lil omm

As a mom of 2, running my own business, and an avid lover of life and community.. I noticed something recently. I have NOT BEEN TAKING CARE OF MYSELF! AGH!

I know we always hear and talk about it, now let's do it! And let's do it safely! Lil omm is so excited to host Michelle Pfennighaus, CHC as we make the pledge to reinvent ourselves inside and out. It might just be the jumpstart you need before summer! The 21 day detox kick off event is on Sunday, 4/22 @ 1:30pm.

I know that all of us mama's wish we had a few more hours in the day just to have some time to ourseves, especially during times of stress. We all feel our stress in different places, some our shoulders and neck, some our backs.

I wanted to share with you a new series at lil omm, Theme Teaching. Check out two of our superstar teachers, Kate and Sandy talking about their first theme, back bends. This pose, when done correctly, can help release tension in the back relieving your cranky muscles.

To learn more about our Theme Teaching or to sign up for Kate or Sandy's class, please visit us at www.lilomm.com

Come join us!!! To find out when playtime is, visit our website at www.lilomm.com

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the practice of Itsy Bitsy Yoga, here's a short video of my two favorite students (Saylor and Milo) going through some of the poses.

In the past year, I have been learning and using essential oils and Aromatherapy. I have been using them in my yoga practice, cleaning the house, to lift my spirits, to ground my energy..... a NUMBER of ways. In fact, I have a new challenge to myself: use the oils in a NEW way, each week. I find oils to be useful and purposeful in the home as well as an enhancement to our healthy lifestyle and my spiritual practice. There are so many ways to use Aromatherapy and integrate the oils into your life.

My current favorite uses for oils:

There is one class on the lil omm weekly schedule that is NEAR AND DEAR to my heart.. Yoga For Mamas.

There is NO other place in Washington, DC where you can come each week, drop in and be completely nurtured and taken over in a way that focuses on motherly love, energy and renewal. Based on our experience with Self Renewal, Yoga, and nurturing – we created this class out of love for the mamas in the community.

Every morning, I grab a cup of coffee and I go upstairs and listen. Where did these women come from? What are their stories?

This is really one of the most wonderful interview series I have listened to. PLEASE LISTEN. listen to the stories, the ideas, and the outstanding work that these women are doing. I promise that at least 1 of these will resonate with you- maybe spark an idea for your own life? maybe inspire you to do something meaningful with an idea you have. maybe give yourself a pat on the back for the work you already are doing. YOU ARE WORTH IT.

This series- the MAPP gathering is really ( Motherhood, Ambition, Passion, Purpose) a place to listen, to learn, to reflect and to support each other.

Meet the participants here:

Sometimes life is so busy that we cant take a 90 minute yoga class.

Sometimes all we get is a quiet 10-15 minutes to practice to return to our mats, so what to do with that time? Do you ever come to the mat and not know?

Here is a simple practice. anytime, anywhere, for however long. You can linger in a twist or add breaths to deepen your connection.

Down time has a new look these days.

Yesterday, I laid in bed for 1.5 hours with my baby. This is what we did.

A WHOLE LOT OF NOTHING.

I wanted to share with all the moms out there a look at lil omm in our new space in Tenleytown and how you don't have to be a "yogi" to enjoy the benefits of yoga.

Many women come to yoga during pregnancy and/or for a mom/baby class and have not had the pleasure of studying for years before parenting... I really feel the BENEFITS of studying yoga are just fully coming into bloom NOW!
Backbends, balancing, heart openers, inversions,  forward bends, mediation...all have implications for our physical mat practice, our parenting practice and our OWN self awareness.

After a recent conversation with a friend about balance I wrote some thoughts about the connection between our balancing postures and our lives. No, this is not a polished essay, more just thoughts. I'd love for you to share your as well. (See the beautiful Yanna balancing so well below!)

How do you want to BALANCE your precious time? I want my children  to have plenty of mommy time but see me working in a way that helps this world. That creates peace and healthy living for families- where I am connected to others and working on service- giving my life in a meaningful way to things that are important to me.

There are many benefits of practicing balance postures such as an increased awareness strength our in our physical body starting from the feet and moving up the body to an increased awareness of our own thought patterns and  tendencies. For example, while standing in tree pose we can notice how we stand, where we lean and bring ourselves back into alignment. The same is true in our lives, we can step back when we feel out of balance and see what areas are pulling us down or off of our center, and we have a chance to re-align ourselves.

In yoga, our postures often represent more than just what physical arises on the mat. In balancing postures, we “ground down” with our feet in order to rise up with our heart and to align our skeletal system, bring ourselves into a full expression of  the pose and ourselves. Balancing poses give us a chance to notice our patterns and practice new ways to come into the pose and new strategies to come FULLY into our life.

When you come into a poses there are often has physical and mental implications. One benefit of yoga is the centering and realigning that occurs with your body and your life. Balancing postures help us to center our selves physically and mentally.

Able to help clear the path of intuition for raising my family, living with intention, what do I want to do with my time? Who do I want to spend it with- living with intention and clarity and returning to the mat, cushion, nature,  movement to help give me space and clarity.

How do you balance?

For me, Yoga is as  Judith Lasater has said, “When one is deeply in the state of yoga, who you are really is most evident, and when we are most truly ourselves, we express what yoga truly is.” She went on to liken yoga to the actions of a sculptor uncovering the shape already present in the stone, removing the obstacles to letting whatever is present reveal itself, shine forth." 

It's heavy. It's slow and it's really not pretty.
ME- back out there on the sidewalks of DC, jogging (walking quickly), trying to run, trying to MOVE my body! AGH!!!!

I love to run. I love to run outside, but these days...it's just not coming so easily...I always have the jogging stroller out and there is always someone attached to it (our dog, Miller, the car seat with Milo) or Saylor inside reading a book, singing me a song or yelling "run mama run" ... I tell her "I'm trying". She says "go faster" ... I tell her "I'm trying!!"

The thing is ...I was NOT always a runner, by any means. As a child, I was overweight and very tall. Growing up, sports were not my thing. Meaning... I WAS ALWAYS LAST! Last to be picked, last to run the 600 on field day and then later in life, last for the timed mile. All of that made me very, very sad, and really hate running. Embarrassed really.

Fast forward many years... and I find yoga, I quit the gym and all the sudden I have this ENORMOUS desire to run outside. Shortly after that I signed up for my first half marathon and started training. I took it very seriously and I "learned" to run and ever since then, I have enjoyed outdoor jogging. I don't compete with anyone, I just enjoy my breath and movement linked, the outdoor air... it's really great without a jogging stroller as well... but I have not done that in so long I don't even remember!

Now, I am working on getting this baby weight off. It's really tough. I feel like EVERYONE I know who has had their 2nd (or 3rd) baby looks amazing right after the baby, and looses all the weight SO FAST. I am really struggling with the extra pounds b/c it's making my jogging MUCH slower, much heavier and hurting my knee,  not to mention the extra pounds in my yoga practice...plow pose is VERY interesting.

I know in time, it will pass, the weight will come off, and I will feel like myself, in my body again... "9 months on , 9 months off" they say... 

Yoga inspired me to change my life.
Yoga inspired me to change my career.

Once upon a time, I taught little ones in NE/SE DC how to read, play, love, and laugh...then yoga inspired me to change the direction of my life by leaving my career in education.

Yoga inspired me to GO FOR IT and leave DC Schools to work for a no name company called lululemon, first part time and then full time as something called a "community leader".

Yoga THEN inspired me to dream about opening lil omm and having babies, both of which I did in the years that followed.

Yoga has opened my eyes and pinched me to see the light, to unveil, to see my TRUE self and to open up in a blog, and in life to be REAL. To let you all know when I'm scared or happy or unsure...

What has yoga inspired YOU to do?