Hey readers! No post today. I've been at a laptop for exactly five minutes this week. Henry had an unusual amount of appointments for his torticollis and...
We put an offer in on a home! And I'm about to negotiate the h-e-double hockey sticks out of this thing!
More to come next week! Enjoy your weekend ;)
Friday, December 5, 2014
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
How To Do Sun Salutation A
I got such an overwhelmingly positive response from this post, that I
decided to make a little series out of it. I got a request to go over
proper alignment and form of Sun Salutation A (Surya Namaskara A for
those who speak Sanskrit... Why there isn't Sanskrit for the "A" I have
no idea!)
Start in tadasana/mountain pose. Shoulders should be rolled down the spine, arms in anatomical position (palms forward), quads engaged and weight centered on the foot, evenly distributed from the heel to the ball of the foot, toes spread wide.
As you inhale, raise the arms over your head, looking up but not cranking your neck. Hands should rotate inward so that the arms are internally rotated from the shoulder.
As you exhale, fold over at the hips. Your hands come by your feet and your neck is relaxed. Make sure to keep your weight shifted forward so that you get the most out of the stretch - the tendency is to shift the weight back to balance the weight of your head coming down. But that takes away from the awesome deep stretch of the forward fold! So keep your weight forward. Don't worry, you won't fall. At least, you probably won't :)
On the inhale, lift yourself up partway so that your spine is straightened. Roll your shoulder blades down your spine and look just towards the front of your mat.
On your exhale, fold back over.
Up next is the chatturanga. Check out this post I did a few weeks back that goes into detail on the proper way to execute that challenging series of poses. For Sun Salutation A, you can either jump back, landing in chatturagna (super advanced) or you can walk your feet back and go from high push-up/plank pose, shifting your weight forward and then lowering into your chatturanga push-up.
Now you pull yourself forward and up. Your thighs stay off the mat and you shift forward onto the tops of your feet. Your shoulders should remain rolled down your back and out of your ears. Don't crank your neck to look up, but rather use your neck as an extension of your spine, continuing the long stretch of the back in this upward dog pose.
Now you transition back into downward facing dog. If you're more advanced, you roll over your toes by pulling up with your core and pushing away with your arms. If you're not quite there yet, pull up with your core while you push back with your arms and simply move the feet so the bottoms of the feet are on the floor.
In downward facing dog, you want to use your core and squeeze your inner thighs so that your rump moves closer towards the ceiling. Pull your shoulders out of your ears and try to get your elbows to face upwards as much as possible. Your heels may or may not touch the ground. Spread your fingers wide and distribute the weight amongst the palm, pushing into each finger tip.
Now to start the Sun Salutation A sequence over again, either jump or walk to the top of your mat, and start back over at the beginning. This is a very popular sequence to warm the body up in a yoga class, typically being done within the first 10 minutes of a class.
Now you can be a Surya Namaskara A pro, getting your body warmed up and ready to flow your way through the rest of your class!
Start in tadasana/mountain pose. Shoulders should be rolled down the spine, arms in anatomical position (palms forward), quads engaged and weight centered on the foot, evenly distributed from the heel to the ball of the foot, toes spread wide.
As you inhale, raise the arms over your head, looking up but not cranking your neck. Hands should rotate inward so that the arms are internally rotated from the shoulder.
As you exhale, fold over at the hips. Your hands come by your feet and your neck is relaxed. Make sure to keep your weight shifted forward so that you get the most out of the stretch - the tendency is to shift the weight back to balance the weight of your head coming down. But that takes away from the awesome deep stretch of the forward fold! So keep your weight forward. Don't worry, you won't fall. At least, you probably won't :)
On your exhale, fold back over.
Up next is the chatturanga. Check out this post I did a few weeks back that goes into detail on the proper way to execute that challenging series of poses. For Sun Salutation A, you can either jump back, landing in chatturagna (super advanced) or you can walk your feet back and go from high push-up/plank pose, shifting your weight forward and then lowering into your chatturanga push-up.
 |
| Plank |
 |
| Shift forward |
 |
| Lower into chatturanga |
Now you transition back into downward facing dog. If you're more advanced, you roll over your toes by pulling up with your core and pushing away with your arms. If you're not quite there yet, pull up with your core while you push back with your arms and simply move the feet so the bottoms of the feet are on the floor.
Now to start the Sun Salutation A sequence over again, either jump or walk to the top of your mat, and start back over at the beginning. This is a very popular sequence to warm the body up in a yoga class, typically being done within the first 10 minutes of a class.
Now you can be a Surya Namaskara A pro, getting your body warmed up and ready to flow your way through the rest of your class!
Monday, December 1, 2014
Mommy Monday: Feeding a Baby Real Food
Babies are hilarious. They do funny things like pass gas in public and make funny noises at inappropriate times. They're even more funny when you try to get them to do adult things. It's like this miniature human, clumsily going about life. Feeding a baby real food for the fist time is right up there with the "best of" funny moments!
A few months back, I posted this about preparing to feed Henry real food. At the five month mark, we gave him oat cereal. Lil' H absolutely HATED it!
He didn't know what the deal was with the spoon in his mouth. He didn't understand the concept of taking a bite and swallowing. I tried once a day for nearly a month, and only on one or two occasions did Henry finish a bowl (we're talking maybe two table spoons of oat cereal here!) Only on about five or six occasions did he actually swallow the oatmeal as opposed to spitting it all over himself.
Around the six month mark, I decided to try sweet potatoes. Don't let this face fool you... After the initial confusion of "what the heck is this stuff in my mouth", Henry decided he loved them!
Be forewarned; sweet potatoes make a massive mess and stain what they get on! Since discovering his love of sweet potatoes, we've learned that Henry likes cheese (we give him tiny pieces of shredded cheddar) and yogurt. We only give him one kind of food at each feeding so he can taste it and explore its texture fully. You don't want to overwhelm a baby with too many tastes, smells and textures at once or they'll determine that real food is too confusing. Patience is key!
Up next we have squash and carrots. I'm hoping these won't stain like the sweet potatoes, because let me tell you: babies get food EVERYWHERE. It's in between their fingers and up their nose. Sometimes it's I even find it in his toes at bath time.
Feeding a kiddo is an extensive process with an elaborate clean up, but it is so fun to watch Henry explore new foods. And make funny faces in the process.
A few months back, I posted this about preparing to feed Henry real food. At the five month mark, we gave him oat cereal. Lil' H absolutely HATED it!
 |
| "WHAT is this, ma?! Gross!" |
He didn't know what the deal was with the spoon in his mouth. He didn't understand the concept of taking a bite and swallowing. I tried once a day for nearly a month, and only on one or two occasions did Henry finish a bowl (we're talking maybe two table spoons of oat cereal here!) Only on about five or six occasions did he actually swallow the oatmeal as opposed to spitting it all over himself.
 |
| "Swallow? From a spoon? What?!" Also note that Henry is flipping me off. He hates oats that much. |
Around the six month mark, I decided to try sweet potatoes. Don't let this face fool you... After the initial confusion of "what the heck is this stuff in my mouth", Henry decided he loved them!
 |
| "This better not be those damn oats again Mama..." |
 |
| "Ohhh, just kidding! These are those sweet tater thingys. I love these!" |
Up next we have squash and carrots. I'm hoping these won't stain like the sweet potatoes, because let me tell you: babies get food EVERYWHERE. It's in between their fingers and up their nose. Sometimes it's I even find it in his toes at bath time.
Feeding a kiddo is an extensive process with an elaborate clean up, but it is so fun to watch Henry explore new foods. And make funny faces in the process.
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