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Monday Morning Ritual: Getting Organised for Another Week

I plan my day in a way that flows.

This affirmation is perfect to start the week with! Here is a snippet of what my Monday morning ritual looks like.

Firstly I meditate. I do this immediately when I wake up and have had half a glass of water to drink. I keep a bottle of water next to my bed to refill my glass from so I don’t even need to move! I prefer to not leave my bedroom (my sanctuary!) until I have meditated so I can set my vibes for the day.

I write a little in my journal about anything interesting that popped up in my dreams and in my meditation. I always keep a few crystals nearby. They’re beautiful and uplifting to look at.

purple and rainbow crystal and diary planner

I keep my favourite affirmation cards in my diary so I can pull them out to look over in the morning after meditating. These small square cards are the Empower Yourself Affirmation Cards by Miranda Kerr. I have other affirmations that I note down in my journal too. I keep this particular card in my diary because it seems so appropriate!

affirmations for a well organised day over morning tea

It’s so hot at the moment here in Sydney that I have to have a cool shower to refresh. This might sound a bit odd but it’s also a great way for me to fit in a little exercise every single day without fail. Right after my shower, I do 30 push ups against the wall. Just like that, I’ve done some exercise! A word of warning: do not do your wall push ups in the shower where the floor might be wet – you wouldn’t want to slip and hurt yourself.

monday morning day diary entry

A new habit I have now is to moisturise my whole body after showering. I use either coconut oil or an oil blend that I make myself. At the moment I’m also using this lotion from Garnier, it smells quite fresh but isn’t too overpowering. I’m trying to get through it so I don’t have a whole row of bottles on my bedside counter like some kind of crazy lotion obsessed person but it’s taking me a while! Usually this would have been finished in a week if B was around because he prefers moisturisers to oils and he always loves using what I get for skin care since he knows how fussy I am about products I didn’t make. But I’m here and he’s still overseas so here I am with oodles of lotion to myself.

This jade bangle is from my mum. I need the moisturiser to help with getting it on. It’s a bit of a struggle but nothing like the kind I went through in Delhi when a very sweet bracelet maker rammed a handful of tiny bangles up my palm. I swear I felt my bones crack that time haha. They were SO beautiful but I nearly cried when I took them off.

Moisturiser and Crystal Jade Bracelet Bangle

After that, one of my favourite parts of the morning: TEA AND BREAKFAST! I like all the morning but that first cup of tea is lovely. I put ice in my tea because it is so hot, is that weird for you? I don’t know how normal that is in a lot of countries but in South East Asia this is extremely common. If Sydney insists on having tropical weather than I have no choice but to crack out the ice cubes.

Although you can get bubble milk tea all over town so I guess you’re probably used to the idea of ice in tea by now.

Mum and I bought these delicious date and walnut scones at the markets yesterday so as an extra special treat I’m having one for breakfast with organic butter. When scones are so fresh I don’t feel like I need jam or cream. That and a big tumbler of water makes the perfect meal to nibble on as I get on with business.

delish scone with morning tea

If it isn’t too crazy hot yet then I’ll duck out for a quick walk otherwise I’ll stay in the shade and head out later on in the day when things cool down. I used to be fine in the heat but now that I’m pregnant I just feel the effects so quickly and worse I know that however hot I feel the baby feels even warmer so it’s important that I don’t get dehydrated and stay cool. Another reason to avoid getting too much sun when you’re pregnant is you can get dark patches of skin because of pregnancy hormones. It’s called ‘the mask of pregnancy’ and usually fades after you give birth but personally it’s best to just avoid getting to that point. It’s important to get some sun every day but not too much. Moderation is the key, as usual!

2017 diary planner from Kmart
Watermelon tumbler (comes with lid and straw) from Kmart

I hope you have a lovely week ahead filled with little things that make you happy!

Let me know what your getting Monday morning ritual looks like! x

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On the Prowl for: Handbags > Diaper Bags!

I met up with a girlfriend for lunch a few weeks ago and was struck by all the prams being pushed around us. Each pram was loaded down with a ginormous diaper bag and pushed by a mum hauling her own handbag.

I had already made up my mind that instead of a diaper bag I’d just use one of my existing bags. Seeing those women just made me more convinced of this plan. And then I thought, I know! I’ll do that and GET A NEW HANDBAG instead. Bahahahaha. Stay with me: if we’re pushing baby around in a pram, there’s that little basket thing underneath where the baby goes that you could always store equipment in and if I’m breastfeeding (hopefully that works, if it doesn’t I want to know why did I go up three bust sizes for) then I don’t need to pack any bottles of formula. So what do I really need to bring?

  1. A few diapers.
  2. Ziplock bags for dirty diapers.
  3. A change of clothes. Maybe a top for me too just in case I get spit up on.
  4. Baby wipes.
  5. Nursing pads for me.
  6. A cloth I can lay the baby on for changing.
  7. Another cloth to use for breastfeeding time.
  8. A bib.

Anything else?

I feel like in my normal day to day I carry around way more than that LOL. So it wouldn’t be as though I can’t fit things into my bag. And I really don’t love the look of diaper bags. NO THANKS!

And that’s the story of how I decided I’d rather get a bag. I don’t take buying bags lightly, mind you. It takes me MONTHS to decide. Unlike my shoe purchases. But this time, I’ve decided that I’ll get something classic that I can pass on to my daughter. With that weird justification (in my mind I make very good sense) let’s get on with THE PROWL, eeeeeee, excited!

In no particular order:

Saint Laurent Classic Monogramme Bag in Large

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This is pretty classic. I like the mixed quilting on this YSL bag and the silver hardware. Most of my bags have gold hardware.

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Saint Laurent Classic Large Collège Monogram Shoulder bag

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A slightly different look with the handle but maybe this is too “schoolbag” looking? Hmm.

Saint Laurent Classic Medium Collège Monogram with Embellished Leather

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Whack a few stars on it though and I’m digging it. Typical me! But then I feel like this wouldn’t be so much a classic as a one-off trend thing. Maybe if I were on the lookout for a baby sized handbag then I would get something like this in a small size.

Saint Laurent Large Monogram Matelassé Suede Shoulder Bag in Coffee

saint-laurent-large-monogram-matelasse-suede-shoulder-bag-in-coffy

I love a fuzzy bag and I have this thing for suede. What do you think of the brown? Very autumn?

Saint Laurent Medium Tri-Quilt Slouchy Leather Shoulder Bag

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Oooooh, grey looks good.

Saint Laurent Monogram Blogger Leather Shoulder Bag

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“Blogger” bags. TEMPTING! And with the hearts on it, so cute! Maybe next purchase (in a few years haha)!

Saint Laurent Sac De Jour Baby Shoulder Bagsaint-laurent-sac-de-jour-baby-leather-shoulder-bag-coal-nero

And then I saw these Sac De Jour totes by YSL. So many colours!!! And shades of grey and black! And textures!

sac-de-jour-small-leather-tote-marine-nero

How do people decide on just one colour? I managed to almost eliminate navy bags because I have a navy Balenciaga that I’m very happy with. I said almost – pretty sure this one here is some shade of blue.

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They don’t close up the top though, do they? I was pretty set on getting this style in the ‘baby’ size but thought I’d juuuuuuuuuust look a little longer.

Saint Laurent Classic Small Monogramme Downtown Cabas Bag in Rose Antic

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How cute are these? And I love the colours!

Saint Laurent Classic Small Monogramme Downtown Cabas Bag in Oyster Grey

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So chic.

Mulberry Small New Bayswater in Candy

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This Mulberry bag was the first bag I came across and considered getting. Such a happy colour!

Saint Laurent Medium Monogramme Sunset Bag in Indian Pink

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This sugary pink bag caught my eye too. Less bright but very sweet all the same.

Mulberry Small New Bayswater in Canary

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And then I went back to the Mulberrys and saw this canary yellow one. Also a happy colour!

Céline Small Trapeze

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I do like Céline bags though and this has some colour to it but isn’t over the top.

Chloé Drew Crossbody 23cm in Royal Navy

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Hmm, this is nice too. Aaaaaaannnnndddddd we’re back to blue.

Miu Miu Soft Calf Shoulder Bag

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VERY ladylike with Miu Miu.

Saint Laurent Classic Small Sac De Jour in Blush

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Since I’m looking at colourful bags, may as well go look at some more Sac De Jour totes. Like this one in blush.

Saint Laurent Small Downtown Cabas Tote

pale-pink-leather-small-monogram-downtown-cabas-tote

I feel like I already posted this one but let’s look at it again, shall we?

Saint Laurent Mini ‘Love’ Heart Chain Bag

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Oh my goodness, a heart shaped bag WITH stars on it? If I were getting 2 handbags, or more like 1.2 handbags (for the same price as 2 bags though, hmmph) this might be one of them! But I’m not. So.

Another Small Sac De Jour from Saint Laurent

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Meanwhile, in Sac De Jour land… EVERYONE could use a red handbag, couldn’t they?

And Another Saint Laurent Sac De Jour Tote

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But this shade of pink though. This one really tugs at my heart strings.

Saint Laurent Sac De Jour Baby Tote

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Although black is always good. ARGH. Except this is blue isn’t it? *Squints* I can’t tell anymore!

What do you think of my choices? Some of these are too small to be practical but I had such an enjoyable time oohing and aahing over everything that I thought you might like to take a look at them too!

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Do you have any of these bags? I’d love to hear your experiences with them if you do!

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Aside

High Five to making it out of Mercury Retrograde and Sounds to Hear

Mercury Retrograde has been tough, more so for some than others. This was taken just a few days ago. You know, January.

Gosh! Majorly glad that Mercury has returned to direct. Did you notice how strange things got? For us, it was drivers on the road being erratic. We saw a lot of car accidents happen. Talk about holiday madness! Another thing that happened quite a bit was people complaining about miscommunications. So we just kept things simple and didn’t make any big plans. I’m thinking the local coffee shop here thought they’d just come back after the craziness. In October.

It’s not procrastination when you’re trying to mitigate for a Mercury Retrograde cycle. Speaking of, I came across this song today. It’s so soothing, I love it! It will be on repeat whilst I go DO stuff. What’s the opposite of procrastinate? Activate? Right, I’m off to go activate, starting by visiting the cafe to see if they’re open yet. What are your plans for today?


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Aside

Weekend Feels x Colour Palette 💗🌸

(My canvas on weheartit.com)

I love pink. Always have! It’s just such a pretty uplifting colour, don’t you think so? And those YSL bags! Those HEELS!

😍

But I also love all the other colours. All of ’em.

Including all these dancing colours on my ceiling. I came back to my room after a shower to this little light show this morning, excuse my messy hair, but how could I not be in the best mood after this gorgeousness? 

I hope you had something happen to you to make you smile this morning! x

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Fundamentals of Yoga: Warrior not Worrier – modifications for Warrior 1 or Virabhadrasana 1

Fundamentals of Yoga: Warrior not Worrier – modifications for Warrior 1 or Virabhadrasana 1


Rule of thumb in your practice of yoga: Be comfortable so you can be calm.

If you aren’t comfortable when you meditate, you probably won’t come back. So if you aren’t comfortable, review, modify or adjust. A lot of times people seem to fear making adjustments and have to be exactly like the picture in the text book. There seems to be some concern that if you don’t do it like the picture you aren’t doing yoga. I say don’t worry so much, focus on practising SAFELY to get the maximum benefits that you can at any given point in time. Your body is constantly changing so why wouldn’t your practice evolve accordingly?

The idea is to make practice sustainable so you can carry on practising for the rest of your life. Just to be clear, I don’t mean for you to slouch your way through your set of yoga postures! Ahhhh, so comfortable. NO. You’ll need to be actively participating in your chosen posture: think of every fibre of your being as awake and alert but not tense.

As an example, below are some modifications that you can make in Virabhadrasana I (Warrior I), a fundamental posture that is the cause of a lot of worry over alignment for many people and can be challenging to sustain for some. Mr Iyengar writes in Light on Yoga, “All standing poses are strenuous, this pose in particular. It should not be tried by persons with a weak heart. Even people who are fairly strong should not stay long in this asana.

So let’s look at how we can make you more warrior and less worrier here, ok? Ok.

IMPORTANT: I’ll add here that if you are pregnant, you may find that standing postures are definitely too tiring to attempt in your first trimester. That was the case for me, but towards the end of my first trimester it felt GOOD to be in the posture and I absolutely love it in my third trimester now. Alternatively you may be just dandy hanging out here. Be aware of any signals your body throws your way. Your yoga practice may be altered during pregnancy but that doesn’t make it less yogic. Never force!

Virabhadrasana I, here we come:

To enter: 

Start in standing, arms above the head (palms touching) with the legs about 4 feet apart. 

Swivel to the right, turning the right foot to face forwards and the left foot slightly to the right (see below). 


Bend the right knee until the thigh is parallel to the floor, knee above the ankle. 

Keep the left leg engaged in one long line.

Look up towards the palms, letting the head drop back. 

20 to 30 seconds in the posture (each side) with normal breathing is plenty but if you find yourself getting breathless, stay calm and exit a little sooner. This is a tough posture so don’t get discouraged! Start with 5 seconds next time and build up your stamina. I used to find this posture tiring, my arms ached from holding them up and my thighs BURNED. Now I don’t even notice such things and truly enjoy the posture. The key was to practice patiently.

To modify:

If your shoulders seem to be bunching up around your jaw then keep the palms parallel instead of touching (see below).

(The legs are a little closer together here so that you can see the placement of the both feet. But if you find too intense a stretch in the groin, then by all means have the legs a little closer together like this!)

 
If you have high blood pressure, keep your arms down (see below) – placing them on your hips is a great way to check the alignment of your hips. In Virabhadrasana I the body faces forwards. Women may experience high blood pressure in pregnancy – be aware of this and modify accordingly.

If you feel dizzy, don’t look up but look straight ahead or down instead (see below).

Or don’t look up so high (see below).


If you have neck issues, don’t look up but look straight ahead or down instead (see below).


If the posture is too strenuous to begin with, have the front thigh a little higher than parallel to the floor (see below). Keep actively engaging the muscles in the leg though! 

There you go, I hope that helps you to find more ease and comfort as a Warrior.

Let me know if there is anything else bothering you in your Warrior pose and I’ll be happy to make some suggestions! All the best in your practice! x

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Happy New Year! 

Happy New Year! 

I’m celebrating the New Year with breakfast in bed and icy pops in total silence.

SUCH BLISS

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How was your New Year’s?

It’s been a really hot couple of days over here. Unbearably hot! I may have mentioned that I hardly sleep due to the pregnancy, did I? Well, I don’t sleep much, which is ok! But when the thermostat hit the high 30s the last few days and refused to drop back down during the evenings, I got so uncomfortable. Honestly I spent all night and early morning of New Year’s Eve Eve staring at the weather app on my phone haha. I’ve always run a little warmish, in Traditional Chinese Medicine this is known as having excessive internal heat, and that last night definitely finished me off.

I woke up on New Year’s Eve voiceless which was terrible timing since we had a whole bunch of people coming over. I figured I’d spend the day just listening but it seems that some days the more you want to listen to people, the more they want to hear you speak. This was even after B had gone around to everyone stating firmly that I had completely lost my voice and couldn’t speak. Oh well. The people want what the people want. I stuck everything drinkable in the chiller to keep my voice croaking on. I was so miserably tired from not sleeping, feeling so horrible with my painful throat and just completely under the weather that I felt like I might weep. That’s when I excused myself for 11 minutes to go meditate. I say to people all the time that meditation helps. Sometimes I forget that I should add, “But you need to keep at it.” So even though I had meditated at 3:30 am when the weather app said it was 34degrees (celsius so people who live in farenheit countries aren’t like, “What is your problem?” haha) I obviously needed to give myself some kind of boost. And it did the trick! My throat was still a little sore but my voice felt stronger and I had enough energy to get me through the afternoon until everyone went home happy with full bellies. Awwwww…..

In the evening time B and I just hung around at home nibbling on leftovers, watching the last bit of Home Alone. And staring at the baby bump. I don’t know if other parents are like this but we’re obsessed with staring at it. We watch it the way people watch movies. Also, is it Christmas if you don’t watch Home Alone?! B and I are the same age so even though we didn’t know each other back then we both remember watching Home Alone as kids thinking, “I’d so do that.” The weather was starting to cool down and even get windy so just before the midnight fireworks we drove down to the beach to hang out for a while. On the way home we picked up some icy pops which I had BIG NEW YEAR’S DAY PLANS FOR.

The oatmeal I didn’t even have to cook. Well, I cooked it the day before and because I never get the portions right, I just stored what was left in the fridge to have with fresh strawberries in the morning, cold. SO GOOD.

I’ve been asked a few times how to cook oatmeal. ??? Usually the packages that the oats come in will say something like cook for 5 minutes. There isn’t much to it but I know that a lot of people really have no confidence when it comes to anything beyond boiling water for tea. No worries!

Basic Oatmeal My Way:

Ingredients

Whole rolled oats – these days you can even get organic. Let’s say a handful per person.

Enough water to cover the oats in a small saucepan.

I like to add a good shake of ground nutmeg and cinnamon when I’m cooking the oats.

Method

Bring the oats in the water to a gentle boil, keep it on a low heat – oatmeal tends to bubble up really quickly and then spill over all over your stove when you turn your back on it. So keep the heat low so you don’t miss it. When the oatmeal starts to bubble, keep stirring so it doesn’t stick, you might add a little more water if you feel like it looks dry. Once you can’t see the water separate from the oats, that’s it. It should look like flaky mush. Makes sense? Let’s say it should be done in around 3-5 minutes. You can’t OVERCOOK oatmeal although it could dry out. 


To serve you can add honey or maple syrup and a splash of your choice of milk. You could cook the oatmeal in milk instead of water to make the oatmeal extra creamy. 

Like I said, if you made too much, it’s fine! Just put your leftovers in the fridge. Easy. 

Processed with Rookie Cam

Do you have any resolutions for this year? I wrote something last year about having a Peaceful New Year’s Eve . I was thinking to myself yesterday that even though I’m bringing in the New Year not feeling 100% that everytime my baby kicks, it makes me smile and I have no complaints. There have been some moments in 2016 that were really, really tough and horrible but there have also been many moments of joy. Isn’t that just life though? I think overall I faced things as peacefully as I could and I’ll try harder again this year. Every year I get a little calmer and at ease with peace, I hope!  I think if I had just one resolution to make this year it would be to just focus on being the kind of person that I look forward to spending time with.

And that person would conveniently have messy hair and eat icy pops in bed hehehe.

White Cotton Knit Dress from Kmart;
Nail Polish from Essie in Pink Diamond 

Make that REALLY messy hair. I’m wearing a cheap cotton knit dress that I found in KMART for $6. So comfy for sleeping! Although as my bump gets bigger, the dress gets shorter. It’ll be a singlet by the time the baby is due.

Anyway, I hope you had a wonderful end to 2016 and that 2017 will bring you lots of peace.

x

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Haul All The Cuteness: Unboxing GILT – Baby Wardrobe

Haul All The Cuteness: Unboxing GILT – Baby Wardrobe

A few years ago, B went to some outlet in LA and came back with three, maybe four, pairs of sneakers for himself and one pair of Converse kicks for the baby. We didn’t have a baby and I wasn’t pregnant.

*exchanges meaningful look with you*

THIS year, I found out I was pregnant. In her excitement my mum promptly went out and bought three pairs of shoes for the baby. During the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales this year, I saw the cutest dinkiest sweetest pair of baby shoes by Burberry on GILT. And instantly I understood why people keep buying shoes for babies. They’re just so darn cute! I hmm’d and ha’d over them for the longest time.

I showed my laptop screen to B.

OMG THEY’RE SO ADORABLE, GET THEM ALREADY.

Ok, ok. Well, whilst I’m here, let’s have a look-see what else these babies purchase.

And that’s how I ended up with a cart containing one pair of baby shoes, three pairs of organic pants, two sets of swaddle cloths, four rompers, one hat and a partridge in a pear tree. You get the drift. I lost my mind over all the cuteness. Ugh.

I mulled over the cart for a few more days, telling myself that if the shoes were still available online then ok, fine, I’ll get them. But NO MORE SHOES AFTER THAT. Newborns don’t even walk so why do they even need all that footwear for?

I checked back in a few days later, and the shoes sat there in my cart, patiently waiting for me. So I got them and along with them I picked up a few organic clothes for the baby. I culled most of the items I saved to my cart, keeping just the organic clothing that was reasonably priced and generously discounted. Who doesn’t add a ton of stuff to their cart and later laugh at the idea of actually buying everything? I’ve never heard of the brands aside from Burberry, I’ve never heard of most baby brands since my clients are always fully grown humans but I thought you might like to see what I ended up getting after several days of mulling.

Update: After I made my order I said to B, “OK! No more shoes for the baby for a while!” Minutes later we walked past a clothing boutique for children and he dashed in. Guess what he bought? More shoes. 

gilt-delivery

I’ve never been THIS excited to see a box full of items that aren’t for me delivered. NEVER.gilt-opening

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WHO puts the sticker on the TOP of a lid?!

Genius sticker placement. Well done whoever did that. burberry-box-lid

Those of you who, like me, love pretty containers and boxes, will probably heave a sigh of relief when I tell you that the sticker peeled off easily. But still, who puts a label on the TOP of a box instead of the side? So weird.

burberry-baby
If these came in my size…

Oh my goodness. I can’t stand how ridiculously cute these are. I showed them to mum and jokingly suggested I could turn these into key chains when the baby grows out of them. She immediately said, yeah, one for you and one for me. She sure took to that idea real quick.

cutest-mc-hammer-pants

Have you heard of Nui Organics? I’ve never heard of it but I like the pattern and the soft pastel colour. Texture wise it doesn’t feel majorly soft but it’s organic and I’ve found when clothes are super soft they get holes in them from washing quite quickly. for-the-baby-astronaut

This is from The Bonnie Mob and also says it is organic. I just love the bright colours and the happy print! Who knows, baby might want to be an astronaut! The clip buttons down near the diaper area will make logistics easy to navigate. more-pink

Another organic romper but with short sleeves in case things get too warm. I came across an old interview of Tom Ford and he was saying how he told his son that children don’t look good in black. “Ok, then I’ll wear grey” was the response he got. Kids are hysterical aren’t they?haul-all-the-things

So, that was my first experience shopping for tiny humans! What do you think of my choices? And do you know anything about these labels? Any good? Please let me know down below! collage

*This isn’t a sponsored post, I’m not connected to any of these labels or to GILT.

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Goddess Vibes x Drill Exercise: Be Kind and Stay Still = Strength.

 

“perhaps just get more kind to yourself and those around you”

— apt words from my June horoscope

Once in a while I’ll stumble upon a horoscope, article, instagram and marvel at how perfectly these small happenings are timed to lessons and themes I am currently working on. For instance, the last few months have been really focused on the concept of kindness and softness. They’re NOT easy! It has taken so long for me to break down my need to never show softness and never backdown to really embrace how being soft can be a different kind of strength. Life isn’t just about how good a smackdown you can give or how feisty you can be. It’s terrifying and exhilarating to find that within all that being gentle, deep down there is a reservoir of true strength to withstand all outside forces as well as all the inner crazy. The best defence may be a good offence in sports but in life the best defence is inner strength. 

Continuously working on the ability to stay perfectly gracefully still despite everything going on will build up your strength reserves mentally as well as physically. You’ll only get stronger this way and you’ll always feel centered, because your center is strong! Today’s drill is the perfect physical illustration of that wonderful kooky circular logic. You’re staying as still as you can, whilst working on strengthening your core and you won’t need to do a single crunch, hurray! It works for me and I hope it will for you too. Try it and let me know!

Enough chit-chat from me, let’s do this.

THE STAY STILL [Working title I’m sticking with this – besides aren’t we over ‘labels’ already?]

Repeat this exercise 3 to 5 times, several times a week and you’ll definitely feel stronger physically and hopefully get closer to experiencing grace under pressure, even if it’s merely during the course of a yoga class. It will be worth it – eventually that grace will translate to beyond your physical class! 

  1. Start in a kneeling position
  2. Place your hands either side of your knees
  3. Lean your weight into your hands and press strongly into the ground as you exhale
  4. Breathe your belly button in and up towards your spine
  5. On your next exhalation squeeze your knees towards your chest
  6. Hold as you breathe in and out for 5 rounds of breathing (something like the picture above)
  7. Inhale and squeeze your knees in a little more then 
  8. Lower down on your next exhalation. (Finally!)
  9. Advance this by squeezing one heel off the floor and hold. 
  10. Super advance this by squeezing both heels off the floor. You’re basically ready to levitate. 

If it feels horrible for the front of your feet then you can start off kneeling with your toes tucked under. As you press up you will come high up onto your toes. When you’re stronger you can try again with your feet flat. 

 

Tips

Your back will naturally round — go with that instinct. 

Use your midsection to pull your knees into the curve of your body. Squeezing your inner thighs together will help activate your core just that extra more. As much of your weight is off the floor, not just dangling into the fronts of your feet.

Even though your back is rounded, don’t hunch your shoulders into your ears! And don’t scrunch your face! All the work is deep, deep down in your core. The rest of you is to resemble the surface of still water. 

What it do?

I’m glad you asked. This will work your entire core as well as your ability to maintain your straight-arm strength. With your knees sucked in as close to your body as you can you’ll notice how hard your belly is working to keep that knees to chest connection going. The back gets a great stretch too. 

Alternatives for wrist issues

Just do the same thing but laying on your back and imagine your pressing your hands into the ceiling and pushing it away. You’ll still get all the benefits and you’ll have a great time curling your body away from the floor. NOT EASY. You’ll know you’re doing it right because you’ll just know

You can build up as you get stronger by doing the alternative in addition. Make the two versions part of your regular strength exercise.