Pranayama for Calm and Clarity of Mind

“If you can breathe, you can do yoga.” — It’s one of my favorite excuse-busting comebacks to those who think yoga is for super-fit, crazy-calm and ultra-flexible people with hours of free time.   My friend Lisa of ChildLight Yoga uses it to promote her program for children, but I think it’s perfect for naysayers [...]

Check Your Ego at the Door

Have you ever attended a yoga class, church service or other form of meditation, and felt like the speaker was reading your mind, speaking directly to you?   I’ve had this experience many times, and perhaps that is why I continually go back for more.  But of all the spiritual guidance I’ve ever heard, one [...]

Celebrating Independence – The Final Day

My family returned home at 3:00 today and I couldn’t have been happier.  I guess absence makes the heart grow fonder!
I was completely spoiled by four days of solitude.  I did whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted to.  I didn’t run the dishwasher once.  No one asked me to turn on Chuggington, get them a [...]

Day 2 Celebrating Independence: Out with the Old

It’s 6:30 p.m.  An entire day has passed and I am just now doing what I had planned to do since waking up this morning.  While writing and relaxing is on my agenda for this weekend at home without my family, yesterday’s cleaning and organizing didn’t go as swiftly as I had thought, so today [...]

Celebrating Independence

The Fourth of July holiday weekend is upon us!  This is always my favorite holiday of the year.  Growing up in “America’s hometown” of Plymouth, Massachusetts, I learned how to party on Independence Day, spending the day with family and friends, enjoying a huge community parade, an annual backyard BBQ (complete my water balloons), and [...]

Settling In to Summer

Long before I had kids of my own, a grouchy woman in a supermarket made me think all moms hate summer.   Exhausted and short-tempered, she screamed a bit too loudly in the checkout line, and her outburst has stuck with me to this day.
“Oh, I can’t WAIT ’til school starts!” growled the mom, after [...]

Traveling Through Time

My job as a freelance reporter continues to surprise me with experiences like no other.  Tonight’s assignment:  commencement. My local high school graduated 190 members of the class of 2010, and I was there to report on the ceremony.  After roaming the halls interviewing graduates and teachers, I made my way to the stadium, sat [...]

Making the Grade

Fantastic!  Nice job!  Great Work!  Excellent!
The words jump out at me like mini-cheerleaders leading a pep rally in the hallway of my daughter’s elementary school.   In an instant, an ordinary Tuesday morning has turned into a moment of self-reflection, as a teacher’s red pen and cartoon character stickers at the top of a second [...]

To Bond or to Bake? That is the Question.

OK, I admit it.  No matter how hard I try, I will never enjoy baking.  I can’t quite put my finger on it, since I love to cook and enjoy eating even more.  But there is something about the mess of flour, the stickiness of dough and the overflowing sink of dishes that turns me [...]

My Personal Mess

Last weekend I had the chance to meet some very smart and successful writers with one thing in common:  all of them were writing about motherhood.  As I listened to each of them describe their projects and publications, I couldn’t help being surprised at the number of books, articles and literary pieces out there on [...]

Stand by your Man (or Woman)!

As moms, we spend so much of our time nurturing our children in hopes that they will do their best, challenge themselves and accomplish great things. We encourage and coach them every step of the way, lending an ear when they feel frustrated or disappointed that something didn’t go as they hoped, and celebrating achievements [...]

A Mother’s Day Wish

“To love means never to be afraid of the windstorms of life; should you shield the canyons from the windstorms you would never see the beauty of the carvings.”
— Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
Happy Mother’s Day to all of you PranaMamas.  May motherhood’s beauty shine brightly upon you, and may you always find shelter from the [...]

Happy Mother’s Day!

Thanks to all the amazing moms out there, who do so much for their kids.  Where would the world be without you?

A Good Mumma

Mother’s Day came early for me this year.
It’s an average Thursday, four days before the holiday, and my two-year-old son and I are on our own for a change.  His sister has been at a friend’s house since school let out, giving me the pleasure of spending the day with my youngest child.
I’m buckling him [...]

Work-life Balance? Yeah, Right. (Boston.com)

It is three days before Mother’s Day, and I have yet to post anything on this theme.  Pretty pathetic for a web site dedicated to supporting moms, eh?  It’s not that I don’t have several good ideas.  It’s just that elusive work-life balance which stands in the way.
As the pressure bears down on me, I [...]

Kill Your To-Do List (Zen Habits)

I’m a to-do list fanatic.  Even if I don’t write it down, it’s constantly swirling in my head, with tasks circling my consciousness like kites on a windy day.  I’ve got a firm grasp on them, but they are constantly in motion 100 feet above ground.
This post caught my attention, and I thought it might [...]

Marathon Mom

Before you read any further, I’ll stop you from thinking this is going to be a story about how I ran a marathon.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  In fact, lately I’m having trouble squeezing in more than 30 minutes of running three times per week.  And with my pace, thirty minutes is [...]

8 Things People Never Tell You About Having Kids (Zen Family Habits)

I love this post.  It reminds me of all the things that have left me exasperated, frustrated and exhausted, but gives a positive spin on each and every one.  Everyone feels this way at some point or another after having kids.  ”If only someone had told me….”  My biggest one to date has been, “If [...]

Who Is The PranaMama?

Four little words — Who Is The PranaMama — appear prominently at the top, left side of this web site.  According to web gurus, this is the most visible area of a web site – a real estate gem on the World Wide Web.  The top left should be reserved for the most important information [...]

Personal Reflections on Post Partum Depression (Project Happily Ever After)

A friend recently linked this article, and although the show they mentioned has already aired, I think the insight of the writer and the dozens of comments by affected readers is invaluable.  If you have suffered from Post Partum depression, or if you have ever denied your negative feelings as a new mother, this link [...]

Next Page »