I am so pleased and excited to announce that the first Move Anew group session has been scheduled in Perth. This first session will be geared towards moms (or dads, if any are interested!), as we navigate the movement challenges that are part of child-rearing, especially in the early years.
The earliest of the early years are marked by an abrupt change in parental movement habits and patterns. You’re pregnant (there will be a whole series looking at the movement challenges there! Check back in the fall for this one!), and then all of a sudden you have a sweet little human barbel that needs to be lifted, carried, fed, and held 32 hours a day. You spend a LOT of time in very repetitive positions, caring for a squirming little delicious smelling human and you start to notice the tension. You spend HOURS rocking, or swaying, or leaning over a crib/playpen/stroller/carseat patting, shushing or just being present. You feed and feed and feed some more. Your back is sore, or maybe your neck. You get headaches. Your thumbs (oh the thumbs–if you’ve had this, you know what I’m saying here. The diagnosis I received? “Mother’s thumb. It’s common.”. Treatment? “Deal with it.” Ummm ok??).
It’s such a magical time.
And it is! Well, it certainly can be. It is certainly, most definitely, not without its struggles. But, when it’s good?? It’s magical.
Wouldn’t it be so much more magical if it didn’t hurt?
It doesn’t have to! You can get out of pain, you can get stronger, and it won’t take any time out of your day. That’s what I’m here for.
The Move Anew: With Baby/Toddler sessions will help you to develop an awareness of how you move. You’ll begin to recognize the repetitive motions that are most harmful to you and we’ll explore options–small tweaks to your alignment/position/strength that will take the pressure off the parts that are talking back, long before the baby learns how to.
Imagine: you can lean over the crib, get relief from that achy spot in the middle of your back, AND strengthen and lengthen your hamstrings. Won’t you feel so much better about that chocolate bar you’ll eat in the pantry once your sweet little bundle is finally, actually asleep, knowing that the 6 hours it took you to get them to sleep were actually spent working out?
All joking aside… here’s the Mama Movement Makeover plan:
Each class will begin with an alignment exploration of a particular area (e.g. hips, shoulders, neck…). We’ll do some deliberate alignment/awareness work and I’ll show you exercises that you can do to help improve your movement/strength in this area. Then, we’ll look at real-life activities you do all the time, and how you can tweak them to bring in the alignment of that particular area.
The best part? The awareness this work brings will transfer into not only your daily everyday life, but will help you develop strength and flexibility that you’ll take with you into all the activities you love to do (e.g. swimming, yoga, knitting, napping… ;). This is powerful stuff.
A few extra details:
- classes are an hour long (and feeding/diapering/etc. breaks are on your schedule. We go with the flow!)
- you can drop-in to class when it fits into your life or commit to the 8 weeks for a reduced cost per class
- kiddos are most definitely welcome, but if you’d rather come by yourself, that’s ok too!
- still pregnant, no kiddo yet? You’re more than welcome and this will be a great head-start to help you establish your new mama movement practice! (a good option if you’re due before the pregnancy series which will start in the fall)
- if there are specific areas that you’re interested in addressing, you’ll be invited to make suggestions and we’ll work in whatever we can
- chat and network with like-minded mamas!
Feel free to share with any mamas you think may be interested, and don’t forget to e-mail moveanew@gmail.com to sign up for the 8 weeks or to let me know if you’re interested in the drop-in option! (I do enjoy getting e-mails! Please don’t be shy!).