Yoga with Daria Germondari

😍😍Everyday is Valentine’s Day with these two hunks by my side 😍😍

HOLD ME CLOSE 💕

You don’t need scientists or researchers to tell you about the importance of TOUCH. Our kids are our teachers, if we pause and allow ourselves to learn from them.

Sadly, in Western societies “infants are in body contact about 18% of the day with their caregivers compared to 79-99% in many non-Western societies” (Hewlett & Lamb)

Compassionate touch IS the most important factor responsible for social and mental development in infants. And it’s absolutely FREE!

I am offering a 4-week, online baby massage course to help you feel confident in massaging your little one and to carve out some special time together. Don’t worry if you miss a week as all sessions will be recorded with access for 1-month.

PRICE: £50
WHERE: ZOOM
DATES: 2/9/16/23 February

The course includes:

* Breaking down a full body sequence
* Access to replay of course for 1-month
* Downloadable handouts with sequence
* Opportunity to ask questions

When you realise the power you have is in your hands, it's hard to justify not trying it!

LIMITED PLACES LEFT - DM TO BOOK

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

SNAIL POSE 🐌

Slowly slowly like a snail, what seemed unattainable is regaining shape.

Happy first Full Moon of 2022 🌕

TRUST AND ALL IS COMING 🐌

FEBRUARY ONLINE BABY MASSAGE COURSE

Baby massage is one of the most natural, accessible, therapeutic and medically validated tools you can do for your baby and yourself. The power is in your hands 🙌

Suitable from birth to crawling, this 4-week online baby massage course is a wonderful opportunity for mum/dad or primary carer to carve out some special time with your little one.

The key benefits of baby massage endorsed by the medical and holistic communities include:
 

* Invites longer and better sleep
* Communicates love and builds trust
* Teaches parent and baby about positive touch
* Lowers levels of cortisol in parents and baby
* Promotes bonding and attachment
* Increases oxytocin and milk supply
* Promotes feelings of happiness
* Increases communication and understanding
* Improves ability to read baby’s cues
* Stimulates baby’s major systems
* Relief for colic, teething, constipation and wind

EARLY BIRD PRICE £40 until 15th January then £50

The course includes:

* Breaking down a full body sequence
* Access to replay of course for 1-month
* Downloadable handouts with sequence
* Opportunity to ask questions

When you realise the power you have is in your hands, it's hard to justify not trying it!

CONTACT ME DIRECTLY TO BOOK YOUR PLACE
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

🧶MERINO OMBRÉ YARN 🧶

Shout out to a very talented yogini-cake-baker-mama-to-the-cutest-rabbits -friend-AND-crochet-queen 🧶 .hand.made who makes the most beautiful knitted garments infused with love ❤️

This chunky knit ombré merino yarn blanket is Nico’s favourite and we love it even more knowing that it was beautifully hand made by you. Thank you for such a thoughtful and useful gift 💝

If anyone is looking for a present with soul, then Ola’s your gal!

💙 Holding the world in my arms 💙

I want to celebrate all the new mamis out there including myself as our worlds turn upside down in the most personal, unique, revealing, triggering, transformative, unearthing, beautiful, delightful ways. We’ve got this 💪

“TOUCH is the first sense to be developed in the womb and it is the last sense to leave us before we die”.

The first sense that a baby develops is that of touch. And it is their first language!

Touch begins in utero, where baby is caressed by the walls of the mother’s womb. As they grow into a more compact space, that touch becomes more affirming and important. This touch continues into the actual birth where the baby is literally massaged out of the birth canal through dynamic contractions. Later, baby is placed on the mother’s chest for the all-important skin to skin contact which creates an important physiological response that regulates the baby’s vital body rhythms.

This is WHY I wanted to train in BABY MASSAGE, and WHY I would like to share this beautiful offering with YOU mamas and papas.

As a baby massage instructor I will be showing you the most beneficial massage strokes to help maintain the emotional-umbilical connection established in the womb, and help solidify your unique bond.

I’ll be offering an online baby massage course in the New Year so you can join from the comfort of your own home wherever you are 🌎

Please tag friends with newborns who might be interested and follow my account where I’ll be sharing some baby massage tips and best practices.

❤️

ENTERING ‘ZWISCHEN’

We are entering what the Germans have coined ‘zwischen’, which means ‘between’: that porous zone between Womb and World; the delicate edge between Pregnancy and Postpartum; that lingering, stretching (literally), bewildering, somewhat perplexing space of the “in-between”.

Being in London makes it tricky to let go, relax, and “just” be, as vibrationally, this city is constantly spinning us into its vortex of activity and action 😵‍💫. I am feeling a strong urge to withdraw into my cave of meditation and yoga nidra to truly experience this liminal space and allow this little being down his/her water slide.

💫We will see you on the other side 💫

👶 DUE DATES 👶

Stats will tell us that about 4% of babies are born on their actual due date. Flip it around, that means 96% won’t be, YET we can’t help but get fixated on that estimated calculation. It’s not just our expectations that get affected; our patience begins to wane as our language changes because now the baby is “late”… to add to this, following protocol, midwives start drip feeding ideas about induction, and we find ourselves once again a slave to the construct of TIME. Wouldn’t it be much simpler if we just had a due MONTH? As the due date approaches, I can’t help but get sucked in so my meditation this week is for TIME not to be a factor.

[Caveat: I make these comments based on what is classified as a low risk, no complications pregnancy.]

Combining PERSONAL learning with PROFESSIONAL development is my answer to finding ✨CONTENTMENT✨

Years of keeping my passions separate from my career, led to a disconnect within me and a reinforcement of dualism.

Marrying the two worlds has been the healthiest move for me; it’s shown me my inner strength, my determination, and a drive that I didn’t know I had. Adding a baby to the equation is certainly going to rock the boat and it will take time to find a healthy balance, but if I can continue to build on my personal experience, coupled with sharpening my skills in order to SHARE them with you then I continue to be ✨CONTENT✨

I’m so excited to not only be able to give my future baby so many massages, but also to help new mums do the same with their little ones. I’ll see you and your babes on the other side soon 🔜 💆‍♀️

NOW YOU SEE ME, NOW YOU DON’T…

“Wow, you’re so BIG” and “Wow, you’re so SMALL” sound like two opposites right? Yet I’ve had both comments in the last week (in addition to “you must be feeling ENORMOUS now” and “you look a bit TOO SMALL to be due in 3 weeks”)…the latter was said this morning by a NURSE of all people!

So here’s some food for thought; just because a woman is pregnant, that does not give us carte blanche to comment on her weight, the size of her belly, or rub her tummy without asking her first. I appreciate that this all comes from a good place but you wouldn’t touch someone’s ass even if you *did* think it was juicy 🍑

I’ve been reflecting on this for a few months now, and after chatting with a friend today I wanted to write this post because I think it’s important we question WHY as a society most of us treat a pregnant person like public property. (I’m sure I’ve been a culprit too)

My conclusion is that it comes from a place of joy, a place of “wow” at the magic of Mother Nature, yet it’s in this place of amazement that we create a disconnect between “the belly,” and the person carrying that belly, as though “the belly” and the mother were two separate entities so we don’t think how our comments might affect her self-esteem. Body privacy is to be respected always, bump or no bump. Let’s try to be a little more conscious ✨✨✨✨

📸 pics taken 🙏

🌕 FULL MOON 🌕 FULL BABE (almost) 👶

In folklore traditions and among spiritual midwives there is a belief that more babies are born on full moon 🌕 perhaps because of the increase in pull on the amniotic fluid (the waters).

Interestingly, our baby is due around the next October full moon!

When the moon is ripe, full and at its peak, it “breaks” and ends the cycle. Babies are not so dissimilar. When they are ripe and ready, they choose to “break” the pregnancy by releasing a special protein and the hormone cortisol which kickstarts uterine contractions. It’s not magic, just physiology. Nevertheless it all feels like a miracle.

Here, my artist 👩‍🎨 depicts his psychedelic interpretation of the full moon 🌕 I see lots of gem stones and crystals 💎 in this piece.
What do you see?

✨AFFIRMATIONS✨

One of my favourite branches of yoga, is that of practising Sankalpa, or the use of positive affirmations.

The word “kalpa” means a wish, desire, resolve or intention.

“A Sankalpa is like a seed sown in the depth of your consciousness. Anything in life can fail you, but not the Sankalpa” ~ Swami Satyananda Sarawasti

I like this positivist approach combined with the innate belief that we already have everything we need in order to fulfil our dharma, or purpose; it’s just a case of bringing it forth to the forefront. I am sharing my birth affirmarions here to inspire others and to invite the boomerang effect of sending them back to me :)

♥️ I HAVE THE BEST PEOPLE BY MY SIDE

♥️MY CONTRACTIONS ARE NOT STRONGER THAN ME: THEY ARE ME

♥️OXYTOCIN COMES NATURALLY TO ME

♥️I RELAX MY MUSCLES BY RELAXING MY MIND

♥️MY FAITH IN MYSELF AND MY BABY IS UNSHAKEABLE

Would you like to share yours? I am still teaching for the next 2 weeks and you can catch me ONLINE as follows:

Mondays, 4pm Restorative with Nidra & 6.45pm Pregnancy Yoga

🤸🏻‍♀️NEW HORIZONS 🤸🏻‍♀️

Hey yogis! It’s the end of an era as I teach my last public studio class on Thursday this side of my metamorphosis 🦋

Come play at 5.45pm for a fun Vinyasa Flow in Balham. It would be an immense pleasure to see you before I retreat to the cave 🧘‍♀️ and switch gears for the final few weeks of womb time.

Online classes will continue for a few more weeks!

📸 Palenque, Mexico 2019

Entering a bit of a whirlwind as we spin into 33 weeks…a hint of anxiety, a cloud of turbulence, a vortex of doubt as to whether this body can have the natural birth it so deeply desires. Then, on the other side of the Richter scale, a rainbow opens, rays of hope and sunshine, immense excitement and smiles, deeper connections with my two loves. Overwhelm and joy, progressive expansion, learning every day 🥰

I’ve been filming a pregnancy yoga at-home deep dive at the gorgeous ＲＥＶＩＶＥ] studios and feeling so grateful to be in this body while applying and sharing all the practical, philosophical and embodied knowledge I have for mammas to be. Watch this space!

📍ＲＥＶＩＶＥ]
📸

✨COMING SOON ✨

Yes, soon we will be three, but in the meantime, I’ve been training as a BABY MASSAGE instructor and it’s been the sweetest studying I’ve indulged in. What a special treat to be able to offer this not only to my own babe when she/he arrives, but to be able to share this with YOU and your babies!

More info coming soon 🔜

In the meantime, what should I call this this gorgeous dolly baby?