Just two weeks to go until our retreat
May 27th – 30th 2010 at glorious Hollyhock on Cortes Island, BC…
and if you want to come, but don’t think you can afford it, I’ve got a special offer for you.
Please do call me at 604 254 1100
& I will do my very best to make it possible for you to enjoy this amazing retreat.
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by Sarah Juliusson of www.MamaRenew.ca – Find Mama Renew on Facebook & Twitter
I threw out my back a few weeks ago. It seemed like such a harmless moment – lifting a small suitcase – and in an instant I was frozen. Couldn’t bend, turn, barely even walk. Hugged my now-very-worried parents goodbye at the airport, tried to make it look like not such a big deal, eased myself back into the car with a grimace and grunt, and gingerly drove back into the city in search of the closest friend with ice & homeopathics.
I was in town for 3 very busy days – I had meetings scheduled, activities planned – and instead found myself dreading the moment I would have to move. I’m known for working a little too hard on these trips – not enough breaks for food, no exercise, limited sleep… Sometimes, it seems, we need to be forced to take care of ourselves!
An early morning acupuncture session with the brilliant Brownyn Melville allowed me a dramatic increase in mobility and decrease in pain. The next day featured a very deep & productive massage from the talented hands of Erin O’Riordan, RMT. A meeting with 8 loving friends & colleagues with Dancing Star Birth featured them laughing at me each time I tried to do something for myself, ordering me to SIT & let them care for me. During setup for a community festival we were co-hosting I was ordered to hold the door open while the rest of the Birth Lounge members carried all the boxes (the agony of not being able to help was worse than the pain in my back!)
I so wanted to be better, and while I was significantly improved over the following days, it took a circle of wise women to make me stop trying to push through it & simply be vulnerable. Having worked with families for some 20 years encouraging parents to ask for & receive help, well, you’d think I’d be better at this by now. The reality is we’re all finding our way. We all need reminders, nudges & prods. And sometimes we need a great big in-your-face challenge (hopefully yours doesn’t come in the form of a back injury) to help us slow down & learn the lessons all over again – the hard way.
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by Sarah Juliusson of www.MamaRenew.ca – Find Mama Renew on Facebook & Twitter
As Mother’s Day approaches you may be looking forward to breakfast in bed, a bouquet of flowers, and handmade gifts from your little ones. It is a day of recognition, honouring, and celebration. We eagerly anticipate the special attention and care, knowing that the next day life will return to our normal routine once again.
While the loving care of our family is much appreciated, this is also an opportunity to explore the ways in which we take loving care of ourselves, bringing the recognition, honouring, and celebration that we experience on Mother’s Day into every day.
Recognition
Perhaps the very foundation of self-care is recognition, a step so simple and essential and yet often overlooked. In order to care for ourselves, we must first recognize our needs and of course our limits. Why not stop and take a moment to check in with yourself before you get out of bed each morning? What do you need today in order to be healthy in body, heart, and mind?
Honouring
Once we take the step of recognizing our needs and limits, we must take the brave step of honouring them! So many of us tend to overschedule ourselves with work and family commitments, saying ‘yes’ to new projects when deep down we can’t imagine where that energy will come from. When we honour our needs and set our limits, we embrace the mantra “good is good enough,” and in doing so, discover that we can better care for ourselves and our family.
Celebration
Living our lives in a way that is “good enough” and honours our needs and limits rather than continually striving for more opens the way for celebration. Remember to celebrate the small moments rather than focusing on your long list of things yet to be done.
Making it last
Mother’s Day doesn’t have to be just one day. We have the choice to make a daily gift to ourselves of recognition, honouring and celebration. Perhaps the greatest gift of all is being better able to care for our families by caring for ourselves.
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by Sarah Juliusson of www.MamaRenew.ca – Find Mama Renew on Facebook & Twitter
We mothers are wonderful at knowing what is best for our children. Healthy outdoor play time, mittens and hats, homework, the list goes on… Catch is, we’re not always as good at following our own good advice.
We’re gonna play mama with you for just a moment with the following motherly advice:
to simply be with you
to step out of the routine, reconnect and remember.
to connect with a circle of women at different stages of motherhood,
and bring this perspective to your mothering.
to have time to explore, question, reflect
and set intentions
to see your family thrive without you,
and at the same time see how important your role is in their lives.
to play!
daily yoga, nourishing food, nature, dance, laughter.
p.s. the Hollyhock kitchen does amazing things with broccoli and breakfasts,
and an evening soak under the stars in the ocean-front hot tub will do wonders for your healthy night of sleep.
See you there? Space is limited!
For mothers of todders, tweens, teens & empty nesters
Visit the Mama Renew and Hollyhock websites to Learn More
or call Sarah at 604.254.1100
and Hollyhock at 1-800-933-6339 x232
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by Sarah Juliusson of www.MamaRenew.ca – Find Mama Renew on Facebook & Twitter
At a recent evening on self-care together with parents from our son’s Kindergarten class, we took turns sharing what we enjoy doing for self-care. I was particularly struck by the words of a father who expressed his need for memorable moments as a form of self-care. He’s right – when we can savour a memory or a moment that transcends the ordinary, our spirit is nurtured not just in that moment but for months or years to come.
Hosted in a room known as the Healing Sanctuary in a cob building at the beautiful OUR Ecovillage, the earthen walls and floors, candles, stained glass, and heartfelt sharing were enough to create a beautiful memory of the evening. Add on the evening walk around the ecovillage land and a sauna after our discussion and the evening was absolute perfection.
I feel a bit like an infommercial here, But Wait! It Get’s Better!
As another mother and I prepared to return home our car got stuck in the mud. There were were on a dark and cold night, two mamas sitting in the front seat feeling guilty that we were going to have to ask for help from our fellow parents still basking in the sauna. Imagine our surprise when before we could even get out of the car, into the glare of our headlights appeared our heros -
my husband and another dear friend – both naked but for their boxer briefs.
We howled with laughter, hooted wholehearted approval, hollered our gratitude, clapped with glee, and whistled in appreciation…
While the evening was lovely, the sight of them leaping into the glare of our headlights to the rescue is a memory to be treasured.
Now that’s self-care.
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by Sarah Juliusson of www.MamaRenew.ca – Find Mama Renew on Facebook & Twitter
This month’s featured working mamas are Madeleine Shaw and Suzanne Siemens, co-founders of Lunapads International. They have valuable wisdom to share on life-work balance and getting creative as working mothers.
Madeleine is Mom to Gigi (5). She describes herself as an entrepreneur, feminist, creative spirit, relationship builder, & gardener. Suzanne is Mom to Aiden (7) and Garret (3). She describes herself as a bean counter with soul, crunchy mama, lactivist, and entrepreneur. Based on these descriptions alone, I’m sure many of you would love to sit down for tea with these two…
You began as entrepreneurs, and then became mothers. How was that transition for you?
Madeleine: In retrospect I think that there is a part of me that wonders what staying how full-time with Gigi might have been like – there really was no meaningful break for either of us between having babies and going back to work. As business owners we weren’t eligible for unemployment benefits, and from a business perspective we needed to be there, so it wasn’t like there was a ton of choice. That said, our work schedules are super-flexible, so we are fortunate in that.
Suzanne: It was probably a very seamless transition because Lunapads was already well established at that point, rather than the classic “Mompreneur” model of doing it the other way around. Because so many of our customers are Moms, hearing a baby gurgling in the background on a phone call kind of became a bonding point, rather than a source of frustration. Including babies into the work mix just became a natural extension of the Lunapads’ culture and reflection of how women instinctively know how to help each other out. We feel incredibly lucky to have been able to share this unique version of “working Motherhood” with our kids, employees, and one another.
You often had your children with you at the office – any tips on having children in your work space?
Suzanne: Our office at the time was fairly roomy, so that helped – things like having a kitchen and a spare office that became a nursing, play and napping room. In our experience, after they’re about 18 months they are too agile and curious to really be happy long enough for you to get much done.
Madeleine: I would say be prepared to be flexible, and also to get help in bits and pieces throughout the day. I would take Aiden for walks in the afternoons, for example, and he would have a nap, allowing Suzanne to get in a few uninterrupted hours. Expectations about productivity also need to be recalibrated so you don’t become frustrated or give yourself a hard time if you’re not able to do as much as you used to.
What do you do to help maintain balance in your family – work life?
Madeleine: In my case I think it’s easier because of having just one child. That said, I am honestly not great at the work-life balance – “I feel it all”, as Feist says, and would probably benefit from some guilt-reduction therapy, because when I’m not working I feel like I should be, and ditto the reverse for family time. I find gardening to be the best solution for pretty much anything!
Suzanne: I think that there never is a perfect balance, instead the scale tips back and forth on a regular basis. I was very deliberate about tipping the scale in the family side when the kids were babies. Now that they are older and we have help at home, it’s tipping back the other way. At the end of the day though, coming home to a happy family is the best way to gauge how you are doing in the family/work balancing act.
A supportive partner is a must, and taking care of that relationship is vital, because that is the first place where things can start to fall apart or snowball into bigger problems. It sounds cliché, but regular and meaningful date nights, as well as dates for yourself (I like to go running in the forest and get massages… not at the same time of course!) go a long way to keeping the magic and staying sane!
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by Sarah Juliusson of www.MamaRenew.ca – Find Mama Renew on Facebook & Twitter
We came across this wonderful blog post from Meghan Rathwell, holistic nutritionist, on the reality of new motherhood and nutrition.
in my past life i was a nutritionist: a shopping, chopping, soaking, fermenting, well-fed nutritionist….i found contentment as a foodie and confidence in practicing what i preached.
but that was my past life. 9 months ago, i became a mama. while pregnant, i imagined that motherhood would further immerse me in the glorious world of REAL food. i would bake bread, and make yogurt while my child played at my feet. my counters would be lined with soaking grains and living sprouts. Instead….the counters are an assortment of pots i’ve burnt, a sippy cup, the old carrots that were once a teething toy, and a pile of pear peelings.
Sound familiar, y’all?
We all have images of what life will look like as a mother, and countless ideals and expectations we hope to live up to. There’s a whole lotta letting go that most of us need to do once we meet the reality of parenthood. How to make peace with the contrast? How to be gentle on ourselves? How to accept that “good” is “good enough”?
Read the rest at www.mamarenew.ca
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You know that feeling when a friend asks you a really good question? One of those questions that reframes something in a new way you hadn’t considered before, gently guiding you to a new place of knowing just through the asking.
It should be no surprise then, that one of my favourite things about Mama Renew is the moments when you see the shift happen, the opening that wasn’t there before, the sudden understanding of something that had not been questioned.
Why Mama Renew?
Why not just get together with a group of girlfriends and talk?
That’s a good question. Here’s my answer:
At Renewal: A Retreat for Mothers you’ll be asked some really good questions. Each of you will share from your experience and perspective and your words will add to our collective understanding. As your facilitator my role is to listen under your words for the unspoken beliefs and assumptions, to seek the common threads that have not yet been seen.
There is a real gift in expert facilitation, helping you to weave your words into a deeper understanding of your experience. I look forward to offering each of you a unique blend of discussion, journaling, reflection and creativity to support you in growing as a woman and mother.
See you there? Space is limited!
For mothers of todders, tweens, teens & empty nesters
Visit the Mama Renew and Hollyhock websites to Learn More
or call Sarah at 604.254.1100
and Hollyhock at 1-800-933-6339 x232
Subscribe to RENEW • Follow us on Twitter • Join our Facebook Page
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by Sarah Juliusson of www.MamaRenew.ca – Find Mama Renew on Facebook & Twitter
I’m going to Mexico with my mom this week. In the past year we have celebrated our 40th and 70th birthdays, and she wisely proposed that we honour this momentous year with a shared adventure.
We’ve never done this before. The most we’ve managed is an outing to the mall, a few treasured day hikes, and antique foraging. I haven’t spent this much time alone with her since our tour of east coast colleges when I was 17 – a mere 23 years ago…
It’s a beautiful gift, this time together – I’m stepping away from my family, work, and a greenhouse waiting for me to begin this years seedlings. She too is leaving behind responsibilities at home, the church, her volunteer work and the garden club. We’re shedding our busy days with the hope to reconnect as women, and as mother and daughter.
As mother-daughter teams go, we’re pretty darned good. We enjoy and respect one another, and share in our love of colour, antiques, sewing, cooking, and music.
Still, we lead very different lives, and at times we have both struggled to respect the other’s choices and lifestyle. Every visit includes one good squabble and cry, and my husband and brothers all now simply wait for it to come, and know that it will pass…
For this time together I will strive to:
1. Do my best to listen with my heart.
2. Ask good questions.
3. Be open to learning something new about her.
4. Enjoy her and have a good laugh every day.
5. Honour all that she has given me.
6. Share openly about my life & choices.
7. Know that the love I feel for my boys is the same love as she feels for me.
8. Love and appreciate her as she is.
Here’s to hoping that what happens in Mexico,
comes home from Mexico…
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Have you ever managed to arrange for a glorious outing with dear mama friends and found yourselves just talking about your kids? It seems that when we’re together with other parents we can’t help ourselves. I remember coming home from my first baby playgroup and feeling thrilled to have spent 2 hours talking about cloth diapers.
Motherhood has a tremendous capacity to bring women together. The daily life of loving and raising our children brings a sense of shared experience that transcends cultural, economic and social barriers. Yet there is more to talk about than just our children…
Renewal: A Retreat for Mothers is unique in that we will bring together a circle of women at all stages in the journey of motherhood. Mothers of toddlers, tweens, teens, and empty nesters are all welcome. So far those registered have children ages 2 – 24. We have much to learn from one another.
Here’s the catch: We won’t actually talk about our children.
You’ll have the opportunity to introduce them to the group, share a photo and a symbol of their place in your life and heart. And then we’ll set them aside, knowing they are in good hands at home. Our focus for the 4 days and 3 nights will be all about You.
We will explore your journey as a woman and mother – who you’ve become, how you’ve grown, what you’ve set aside, what you celebrate and what you miss. Just you and a circle of mothers who have taken the same bold step as you.
As shared so movingly in this video by Kelly Corrigan, we live our life as mothers in circles, surrounded by others who offer us support, perspective, love, and understanding. We hope our time together will offer a powerful reflection of this shared journey we’re on.
See you there? Space is limited!
For mothers of todders, tweens, teens & empty nesters
Visit the Mama Renew and Hollyhock websites to Learn More
or call Sarah at 604.254.1100
and Hollyhock at 1-800-933-6339 x232
Subscribe to RENEW • Follow us on Twitter • Join our Facebook Page
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