Sassy Guest Blogger (Nealy Fischer): Making Space Inside and Out

Today, our Prenatal/Postnatal expert Nealy Fischer, tells all mums to be how to make room for yourself  – both on the inside and out…

For the last few months I’ve been waking up each day and as I open my overstuffed closet I find myself staring at a huge pile of clothing but cannot find a thing to wear. Sound familiar? In the past, my answer to having nothing to wear was to go shopping and buy something new. But even after my new accessory additions, the next morning I still found myself with the same wardrobe dilemmas. So this month, instead of buying more things to add to my collection of nothing to wear, I did a clothing detox (which has conveniently coincided with a super foods cleanse that I’m on right now, ask me about it after your baby is born, its incredible).

I gave away the things I no longer wear and stored my old maternity clothing for another time or lifetime. Once there was room in my drawers to actually see what I had, I was left with my favorites and all of a sudden I discovered a hidden wardrobe hiding right inside my own closet. Pregnancy, over the course of ten months can sometimes feel like an overstuffed closet. The physical body and your growing baby take up so much room and time that it can become hard to see or locate your own true self. I recall that there were pregnant days when I was struggling for something to wear and cover me on the outside and simultaneously felt disconnected to my heart and the real “me”. The good news is that as we grow (in pregnancy and in life) there are many ways to continue to create more space in order to discover that our greatest strength, beauty and luminosity is always somewhere deep inside of us. Here are some practical ways to shine your light more fully:

1. Eat a satisfying and nourishing diet. If we literally clean out the stuff that’s clogging our physical body, we feel more light and spacious. Refined sugars, carbohydrates and wheat all build too much stagnation in the body. And like that old t-shirt from college, once removed, more potential energy is revealed. You will feel so good and you will be providing high quality nourishment for you and your baby.

2. Take time to move your body everyday. Being inactive creates stagnation and a seeming feeling of weakness and lethargy. Walk, swim or find your own favorite way to sweat. Aside from the well-known physical benefits of regular movement, yoga in particular helps tone your body from the inside out in preparation for the marathon of labor and motherhood.

3. Carve some space for your growing self each day. Practice yoga, meditate or simply sit alone (or with a great friend) to check in with your daily mood. Are you feeling clogged and full or spacious and open today? The good news is that the more you tune inside, the more cool things you discover about yourself.

Enjoy your pregnancy. Use it as a challenge. Like a kid, play hide and seek with yourself and look for the perfection that is your essence. The process of yoga is one through which we shed some of the layers of gunk that cloud our vision of ourselves and hopefully, come to see with more clarity that inside we have a hidden wholeness. Feel free to post any questions on your prenatal diet, exercise and yoga/meditation practices. I look forward to hearing from you!

Nealy teaches anusara yoga, prenatal yoga and has created yoga workshops for labor and postpartum. You can connect with her at [email protected] or come to her classes at pure yoga in Central.