When I became a mother my body felt broken and despite my thorough knowledge and background I was overwhelmed and really didn't know what to do anymore to take care of myself. I wanted to make something that communicated ease and care while also being useful. Mama Moves Cards will support you with effective movements that support your mothering, align and strengthen you and celebrate the body you have!
"With these beautiful cards we can incorporate healthy movement patterns easily and seamlessly into our days, with or without little ones at our feet. I highly recommend these cards to anyone and everyone with a body!"
When I had my first baby, I had prepared thoroughly for her birth and we had a peaceful home birth. During the birth I had a huge tear. Once I started parenting I felt completely ill-equipped for postpartum time, how to actually parent and suddenly, how to relate to my body. Throughout my life and career I had thorough knowledge of my body, numerous ways to take care of it and was always up for learning and doing things through embodiment. Suddenly none of the things I knew seemed to apply to this new situation. There was not enough time on my own to practice much of what I knew (say, a luxurious hour to do lots of stretch and strength), my body felt foreign and all the exercise programs out there for "new mothers" felt insincere at best and body-shaming at worst. I couldn't find what I needed.
My body felt broken and despite my thorough knowledge and background (I had worked in movement/anatomy/injury rehab for 11 years at that point) I was overwhelmed and really didn't know what to do anymore to take care of myself. During the first year of my daughter's life I keep turning this over in my mind. I wanted to make something that communicated ease and care while also being useful. I wanted something simple that a new mom could do without having to always carve out extreme amounts of time and that would show her that every little bit of time we spend being with our selves and our bodies truly counts.
On paper, I created a whole video course that included a deck of beautiful movement cards that mamas taking the course could post around the house. The video course would come later, with my 3rd pregnancy but during my second pregnancy I created all the concepts for Mama Moves Cards. I worked diligently through that pregnancy and the cards were born just 2 months before my second daughter! It turned out that they were not only well-received as helpful in the ways that I had hoped to share with other moms but they were helpful for ME after the birth of both my 2nd and 3rd babies.
I found little ways to include them in my life—I posted one by the sink to remind me to stand on one leg while brushing my teeth. I put one by a mirror in the living room to remind me I could side stretch while holding a baby. I had the neck stretch card near my nursing chair. And sometimes I lined all the cards up and flowed through the whole sequence with toddlers and babies in tow!
I made these to be accessible and also multi-functional. You can use one at a time around the house, pick a card for the day to repeat, play them with kids like a game, or just do all of them in any sequence. This means that there is always a different way to use them and they are visually beautiful as well which engages kids and also our sense of ease.
Each card includes basic instructions, alignment keys, body benefits, opportunities to practice and advanced variations. Pick some cards at random, choose from several targeted combinations included or move through all 29 cards for a longer sequence.
"The Mama Moves Cards are simply beautiful. They are a fun way of reminding yourself to get more quality movement into your day… No mama guilt required to move just a little bit better than you would have without the tangible reminder of these beautiful cards…"