I love the conversations I find myself in on a daily basis. I dream of having a pencil behind my ear, a visor on my head and pad of paper just to continually take notes as I sometimes can't even remember who I was talking to! Luckily... this is one I remember fully.
I was in a conversation with one of the parents at the gymnastics our girls attend. It was so cool! They plant a gazillion, well like a hundred plus, pumpkins each year. "What do they do with this vast amount of fabulous holiday fruit?", you ask. Well let me tell you. They give them away. That's right. Even though they could probably get at least $5 per pumpkin, they just give them away. To the local schools. They would much rather see the happy faces of kiddos who might not have the chance to make a jack o'lantern than get any amount of money. Being the emotional gal I am, I was practically in tears. I held it together though, til I was explaining it to my husband of course :) I love the joy we find in life every single day. It doesn't have to be Christmas or a friend's birthday. It can just be a rainy Tuesday morning or a chilly Halloween evening. Do your part, and we will do ours! Happy Halloween... we'll see you next month ;)
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It is so very hard to believe how quickly time goes by! I just pulled up this site to check on something and of course, update it, only to find that my last post was in July! Tomorrow is September! Egads!!!
Time can fly so very fast and sometimes it feels as though you are so busy thinking about what it is you have to do that you don't actually take the time to do it. I say this in a general way so that I can more easily convince myself that I am not the only one who does such things :) Our last Doula Tea speaker was Brynn Wartman and she was amazing! Brynn has such a calm presence and as we all had the heads up of dressing comfy, it was a lovely and laid back experience. Brynn told us her story of how she decided to become a yoga instructor. She had always been active, such as with ballet, and when she became pregnant with her first little one she started to take a prenatal yoga class. What she described was incredible. Yes, there are many yoga poses that you can work towards and these poses can help you with everything from heartburn to hip pain to sciatica. The most powerful benefit of the class she took though, was the sense of community she felt! Being pregnant, especially with your first, is such a transitional/transformational time in your life. Your body and your mind are doing wild and incredible things. Some you love, some not so much. Your body looks different than it ever has and your moods can tend to go with the flow of your hormones. If you are surrounded regularly by non-pregnant folk, you can feel lost and alone. Having your own community of expectant moms to meet with weekly for support throughout this experience can be one of the most empowering and important things you could do for your baby, your family and yourself. This rings especially true when this is a meeting for a relaxing experience of yoga. Participating in yoga classes allows you to take a break from daily life. It helps you to be present, in the moment and helps you to stay centered and grounded. This sensation follows you well after the class is over. The breathing and stretching techniques used help your body to create relaxin, which relaxes the ligaments in the pelvis and softens and widens the cervix. All of these things help you to have a relaxed pregnancy, and therefore a more relaxed birthing experience. When Brynn teaches classes she puts her all into them. She was that mom looking for her village. She will often start her classes with a theme or a reading. She will give the moms a moment to talk about something that is going on in their life at the moment that could be causing joy or stress, or both. Just giving that safe place for women to feel that they can open up and be heard is priceless to an expectant mom. Before the class was over Brynn did take us through a few poses which felt amazing! We did some fun breath work as well. She described the masculine and feminine energy and I was very happy when she said that breathing with an open mouth relaxes your jaw and therefore your body, as that is so true and important! Thank you so very much Brynn for joining us and thank you for emphasizing the community that a prenatal yoga class can bring to the expectant moms in our worlds! Brynn will be starting prenatal yoga classes at School Street Yoga again this coming fall. Feel free to contact the studio or Brynn herself for schedules and registration. Brynn Wartman - [email protected] School Street Yoga - www.schoolstreetyoga.com Happy July 1st!
We had such a wonderful learning experience last week with Isaac Axtell, and oh so relaxed in our new location at the REM Lounge!
Isaac explained to us his training to become an acupuncturist. He graduated from Bastyr University in 2012 then continued his studies in China! Upon completion he moved to Hawaii where he worked with the Hawaii College of Oriental Medicine. Isaac came back to Maine this past winter. His mission? “To provide healthcare to patients that is equally grounded in both Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and modern medical practices encompassing Chinese herbalism, Chinese therapeutic massage, acupuncture, and western medical assessment of a variety of disease conditions. Sincere service is delivered to patients in an honest and effective manner in order to educate patients and help them achieve their health goals as efficiently as possible.” Isaac’s focus at the Doula Tea was of course, surrounding pregnancy and birth. And continually amazing, lots of what we learn surrounding health in pregnancy can help us in everyday life as well! With acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine, you are looking for balance. The yin and the yong. The yin could be described as winter and the yong, summer. Moxibustion is a heat therapy used to balance your yong deficiencies. Living through a winter in Maine can definitely throw off our internal balance. Using the moxa, made of dried mugwort, over your meridians creates a warmth which stimulates better circulation and blood flow. This can be a powerful tool for a mother with morning sickness, or who finds baby in breech presentation. Moxa can also be helpful to induce labor. Studies have even been done on moxa for the treatment of pain, constipation, hypertension and more. Pressure points are another tool that is not only useful, but extremely fascinating! There is a point in your hand, large intestine 4, for example, that when pressure is applied can help to induce labor. Families can find this point useful as well as it can help with bed wetting situations. LI 4 is good for headaches, jaw discomfort and constipation as well. For constipation you can also rub along the radial side of the forearm. (This area will naturally be tender if there is constipation.) Gall Bladder 21 is between your neck and shoulders. Placing downward pressure on this can help encourage yin and can help to induce labor. Pressing on this point can also help with irritability, stress and headaches. Placing pressure on these particular points can be done with the hands or the arms. Pressure points can be found on the top of your wrist between your radius and ulna, and one between your pinky toe and the one beside it. Pressure placed upon either of these points can help baby to loosen and “drop” in utero. These pressure points can also be helpful with insomnia. There was just so much incredible information to take in and Isaac is so passionate about his work! He loves working with expectant and new moms, as well as children and everyone else on the spectrum! Isaac specializes in the treatment of a variety of health conditions including but not limited to: Sports injuries Pain management Chronic degenerative disease (arthritis) Psycho-emotional disorders (stress, anxiety, depression) Insomnia Allergies (seasonal, food) Gastrointestinal Disorders (Crohn's disease, irritable bowel syndrome, diarrhea, constipation) For more information on Isaac and Axtell Acupuncture visit his website at: www.AxtellAcupuncture.com Things to remember - Ask a professional! - such as Isaac Axtell of course! You can find tons of information on the internet, yes, and from well intentioned friends. It is always best to be safe and contact the right person. We hope to see you at the next Doula Tea! When I entered the birth world, I still had no idea as to why you would pay for someone else, such as a doula, to be at your birth. When we birthed our first daughter, my partner was by my side, the entire 36 hours we were in the hospital. The nurses and doctors were amazing. We seemed to fall into this dreamlike birthing scene, which is exactly why I wanted to teach others that they could have the same experience.
Once I took my training to become a HypnoBirthing® Practitioner, I was suddenly surrounded by birth stories. And not all of them were as calm and peaceful as mine. Not only did some of the stories include hospitals that were less than welcoming of parents’ birth plans, but some included women birthing completely alone with only the strangers of the hospital staff. The thought of not having a solid support person beside me the entire time made me shudder. We felt very in control of our birth. ‘We’. Upon hearing the horrific stories time and again I decided that I would go for my doula training. It was amazing! I attended a training in Portland, ME at BirthRoots where not only did I have an amazing weekend of learning, it was also filled with empowerment! Every woman there came from entirely different backgrounds, with completely different stories, and yet all had the same desire… to help women in their most intimate time of need. Their birthing! Doula trainings generally last a full weekend and entail the physical, emotional and physiological pieces of childbirth. It teaches you how to support a mom, as well as her partner. It teaches you that you already have everything you need to be a doula, the desire to help in any way you can. Just being there is 99% of your job. The training also has a piece to help you find your way in your new ‘business’. This business is one that YOU determine how busy you are. When I returned from my doula training I was on cloud nine from the education, the stories and the camaraderie. I was telling every woman I know that they needed to go to the training even if they had no desire to ever become a doula, simply because every woman should know what we learned! And every woman deserved a weekend to surround herself by the caring and love that we experienced. If you have ever wanted to attend a birth, or simply enjoy a weekend full of education combined with equal parts relaxation just feeling the energy of the people around you, then you should definitely sign up for a doula training! We have one coming up in Waterville on November 7th & 8th at School Street Yoga. School Street is such an intoxicating venue, and Julie Brill is equally vibrant! For more information about doulas and becoming one, please contact Julie – [email protected] It was a gorgeous day at the beach! We were only planning to be there until about 11:30am as another trick to avoiding sunburns is to go inside when the sun is sweltering hot! So… as I was explaining to this lovely mom why we choose to use as little sunscreen as possible and that we use hats and long sleeves etc., the most ironic thing happened! Not only did we stay an extra hour and a half being engulfed in such incredible and knowledge filled conversation, but I also completely forgot to take care of my own sun defense needs! I was so focused on our daughters and making sure that they were protected, that the time just crept by. Pretty soon I was radiantly baked to a brilliant red lobster shine! I would like to emphasize this by saying that I am a redhead.
After our traditional post beach trip to the ice-cream place, we made our way home, me sitting as lightly as possible in the driver’s seat. I got home and did what any well broiled adult would do. I followed the advice I learned in an Archie Comic I had read as a child. Betty had gotten sunburned while weeding her garden. Her mother, Mrs. Cooper, drew Betty a bath and poured tea into it. Jokes about cream and sugar ensued, but low and behold, Betty awoke to a golden tan the next morning! This of course stuck with me and though I didn’t know the science behind it, it of course had to work as I had read it in the Archie Comic! Next, I invented the ‘Tea-Shirt’. I boiled some black tea on the stove and once it was cooled down I took a t-shirt that I wasn’t concerned about staining and drenched it. I wrung it out for the most part and then put the still slightly dripping shirt on. Hallelujah! The burning, itching agony went away! Luckily we had no dinner guests or company so that was my continued attire for about 24 hours, not including sleep of course. When the shirt would get dry, I would simply submerge it in the tea again when I put it on it would cling to my most burned areas, such as my shoulders. It was amazing! Also amazing… I didn’t peel AT ALL! Now I am not a doctor and I cannot guarantee that you will have the same outcome if you choose to do this, but I can tell you that for me it was magnificent! And, if you are the type to go with science rather than Archie Comic remedies, black tea contains tannic acid which draws heat from the burn and restores the skin's acid balance. It is also full of anti-oxidants which help to rejuvenate your skin. You can surf the web for all natural sunburn remedies and you will find many. Everything ranging from black tea, to yogurt, to oatmeal! It’s a regular breakfast buffet! Do your research, and make the decision that best fits you. And of course, contacting a naturopath is always a FANTASTIC idea as well. I have gotten many pieces of bad advice from the internet that our doc has had to talk me down from. If you are looking for a naturopath in the Central Maine area, feel free to click on my ‘Local Connections’ link. If you are not in the Central Maine area, you can simply do an internet search for one in your area. So enjoy the sun! We have all earned it! And be aware of what you are wearing, the time of day and even the weather. You can actually burn worse on a gray day than a sunny one as you don’t ‘feel’ your skin getting as hot. Thanks for reading… I’ll be back again soon… Laura When we became parents our label reading definitely intensified. We always tried to make the best decisions possible, as any parent would.
When it comes to the sun, we go the route of hats and light, long sleeved shirts as much as possible and only use sunscreen when absolutely necessary. Finding a safe sunscreen was no easy task as just about any company can say they are made with 'natural ingredients' and then throw in a bunch of poisons along with them. Then, I was introduced to Ava Anderson! The thing that really drew me to Ava Anderson Nontoxic was the fact that they encourage you to read their labels. Ava Anderson was designed so you can have a safe option for yourself, the ones you love, and our earth. They keep their products affordable though they do not lessen the quality to do so by any means. There are many DIY recipes and even natural foods such as coconut oil that can be used in certain instances as a sun protectant which is great! Ava Anderson carries some amazing options for you as well :) Our sunscreens are made with zinc oxide (with non-nanoparticles) for a sun protectant. Our Moisturizer with spf contains xanthan gum which is an emulsifier and helps retain moisture. The rest of the ingredients you will find in our entire sunscreen line are 100% organic! You can easily go online and read all of the ingredients for yourself. In fact, I encourage you to! Do your research and make the best decision for you and yours! April Special - When you place your Ava Anderson Nontoxic order for $95 or more, you get a FREE bottle of our AMAZING Hand & Body Lotion!!! Simply go to www.AvaAndersonNontoxic.com/LauraDuffy Enter in party #194355 at the checkout and be entered to win a FREE Ava Anderson Travel Kit - a $25 value!!! To be added to my email list so you can receive updates on the incredible specials Ava Anderson Nontoxic offers just leave a comment below J Hand and Body Lotion Delivers gentle and meaningful hydration and moisturization to the skin. You will notice an immediate improvement, which continues over time and leaves hands and skin powdery soft, not greasy. If needed, pump sold separately - Item PMP05 $.75. Ingredients: aloe barbadensis (organic aloe leaf) extract, helianthus annuus (organic sunflower) seed oil, vegetable glycerin, oryza sativa (organic rice bran) oil, prunus armeniaca (organic apricot kernel) oil, xanthan gum, euterpe oleracea (organic acai berry) extract, rosmarinus officinalis (organic rosemary) extract, olea europaea (olive wax), raphanus sativus (radish root) extract, medica limonum (organic lemon) essential oil, citrus aurantifolia (organic lime) essential oil …with this gentleman. He is actually in our circle of friends and is actually about 70 years old. We definitely have plenty of topics that we steer clear of such as religion, politics etc. You know, the important stuff. It is an agree to disagree kind of a relationship.
So there I am with my husband, our two daughters and our friend, when of all of the things under the great blue sky, we start talking about birth. Not too shocking considering I had just come from a visit with an expectant mom. And this gentleman starts talking about his birth, which he remembers vividly. He explains to me what he feels is wrong with birth. Things that are wrong with birth, in his opinion, are things such as telling the mom not to push or to close her legs when baby is obviously ready to come out. He emphatically expressed how wrong it is to hold baby upside down and spank them to make them cry. All I could do was listen. Our friend then went into his opinion on water birth. He described, very animatedly, how the baby is already in ‘waters’ and that water birth just makes sense. It keeps the mom relaxed and creates an easier transition for the baby to go from the womb to the warm waters of the pool. He also went into detail about how baby’s lungs have not yet inflated so how totally safe water birth is. Then, mom and baby can snuggle and connect directly after birth with baby’s body still in the warmth of the water and their little head just peaking out to slowly transition into breathing air. The emotion, caring and gentleness of speech, combined with our friend’s energy was nothing short of amazing. This is the most incredible conversation we have had to date. I love birth! If we are alive today that is one experience that we have in common with everyone else on the planet whether we remember it or not. Things now are definitely different than they were 70 years ago, and they will be different 70 years from now. One thing is for sure, it will keep happening regardless. All day. Every day. All around the world. If you are expecting, or will be expecting, do your research. You have options, and this is YOUR birth. Embrace it. Laura Duffy Mainely Birthing www.MainelyBirthing.com [email protected] Thursday’s Doula Tea was amazing, as usual!
Amy Robbins-Wilson joined us to teach why music is important to your baby’s development, what kind of music your baby needs before they are born and in those first three years and some of the best ways to calm, connect and communicate with your baby and toddler even if you “do not sing.” It is always an honor to listen to Amy speak as not only does she have a BA in Empowerment Theater for Women, an MA in Expressive Arts Therapies and an MA in Ritual Song and Chant Performance, she is also a MOM! She has been through the ups and downs of becoming a new parent and embracing parenthood after an emergency cesarean and time in the NICU. She found her strength through her spirituality and music. Music affects our brains, especially infants, in a far more complex way than just words do. Turning the mundane, and possibly frustrating, chore of getting your toddler dressed in the morning can be easily turned into a musical adventure creating bonding and communication while anchoring desired future behaviors with songs such as ‘The Conga’. This, as well as the other Mommy Jingles songs can help guide you and your baby to more pleasant, calm and nurturing days! Amy also touched on post partum emotions. This is something that affects 80% of women varying from the baby blues, to post partum anxiety or post partum depression. Post partum emotions are something that we need to encourage new families, moms and dads alike, to be aware of. They need a safe, non-judgmental sounding board whether that be a friend, relative or therapist. Amy wrote an amazing book to help with those times when it just seems to hard. “Whether adopting or giving birth, Moms Choice Award winning book Transformational Mothering: A Prayerful Companion for New Mothers by Amy Robbins-Wilson provides the comfort and inspiration new mothers need in those confusing and transformational first years of motherhood. This beautifully written book of prayers, poetry, affirmations, and stories acts as a guide by addressing the emotional issues associated with becoming a mother, from sleepless nights to time spent in the neonatal intensive care unit to infertility. Whether single, married, working, or a stay-at-home mother, all will find inspiration here, as well as a deeper understanding of their journey and that of other mothers. It is a moving and unifying tribute to motherhood in all her forms.” Thank you Amy so very much for your courage and your passion to help others find their way on the incredibly transformational journey of parenthood. For more information on Amy and her works simply go to www.AmyRobbinsWilson.com |
AuthorLaura started the well traveled road to health when her friends were concerned about her addiction to Ramen noodles. Archives
October 2015
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