Katara Moves

How things usually work:
First, things go ‘off the rails’– challenging times happen
Second, we urgently start trying to fix it (if we are lucky to have energy for it).

Even though it’s better than never to learn about science based tools to support yourself in times of uncertainty and challenge, but you can also learn about them when things seem stable and ‘in control’.

On Saturday, November 18th, I will have a workshop, sharing my go-to tools & practices for times when things may feel odd, causing anxiety, feeling frustrated, reactive, annoyed with self & others.

You will learn a lot of things, but mainly:

Understand emotions and where are they coming from.
What is emotional granularity and why it’s good for your physiological well-being.
How to practice emotional granularity
Practice breath & RAIN
Journal about your insights
If we have time – share and discuss the insights

This workshops would be especially beneficial for you if you are going through some type of change & uncertainty in your personal or professional life.

Location: beautiful
Date: November 18th, Saturday
Time: 10-11am

Link in BIO to book your seat.

Three mindset tools to have in your pocket.

– reverse gratitude. Instead of being grateful for something that you have in your life, remember the moment when someone else was grateful to you. Remember the feeling of being a recipient of gratitude. Soak it in.

– When you feel a powerful emotion (ex. Frustrated with your kid) - first, think to yourself ‘I am soooo frustrated’. Second, feel it in your body for 3 breaths.

– When you are outside, standing in line or waiting for a bus – look around and notice people. Imagine that you have a superpower. Choose a person – and silently wish this person something good (ex. May you be healthy and safe). Then chose someone else – repeat.

All three exercises are meant to promote emotional resilience and sense of being okey in the midst of it all. Experiment with it, and let me know how it felt.

What is the right way to be, to work, to love?

Do you know? I am sure you have an idea, and reading further you will either agree or completely disagree, convinced that reading this post was a total waist of your time.

Some will say that it’s all about discipline, commitment and hard work. Very hard work.
“No pain , no gain” they say.

Others keep pushing for being in the flow, like water, accepting and surrendering.

There is also an opinion that you have to be humble, and quietly do your best daily.

Others insist that it’s all about self-confidence, almost arrogance – “fake it until you make it!” – they say.

And so how can we possibly know what exactly makes a happy, fullfilled life?

Can you run an AB test?

Often, we join one of the camps (usually the one that resonates with us most) and start building our whole identity around it: “I am all about discipline and confidence, this is the only way!” Or “I just trust that stars will align”.

I am convinced, along with some very smart people out there, – that we truly need both.

Hard work, discipline, and trust, and humility and almost crazy self-believe.

Learn to toggle between these extremes. Experiment with speaking my in a confident way, when this is not your nature. Or don’t plan your next weekend getaway to a detail, if this is your usual way to travel.

It will requires wisdom and awareness.

Wisdom and Awareness can be developed, with time and effort, by these tools: (self)reflection, meditation, therapy and exposure to variety of experiences, people and cultures.

Let me know your thoughts.
Would love to hear them 💪

What to expect during Mama Mindset Mastery Workshop on October 13th

Yoga – helps to strengthen body awareness, and , using postures , enter a state of mind of empowerment, surrender and trust.

Breath – helps to experience a profound peace of mind.

Mindfulness meditation focused on emotions like worry , anxiety and frustration – helps to strengthen capacity to relate to emotions wisely, with wisdom and compassion.

Essential oils – help to enhance the whole experience.

Curated playlist helps to enhance all the experience.

Inquiry and journaling – helps to articulate thoughts and intentions making them real and actionable.

Share with a mom or a pregnant friend.

The most common words I hear from pregnant clients are:

I feel anxious of uncertainty and things being out of my control

What if things just go in a completely different direction

I had a miscarriage, what if this pregnancy does not go through either

It took me so long to conceive. I want it to be perfect!

I am scared of giving birth.

By the time I stopped writing my birth plan I had anxiety. Too many things to consider.

Sometimes women would not express these concerns, masking them over with jokes and vague comments or affirmations like ‘I just fully trust my body to do its work’, never facing the emotional component of carrying a baby and preparing for birth.

Others go into ‘100% prepare mode’, taking every single course, reading every single research. Approaching giving birth as project. Despite all the advantages of this approach, it may feel frustrating and stressful when things are beyond control.

Now, let’s make it lear, every single mom has a certain level of anxiety during pregnancy. In fact, it is normal to have that anxiety as it forces us to act and prepare.

Usually it is concerned with well-being of a baby & a mom, and with the uncertainty of giving birth.

But sometimes it can be overwhelming.

So, there is a healthy way to relate to anxiety, fear, unease, worry.

On October 13th, I will have a 2 hours mindset workshop dedicated specifically to how to relate to anxiety, fear, frustration, irritation and act in a wiser way.

Link in bio.
Sign up or share with a pregnant friend.

Anxiety runs in my family. From my mother’s side.
Anxious thoughts, a panic attack, depressive episodes. I am not going into details, but trust me, this situation forces me to look for all possible tools to prevent similar conditions for as long as possible.

I am familiar with anxiety.
A subtle sense of unease on the background of my feeling tone.
It gets stronger before a big trip, after having had too much coffee, when there is uncertainty, or when there is not much happening.

Sometimes I can understand what causes it.
Sometimes, I can’t. I just know that it’s there. Mild, but tangible.

When I was pregnant – it would be there too. Crawling into my thoughts. Overshadowing my emotions.

The good thing is that have my tools. Being a yoga therapist and a mindfulness facilitator
helps to contain this feeling. At least for now.

How do you contain yours?

Watch out for side effects of personal growth.

Meditation, retreats, yoga, self love – all of these are quite popular words today.

For the first time it feels like we have full right to slow down and put ourselves first.

But just like anything – when taken to extremes this can cause harm in relationships and in your long-term well-being.

Here is what you should look out for:

1. when 15 minutes of regular meditation is not enough, and you sit for 20,30,40 minutes. When you are constantly looking for another weekend yoga or silence retreat. Ask yourself – what is it that you are unwilling to deal with? Quite often a meditation or a retreat can become a form of withdrawal. It is easier to find peace on a retreat , in nature, singing Ohm, rather than facing all the s**t that life sometimes throws at you.

Swipe to read about two more side effects ==>

I wish I knew that meditation & mindset exercises are not about relaxation or any other comfortable state. Yes, relaxation can come as a result of the practice, but it’s not the point. The point is to develop better ability to pay attention, focus, and be present with whatever arises.

Scroll for other two.

If you want to learn to meditate – then stay tuned. I will soon announce a ‘4 steps towards mindfulness’ for women.

I wish I did more of this during my pregnancy

When I got pregnant, a lot of new thoughts populated my mind.
How, what, when, why, what if, if only ….

All of a sudden it became important to do things in a certain way, to prepare, to read a book or two, to create a new routine.

During 1st trimester there was a lot of uncertainty , anxiety and discomfort of morning sickness.

2nd trimester was about coming out with the news, getting my energy, working, travelling and rebuilding our 2nd floor.

And 3d trimester was filled with moving through tasks, shopping lists, midwife appointment.

And I am so grateful that I managed to keep my 10-15 minutes of meditation. Because, as I look back, this time was only real time in a day, when I could do one thing… be and wonder.

Wonder at the intelligence of my body growing my baby, wonder at the new stronger emotions, wonder at new sensations of kicking, pushing, pulling, pressing and wander at the whole chapter of life that had only 40 weeks to last.

Besides all the benefits of meditation during pregnancy that science has already been firm about – there is one often overlooked. As an expecting mother remembers how to wonder (a skill often lost as we reach adolescence) – she also remembers what it’s like to trust, listen, tune in, feel, connect.

I wish I did more of this during my pregnancy.
My invitation is to create moments of wonder – on your yoga mat, or just as you wake up and still in bed. Wonder creates connection with your baby. Wonder is a so necessary ingredient of a Wonderfull life.

Hola! I have something to share.
When I was pregnant and during 1st year of motherhood I naturally got into a bubble of Me + My baby.

At some point, not too much time ago, I realised that my whole world …. shrinked.

I felt like I dropped out for almost 2 years, while the world kept going, creating, moving further. I dropped out.

There is nothing wrong with this. But what I noticed was that I was getting too comfortable in my bubble.

I knew that this gravitational pool towards comfort is going to get only stronger. And one day I will find myself being an outdated version. An outdated version of myself.

So I had to pull myself together – and apply effort.

A lot of effort, to be honest.

And go back to learning about things that were happening around me.

Books, Events, Experiences, Workshops, Trends, AI you name it.

It was not easy at the beginning. As if a muscle of learning, a muscle of curiosity and wonder became weaker.

It got better.

I have been constantly reading, researching, looking for some cool things to do, learn, experience, reflect on or dance to. I was sharing some of it here. But so much are still left behind the scenes.

So I have started to send out a newsletter, every Friday, with 5 things I do myself, or I find interesting to reflect on, etc.

If you want to receive it – send me your email address.

It’s quite short, but, I am sure it can be useful too.

And finally

This email is for:

Those of you who believes that pregnancy and motherhood is not a barrier, but an enabler of growth.

See you there!

Send DM with your email address ❤️

Yesterday I ran into the midwife who was with me on the day of my giving birth. I gave her a big-big hug. It felt like I met the dearest friend.

This quick interaction made me remember and reflect about that day.

So, why not share with you how mindfulness supported me on my day of giving birth.

I woke up at 2am feeling a new sensation.

It was not painful. It felt just like a period cramp would feel , but lighter.

And, unlike period crams, this sensation would seize completely after 20-30 seconds.

I knew that the time has come –I was going into labour.

Sensations of contractions would come and go. And as I was feeling into them – I was curious about their quality. Indeed, they felt like warm waves coming and going. Not painful. Consistent, warm, touching me, just like a wave would touch my toes on the sandy beach.

First part of my labour lasted for quite a long time, maybe 16-18 hours?

Eternity – some of you may think.

But thanks to my mindfulness practice I developed a strong muscle of being purely in the ‘now’. The concept of time did not matter anymore.

I did not question the speed.

As Lao Tsu said “Nature never hurries, and yet everything is accomplished”.

In the morning we packed, showered, ate and even watched a few Friends episodes. I had my playlist going at the background.

Sometimes I could see “a thought” nocking into my mind.

‘What if things are too slow’, ‘What if dilation is still too little’. ‘What if I am too tired already’

Thanks to mindfulness practice –seeing these thoughts was helpful because I could CHOOSE not to engage in them. They were just thoughts which at that moment were not useful…

Swipe to finish reading

Mindful leadership. Mindful eating. Mindful living. Mindful parenting.

Mindfulness has become quite a popular word, used in various contexts, hasn’t it?

I too, was quite confused before.

What is mindfulness? What is mindfulness meditation?

What unites mindful leadership, mindful eater and mindful parent?

Let me make it very simple.

Mindfulness – is a state of mind. You can be mindful only when you are paying attention to the present moment experience. When you are paying attention you are aware. When you pay attention you notice more. For example, right now, as I am typing these words, I can be mindful of myself typing this words, and feeling a bit chilly, and wanting to put on a jacket, and annoyed with some loud construction noise.

A mindful leader is someone who can be aware of his fears, ambitions and traits of character.

A mindful eater can pay attention to how his body responds when she takes a bite of that chocolate.

A mindful parent is aware of her fears of not being a good enough mom.

Mindfulness equals awareness. Awareness – is like seeing clearly, noticing all the details of the experience (emotional, physical, mental etc).

You may say to me – ‘so what’?

Well, science shows that there is a whole bunch of benefits that come from it. For example, you are more likely to make a wiser choice. You are also more likely to be less stressed. You learn a whole bunch about yourself, your fears, your desires, your patterns of thinking.

You develop self-awareness, and a good sense of humour, as you can see your own faults and imperfections, but learn to accept them, as they are part of who you are.

Meditation is your tool to train your ability to be more mindful.

Once your ability (a muscle) becomes stronger you can apply this skill to any dimension of your life and be a mindful parent, mother, leader, eater, lover, listener, manager, runner, yogi, dancer, shopper, human.

Mindfulness is often used in the context of meditation. But it has more to do with life than with meditation.

Thanks to TM meditation I savoured the first real, tangible benefits of meditation – stress relief, deep mental and physical recover, access to creativity after every 20 minutes session.

I was bought in. I became hungry for knowledge. I listened to dozens if not hundreds of podcasts and interviews with scientists, teachers, experts, monks, and read books on this topic.

I think that I learned about and understood the concept of mindfulness doing 8-week MBSR program – Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction.

For the first time the concept of meditation was presented to me not as an exercise of trying to calm my mind. It was presented to me in the context of philosophy, a way of living every my daily life.

Thanks to Marjorie – who was my instructor – my interest was fully directed towards mindfulness and its ability to strengthen skills of our mind and character, developing capacity to be patient, calm, present, compassionate, openminded, curious.

In 2020 I did my MBSR teacher training.

In 2021 I started a 2-year program to become a mindfulness meditation teacher.

In 2021 I completed my fist week long silent retreat, of which I will tell you in a separate post.

My humble story about learning how to meditate.

For the longest time I thought that meditation is about achieving a certain state of mind which should feel blissful and thoughtless. Thoughts were considered enemies.

I started to explore meditation in Moscow, after I returned from India in 2014. I would set a timer for 10 minutes, sit on the floor, and meditate. Trying not to think.

I stopped doing this after about a month, mainly because I did not see any results and was getting too discouraged every time. Too many thoughts. Too much anxiety from trying to do it right.

In 2016 I resumed my practice. This time using the headspace app. Finally I was given some guidance, and started to see that this practice was more about strengthening my attention by bringing it back every time I was distracted with those enemies (thoughts).

I stopped doing this practice after about 2 months, because I got bored.

In 2018 I resumed my practice again, using a Muse app. I had a device on my head, which would detect whether my mind was busy or not. It was tons of fun, actually. But I stopped practicing after about 3 months, because I got too discouraged every time the app would show me that I had many thoughts.

In 2019 I studied what’s called Transcendental Meditation, or TM.

Finally things started to change.

I ll tell you about it in my next post.

My mission is to inspire 10 000 expecting women to learn mindfulness & mindset tools, and approach giving birth in an empowered, mindful way.

I believe that if every expecting mother would find 5 minutes a day to meditate & reflect - than:

>>> less births would require pain medication,

>>> there would be fewer cases of postpartum depression,

>>> and as a ripple effect of the above - there would be more emotionally resilient and healthy children.

I was lucky to get pregnant, to have a smooth pregnancy, and give birth without much medical intervention or pain relief.

Yes. I am fully aware that there was a lot of luck in it, and that if I ever repeat it again things may be different.

But is this it? Can we only rely on “luck” in something so profoundly beautiful as giving birth?

I am deeply convinced that it is not only luck we need as we approach motherhood.

We need life skills and “mind skills”.

Ability to stay calm under pressure.

Ability to make wise choices, informed by present moment.

Capacity to trust our bodies and people.

Capacity to be with discomfort and pain, both physical and emotional.

As a yoga teacher, mindfulness coach, and well-being expert I knew and already practiced many tools that helped me to strengthen those skills.

I trained my mind during pregnancy similarly like an athlete prepares his mind for an ultramarathon.

And maybe on the outside, things looked normal –I was a regular preggy with my own cravings, concerns, anxieties, pain, discomfort, fear, exhaustion, despair.

But

there was definitely less suffering and drama.

There were more awe, gratitude, presence and compassion.

And these are the perfect qualities which help create good enough conditions for birth and motherhood, so that “luck” and midwives can do the rest.

So

That’s why I do what I do.

I want more women to have less drama and suffering, as as they enter motherhood.

I am offering short mindfulness & well-being programs for expecting mothers who aspire to have natural birth.

I teach them everything I know, and everything I practice myself. Strategies and exercises rooted in multiple schools of thought.

And I love what I do.

Fun fact:

My mother was an amazing midwife-gynaecologist, welcoming babies into this world for many years. In some sense, I am taking over.

You know what’s the hardest thing for me?

When I feel helpless in putting her to sleep. When I know that she is already past her nap time, and she is still awake. Sleepy. But awake.

And the hard truth is that the more I “struggle” within, the more difficult it gets, the more awake she is.

I am aware of the feelings which I “should not be feeling” - frustration, resistance, annoyance, pity for myself, sadness for the day being spent in the dark room, restlessness for there is a pile of dirty dishes in the kitchen. The more I am thinking - the more frustrated and impatient I get.

It’s messy.

Parenting is messy. Especially In our heart. In our thoughts.

Most sharing posts like this usually end on some positive note. “We got it”, “things will change” etc.

And even though it’s true , I wont write it here.

Because here and now - it’s messy. And I am in the midst of it.

And here comes the choice:

I guess we ll just skip this nap for now and go do the dishes.

Being a parent is one of life’s greatest joys, but it can also be one of the most challenging experiences we face. As parents, it’s important to take care of our emotional health so we can be the best version of ourselves for our children. This is especially crucial for parents with kids six months old and older, as they need a stable and supportive environment to thrive.

Did you know that mindfulness , breathing, journaling, and movement exercises have been scientifically proven to strengthen stress resilience and emotional balance?

By incorporating these practices into our daily routines, we can learn to manage our emotions and respond to stressful situations in a healthier way.

Join us with for the four week program “Strengthening Your Mind and Spirit as a Parent”.

The program starts on May 3rd at 7 PM.

Start practicing tools and experience benefits of emotional health.

Let’s create a happier, healthier, and more mindful parenting experience together!

You ARE mindful mama ,when…

-when you choose to put your phone away while putting your baby to sleep, or breastfeeding, or playing

-when you feel impatient because it’s so late and your baby is resisting to go to bed, and yet you stay calm and centered

-when you notice sadness that you can’t be spontaneous to join your girl-friends for a road trip, but you remind yourself of how blessed you are to have what you have

-when you realise how exhausted you are and ask for help

-when you recognize that your single friends are not as engaged in hearing about your baby talents all the time, and you change the topic, not getting upset

-when you accept that your days are eventless, while everyone else is having experiences of their lifetime

-when you notice that you are sad for no particular reason, and you give yourself permission to be so

-when you spot yourself thinking that you fail and can’t do what others seem perfectly capable of, and you don’t believe this thought

-when you consult experts, read books and watch videos about raising a child, but in the end you tap into your own wisdom.

Continue the list…

Just like any other pregnant woman, I was preparing for the Big Day of giving birth – attended workshops about birth, listened to endless amount of interviews, read a dozen of articles and a couple of books.

I was scared and just wanted to be done with it.

Little did I know, that tough times begin on DAY 1 after the human is born.

I was wondering why nobody told me about all the difficulties that come with breastfeeding? all the mental and emotional adjustments that are happening?

Yes, I read about hormonal shift which may result in depression. Many told me to sleep more (classic advice😖). But that’s it.

My observation is that women prepare for giving birth. Women don’t prepare enough for motherhood, as if motherhood is this pink beautiful chapter which consists of beautiful nursery, maternity clothes and a comfortable pram.

Very often we underestimate how big of a change it is. And many of us – don’t know or are not capable to deal with change in a sustainable way.

As the result, some would end up with depression, others would stop breastfeeding, many would mentally dread these first priceless months with a helpless and needy newborn.

“How can you prepare for motherhood’ – some people ask me.

The answer I give is:

prepare your mind and strengthen your capacity to accept change, to be patient and present, to be emotionally fit, to be self-compassionate.

Yes, you can do it.
Yes, science is proving that you can do it.

If curious, join me on free workshop on March 13th (Monday)

Did you know that:

“Results suggest that mindfulness-based interventions can be beneficial for outcomes such as anxiety, depression, perceived stress and levels of mindfulness during the perinatal period” (Meta-Analysis of mindfulness based interventions during pregnancy, Epub 2017.)

“Mindfulness meditation can improve the prevention, remission, and reduction of depression during pregnancy and can be used as an auxiliary measure for the clinical treatment of pregnancy depression.” (Meta-Analysis: Affect of mindfulness meditation on depression during pregnancy, September 2022).

When I found out that I was pregnant I committed to these few things:
-Walking at least 10000 steps a day.
-Movement and yoga on my mat.
-Meditating once a day.

I tracked these 3 habits for 40 weeks.

Walking and movement allowed me to keep my body mobile and active.

Meditation was supposed to train my mind for giving birth and postpartum.

Giving birth is like climbing Everest. It requires patience, mental and physical resilience, honesty, strength, and connection with self.

All of these qualities can and should be trained.

Mindfulness meditation has been shown to strengthen all of them in just 8 weeks of regular practice. We are literally rewiring our brain every time we do an exercise.

✨ on October 27th I will launch a 5 week program on Mindful Pregnancy.

This program will be routed in practice & homework.

Think about it like joining a bootcamp. But this time – you will be strengthening muscles of your mind.

You will:
- learn to direct and sustain your attention
- explore and shift your attitude
- understand the value of intention
- learn to be in your body, experience your body and aliveness
- recognising distructive thoughts. Learning to not be defined by them
- recognising powerful emotions. Learning to not be owned by them
- learning to be comfortable with uncomfortable. Inceasing 'window of tollerance'
- and finally, staying in the moment. Breath after breath.

All of this helped me tremendously just a few months ago. I am convinced it can help you too.

Still have a few spots left.

Reach out to learn more ✨

Some of you know that I am finishing a two-year program to become a certified mindfulness meditation teacher.

To complete the program I need one last thing - final practicum.

And this time I have chosen a theme of “Mindful pregnancy. Preparing for the new life”

I believe that ability to
pay attention to the present moment,
notice and accept my emotions,
let go of useless thoughts,
embrace ambiguity and change,
stay compasionate to self and othera –

were key in my recent journey of pregnancy, labor and beciming a mother.

And I want to share tools to build these skills with those who are pregnant, their partners and caregivers.

I am looking for 6-8 people to take part in the program.

This is a 5 week program.
55 minutes per session.
Online.
Staring: Thursday 27th. Evening.
Fee is only 20 euro for all 5 weeks.

Curious? send me your email and I will send you a detailed content plan.

If you have a friend who is preparing to become a mother? - maybe show this post to her 🙏

My summer was special.

I embarked on a completely new and most fulfilling journey – of being a mom.

When I was little we would play the game of 'dochki-materi', which can be translated from russian as 'daughters-mothers'. As the name suggests – we would pretend being mothers carying for our dolls/daughters.

And here I am, about 30 years later, carying for a real human, a real doughter.

This summer of 2022 was special. Close to my tribe of which we are 3 now. Embodying a new role, a new function, new dynamic, new body, new, extanded version of me.

To spacial and bright summers, my friends!

Now diving into a beautiful & wise autum.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A MINDFULNESS AND WELL-BEING COACH?

your work together should be:

🌻theoretical enough so that you understand the main principles behind the skills you are mastering.

🌸meaningful – so it connects with your core values or current period in your life.

🌼practical – it must include daily practice to grow the skills.

🌺applicable – the coach should show you and inspire you to apply these skills in your daily life.

Remember, that before hiring a coach – you should already have enough interest curiosity or desire to change and grow.

Coach is like an oxygen to your fire🔥.