Pilates For Parents

Leanne Stitt Doula Diary

Empowerment through connection to our bodies & moving through pregnancy

AlisonLoveofDance

Things I wish I’d have told my younger self… I’ve been talking about ensuring we don’t leave our health, and prioritising ourselves, too late. I wish I’d have started connecting with my body on a physical level during pregnancy. I practised hypno-birthing, which worked wonders for my mental health, but really wish I’d have continued moving, exercising, dancing (I got lazy) – and totally wish I’d have discovered Pilates sooner! Leanne Stitt of Doula Diary, and I have been talking about the importance and benefits of keeping moving during pregnancy to help for a quicker and healthier recovery in the post-natal phase. In this blog Leanne shares her thoughts on why its good to keep moving during pregnancy…and beyond!

Connection is our birth right, but it’s at risk.

More and more we are finding ourselves in our heads losing the connection to our own bodies. Education and society also keeps us in our heads, and this is at the expense of our bodily instinct & wisdom.

Reconnecting to yourself and your body when you’re pregnant can be so empowering. Simple adjustments in your day to day can create new habits which will strengthen the connection to your bodily wisdom, which man of us have lost along the way. Learning to reconnect to yourself in pregnancy is also a great tool to take forward into your labour and your journey as a parent.

Connect with the body during pregnancy

Pilates and similar embodied arts like Yoga is often described as the Dance of Breath and Movement which beautifully sums up Birth too. The breath helps centre us providing you with oxygen rich blood, gives us focus and can allow our mind to relax and our body open. Focusing on your breath has been shown to alter your brainwaves in a positive way, decrease stress hormones, blood pressure and Increases oxygen levels and relaxation.

Practicing movement with breathwork in pregnancy prepares you beautifully for birthing your baby, whether that’s homebirth, caesarean birth, hospital birth, whatever your choice, it will influence a more positive experience. Dancing through contractions has lots of benefits and can help baby descend into your pelvis. You can then take these skills you have learned forward to adjusting to life as a new parent. There will be times you will feel overwhelmed and centring yourself with your breath will help you clear your mind. Movement with your baby will soothe your baby, soothe you and support bonding.

Modern society is overwhelming, the constant juggle and expectation of more, so it is no wonder we are disconnected from ourselves. The above advice does not cover only pregnancy and about but moving forward into your role as a parent.

My top 5 ways to reconnect to your body:

  1. Dancing/Movement

Dancing during the first stage of labour can decrease duration and intensity of pain. Instinctive movement can help your baby move down into the pelvis  and will divert attention away from any unwanted sensations. Dancing with your newborn is also a wonderful happy hormone release and the moment is incredibly soothing for your baby.

2. Slow Down and Be Present

Remove yourself away from the noise, switch off technology and pay attention to what you are eating, how you are feeling, how the leaves are changing colour. Note how this makes you feel. 

3. Go outside 

Feel the sun, wind and rain on your skin. Blow away the cobwebs and clear your mind. Fill your lungs with the gorgeous fresh air and oxygenate your blood.

4. Question authority

Stay connected to your own genuine needs and desires by being in the body. Be your own guru and don’t feel guilty for taking the time you need to keep yourself well physically and mentally.

5. Be creative 

Do more of what inspires you. Paint, Make something, read, take a warm bath with your favourite treats. Do that things that you love but you never find time for, make the time. Feeding your soul opens you up to so much peace and joy.

Don’t forget to rest!

Now it is important to note that equal measures of rest and movement are important. Tuning in to your body will help to find the right balance for you. Breathwork can be a key tool and influencer in how we are feeling. When it comes to Birthing your Baby, if you’re too much in your head or adrenaline is taking over it will disrupt the flow of oxytocin which is a key hormone in birth. Breath work & Instinctive movement can break this process. If you would like to learn more get in touch.

Leanne Stitt

Doula_diary@hotmail.com

www.douladiary.com

07875122502

@douladiary

Pilates Studio

Announcing the launch of Pilates @ Juniper Lodge!

AlisonLoveofDance

I’ve finally named my Buckingham Pilates studio! 

Introducing 🌲Pilates @ Juniper Lodge!🌲I loved the idea of giving my studio that mountain lodge vibe, which led me to bring in my love of nature and those alpine views are not complete without fir trees🌲 Coupled with the fact it’s no coincidence that my tipple of choice is…GIN🤪and hey presto the name Juniper kept creeping back in to my contender list! I then started digging more into the name Juniper, particularly as I’m a massive essential oil geek. Love the way scent can transport the mind and elevate health. Lo and behold I discover how the native Americans burn Juniper for various benefits for example…and my favourite discovery of these ancient trees is this: “Juniper trees symbolise the strength and perseverance of human spirit… Even when it seems like we cannot survive, hope is never lost.” If that’s not an analogy for so many facets of my life, my philosophy for how I support my clients and the world at the moment, I don’t know what is.

AND IT JUST GETS BETTER! I’ve organised a giveaway!

Giveaway Competition – win a month of Mama Strength Pilates Programme and more…

Celebrating the launch of my studio, Pilates @ Juniper Lodge, I’m giving away a month of my ‘Pure’ Mama Strength online Pilates Programme and a few goodies in a competition! This is an opportunity to see how, by giving yourself the spotlight for a change in daily manageable ways, you might start to rediscover a glimmer of the energy, strength and muscle tone of the pre-child woman you know still lies within. With this insane prize, you’ll get Pure Mama Strength (a 121 with me plus one month unlimited weekly access to group sessions) and some other goodies…including gin! (no coincidence that I named my studio after a key ingredient of gin…ahem. There were other influences for the name (honest!), which you can read about through my announcement post on my Facebook/IG pages 😉 ).  Enter the competition through my social media pages below – hint: you can apply on both Facebook and Instagram!

Enter the competition on Facebook here
Enter the competition on Instagram here

Mama Strength is aimed at women with younger children who had their kids later in life.  The body can take up to 5 years to recover from childbirth, plus a ‘later in life mum’ body can also take a little more dedicated work to bounce back into pre-child strength, tone and energy, and well, it’s just so worth starting sooner rather than later.

  • Pilates @ Juniper Lodge
Dancing Mama Fitness Pilates

Us parents have got to take time out to prioritise ourselves for a change on a regular basis, separate from that ‘mum’ identity occasionally, and understand that a personal fitness programme can be for you too. Let’s not use the excuse that there ‘isn’t time’ – and see how Mama Strength Pilates programme helps you to getting into daily healthy habits, in manageable ways, with the support of me – a dedicated Pilates coach.

Honestly – getting to grips with my strength and energy through Pilates was a massive game changer for me. I gained the post-childbirth additional curves that tells me my body did an amazing thing, giving birth to my child, but through regularly practising Pilates I feel the muscle and core strength is there underneath helping me to prep for more physical, high impact fitness types like running or dancing – the powerful calorie burners. Work gotta be done on diet and a mix of fitness types to see a total change in body shape, and it’s got to be fun right?  Pilates is a great place to start to lay the strength foundations and build the confidence to move on to the higher impact stuff. Start feeling the results in one month – ready in time for Christmas, and then make a smooth move on to ramp up the NY health goals.  The only way change can happen is by prioritising YOU!

School’s out – but the workouts continue

AlisonLoveofDance

School holiday workouts: A workout attempted will be way more beneficial than no workout at all. 😉

Here’s a thought of the week for you: Sometimes matters are out of our control – including when the kids are at home on school holidays and we have a small person with us who needs entertaining – it’s easy to knock the idea of a work out on the head. 

I try to keep momentum for my Pilates clients in school hols though. This week on our group Mama Strength Pilates Programme session we worked out with the little ones in the room – the kids dipped in and out – an hour is a long session for the young ones of course. We don’t expect them to engage in anything longer than 20 minutes – and for the moments they’re climbing all over us we just go with it.

I keep some structure of the usual Pilates session going – but yeah – it’s nigh on impossible to get through the whole hour without the little saboteurs getting involved. So Plan B: when the kids start trying to copy or show their own moves we re-engage them in and try something structured (we use team work style exercises/stretches in my holiday sessions – the moves can be tried with kids of all ages).

Obviously a bit of play rolling around with them is great fun – just be mindful of your own safety and of the kids. The little ones love jumping all over us – in Pilates we draw the belly button through to the spine to avoid back injury and protect the lower, inner organs etc.

We just have to re-wire/re-focus the brain and, dare I say, ‘manage’ our expectations of how much structured workout will get done! Keep moving during your workout, know the kids will be in and out of the room…before you know it you’ll have burned more calories than you realise! A workout attempted will be way more beneficial than no workout at all.

I quickly sussed out these family home workout hacks in my lockdown home teaching life…and turned the things I discovered with my Baby-O (my social media name for my little girl) into my parents and kids Pilates session I now teach at music festivals. Photos from lock down Pilates with the family, and my sidekick and I teaching at a festival 🥰😜

Parents & Kids’ Pilates at Music Festivals

How can I find myself if I can’t see the wood for the trees?

AlisonLoveofDance

Sometimes finding a balance between coping with the strain of daily life, or a busy professional world, whilst (as I write in Jan ’21) homeschooling, and then trying to find quality time for fitness, socialising (yes, it will be a thing of the future), or just to be alone with no care in the world just doesn’t seem achievable. Read to the bottom to claim a free trial Pilates session with me!

Be Kind To Yourself & Shine 2021

I’m a pilates instructor, dance teacher, and I have also been a personal assistant for the past 20 years helping busy professional people streamline their lives so they have more time to think strategically, creatively and freely. Transfer this to streamlining lifestyle, homelife, and perhaps there are ways that we can find more time in the day, the week…and find the budget, to be able to have more carefree ME TIME: be able to afford more fitness  – being motivated by a fitness professional to help you achieve goals; to fulfil passions; or for activities, not just for ourselves, but to do with family or friends…

Join my FREE Dancing Mama Connect Facebook Group here

As a fitness instructor I quite often meet their inability to joining in my sessions of: ‘I don’t have enough time’. ‘I can’t afford it.’ And this makes me sad, people! So I got thinking, how can I help my clients overcome these ‘barriers to participation’, and also to remove the mental blocks which will enable them to ultimately attend my pilates sessions, where I take pride in my regular clients’ feeding back that they are so much calmer, or stronger for whatever physical demands of parenting requires? So here we go:

Here are my 3 top tips to work towards streamlining your lifestyle, including:

1. Planning with the household – shared accountability.

A problem shared is a problem halved. What can you share with the people you live with.  Some of us might take on chores/tasks without questioning whether we should be doing it, or if they could be shared with a child. If the child is younger, perhaps start planting the seed of helping around the home now…and make it fun or rewarding! Planning with the family and letting them have input might also increase the chance of their ‘buy in’ to sticking with their responsibilities – hopefully eventually becoming an automated behaviour without your input!

2. Get organised

A weekly planner that is filled out at the start of every week – could be electronic, perhaps on a shared, non-editable tablet, and printable – or it could be a wipeable weekly board displayed in one place in the household. Perhaps a 10 minutes Sunday powow with the family to work out who is going where, what needs to be done, what homework needs to be in, what childcare is needed for you to achieve your Me Time, and most essentially WHERE YOU WILL FIT IN YOUR ME TIME! Connecting organisational digital apps together too is also a brilliant way of planning – Office 365 is great to track tasks, emails, your to do list, prioritising, scanning important letters from school that you keep losing around the house.

3. Financial Planning

Get budgeting – plan your goals you need to spend on – it could be getting a 1:1 fitness instructor to motivate you to your goals.  it could be going kayaking and paying for a membership for a club. And it could be as longer term such as a weekend away with friends.  But plan the budget so you know there’s no additional barrier to getting your me time in.  It could also be something you’re saving towards with the family – something fun for you to do together – me time isn’t just about the time on your own – it’s also making space in your life fo care-free time with everyone, without thinking you should be doing something else.

I’m not generalising in my advice, as we all have different circumstances and home dynamics, and I know some of you will have streamlining your household down to a fine art. My tips are by no means the complete solution.  But I also know the struggles of, for example some single parents, and even if a small part of my suggestions can be implemented, hopefully it’s planting the seed for the chance of a marvellous future, where regular, perhaps even daily time to fulfil passions and hobbies, or sitting quietly alone for more than 5 minutes is a thing.

If you’d like a FREE trial online group Pilates session with Dancing Mama Fitness, complete the questionnaire below, so I can get to know more about the lifestyles of the ‘audience’ I’m speaking to!

Peace and love.

I’d like a FREE Pilates session please!