gratitude they never understand.” ~ Madline Tiger

“A woman in birth is at once her most powerful, and most vulnerable. But any woman who has birthed unhindered understands that we are stronger than we know.” ~ Marcie Macari

“Although the popularly desired outcome is ‘healthy mother, healthy baby,’ I think there is room in that equation for ‘happy, non-traumatized, empowered and elated mother and baby.’” ~ Midwifery Today

“Childbirth is an experience in a woman’s life that holds the power to transform her forever. Passing through these powerful gates – in her own way – remembering all the generations of women who walk with her… She is never alone.” ~ Suzanne Arms

“Childbirth is more admirable than conquest, more amazing than self-defense, and as courageous as either one.” ~Gloria Steinem, Ms. Magazine, April 1981

“Women are strong, strong, terribly strong. We don’t know how strong until we’re pushing out our babies.” ~ Louise Erdrich

Posted in birth, childbirth, feminism, mental health, mindfulness, motherhood, parenting, parenting is yoga, Postpartum, pregnancy, social work, social worker, Uncategorized, Women, yoga | Tagged birth, birthday, childbirth, feminist, love, meditation, mental health, mindfulness, motherhood, pregnancy, yoga, yoga practice | Leave a comment

Know the dark, to see the light

Posted on November 10, 2016 by margotyoga

The night of the election I went to bed with pit in my stomach, feeling nausea, upset that a man with such hateful rhetoric could be elected as the leader of this country. I vowed to go to yoga before work, in effort “shake off” this feeling. I awoke before my alarm, still buzzing with anxiety and feeling physically ill, and prepared for my yoga class and to sneak out of the house before anyone woke up. My two year old had different plans, he woke up unusually early and decided he needed “mama milk”. The times he nurses now, are becoming fewer, so I lingered a bit, still hoping to get my yoga class.

I wanted to escape. I worried about how I would explain the election results to my soon to wake 4-year old.

One father’s post-election letter to his son.

But I stayed. This was not the time to escape, this was the time to stay.

Throughout election night and the following day many texts were shared between me and my female friends and family, consoling each other about the election results. My facebook feed was filled mostly with feelings of disbelief, anger, shock and fear. I closed my door at work and cried.

Clearly I live in a very “blue bubble“, but the election results were showing me our country was far more deeply divided than I could have imagined. I looked to an old friend on facebook, who I knew had very conservative political views. I looked through his past posts. I found a post comparing a Hillary Clinton quote to a Hitler quote, rhetoric I have seen in the liberal media as well, comparing Trump to Hitler and fascist regimes. Here is our common ground…FEAR.

In the Yoga Way to Birth class, we look closely at fear, in relationship to birth and how it impacts us. Fear closes us down, it is a constricting feeling, paired closely with our limbic system and our fight/flight/freeze reaction, that supersedes any logical thoughts when in the face of danger. Most notably, fear serves to increase our experience of pain. Politicians have been playing to our fear. Many of us voted from a place of fear.

It feels like a dark time for me in this country. A time when people have outwardly chosen hate, over justice, inclusiveness and basic human rights. I am completely heartbroken by the onset of violence that it has caused for people of color, those with disabilities, LGBTQ, immigrants, Muslims and women. For many people in places of privilege, it feels like an awakening to America’s “dirty little secret”, when the reality it is, this is not new! Even if this is the first time we’re noticing…racism, sexism, xenophobia, ablism, trans-phobia, Islamophobia are all real things, just because we have not had to deal with them personally or on a daily basis, does not mean they do not exist! And it is clearly white people, male and female, that have made the president-elect’s, once far-fetched candidacy, a reality.

here is the evidence (source: cnn)

Maybe in some ways its better to have an overtly hateful leader, than to continue to endure a quiet and insidious system that continually undermines and upholds a structure that is steeped in inequality. At least now we are all talking about it.

And I can’t help but wonder, like @valariekaur, that maybe we are not in the darkness of a tomb, but the darkness of a womb. On the verge of a birth. And like the intensity of transition in labor, there is no turning back. There is no escape. Our task now, especially as people in privileged positions is to stay, to see and to ally.

I often tell people in my social work practice that the beginning of any change is awareness. We must know were we are starting from to know where we are heading. And now we are staring at our starting place, with disgust, fear, repulsion for the hate that has been allowed to fester. But I beg you, do not look away. This is where the real change happens. Stay. Because the only way out now, is through.

Lastly, as we enter into this rEVOLution, let us hold onto hope for the future.

And may we never forget the individual power we contribute to the collective.

In yoga classes you often hear the word “namaste”, meaning the light in me, honors and sees the light in you. But we cannot see light, unless we know the dark as well. Let us all take this opportunity to know our own darkness better. It may feel uncomfortable, maybe evening make you want to escape, but please stay. Because it is only through knowing darkness that we ever are able to see light. Namaste.

Posted in ahimsa, feminism, Hillary Clinton, mindfulness, motherhood, namaste, parenting is yoga, pregnancy, social justice, social work, social worker, Uncategorized, Women | Tagged election 2016, feminism, feminist, namaste, social work, social worker, yoga teacher | 2 Comments

5 Ways to Find Balance as a #YogaMama

Posted on September 21, 2016 by margotyoga

This post original appeared on the KiraGrace Blog.

As mother of two young boys, a full time social worker, a prenatal yoga teacher and an instructor of a childbirth preparation class, the Yoga Way to Birth, I am very familiar with the balancing act that comes along with trying to fit it all in. My plate is very full at the moment, and people often wonder how I have time for it all and maintain my sanity. But the truth is I love everything that I have on my plate, and putting something back at this point doesn’t feel like an option. So instead, I use these simple steps to stay grounded and keep my life in balance.

1. Start with your breath.

My breath is my barometer. When I close my eyes, draw my focus inward, and drop into the awareness of my breath, I suddenly become more conscious of the current forces in my life. Starting where you are right now is always the perfect place to begin. Once I have some idea of where I am, I can then ask myself, “What do you need?” This is not a long process. Usually it only takes a couple minutes to realize what has been missing. Often it is connected to my basic needs, like feeling fatigued or needing to exercise. There are also the times when simply starting to ask myself what I need is enough in itself. This simple act of self care allows me take inventory and see that often what I need I already have.

2. Set your intention.

Now that you know where you are and what you really need, you can plant your intention. The root of the word intention comes from the Latin word intendere which means to stretch toward your purpose. Remember stretching can take you out of your comfort zone, but that is usually where our best learning happens. Your intention can be simple – maybe it’s that you have screen free evenings so you can be more present when you are with you kids, or that you want to carve out 10 minutes in the morning to sit in meditation before anyone else in the house is awake. Choose an intention that speaks directly to your heart space and that leaves you feeling filled up and content.

3. Practice, practice, practice.

This is where the “work” of finding balance comes together. On average, it takes around 28 days for a new practice to become habit or part of your routine. Be patient with your practice, but also be willing to let it go if you find that is not a realistic or attainable. Think about that balancing pose you’ve practiced in a yoga class – sometimes it comes with ease, other times it feels like a struggle to find stability. This is true in life, too. Sometimes no matter how many times you’ve practiced something, it will still be off. This practice isn’t a race, there is no finish line, but the rewards from continued practice lie in deeper knowledge of oneself and in the fact that the days we can’t find balance are necessary, temporary, and often provide valuable moments of learning and growth.

4. Stack your life.

This is a phrase used by Katy Bowmanwhen describing how to create a movement based lifestyle. This is not multi-tasking, but it is a way to encourage yourself to combine activities that normally you would separate. For example, I need daily walks during my work day, and I also crave reading and learning new information to keep my social work and yoga practice feeling fresh and inspired. So I listen to podcasts while I walk every day during my break. So, can you let your kids join you on the yoga mat? Could you include some stretching and movement while you’re at your desk at work? Can you find a way to incorporate your family into some of your favorite pastimes? With our incessant culture of busyness, how can you cultivate a sense of spaciousness by meeting multiple needs at the same time?5. Find your tribe.

Last, but perhaps the most important of them all, is finding your people. Heaven knows I could not do what I do all alone. Remember in step #1 when we discovered our needs? Well, sometimes we cannot meet our needs on our own and that is when it is time to ask for help. As a social worker, I am often reminding people that it takes more strength and courage to ask for help that it does to try to muscle through it all. The truth is people want to help you out. We derive a sense of meaning and purpose by being of service to others. So the next time someone offers to watch your kids or bring a meal, say, “Yes!” Accepting help can be freeing. It is also a reminder that we are not in this alone…we are all in this together.
Balance is not static state. Balance is a moving target and is dynamic and free flowing. Remember to adjust accordingly. We will get glimpses of feeling like we have it all together and then things will fall apart. That is the nature of her ever-changing dance. As a yoga mama, or just any human, what is vital in this process is a sense of self-compassion. Be kind to yourself, forgive, learn and grow. Having balance in your life is not an end destination where you arrive and get to stay. Living a balanced life is about being open to the present moment in all her beauty and rawness.

Posted in awareness, childbirth, meditation, mental health, mindfulness, motherhood, parenting, parenting is yoga, pregnancy, Women, yoga, yoga therapy | Tagged balance, social work, truth, yoga, yoga life, yoga of motherhood, yoga practice | Leave a comment

an ode to my body

Posted on August 29, 2016 by margotyoga

Five years ago, some might say, I had the abs of people’s dreams.
But if you had asked me then, I would have told you that there was more work to be done, it seems.
In my 20s, to my body, seldom a kind word to her I’d speak.
Though I had an inkling that my strength was hidden underneath my “toned physique”
On that Grecian holiday a seed was planted deep within
I had no idea how changed I’d be by journey that was about to begin
My belly stretched in ways I never knew it could
And I started to see that all I had been told was actually a falsehood.
You see, I’ve never felt stronger than in those few moments after birthing my baby earth side
Though my belly was the softest it’d ever been, I’d never known such pride.
Two hearty baby boys have been nurtured from within me
And I stand in amazement of my transformed body that I now see.
You know, women are strong and the divine feminine has power
But our strength sometimes comes from openness, just like the will of a flower
To expose it’s petals, like I am doing here
Even though I brings me tremendous fear
So while my body will never look like it did before,
I am grateful for her brawn and vitality and softness that I adore. 💛

Story behind my ode: Ok, a little #throwback had me reeling about how much my body has changed. So I wrote a poem about it. Thanks for humoring me if you are at the end of this post and still reading. You are the best, love you!

before and after belly

Posted in birth, Body image, childbirth, mental health, motherhood, parenting, Postpartum, pregnancy, Women | Leave a comment

Falling is not failure. Life lessons from a 4 year old.

Posted on June 15, 2016 by margotyoga

My 4 year old son has been obsessed with the monkey bars for the past year. He has his favorite ones at “the school park” that are low to the ground and he can easily reach from the platforms. At first he’d just grab a hold of one rung and then drop down. But eventually he was reaching out to grab the next, then the next my bar, until he eventually made it all the way across. He practiced diligently and with fervor and dedication. It was all self motivated.

So, by now he is a monkey bar pro and even has some “tricks”. One day on a sunny evening at a new park with monkey bars that were higher than normal, he attempted one of his “tricks”, to jump out and grab the 2nd rung, instead of the first one. He shouted over to me, as I was watching the younger one play nearby, “Hey Mama! Watch this!” I watched in horror, as he jumped out to grab the 2nd rung and then his grip slipped and he landed flat on his back, in a thud, as the air was audibly knocked out of him. Processed with VSCO with m5 preset I raced over and swept him up. The tears started to roll and big loud sobs. Once I realized he was not injured, my biggest fear was that this fall would cause him to lose the confidence he had built as an expert monkey-bar boy. As he started to catch his breath again, I hugged him closely and said, “you know, you are still really good at the monkey bars.” He replied, “I know, Mama.” The big fall did not shake his confidence in the slightest. He was still 100% sure of his ability, despite a major fall.

Since starting my new job, I have been fumbling a bit, falling down and making mistakes as I learn a new system and get my bearings. I really hate making mistakes. I really like being right and feeling 100% competent. But I have been leaning into this simple wisdom from a 4 year old, that falling down, is not failure. I love the simplicity of this lesson, and yet the challenge of living is always harder. So even though I may be stumbling and having missteps along this path, I can take comfort in my own strength and wisdom. And there is so much to be gained from challenges…especially if we embrace them for what they are, nothing more and nothing less.

Always grateful for the opportunities to learn and grow.

Posted in awareness, mental health, mindfulness, motherhood, parenting, parenting is yoga, samskara, Women | Tagged childhood, failure, motherhood, success, yoga | Leave a comment

You are whole, my child

Posted on May 6, 2016 by margotyoga

A few months ago my three and a half year old had an “incident” at preschool. He reacted to a friend in his class in anger and hurt them. I got an email that no parent ever wants to receive. A rock landed in my stomach and my heart broke. I was devastated, disappointed and felt ill that my child had acted in such a way. I also felt mortified. It was like my worst nightmare.

At the same time I thought how scared my boy must have been. And when I arrived early to talk with this teacher, I could see the look of terror on his face. He had felt broken too.

I spent the next 24 hours feeling embarrassed and completely consumed by worry. The endless ruminations and thoughts of guilt played like a tape on repeat in my head. I was so ashamed, I literally hid from another parent from my son’s classroom when I saw her in a store.

Thankfully I already had an acupuncture appointment scheduled and I unloaded my worries to my sweet provider. She told me she would needle a point on my shoulder blades that is connected not only with healing a broken heart, but also with connecting to the wisdom of our ancestors.

That night when I came home and was putting my boys to bed, each one nestled in on either side of me, I felt the weight of my children soften and rest into me. I closed my eyes and saw the images of my eldest boy as a baby, perfect and deliciously innocent…completely whole. I felt the warm burn of tears welling in my eyes. He was STILL this baby. He was, and will always be that purely flawless being. I began to separate my own reactions to the situation and felt the support of all the collective parenthood and all the souls who have mothered before me. I saw how my own brokenness had prevented me from seeing this truth.

My heart landed in some ancient wisdom and whispered to me, “you are whole, my child.” This world will break us and make us feel like we are wrong and flawed. I see this over and over again in my work as a social worker…I look into the eyes of others who have been battered by life’s misfortunes and trauma, and they have internalized a message that they are broken.

Finally as I laid there with the trust of my child resting by my side, I released my own worry and self judgments and realized my work as a mother. And as I let go of my personal wounds, I opened up the space for my child to come to me to feel whole again. He is not perfect, and neither am I, perfection is not the point. Undoubtedly we will both make mistakes and screw it all up again, however, that does not mean we are any less valuable or important. We are human, and worthy of feeling loved and whole. This was the moment when I had now doubt what my sacred duty as a mother was.

“Our sacred duty as parents is to feel whole, so that our children have the example of our own self-worth.” -Elena Brower

This duty is a work in progress, like ~~most~~ all things. But never before as it been more clear.

Posted in ahimsa, aparigraha, meditation, mental health, mindfulness, motherhood, parenting, parenting is yoga, Postpartum, Women, yoga | Tagged love, mindful mama, motherhood, parenting, social work, social worker, vulnerability | Leave a comment

change and uncertainty

Posted on March 18, 2016 by margotyoga

Nothing is more certain than the uncertainty of life. And just as the blooms on the trees dare to reach out and expose themselves with the encouragement of the spring’s light, I am also experiencing some ch-ch-change! I’m moving onto a position at a different agency, but doing similar work to what I do now. In the past getting a new job was 95% excitement and 5% anxiety. Since becoming a mama, I’d say it is now 90% anxiety and worry, with a sprinkle of 5% anticipation and 5% excitement. There is so much more to consider and how this move will impact my family and work/life balance.

One of the biggest considerations in this big move was that financially it was no longer possible to continue to support our family. And due to the size of me and my husband’s student loans {thank you, grad school}, being a single income family is not a option. And as much as love working for a grass-roots, mission-driven organization, I am also not a martyr and believe that I’m not able to provide quality work if I’m in a constant state of financial insecurity. And I will also mention that we have been in a privileged position , because we have family that helps with some childcare, and that has allowed me to maintain my current position for as long as I have.
So in many ways, this shift has been a “no brain-er”. It seems like the obvious choice and the perfect opportunity….I get to do the work I love serving a similar population, be paid a living wage, and I trade my Monday’s off with long days for getting off every evening by 5pm. However, I currently have the ability to have flexibility with my schedule and the work load allows me to truly leave my work at work and really be a mom 100% when I’m home. The unknown aspects of my new job are enough to keep me up worrying at night. I could easily let these emotions consume me. But maybe this is exactly what I need…to be “thrown out of the nest.” These are the times I am most grateful for my yoga practice, because I could easily get lost in the mess of my anxious mind. And, I do. But I also am practicing breathing deeply. Instead of recoiling or freezing with fear of the unknown, I choose to soften into the loss I feel and let it open me up a little. And slowly the resistance melts away and I see there are never any right choices, we’re always just making our best guesses. I’m also present to the temporary nature of it all and that this next opportunity will have its seasons as well. Also, there is gratitude…there is always gratitude for it all.

Posted in aparigraha, awareness, meditation, mental health, motherhood, parenting, Women, yoga | Tagged change, feminism, feminist, motherhood, privilege, social work, social worker, uncertainity, white privilege, work life balance | 1 Comment

Food, shelter, safety and yoga

Posted on November 24, 2015 by margotyoga

The reasons and stories for why people find themselves homeless are as varied as the trees you’d find in the forest. In the most recent homeless count for Portland, a point in time survey of those sleeping outside, in shelters, and in transitional housing, found 3,800 people in these situations and another 12,000 that were unstably housed, meaning they were couch-surfing or some other non-permanent housing situation.

Given that people experiencing homelessness are often reduced to focusing on meeting their basic needs: food, shelter and safety, it is a wonder to me that anyone would find their way to a yoga class. girls_depaul

However, at Outside In, an agency that provides comprehensive primary care medical services and support for transitional aged youth experiencing homelessness, we see people show up for class in spite of the more immediate or pressing needs they may face. It is clear that some come to class to meet their basic needs, like getting rest, and that is ok. Sometimes yoga is just being on a yoga mat that is in a safe, warm and dry room for 60 minutes.

But more often, students are learning yoga as a survival skill in itself. Having lived in a state of hyperarousal on the streets, yoga is an opportunity to down shift their nervous system and maybe to start noticing or witnessing their bodies or thoughts, instead of just reacting.

In addition to the physical benefits of yoga, it is also an opportunity to connect. One particularly touching moment came toward the end of a yoga class as all the students gathered their belongings to leave and I was chatting with people to hear their feedback about the class. One person stood by the doorway, with their backpack on and a few other bags in hand, and before exiting, they said to me, “That class was amazing. Thank you. You are amazing.” Their words were so touching and felt so genuine, I blushed, and quickly replied, “You’re amazing too!”

There was nothing particularly special about that class to set it apart from all the other classes I’ve taught for Living Yoga. But for that brief moment I’d like to believe we connected as humans are supposed to, seeing and honoring each other’s light.

In a world where people experiencing homelessness often are ignored and literally pushed to the fringes of society, I am continually amazed by the resilience and kindness of the human spirit in spite of life’s unimaginable circumstances. And I have been honored to witness how these qualities are continually cultivated and grown in a simple yoga practice.

“There are two ways of spreading light: be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” ~Edith Wharton

This blog post originally appeared on the Living Yoga Blog.

Posted in ahimsa, karma yoga, mindfulness, volunteer, yoga, yoga therapy | Leave a comment

Re-writing my birth…

Posted on November 4, 2015 by margotyoga

I recently took the opportunity to rewrite my birth stories as an exercise in my apprenticeship for the Yoga Way to Birth. My husband and I had already written and documented our birth stories, but it had been in a very factual, play-by-play, sort of way. This time as I recalled the birth of both my boys, I approached it from a different standpoint, from a place of self-inquiry and mind/body awareness. I asked myself to dive deep into the physical memories of my birth, the lived experience, to see what was really there, beyond just the narrative.

Pachamamam by Catie Atkinson of Studio Spirit y Sol

As I wrote my first birth experience, I found myself filled with pride, joy and awe of the accomplishment of birthing my baby. But as I wrote my second birth experience, I felt confusion, doubt and judgment arise. I second guessed my decisions and judged myself for relying on certain interventions to help me birth my baby, even though I had used similar interventions with my first birth. I played the “what if?” game over and over in my head. Why had it not unfolded the way I had expected? Why hadn’t I been stronger?

I talked to my friends, doula, midwives to get their professional opinion about my birth experience. I was truly searching for an answer to get my “ah-ha moment” that would explain why I didn’t have that idealized “natural birth” that I had desired. That moment didn’t come from discussing the nitty-gritty details of my birth, but did come from sitting with my own judgments.

As I watched the negativity of my own thoughts swirl, I noticed the impact it had on my physical body. At first it started as a darkness and weight in my heart, then it moved into a heaviness in my stomach and I began to cry, release and let it flow. What I felt was not what I expected, but it was a sense of sadness and then also deep empathy for myself. I realized how my own judgments had turned my inner space into a place of self criticism. Is this how I would talk to a friend telling me the same story? I recalled one of the first precepts of yoga, Ahisma, or non-violence, and thought of the self harm I was causing by feeling like I had not lived up to some great expectations and I noticed how loud my inner critic had become.

The second concept of from yoga that brought me peace, was the idea of Satya, or truth. Once I began to realize how harsh I was being towards myself, I sat with the truth of that experience, not only the birth, but also the truth of how I had managed and made sense of my birth story. The truth is that my baby was born the way he needed to be born. My body birthed in the way it needed to birth. And any subsequent thoughts are just thoughts. Is that the end of the story? No, because I am human and I will continue to work with these judgments as they arise. But the simple act of being with and noticing what existed allowed me to avoid being swept away in the current of my thoughts.

Finally, this quote also brought me further resolve.

“Always remember that children are born exactly the way they need to be born. We are born into this lifetime to grow, and it only through experience that we grow. Once labor starts, the process is bigger than any one person’s plan. Sometimes a soul coming through needs a certain experience for its journey, or maybe the mother needs it for hers, or the father needs it for his. We call it a complication, but it is a thread among the many thousands of threads that create the rich tapestry of life.” ~ Gurmukh, Bountiful, Beautiful, Blissful

Posted in birth, meditation, mindfulness, yoga | Tagged ahimsa, birth, childbirth, meditation, mental health, mindfulness, motherhood, non-violence, postpartum, pregnancy, satya, truth, yoga | Leave a comment

margot yoga ::: lcsw | prenatal yoga | childbirth education