Hey Friends, I don't know about you, but the weeks have been moving so fast for me. It's already Monday again and I'm not sure how that happened. Doing my best to enjoy and savor the days because they do seem to be passing so quickly.

Spring is well on its way, and I am sitting in the windy sunshine on my front step writing this, getting some vitamin D through my eyeballs. Perks of owning your own business, right?

Here's a picture of my kitty enjoying some sun this past weekend.

Last week we talked a bit about mindset, and I would love to continue the discussion. I encouraged you to set some 5-minute-max habits that will start to move you toward your goals. How are those small habits going? I've been fairly consistent with mine so far, and that's largely due to how simple they are, and how small of a time commitment they require. If you missed the last newsletter, you can read it here.

As I prepare for my own labor and delivery, the topic of meditation and mindset has come up frequently. Hypnobirthing, mindfulness, mind over labor, etc., and I think it's really interesting that we often just equate those mindset pieces to labor and birth, but then seem to forget about them for the rest of whatever life throws at us.

To be mindful, to be calm, and to learn to relax your body despite whatever craziness is happening around you is a real skill that must be trained - just like lifting weights or balance.

It takes practice to quietly let your mind think thoughts, and observe them without judgement. It takes practice to let your shoulders and jaw go limp when you're starting to feel pain or discomfort or stress. It takes practice to let go of your glutes (butt grippers, I see you 👀) when you're in a tense situation. It takes practice to have control over your body when it feels like things are uncontrollable.

Let's work on all of this together. Maybe one of your spring 5-minute-max goals is to spend a few minutes daily practicing a full body relaxation, where you mindfully let go of tension in every muscle from your toes to the top of your head.

One of my "Natalie Science Theories" (the things I conclude from working with people and observing, rather than having actual science literature to back me up) is that women especially have come to hold so much tension in their belly, butts, and pelvic floor because they are concerned with the appearance of "toned abs" or have been told it's good to hold their belly in constantly. A lot of dysfunction is simply because of aesthetic worry.

What happens when we do this, is that we end up breathing in a paradoxical way, filling the chest with air on the inhale, which never allows our deep core and pelvic floor to get their full range of elongation and relaxation. It's like holding a bicep curl at the top all day long - that arm won't really be very effective at the end of the day! Same goes for our core strength; if we hold our bellies in all the time, we're not actually getting the full benefit of our core muscles. And we get things we didn't sign up for, like shallow breaths, constipation, pressure down on our pelvic floor, potentially leading to prolapse type symptoms, leaking, and even the dreaded flat butt syndrome. All because we're stressed and concerned about appearance.

Here's an infographic on what our breath should look like:

Let your belly go.

Let it go again, because you probably didn't fully let it go.

Take a deep breath, inhaling alllll the way down to your pelvic floor.

Exhale through rounded lips and let your abs do their work without you trying!

Repeat this until you feel more relaxed and ready to take on your next task.

Have a great week!

Warmly,

Natalie