Scott Wolf (Bailey) and Why Children Should Do Yoga

I have had the opportunity to work with Amira Gaynor, Founder and Owner of Namaste Kid, an award-winning Children’s Yoga DVD company. I was hired to do the hair and makeup for her DVDs. I was also hired to promote the DVDs at various award shows like the Golden Globes and met such hotties like Scott Wolf.

Me + Scott in the Golden Globes Swag Room

Amira is one of my heroes. She’s an amazing entrepreneur with a solid vision– to help kids develop core strength, balance, and confidence. Her DVDs have already won ‘best of’ awards and have gained the attention from several children’s groups, publications, and celebrities that I am not allowed to namedrop.

Me + Amira

Recently Amira asked me if Evan would like to be part of a photo shoot for the DVD cover(s). I told her that Evan has an enormous head and a Dumb and Dumber haircut, but she could give him a try. Turns out she liked his photos and he’s on the back cover of her new DVD, Sport Yoga ($15.49), and the inside panel of the new 3-disc DVD set ($39.99).

Evan on the Yoga Motion 3-Disc DVD Set

I am not going to lie to you. My son Evan does not do yoga on a consistent basis. I’d love to tell you that we practice sun salutations in the morning before we get dressed, have a healthy breakfast and talk at length about how excited we are for the day. On the contrary, my mornings usually consist of frantically trying to find him clean underwear, asking Evan for the upteenth time not to pee on the toilet seat, and reminding him that breakfast gets served at school (but still pouring him some low sugar fruit juice to hydrate him because I am slightly anal about the amount of fluids he consumes).

However, we do practice Pranayama yoga breathing often. Whenever he gets worked up or upset about something we take deep breaths in and out, focusing on the quality of our breath. The name Pranayama, according to linguistic sources, comes from the words “prana” (life force) and “yama” (control). This type of breathing is also useful when Evan can’t slow his mind down at night and has trouble falling asleep. I lay in bed with him and guide his breath until he is relaxed and falls asleep.

It is a goal of mine to introduce Evan to the poses of yoga to add to his breathing exercises. Yoga is so beneficial for children.  Here’s a few (of many!) of the reasons why:

Children’s Yoga Helps With-

1. Concentration –moving from one pose into another teaches children how to control their focus and attention.
2. Flexibility, Strength and Balance- children are born with an innate flexibility and by doing yoga they are able maintain their flexibility, while developing  strong muscles and balance.
3. Self-Esteem-yoga does wonders for a child’s belief in his/her abilities and sense of self.
4. Present Moment Awareness- yoga helps children focus on the here and now. It teaches children not to dwell on the past or worry about the future.
5. Cultivates a calm and peaceful mind – Savasana or resting pose, allows children to understand the importance of being still and one with their breath (aka quiet time for mama).
6. Encourages Imagination- children’s yoga teachers and DVDs often follow a story- being on a farm, a safari, or acting like a certain object. This sparks the imagination, allowing children to be creative and expressive.
7. Reduces Stress- children experience just as much stress as adults do. Yoga provides an immediate outlet to reduce stress. It produces good endorphins. And whether they are aware of it or not, yoga helps children gain perspective.  By slowing down the mind and body, they are able to process things (life) more clearly, without judgement, fear or negative emotion.
8. Feeling Connected- doing yoga alone or with people helps children feel more connected to themselves, others and the world around them. It’s a great family activity!

Namaste Kid DVDs can be purchased at Amazon.com or local children stores.  For a full listing of stores visit their site, www.namastekid.com.

Parenting: A Mantra to Make it Less Daunting and more Doable

I blame my parents for my lack of maternal instinct. They refused to buy me a Cabbage Patch Kid citing they didn’t want me to rely on material things to make me happy in life. I do however, give them credit for my work ethic.  They told me if I wanted to buy things, I’d have to get a job. I began working as a janitor at age thirteen and then became a salon receptionist at fifteen.

Friends and boyfriends would always be surprised when I said I didn’t want to have children, “What? You’d be a great mom!” would be their response.

But what makes a great mom? What were they seeing in me that would make them believe I could handle diapers, late night feedings and giving up high heeled shoes?

Well turns out I did have a child. In the first year of my marriage my ex-husband, Peter, lost his father to a motorcycle crash. It was devastating. Peter wanted to fill the void his father left by starting a family of his own. I reluctantly agreed and we immediately got pregnant.

That was an incredibly challenging time for me. I was finishing my degree at the U of M (I had left my sophomore year to go to the Aveda Institute), I was the breadwinner (Peter was  in a Doctorate program), and had just quit my full time job to start a business.

It was important to me to be a stay-at-home mom. I thought it would be an ideal situation to have a business that I could ‘work from home’ and also be at home with my baby. For any of you that plan on doing that, don’t. It’s unrealistic. Or at least it didn’t work for me. I eventually put Evan in part-time day care and it gave me the extra time to build my business and it saved my sanity.

While having my own business afforded me the freedom to make my own schedule, it’s growth and success really took away from the quality of time with my child. I started questioning if I was the great mom that everyone believed I would be. Part of the many reasons why I sold the business was to spend more time with Evan, only to find that a full time job (I had one briefly that didn’t fit the hours of Evan’s day care) and owning a smaller scale business still presented its share of challenges in how to balance a career and a family. It became even more challenging when I made the decision to be a single mother (in the financial sense, Peter has 50/50 custody). Peter is a hands-on dad and we co-parent very well and efficiently together. And while I didn’t appreciate the unsolicited psychoanalysis during our marriage, it is helpful to have a Doctor of Psychology in the family when figuring out how to raise a child. I remember when I was having a nervous meltdown about being a good mom, Peter said,

“You don’t have to be a perfect mom, you just have to be a good enough mom. All we need to give Evan is warmth, acceptance, love and guidance and he’ll turn out fine.”

That advice resonated with me, and in my moments when I am about to lose my mommy mind, I repeat the mantra in my head, warmth, acceptance, love and guidance.

The advice also loosened me up and instead of focusing on being a perfect mom, I focused on being a fun mom.

I took Evan to Denver this past week for his birthday. I want to travel with him as much as possible before it’s uncool to hang with his mother.

On the trip I asked Evan how I could be a better mother to him and he responded,

“You don’t need to be a better mom, if you were a better mom it would weird me out.” (Which I interpreted as meaning a helicopter mom.)

Then I asked him what he needed from me and he responded,

“Love.”

So it turns out my friends were right about being a great mom. Providing warmth, acceptance, love and guidance comes naturally to me as it does to most people. This makes parenting less daunting and more doable. When you take on that perspective, why not have ten children? Just kidding. Now that just sounds scary.

A photo of my birthday boy from the trip—totally pooped out!

Xo,

~Julie

Parenting: A Mantra to Make it Less Daunting and more Doable

I blame my parents for my lack of maternal instinct. They refused to buy me a Cabbage Patch Kid citing they didn’t want me to rely on material things to make me happy in life. I do however, give them credit for my work ethic.  They told me if I wanted to buy things, I’d have to get a job. I began working as a janitor at age thirteen and then became a salon receptionist at fifteen.

Friends and boyfriends would always be surprised when I said I didn’t want to have children, “What? You’d be a great mom!” would be their response.

But what makes a great mom? What were they seeing in me that would make them believe I could handle diapers, late night feedings and giving up high heeled shoes?

Well turns out I did have a child. In the first year of my marriage my ex-husband, Peter, lost his father to a motorcycle crash. It was devastating. Peter wanted to fill the void his father left by starting a family of his own. I reluctantly agreed and we immediately got pregnant.

That was an incredibly challenging time for me. I was finishing my degree at the U of M (I had left my sophomore year to go to the Aveda Institute), I was the breadwinner (Peter was  in a Doctorate program), and had just quit my full time job to start a business.

It was important to me to be a stay-at-home mom. I thought it would be an ideal situation to have a business that I could ‘work from home’ and also be at home with my baby. For any of you that plan on doing that, don’t. It’s unrealistic. Or at least it didn’t work for me. I eventually put Evan in part-time day care and it gave me the extra time to build my business and it saved my sanity.

While having my own business afforded me the freedom to make my own schedule, it’s growth and success really took away from the quality of time with my child. I started questioning if I was the great mom that everyone believed I would be. Part of the many reasons why I sold the business was to spend more time with Evan, only to find that a full time job (I had one briefly that didn’t fit the hours of Evan’s day care) and owning a smaller scale business still presented its share of challenges in how to balance a career and a family. It became even more challenging when I made the decision to be a single mother (in the financial sense, Peter has 50/50 custody). Peter is a hands-on dad and we co-parent very well and efficiently together. And while I didn’t appreciate the unsolicited psychoanalysis during our marriage, it is helpful to have a Doctor of Psychology in the family when figuring out how to raise a child. I remember when I was having a nervous meltdown about being a good mom, Peter said,

“You don’t have to be a perfect mom, you just have to be a good enough mom. All we need to give Evan is warmth, acceptance, love and guidance and he’ll turn out fine.”

That advice resonated with me, and in my moments when I am about to lose my mommy mind, I repeat the mantra in my head, warmth, acceptance, love and guidance.

The advice also loosened me up and instead of focusing on being a perfect mom, I focused on being a fun mom.

I took Evan to Denver this past week for his birthday. I want to travel with him as much as possible before it’s uncool to hang with his mother.

On the trip I asked Evan how I could be a better mother to him and he responded,

“You don’t need to be a better mom, if you were a better mom it would weird me out.” (Which I interpreted as meaning a helicopter mom.)

Then I asked him what he needed from me and he responded,

“Love.”

So it turns out my friends were right about being a great mom. Providing warmth, acceptance, love and guidance comes naturally to me as it does to most people. This makes parenting less daunting and more doable. When you take on that perspective, why not have ten children? Just kidding. Now that just sounds scary.

A photo of my birthday boy from the trip—totally pooped out!

Xo,

~Julie

Parenting: A Mantra to Make it Less Daunting and more Doable

I blame my parents for my lack of maternal instinct. They refused to buy me a Cabbage Patch Kid citing they didn’t want me to rely on material things to make me happy in life. I do however, give them credit for my work ethic.  They told me if I wanted to buy things, I’d have to get a job. I began working as a janitor at age thirteen and then became a salon receptionist at fifteen.

Friends and boyfriends would always be surprised when I said I didn’t want to have children, “What? You’d be a great mom!” would be their response.

But what makes a great mom? What were they seeing in me that would make them believe I could handle diapers, late night feedings and giving up high heeled shoes?

Well turns out I did have a child. In the first year of my marriage my ex-husband, Peter, lost his father to a motorcycle crash. It was devastating. Peter wanted to fill the void his father left by starting a family of his own. I reluctantly agreed and we immediately got pregnant.

That was an incredibly challenging time for me. I was finishing my degree at the U of M (I had left my sophomore year to go to the Aveda Institute), I was the breadwinner (Peter was  in a Doctorate program), and had just quit my full time job to start a business.

It was important to me to be a stay-at-home mom. I thought it would be an ideal situation to have a business that I could ‘work from home’ and also be at home with my baby. For any of you that plan on doing that, don’t. It’s unrealistic. Or at least it didn’t work for me. I eventually put Evan in part-time day care and it gave me the extra time to build my business and it saved my sanity.

While having my own business afforded me the freedom to make my own schedule, it’s growth and success really took away from the quality of time with my child. I started questioning if I was the great mom that everyone believed I would be. Part of the many reasons why I sold the business was to spend more time with Evan, only to find that a full time job (I had one briefly that didn’t fit the hours of Evan’s day care) and owning a smaller scale business still presented its share of challenges in how to balance a career and a family. It became even more challenging when I made the decision to be a single mother (in the financial sense, Peter has 50/50 custody). Peter is a hands-on dad and we co-parent very well and efficiently together. And while I didn’t appreciate the unsolicited psychoanalysis during our marriage, it is helpful to have a Doctor of Psychology in the family when figuring out how to raise a child. I remember when I was having a nervous meltdown about being a good mom, Peter said,

“You don’t have to be a perfect mom, you just have to be a good enough mom. All we need to give Evan is warmth, acceptance, love and guidance and he’ll turn out fine.”

That advice resonated with me, and in my moments when I am about to lose my mommy mind, I repeat the mantra in my head, warmth, acceptance, love and guidance.

The advice also loosened me up and instead of focusing on being a perfect mom, I focused on being a fun mom.

I took Evan to Denver this past week for his birthday. I want to travel with him as much as possible before it’s uncool to hang with his mother.

On the trip I asked Evan how I could be a better mother to him and he responded,

“You don’t need to be a better mom, if you were a better mom it would weird me out.” (Which I interpreted as meaning a helicopter mom.)

Then I asked him what he needed from me and he responded,

“Love.”

So it turns out my friends were right about being a great mom. Providing warmth, acceptance, love and guidance comes naturally to me as it does to most people. This makes parenting less daunting and more doable. When you take on that perspective, why not have ten children? Just kidding. Now that just sounds scary.

A photo of my birthday boy from the trip—totally pooped out!

Xo,

~Julie

Must Reads: “10 Mindful Minutes” by Goldie Hawn

I’ve always loved Goldie Hawn. I remember growing up watching her movies, seeing glimpses of her real personality come through each character. If ever a celebrity that I wanted to emulate, it was Goldie and her effervescent free-spirited nature. It comes as no surprise that once again, I find myself drawn to her, but this time it’s not just her personality and spirit, it’s her quest to help children learn ‘mindfulness’- a proven way to strengthen social and emotional intelligence.

In her book, “10 Mindful Minutes”, Goldie explains the importance of helping our children develop stronger, more functional brains. This isn’t woo woo, patchouli smelling, hippie discourse. This book and her MindUP program (a ‘mindful’ curriculum being used in North American public schools)  is based on science, specifically neuroscience, the study of our nervous system, a.k.a our brain. She has collaborated with experts in disciplines such as Neuroscience, Human Development, Psychology and Education. Having been married to a Neuroscience undergrad/ Doctor of Clinical Psychology and having had brain surgery (to remove a benign tumor), I have a good foundation of how our brain functions. But this book blows my mind! (No pun intended.) Goldie covers how each part of our brain works in an easy to understand and approachable way. But enough about brains, how will this book change your life?

“‘10 Mindful Minutes‘ can change the direction in which society is moving today by strengthening the minds of the next generation. In these pages you find an educational (and entertaining) narrative that provides the scientific groundings as well as the practical strategies for developing your child’s- and your own– mindful awareness. You and your child can learn to live in this new way: being aware in the present moment, letting go of judgements and expectations, and being more fully available to others and yourselves.” – Excerpt from the Foreword, written by Daniel J. Siegel, MD

I bolded and your own, intentionally. We, as parents, also need to practice mindfulness. Studies show that children are only as happy as their parents. In other words, if we’re not happy, our kids won’t be happy. I believe myself to be a happy person, but my struggle is being a ‘present’ person. With a million things on my to do list, I am often scattered and overextended. My child often mirrors my behavior by acting restless, overly emotional, and suffers from separation anxiety (he gets upset when I leave him alone in a room.) Yikes. It takes a lot of my own mind strength to gather my thoughts into one brain command, JULIE, SLOW DOWN, BREATHE, BE PRESENT.

Goldie offers practical strategies on breathing, mindful sensing, optimism, happiness, gratitude, empathy, kindness and living a more mindful life. She also addresses anger, sadness, and fear. Her goal is to help parents and children “find 10 mindful minutes every day to reduce stress, renew your mind for clearer thinking, and create greater focus and connectivity with your children”. My goal is to get you to read the book so we can discuss it (who wants to go out for a glass of wine and talk about the stress hormone cortisol?).

“By sitting and mindfully breathing for 10 minutes a day, in as little as eight weeks you strengthen the part of the prefrontal cortex involved in generating positive feelings and diminish the part that generates negative ones.”

-Richard Davidson, PhD

Available at Barnes and Noble and Amazon.com

Photos courtesy of Berry.com and Barnes and Noble.com

Baking: Slow Down Your Child’s Brain

I am not afraid to admit that my son loves video games. It started out with Angry Birds and now it’s turned into a full blown obsession with Minecraft.

Concerned that the games were increasing his brain processing speed (hence making it hard to concentrate in school), and understanding the need to help him unplug from technology, I sought out an activity that we could do together that required concentration.

We started baking and it’s made a world of difference.

Baking requires math skills, spatial perceptual skills and coordination skills. It  also requires concentration and focus. Baking promotes independence, confidence, and a sense of agency. It’s also very fun and exciting for kids.

PROS: Provide them their own tools and have them write the recipe on an index card and suddenly you have a child not asking for the phone or the iPad.

CONS: You’ll have an influx of baked goods that are delicious and full of calories.

IKEA’s Duktig 7-piece baking set for Kids, $9.99.