Instant friendships

*MATERNAL MONDAYS*

“During pregnancy your body is your unborn baby’s universe. You are the rivers, sunlight, earth, atmosphere and sky for this being growing within you. Your baby’s body, mind and soul intimately intertwined with your own.Together you express the creative flow of life”.

-Deepak Chopra
Magical Beginnings, Enchanted Lives

Emma the Naturopath xx

-16 weeks, the size of an avocado

I actually caught myself thinking “I’m just too stressed to go to meditation class tonight”… I had to laugh at myself!

Even though I’ve practised yoga since a young age and listen to a meditation track on my iPod every night, I had this preconceived idea of what going to an actual meditation class would be like. I envisioned a bunch of gurus sitting around on cushions on the floor, levitating in silence for an hour. Maybe with a bit of chanting thrown in there...

Much to my delight, it involved sitting back in comfy armchairs, drifting off into a blissful state during a guided meditation. (Yes there were times I was thinking about noodles or tomorrow's clients, but it was mostly bliss). Then we sipped delicious organic tea and Georgie chatted to us about practical tools for helping with a “monkey mind” and incorporating a sense of calmness and positivity into our daily lives.

Meditation has countless benefits to our health like lowering blood pressure and easing anxiety, but it’s also just a beautiful self-care ritual –which is generally the first thing to go out the window when we’re stressed!

Georgie Cooke Quantum LifeSkills Coaching & Counselling is a counsellor, psychotherapist, NLP coach, naturopath and full-time ray of sunshine. Georgie runs meditation classes on Mondays 1-2pm as well as an evening class 6-7pm from her gorgeous space on the jetty strip in Coffs, just next to Old John’s. Give her a call 0406 786 395 if you want to check it out. No levitating gurus, just warmth and happiness.

“Within you there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself.”
-Hermann Hesse

109. Top Five Things I LOVED This Week:

1. My 63 year old Sicilian father writing in a text to me “omg”. Wtf…?
2. A delivery of teddy bear sunflowers from the talented girls at Precious Petals. They are just so beautiful and happy (the flowers AND Nat and Court).
3. Stormy headland walks just on dark with friends.
4. Top knots –on chicks, dudes and kids.
5. Lying in bed half asleep on Wednesday morning and feeling a little tickle in my belly. My eyes opened wide and it happened again. “Oh, good morning” I said aloud as I felt my little baby move inside of me for the first time.

Emma the Naturopath xx

PS.
“You have within you more love than you could ever understand”
-Rumi

I believe this is quite literal during pregnancy. But generally speaking, we tend to search for love in external places (in people, places, possessions) to feel loved. Knowing that a LIMITLESS source of love resides within ALL of us leaves me feeling so warm and content. What a beautiful thought to start the week with.

*MATERNAL MONDAYS*

I’ve been really touched by the friendships I’ve formed over the past 4 months. You begin forming connections with people you wouldn’t know from a bar of soap based on the fact that you are both pregnant.

Women who have already had a baby are wonderful to talk with as they provide instant relief and valuable knowledge from their experiences, but talking to another chick that’s also pregnant for the first time turns into an instant friendship.

I find such joy when either myself or a friend or customer sneakily mention that they’re pregnant and it is instantly met with squeals of “I’M PREGNANT TOO”!!! Followed by gushings of “Did you get morning sickness?” and salivating while describing how much you’re craving barbeque chips. Other hot topics include asking what size fruit their baby is, how many times they get up to pee each night and how much you’re turning into a sloth and sleeping all day. These conversations go about one hundred miles an hour and can continue until the cows come home.

I’m mindful of not boring my friends with too many pregnancy related tales as hearing them used to make my ears bleed before I was pregnant and I was bewildered how your whole life could be taken over by something like pregnancy and babies… Haha! So other pregnant chicks are the perfect outlet and support! I love hearing stories like “We’ve been friends for 10 years since we met at prenatal yoga”. I look forward to lots of beautiful new friendships that will blossom as our children grow.

Emma the Naturopath xx
(17 weeks –the size of a pear)

*ATTENTION ALL HIPSTERS & FACIAL GROWTH ENTHUSIASTS*

Had a great chat to a gentleman today who purchased almond oil and jojoba oil, as well as cedar wood, bergamot, patchouli and sandalwood essential oil and informed me that this is the ULTIMATE BEARD TONIC. Can’t argue with a man with a beard.

Like my friend Zac says “If your dad doesn’t have a beard, you’ve got two mums”!

110. Top Five Things I LOVED This Week:

1. Sitting in traffic for one hour on Monday morning and absolutely rocking out to Everyday People by Sly and the Family Stone when it came on the radio. The people in the other cars were looking grizzly and my car was practically vibrating from having the tunes up so loud. Go listen to it now, guaranteed instant mood booster!
2. Fresh coconut meat smoothies.
3. Mornings off at home while it absolutely buckets down outside. Snoozing, reading in bed with a chai then having a bath before work. There would be world peace if we all started our days like this.
4. The concerned look I was given by the guy serving me at the bottle shop when I purchased a bottle of brandy for making flower essences.
5. Having the house to myself the last three days =eating all the yummy foods he doesn’t like that I LOVE! Mum’s marinara pizza with extra mushrooms and gluten-free pasta with bacon, broccoli, chili, olive oil and a little cheese. The Sicilian in me comes out!

Emma the Naturopath xx

PS. I heard something this week which I LOVED:

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results."
-Albert Einstein

So I approached a few habits and relationships a little differently this week, although my ego and comfort zone tried to seduce me to remain the same.

I found it challenging but refreshing.

*MATERNAL MONDAYS*
~SHOWING~

So here is a 4 month pic of Emma the Naturopath. That's right people... Only 4 months! I was told that I wouldn’t start to “show” until around the 20 week mark. Especially considering it was my first. I was gutted!

However as of week 14 I officially *popped*! Every morning I’d wake up and my muscles felt as though I’d done 1000 sit-ups and my lower abs felt stretched as my tummy moved forward. I began receiving “Nice baby bump!” comments from friends, customers, the lady at the bank and check-out chicks. It was no longer a secret.

I’m so in love with the bump. There is never a moment where it’s not be rubbed by either myself, my husband or a random stranger! It validates why my body has not felt like my own for the last 3-4 months. I caught my reflection in a window yesterday and went “Oh wow, I’m a pregnant lady”. I have felt I’ve also noticed a lot of strangers staring at the bump and then looking up and grinning at me! Haha!

When did you start to show? Are you loving belly rubs off of everyone or do you get a bit freaked out? Do you also stand in front of your wardrobe for 10 mins every morning going "What the hell am I going to wear?!"

"The idea of waiting for something makes it more exciting"
-Andy Warhol

Emma the Naturopath xx

Essential Health

0266 514 533

carrots_and_apples@hotmail.com

Facebook: Emma the Naturopath

New beginnings

106. Top Five Things I LOVED This Week:

1. My immune system. There is truly nothing I value more right now than feeling healthy again after being struck down with a horrific cold.
2. The loud gasp my husband and I let out when we saw a front door mat with a big anchor on it. Everyone within a 5 meter radius at Freedom turned to face us.
3. How kindly forgiving it is painting with watercolours.
4. Eating a delicious lamb roast with vegies at 4:30pm on a rainy Sunday arvo.
5. Seeing Baby Caller up on the ultrasound screen just chilling out sucking its thumb!!

Emma the Naturopath xx

PS. Well I told you I’d have an announcement for you didn’t I… Yes you read correctly!! Emma the naturopath is growing a little human! It’s the size of a lemon and has been cooking for just over 14 weeks now -hello second trimester. Our little Aquarian is due 2nd Feb (my 30th birthday and our 3rd wedding anniversary)! Have you been wondering about all the baking recipes I’ve been posting lately? (aka. nesting).

Never fear, the ‘Essential Health Coffs’ Facebook page will not be bombarded with pregnancy/baby related paraphernalia. An exciting new segment titled *MATERNAL MONDAYS* will be starting tomorrow for those who want to chat about being up the duff and take a little peak into my new chapter!

I fell in love with the following Deepak Chopra excerpt from his book The Book of Secrets: Unlocking the Hidden Dimensions of Your Life:

“If you obsess over whether you are making the right decision, you are basically assuming that the universe will reward you for one thing and punish you for another.

The universe has no fixed agenda. Once you make any decision, it works around that decision. There is no right or wrong, only a series of possibilities that shift with each thought, feeling, and action that you experience.

If this sounds too mystical, refer again to the body. Every significant vital sign—body temperature, heart rate, oxygen consumption, hormone level, brain activity, and so on—alters the moment you decide to do anything… decisions are signals telling your body, mind, and environment to move in a certain direction.”

-Deepak Chopra

Let’s keep moving forward together.

*MATERNAL MONDAYS*

THE FIRST TRIMESTER: Finding out

The pregnancy test lit up as soon as I managed to awkwardly pee on it.

“I’m pregnant…” I said out aloud to no one. “I’m pregnant… I’m pregnant... I’m pregnant…”

It wasn’t an exclamation. It wasn’t fearful. They were just two words I’d never said in the same sentence before.

I was home from work that day. I think Ellen was on. I walked back out into the lounge room and sat down on the bean bag, pregnancy test in tow. I sat it on the coffee table next to me and watched it out of the corner of my eye.

“I’m pregnant... I’m pregnant... I’m pregnant...”

Those two words felt odd and surreal. But also made me feel incredibly excited and giggly! It fele so fragile, like if I sneezed, that it might jump out!

It is still unfathomable to me, that my baby grew from the size of a poppy seed to a peach in 3 months, completely made of building blocks from, well, me! Each week I would read things out aloud to my husband like “Listen to this honey!! This week, our baby is growing ear canals!” It absolutely fascinates me.

I’ll leave you with an excerpt from Kaz Cooke’s hilarious book Up the Duff about home pregnancy tests…

“What always happened was more like sticking a thimble under a waterfall and then snatching it out again and finding that, although you had wee on your hand, the outside of the jar, your hair, the cuffs of your trousers and some articles in another room entirely, you’d managed to miss the jar.”

*Please feel free to share how you felt in YOUR first trimester and what thoughts ran through your head?

Emma the Naturopath xx

PS. *THANKYOU* all so much for your lovely comments on the Top 5 yesterday, you kind humans :)

"We need quiet time to examine our lives openly and honestly -spending quiet time alone gives your mind an opportunity to renew itself and create order"

-Susan Taylor

107. Top Five Things I LOVED This Week:

1. Eating the best (giant) passionfruit ever that my parents brought back for me from far north Queensland. I literally found myself grinning after I’d finished eating it.
2. Baked beans on toast.
3. The old lady who literally skipped into my shop yesterday announcing “I don’t need vitamins today love! I’m still on a high from last night’s win”!! She was decked out head to toe in Rabittohs gear. Even her matching hand bag was red and green.
4. Mum bringing over a “menu” and a collaged card that I had made dad for his birthday when I was little. Every Mother’s Day/Father’s Day/birthday I would make my parent’s a menu so I could prepare them breakfast in bed. I went to town with the glitter pens.
5. Nayyirah Waheed’s simple and delicate poetry. I’ll leave you with a few of my favourites below.

Emma the Naturopath xx

PS.

“she asked,
‘you are in love,
what does love look like’
to which i replied,
‘like everything i’ve ever lost
come back to me”

“chemistry
is
you touching my arm
and
it
setting fire to my mind”

"i am mine,
before I am ever anyone else’s"

-Nayyirah Waheed

*MATERNAL MONDAYS*

If you were to plant a veggie patch, it’s beneficial to prepare the soil, do some research into what plants will flourish that particular season and chose the right fertiliser for them before sowing the seeds right?

I feel incredibly passionate about PRECONCEPTION CARE: getting your body (and mind) “ready” for pregnancy. Not just you, but your partner as well. I know there are a lot of giggles at this concept because realistically not every baby is planned and some conceptions begin after a boozy night on the dance floor! And that’s fine too!

I truly believe that because my husband and I did preconception care for at least 6 months, we were able to conceive straight away and I’ve had such a smooth pregnancy so far (touch wood!). I saw our herbalist who specialises in hormones and fertility, every 2 months and my husband went a couple of times too.

Conception through to birth is such an intricate web of reactions in the body which can always benefit from support. You don’t need to wait until there is an issue with falling/staying pregnant to do something about it. Or to get to a stage where you start trying and then realise there’s an underlying issue.

The sperm and egg will be a blueprint of your baby’s future health. So this is the time for both you and your partner to get super healthy to iron out your allergies, gut issues, psoriasis, anxiety, or whatever so you can minimise the chance of passing these negative health issues on to your bubba.

Your preconception practitioner (eg herbalist, naturopath, nutritionist) will ensure you’re taking the right supplements for YOU, not just any cheap tub of multi’s from the supermarket They will order you the correct blood tests and go over them with a fine toothed comb. It’s a time to clean up the diet, achieve a healthy weight, swap to natural products for your body/home and learn to manage stress better. Also looking at any medications you are both taking, like the Pill.

There are no guarantees that you will definitely get pregnant by doing preconception care. But it helps to put the odds in your favour. What do you think about preconception care? Did you and your partner look into it before having a baby or did you get a lovely surprise?

For anyone interested, my herbalist is Jayne Elder in Coffs Harbour. One of the most incredibly knowledgeable, supportive and joyful women I’ve ever met.

Emma the Naturopath xx
(15 weeks –the size of a lemon)

How beautiful is this yoga card I picked this morning. My husband goes “Oh look, it’s you!”

On the back it says:

TRANSITION: You are changing. Say goodbye to the old and embrace new beginnings with a fresh approach.

Malasana Pose Preparation
(Garland Pose)

When I was driving to work this morning I was thinking about how many things have been shifting for myself and a lot of people around me lately. An abundance of pregnancies, births, passing overs, weddings, resignations, new career directions, moving house. It made me appreciate how BRAVE people are to take a chance and improve their current situations.

I wondered if there was some sort of big planetary energetic shift going on, but I think I’m putting it down to the new season approaching. With only two weeks left of winter I think it’s pretty safe to say that we’re ready for some warm air, bright flowers and new beginnings, which is what Spring is all about: old chapters closing, new chapters opening.

Now is a perfect time to decide what is not serving your life in a positive way and make a change for the better. Don’t be afraid, we’re all doing it!

“When a woman conceives her true self, a miracle occurs and life around her begins again”
-Marianne Williamson

Are there new doors opening in your world at the moment?

108. Top Five Things I LOVED This Week:

1. Waking up in the middle of the night to find that my husband was sleeping holding my baby bump –which has been making a loud and proud appearance these last couple of weeks!
2. My fave Insta right now: Yoga213.
3. Using Frankie posters as wrapping paper.
4. Spending a rainy Saturday morning in bed together going through all the photos from our Japan and Hawaii trip on the laptop (well over 1000) then choosing our faves which we printed and put into albums.
5. The fact that when we go to my parents’ house for dinner, mum makes not one, but TWO desserts. Gluten free blackberry crumble cake for after dinner and then chocolate dipped strawberries to have with our cups of tea.

Emma the Naturopath xx

PS.
“Stretching herself too thin.
She breaks her connections.
Staying too busy.
She has no time.
Doing for others.
She neglects herself.
Defining herself only through others.
She loses her own definition
A wise women waters her own garden first.”
-The Tao for Women

You gotta look after number one. I always give my clients the analogy that when a plane is going down, you have to put your own oxygen mask on before assisting others.

This week I’m getting back on track after being so snowed under with work recently. I’m going to a new meditation class tomorrow night. I’m seeing my herbalist. I’ve done my healthy food prep for the week. I’ve written my to-do list so I can manage my time better and have some quality time not doing anything but looking after ME! I can’t wait

Give yourself the oxygen you need this week.

Emma the Naturopath xx

Essential Health

0266 514 533

carrots_and_apples@hotmail.com 

*Consultations available*

Facebook: Essential Health Coffs