$#*! That Happens In Yoga

If you've ever been on a yoga mat, even once, even five or more years ago, you likely know that you've heard and seen some pretty crazy things. The guy next to you breathing SO LOUD. (Does he have a cold or something?! Dang, I don't want to get sick...) The instructor pacing the room, telling you to breathe joy into your back. (My back?! My back doesn't have lungs, chick!) The crazy looking hippie in the back, who smiles the WHOLE time and grips mala beads. (Wait, are beads necessary for this?! Is there an arts and crafts portion of this class later?!)

I've been taking yoga classes for years and years now, and these yogic stereotypes still manage to crack me up. Allow me to address them:

"That Guy" who is breathing so loud it's distracting? He's actually doing it right! It's called ujjayi breathing, or "the ocean breath." One performs this by constricting the back of the throat so that you control (basically, slow down and deepen) how much oxygen you take in and release in each breath. Coincidentally, this makes a sound. Ujjayi breathing helps you move from pose to pose while focusing more on your breath, and less on if your Warrior 2 is perfect. It also helps you to breathe entirely through your nose, regardless of how fast your flow is moving (the goal in yoga is to "train" yourself/your lungs to function via the nose so that you're more mindful about your breath). Yes, not only did I just give you permission to make strange sounds in your next yoga class, I'm encouraging you! It's a bit strange at first, but I now LOVE being next to loud people as it reminds me to do the same, and almost "gives me permission" to be louder in class.

"Inhale joy into your lower spine; exhale out negativity." In teacher training to become a yoga instructor, we actually get tested on our verbal cues on breath and body placement. Some poses work better on an  inhale, others are best for an exhale. That's why the instructor is telling you when to breathe. For example, you wouldn't want to take a big breath in for a forward fold - by nature of anatomy, your inflated lungs would inhibit your ability to fully bend over, limiting the stretch you would/should get.

When the instructor adds something like, "inhale into your lower spine", s/he is bringing your attention to that part of your body. Are you holding tension there? Probably. "Breathing into it" is a way to remind you that 1) it's there and 2) let that tension go. Give it a little shot of oxygen and release those muscles! If you have an extra-verbal instructor who tells you to "inhale joy into your lower spine" s/he is attempting to remind you to do exactly what I said above, but that it should also feel good. If you're like me, I get caught up in how dumb that sounds and completely forget about the joy, the inhale, and the tension release. So overly verbal-happy instructors aren't my vibe, to say the least. A "let it feel good!" is kosher; a "let the light radiate from your toes!" is enough to elicit an audible snort of laughter from me. Let's get serious here, nobody's toes are radiating anything. Or, radiating anything good...

Crazy-smiling-mala-bead-wearing-hippie. The mala beads have 108 beads on them, which is a sacred number in traditional yogic practices. The beads are used as a "counter" of sorts, so that s/he can repeat their own personal mantra in their head that very specific number of times. I can't personally multitask to the level of listening and practicing a flow AND repeating my own mantra 108 times in a class. The five or so minutes you get in savasana at the end isn't remotely enough time to make it through 108 repetitions, so I don't personally wear them in a class. But I certainly don't judge those who do! They have more yogi skills than I do, that's for sure.

Why are they so dang happy looking and smiling?! Remember that personal mantra I was talking about? I can PROMISE you it's something positive, whether it's reflecting internally (about themselves - "I am loved. I love") or it's external ("The world is good. The world is beautiful.") When you start to repeat positive messages over and over again, and you focus on your breath in a class and release tension and stress, there simply is no way that you wouldn't smile. That crazy hippie in the back practices this everyday. Frankly, they've got it figured out, readers! I used to think, "Damn she looks insane!" and now I think, "Man, she's got it together! I'm going to work to be more like her. She looks 15 years younger than she really is and is clearly happy... Wait, where are my mala beads?!"

The thing that's so great about yoga is that you can take the parts that work for you, and leave the parts that don't. However, I'd encourage you to look into and experiment with the part of yoga that you judge or make you uncomfortable. You never know what you could be missing! At worst, you conclude that it's indeed not for you; at best, your whole life is changed for the better.

*You'll notice in the photos that my hands aren't flat on the mat - they appear as though they're cupping something. That's intentional! Your wrists host TONS of nerves that go to your hands and fingers. Cupping your hands like I do in these photos is a way to take the weight off the center part of your wrist where those nerves travel, and prevent pain that can come with long-term yoga practices/poses that carry a lot of weight in your upper body (such as arm balances and inversions). This effect is magnified in pregnant women. I was about 28-29 weeks in this shoot, so my hands are "extra cuppy" to protect my wrists. Hey, the more you know, right?!

Mommy Monday: Weekend / Yoga / Bed Rest "Style"

Most of you know by now that I was put on bed rest last week in attempts to curb my preterm labor. Going from someone who didn't sit down for longer than 30 minutes at a time to being confined to the house and laying around for most of the day has been, ummmm... Interesting. And by interesting, I really mean the opposite of interesting because actually it's quite dull compared to my former life.


Since I am fortunate enough to get some move about time to shower and such, I immediately realized creating a daily schedule (like I did when I started working from home) would be KEY in still feeling like a normal, productive human. Showering, putting on some makeup and doing my hair is crucial to not feeling like a hermit-slob-preggo! I think my husband appreciates it, too.

However, since so much of my time is confined to a horizontal position, it really doesn't make too much sense for me to get FULLY dressed (you know, jeans would dig into my hips as I lay on my side; a "real" bra would do the same and the wires would shift about, etc). So upon the second day of my "bed rest sentence" I realized I'd have to utilize some of my yogi style skills so that I felt normal, but could still stay comfortable.

Presenting my yogi solution to bed rest style:

Charcoal grey yoga pants from Destination Maternity; "washed melon" top from Target; gold monogram necklace from Mark and Graham

Essentially, I determined that I needed to get "ready" enough so that I felt pretty and normal, but not enough to be uncomfortable all day long. Normal for me happens to be yoga clothes, which just so happen to ALSO be comfortable! WIN! So, my yogi wardrobe will remain in high rotation despite the fact that I'm banned from my mat for the next six weeks. I don't normally wear any jewelry to the yoga studio, so I decided to include a necklace/earrings/watch/etc with my daily look to be a little more "fancy."

As you can see, this "look" is completely appropriate for those of you lovelies who are not on bed rest but want something comfortable yet functional on the weekends. Maybe you're not pregnant but want some new ideas to wear on your yoga mat, or just out running errands. Any way you slice it, I'm a huge fan of dressing up my yoga clothes to become an actual outfit!

Beyond the "what to wear" question, it also struck me as ridic to put a full face of makeup on when not only am I not leaving the house, but I'm lying down (hello bronzer stains on throw pillows!) So, I decided to do a super-toned-down makeup routine. It consists of under eye concealer, blush, brow highlighter and mascara. Juuuust enough to make me look good and alive! Not enough to waste too much of my treasured "up" time by doing extensive makeup that nobody besides my husband and doggies will see. Bueno! My hair has become INSANELY STRAIGHT during pregnancy. So the hair you see pictured above has zero product in it, and is a byproduct of simply blow drying it. No round brush, no hairspray. This is just how my hair rolls. Loooooooooove my low-maintenance hair!

One final note about THIS top:

I've mentioned on social media before about how disappointed I am in Target Maternity, and was NEVER a Target clothes shopper prior to pregnancy. There always seems to be threads hanging from every seam and the sizing doesn't work for tall, lanky people such as myself. That's my disclaimer for this review!

The irony here is that I had initially typed up a review of this top that was SCATHING. I put it on, looked in the mirror, and stared straight at my nipples peeping through the cheap, sheer fabric of the "double lined sports bra" top. I was so disgusted, I ripped it off and put it back in the bag to return it (after I took a shot of it to share with you all that you SHOULD NOT buy it - muhahaha!)

Now. I'm 31 weeks preggers. I'm huge. I have an extensive collection of expensive yoga wear from high-end brands that I abso-freakin-lutely ADORE. Which is why I went and attempted to get some "cheap stuff" - I don't want to stretch out my pre-pregnancy yoga clothes so that I can't wear them post baby. But since I only have a few weeks left, I didn't want to go and spend my husband's entire paycheck (you're welcome, babe) on some new outfits. So I gave Tar-get one more go. I managed to find this top, AND it was 50% off.

Anyway, I will say this about the shirt: It's not maternity, so any of you lady-readers can get it and fit into it. You WILL need to wear a sports bra under the built in sports bra (yes, even you lucky A cup ladies), not only for bounce-protection but for basic decency and coverage. However, it is super lightweight (a bonus for all my Southern ladies) and it IS comfortable. It's also pretty cute on. So for me, at the price point and now considering my bed rest situation, it's a keeper. If you like quality, I'd just go right ahead and skip clicking the link, 'cause this ain't it! If you're like me and price is your primary concern, I'd check it out and pair it with other brightly colored sports bras (you can barely see it, but mine was neon yellow in the first pic.)

High Five for Friday!

If you read this post, then you know this week was on a whole different level.

Which means, a whole different level of High Five for Friday. Not that I'm not thankful for "little things" this week, but preeeeeeety much all of my thankfulness surrounds the fact that I did NOT give birth this week to a 3lb baby!

Given that, here are my top five moments of the week:

1) Baby Boy is still a little bun, bakin' in my oven! ThankthegoodLordandbabyJesus

2) My bed rest is a two hours on, two hours up situation. I don't HAVE to be horizontal All. Day. Every. Day. I can still shower and do some normal-people activities!

3) In fact, I used one of my "two hour breaks" to run to Micheal's Craft Store and get some crafting materials for the nursery. HINT: These are indeed baby boy's initials/monogram. We've have his name picked out since the beginning, which was good because we only had a boy name picked out. The story goes like this: Me: "Babe, I want to name our baby _________ if it's a boy; I've loved that name for YEARS." Hubby: "I like it! Done." Which, frankly, is how most decisions are made in our household; me asking for what I want/what my husband thinks, and him (very wisely!) giving the go-ahead. What can I say, I know what I want.

Monogram painting and picture frame crafts are underway!

4) Last weekend, I mentioned that my sister was in town and that we were having our maternity shoot. Well, the weather was beautiful and we managed to get some FANTASTIC shots! I can't wait to see the rest of them and put a few up in the nursery and our master bedroom. Until then, here's another one of the preview shots I got to check out:

Paige and Baby Boy at 30 weeks

5) If you follow me on Instagram then you likely know about this pic. I've gotten TONS of dog snuggles since being laid up on the couch! My little man Otis Beaufort is the BEST at dog snuggles.

Happy Weekend everyone!