Hot Mom Monday: 3 Tips for Pampering Yourself on the Inside

July 2, 2012 | By

By Bekah J

Going to a spa can do wonderful things for our bodies and help make us look and feel good. But what if you can’t make it to the spa? Why not try somewhat of an “internal spa treatment”? A pampering of our souls to help us feel good when we can’t receive a physical spa treatment. Here are some easy things you can do to make yourself feel good on the inside so you’re better able to tackle the outside world.

Meditate

It may sound a little cheesy, but research is continuously touting the benefits of meditation. The nice thing is there’s really no wrong way to do it. You can spend time praying, you can find all sorts of resources for guided meditation, or you can just take time to breathe deeply and focus on nothing but the sounds and sensations around you. The only thing you need to do to reap the benefits is to give yourself some uninterrupted time – even five minutes will help – is to step away from the immediate cares of the world.

Keep it in Perspective

There are two mantras that help me get through just about everything: “lower the bar” and “it’s only a phase.” Although these are particularly appropriate for parents, they work for anything. Most of us keep standards for ourselves far higher than anyone else has for us. By lowering the bar we can make our goals more manageable, and then raise the bar back up once we’ve reached them. Reminding ourselves that “it’s only a phase” can help us weather just about any storm or stressful experience, because we remember that it’s not going to last forever.

Affirm Yourself

Did you know that we have tens of thousands of separate thoughts per day? For most people, the majority of those thoughts are negative (regrets, thinking about mistakes, picking out our own faults). Consciously change that pattern. If you catch yourself thinking a negative thought, turn it into a proactive one. And spend time each day intentionally focusing on your strengths and the things you can do. It can be particularly helpful to write down positive comments that other people say about you, so that you can re-read them and remind yourself of your good traits.

When you feel good on the inside, you’ll be able to go through life more confidently. It also helps your stress level, which will have a positive effect on your health and relationships with others as well.

Bekah blogs at Motherhood Moment where she shares family-friendly tips on saving money and time, meal and activity ideas, and more. She also blogs at Motherhood Mindfully where she talks about mindful parenting and eco-friendly living.

Filed Under: Good + Happy, Moms and Family, Spa Treatments Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hot Mom Monday: 7 Tips for Taking Care of Mom

June 18, 2012 | By

By Stacy DeBroff

Between driving kids to lacrosse practice and basketball tournaments, making dinner, searching for summer camps, taking care of the dog, checking off work or volunteer commitments, and tossing in endless loads of laundry, we Moms pack a lot of activities into any given day. Unfortunately, in the crunch to get it all accomplished, we begin to make sacrifices and adjustments to our own priorities – setting the alarm a little earlier to get a jump on the day or assuming that we’ll get our exercise by running the laundry basket up and down the basement steps.

Yet, in order for us to take care of our families, we have to take care of ourselves. I’ve included some of my favorite tips below:

1. Prioritize

Make “you” a priority. Schedule a time each week that you commit to doing something solely for you – from a yoga class to a manicure to browsing the public library – while someone else cares for your child. Look upon this time as integral to your health and well-being, and not expendable.

2. Exercise

Schedule time for exercise every week, because it never happens if left up to chance. Working out gives you more energy, helps you lose weight, improves your circulation and your mood, tones your muscles, and makes you healthier.

3. Sleep

Get enough sleep each night to sustain your lifestyle as an active and involved Mom. Tag team with your partner for some extra sleep on weekend mornings by alternating who gets up with your child

4. Eat Well

Eat nutritiously, as you’ll function much better if you’re running on a balanced diet rather than your child’s leftover macaroni and cheese or chicken fingers.

5. Escape

Create a place of retreat in your house or garden that soothes and restores you. This can be as simple as a big, comfortable chair with good lighting and a soft throw so you can curl up and read.

6. Get Support

Time for friends is refreshing as well as necessary to maintaining your sanity. Find friends who can provide support, advice, and empathy when you need it, and with whom you enjoy responding in kind.

7. Pamper Yourself

Think of quick and easy ways to pamper yourself, such as: Take a bubble bath with scented oil and candles, go for a walk outdoors or do something athletic, get a new haircut, attend an intriguing talk or presentation, treat yourself to a facial, massage, a luxurious face cream, a fancy soap, yoga class, or a cleaning service or get an over-sized, soft terrycloth robe and comfy slippers to put on at the end of a stressful day.

Stacy DeBroff, founder and CEO of Mom Central Consulting, the leading social media consulting firm focused on Moms, brings more than a decade of award-winning experience, expertise, and insight to the nation’s top brands, agencies, and organizations. In 2011, Inc. magazine named Mom Central Consulting (www.momcentralconsulting.com) to its Inc. 500|5000 list of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. Read more about Stacy at www.stacydebroff.com.

 


Filed Under: Moms and Family Tagged With: , , , , ,

Hot Mom Monday: Prepping for Motherhood with Yoga

June 4, 2012 | By

What do you do when your training for a distance running race and you’ve just completed three years of a PhD bilogy program when a car barrels through an intersection and interrupts your 5-year plan? You pick your life up a head out on a new journey! Kia is a green lifestyle yogini and founder of www.bodhibear.net. She believes in personal responsibility and maximizing your joy. This Hot Mom Sqaud-er is not new to green or healthy living.  She works directly with online communities as well as real-life friends to help create and promote simple ways to improve or appreciate life with wellness and mindful living. Below, Kia talks about yoga as the cornerstone for helping her become a successful, conscious and present pre and post natal mother and woman.

Kia of bodhibear.net

By Kia Ruiz

Embarking on the journey of motherhood is a delicate time, but a fantastic one to embrace yoga. A lot of change and surrender goes on during the gestational period inside a prenatal body. Breathing, or pranayama, is one of the best ways to cultivate the path to a balanced, truthful, yogic heart. Breathing and self-awareness through yoga allows women to mindfully make the transition into motherhood.

The mind-breath connection is a way to ease our frantic minds when they are scrambling, preparing to become first time mothers. Breath is the essential union between the philosophical and empirical sides of yoga. Unfortunately, breath and the art of breathing are not always obvious or continually stressed during non-prenatal yoga practices/classes. However, as a result of strong yogic background, the pregnant woman is already capable of slowing down to listen to her body’s demands through biological necessity. Yoga helps women turn into mother’s by accepting and following the mantra “I nourish myself to nourish others.” See below for a three-step breathing ritual that will help pre-natal women get in touch with their inner yogi.

Mothers give a lot of themselves. It is the strong women tapped into her balanced yogic nature that is the most effective at giving and providing for her children from a consistent, truthful heart.

3-Step Yogic Breath Pre-Natal Practice

Sit in an easy, cross-legged pose and dive into your breath. See if it is shallow in your chest or expansive in the body. Rest palms on belly with finger tips touching near belly-button. On the inhale breathe into belly letting fingers pull apart as belly becomes round like a beach ball then finger tips return to touch on exhale. When ready, raise hands to lower ribs and feel them lift and rise out on inhales and return on exhales. Then place finger tips reaching up to touch collarbone. Feel them lift gently as you inhale.

Then add all these movements together with hands resting on knees. Imagine a container like a glass being filled a little (belly breath) then stacked with more filling (lung/rib breath) and finally to the top (collarbone/upper thoracic breath). All of that is ONE inhale. Slowly empty the container as you exhale and release the collarbone, ribs, and then belly. Once you have this rhythm then try to balance the length of inhales and exhales – then lengthen the balanced breath.

This is an easy breath that we find ourselves in after savasana (corpse pose) but it is something we can always work towards in our more active poses. It is also a breath to find when we want that extra touch of mindfulness in our day.

Filed Under: Health & Wellness, Hot Mom Spa Squad Tagged With: , , , , ,

Hot Mom Monday: Mother’s Day Weekend in Vegas

May 21, 2012 | By

What do you do when you win a trip to Las Vegas from Spa Week and have to figure out how to leave your baby behind for the very first time? We can only hope this is a dilemma you will have to deal with! For Hot Mom Spa Squad member Stacy-Ann Gooden (AKA Weather Anchor Mama) it was a hard decision, but here she takes us through the journey, from her big surprise win to planning the away-from-baby-cation, and enjoying herself on the strip. When she’s not in Vegas (which is any other time of her life) she plays the role of delivering the weather in New York City. But, her most important role, she says, is being a wife and mom.

By Stacy-Ann Gooden

Who would have thought that I’d be selected – out of gosh knows how many people – to win Spa Week’s Escape to Vdara Giveaway!? All I did was put my name in a jar at the Spa Week Media Party last October. Being the skeptic that I am I asked the lady manning the booth:

“Is this for real?  Does anyone ever win?”
“Yes. You never know. It doesn’t hurt to try,” she responded.

What the heck? She was right. I might as well give it a shot. Besides, it didn’t cost me a dime to throw my name in the hat among hundreds, if not thousands of people that night. Fast forward two weeks later and I get a call from some lady named Melissa claiming that I won a trip to Vegas. I chalked it up to one of the many bogus calls I usually get about winning a cruise some where. I almost hung up the phone. But, then she said something that triggered a memory from that night.

“Yeah right. How much does it cost?” I asked.
“Nothing! You won! I remember you. I was the one who took all your info at Spa Week,” she said.

It took a little bit more convincing, but I eventually realized that this thing was legit. My skepticism grew into pure excitement. I couldn’t wait to tell my hubby. I knew that he wouldn’t be excited  about the idea of going to a spa. The only time he’s ever had a massage was on our honeymoon. He said that would be the last one he’d ever get. But, this is Vegas, baby! Spa or no spa, he was totally down for this vacation.

The major hurdle was deciding whether or not to bring my daughter, Princess, along. But this is Vegas after all, so we ultimately chose to make this a baby-free vacation. I can’t say it was easy to leave her behind!

To prepare, here’s the plan I put into motion, starting 4 months in advance. (Read how each step turned out HERE):

  1. Get Princess used to the idea of sleeping on her own. Slowly start working my way back into my own bed.
  2. Help Princess get comfortable spending time away from my husband and me. Have her spend more time at Grandma’s house on the weekends.
  3. Princess has never spent the night anywhere beside our home, so she’ll need a few practice runs. I’ll have her spend the night at Grandma’s, too.
  4. While we’re gone, we’ll have all of her favorite snacks, toys, and other essentials handy. It’s not exactly the same as our home, but it’ll be close enough.
  5. She’s been doing OK with regular milk.  Even though it won’t be the same as lying next to mommy, I’ll pump a few bottles in case of an emergency.
  6. Face time! Since we won’t be there in the flesh, at least we cant see and chat with each other over the phone!

I had up to a year to fulfill the prize which included a three night stay in a penthouse suite, a spa and salon credit, a dining voucher, and limousine transportation to and from the hotel. We booked our Vdara retreat for Mother’s Day weekend, which (ironically) worked out perfectly.

I’ve never been to Vegas before. But when I think of Sin City, a scene from The Hangover comes to mind. Thoughts of a bunch of guys at a bachelor party getting wasted, followed by a bunch of other crazy events. Basically, I was totally clueless and didn’t know what to expect.  As it turns out, Vegas is a beautiful city with so much more to offer than just casinos and booze. Check out the scenery from our penthouse suite.

If you think the view outside is cool, check out the view inside.

Staying in a penthouse suite was also a first for us. This alone would have been enough but, there was so much more to enjoy. The first thing on the agenda after checking in was to grab a bite to eat, and hit up the casinos. Being novice gamblers, we played it smart and went over to the slot machines. I did pretty well in the beginning, but I should have walked away when I was up. I ended up losing my money.

I had my spa appointment the next morning and we were famished from a long day of traveling. So, we made it an early night.

Our stay up to this point was absolutely amazing, but visiting Vdara Spa and Salon completely took my breath away. I was scheduled to have a massage, facial and brow wax.  I also got a chance to enjoy the other great amenities the spa had to offer. I rotated between the stream room, sauna, Jacuzzi, and relaxation room the entire day. In fact, I loved it so much that I returned the following day for another round.  I even talked my hubby into coming along. They don’t normally allow picture taking.  But, my tour guide said that it was okay to snap these pics.

From gambling to pampering, the fun didn’t stop there. We got a chance to see “O” Cirque du Soleil, and a variety show. We weren’t allowed to take pics during the show.  My hubby snapped this one after leaving one of the performances.

We also spent some time touring the neighboring hotels and the fabulous Vegas strip.

When it came to satisfying our palates, there were tons of different restaurants to choose from. Being the foodie that I am, I wanted to try different cuisines. The Japanese restaurant, Blossom, was definitely one of our favorites.

Our first trip to Vegas was a blast! We were able to fit a lot of activities in during our three night stay. We’d definitely love to return, and explore more of what Sin City has to offer.

Thank goodness I put my name in that jar at Spa Week, and I thank my lucky stars for not hanging up the phone.

Big up to Vdara Spa and Salon for sponsoring our hotel stay.  A special shout out goes out to Spa Week for hosting the giveaway.


 

Filed Under: Hot Mom Spa Squad, Moms and Family, Travel Tagged With: , , , ,

Hot Mom Monday: 5 Steps to Fitness After a Hysterectomy

May 14, 2012 | By

When a fit mom is faced with a situation in which she can no longer be, where does she turn? This day-after-Mother’s Day Hot Mom Monday, one of our newer Squad members Elena Sonnino of Ciao Mom shares her journey in doing just that. Elena is a freelance writer, National Board Certified teacher and cancer survivor. She describes herself as a (slow) runner, (aspiring) triathlete, and chaser of dreams.

By Elena Sonnino

What do you get when you take a woman who strives to be fit and give her a hysterectomy?

You get a woman that was beside herself to see the light at the end of the recovery tunnel.

Except of course that after six weeks off from any real exercise, my body was by no means ready for a victorious return. My brain wants to be there, actually it wants to be much farther along. But my body needed a plan. It needed steps to make sure that my return to fitness is one that lasts for the LONG HAUL.

So I came up with a plan. A reasonable plan that allows me to start from scratch and still be kind to myself knowing that it is enough that I am taking control of my life again to be as fit and healthy as possible.  A plan that will ease me back into starting to exercise after recovering from surgery. A five step plan to return to fitness after a hysterectomy.

5 Steps to Fitness After a Hysterectomy

Step 1. Set Realistic Expectations.

Step 2. Create Habits.

Step 3. Formulate a Training Plan.

Step 4: Find Motivating Workouts

Step 5: Be Patient. Be Flexible. Be Determined

I would LOVE to head for a great run or fabulous bike ride on one of my favorite trails. But those things are not physically possible right now. So instead of feeling like a failure because I am not ready yet, I am going to let myself be enough and work towards the goal of getting back to my favorite workout haunts. When I am ready. When my body is ready.

After this long hiatus,  I need to retrain not just my muscles, but my mind to get up early in the morning to exercise or find time to squeeze in a workout in the evening if the day got away from me. My brain needs to be taught again, that despite the excuses that might line the path to getting things done, it is worth it in the long run. Part of my mental retraining involves developing a systematic, well thought out, consistent plan that will help me realize a goal. Not just a “lets see what I can do today” plan. A plan to achieve a goal that is realistic yet challenging, that lies just beyond what is comfortable.

My long term plan is beginning to take shape and is looking forward to a possible Disney marathon in January of 2013 with several shorter running races this fall. I still have a triathlon on my docket for this fall, but I am realistic enough to know that my first international distance triathlon will probably be more successful in 2013.

My first back to fitness month is ALL about building my fitness base, slowly and safely. So far, two weeks in, I have walked on the treadmill, adding in one minute run intervals. I have taken a Zumba class, and kicked and punched through a cardio kick boxing workout on the Xbox. I have even taken my indoor bike trainer for a spin. The goal right now? Four or five days a week to make sure that I allow for rest days and my body to understand that it is time to rise again to be fit and healthy.

Starting from ground zero, with no fitness base is not easy.  I need to be mentally strong enough to push myself and ignore the voices of doubt, but smart enough to listen to my body when it has had enough.

Because in the end, it is not about how long my run was today or how long I rode my bike tomorrow. It is about the long run of life.  The life that nothing is going to keep me from living with great health and fitness.

Italian by birth, a mom, a teacher, a wife, a runner & triathlete, and a cancer survivor, Elena shares every day moments in parenting, life, travel, education, fitness and health from her perch in the Washington DC suburbs. Read her “travels through life” at CiaoMom.com, and is also the founder of JustBeEnough.com, where she celebrates the art of how to “Just. Be. Enough.”

Filed Under: Health & Wellness, Hot Mom Spa Squad Tagged With: , , , , , , ,