This month we’re catching up with one of the newest members of the LushTums teaching family, Candy Myhill. Candy has recently completed her Pregnancy Yoga Teacher Training with us and will soon start teaching LushTums classes in Chichester , West Sussex.

After having a very difficult time getting over the pretty traumatic birth of our 2 and a half year old son James, I was not really in the best state of mind for birth at the start of this pregnancy…

We are off to a wedding this weekend. The first of three weddings during this pregnancy. The first of three tent like outfits, three attempts not to look like an out of control beach ball on the dance floor, three evenings of sober conversation with mega drunk people, but also three toddler free weekends.

My journey that eventually led to me becoming a Lushtums Yoga Instructor, began when I was just in my early 20’s. I was living in London and after a series of attacks in which a knife was held to my throat, I was punched in the face and almost forced into the trunk of a car, I developed terrible anxiety- possibly brought on by post traumatic stress (PTSD). I was afraid to leave the house I thought everyone was going to hurt me. Two things got me through it; cognitive behavioural therapy, and yoga.

LushTums Ipswich is branching out! We have had such a fantastically positive response to what we do in Ipswich, so we are so excited to announce we will soon be bringing our happy, healthy and informative approach to pregnancy and birth to mamas-to-be and their birth partners from all around Suffolk!

When I became a mum the first time round I had no idea how much the shift would affect
my mental health. It hit me like a tonne of bricks. I was prepared for all the physical stuff.
I’d done antenatal classes and I knew that sleep would be sparse and labour would
hurt….A LOT, but after that we’d bring our baby home and look after her and job done,
right?

Postnatal Nutrition - Where to start?
During pregnancy there is so much information on what to eat and what to avoid.
Postnatally the focus shifts to the baby; how much milk do they need? Am I
producing enough? What essential nutrients does the baby need to grow and
thrive? But what about you? Having gone through a full pregnancy and birth, the
physiological stresses on the body are huge. A brand new mum needs all the
nutrients to replenish and support her bodily systems in order to function and look
after both the baby, and herself. Here is some guidance on where to start:

Have baby, will travel.
The first thing that hit us was the smell of the pine trees and the sound of the waves,
transporting us to a world away from our home in south London. It was late at night when
my family and I reached our destination and ‘home from home’ in Spain for the next
month. We had rented an apartment on La Fosca beach, outside the larger town of
Palamós, 120km north of Barcelona in Catalonia. We’d taken the decision to come away
with our 8 month-old son, as part of a mini sabbatical on my husband’s part and an excuse
to get away for some valuable family time while I was still on maternity leave. Our deliberations
when we first started planning this trip away ranged from travelling around New Zealand
in a camper van, to backpacking around Argentina…but

5 ways to be a great friend to a new mama…

My daughter was about 3 weeks old and we were at home alone. After the initial flurry of excitement and outpouring of love that comes from everyone when you welcome a brand new life into the world- the visitors, the cuddles, the gifts, cards, flowers and warm wishes, life had settled back into its familiar patterns and we were working out our new ‘normal’. Of course friends and family still checked in, thought of you, sent supportive texts and cooed over Instagram pictures and Facebook updates. But, inevitably, they go back to their own families, jobs and commitments. And so after 2 weeks paternity leave my husband was back at work, commuting to London each day and away from the house for about 14 hours a day, and my 2 year old son was at nursery. And I was, essentially, alone.

A knock at the door....

I took my first yoga class when I was 19 years old, but If you’d told me then that I’d be teaching yoga in my thirties I’d have struggled with the idea! My yoga journey has been a very subtle process of undoing, letting go and finding stillness, and it’s shaped my life profoundly. 

What I find most amazing about yoga is that it starts out, at least for me, as being this thing you do for an hour or so, once a week until, at some point, you start to feel something from your practice. I distinctly remember a moment in class when I experienced a feeling of inner space expanding between my shoulders, it felt really extraordinary at the time. For others it might be the feeling of relaxation, the quiet, the feeling of being present, the sense of well-being after class, or simply being able to touch your toes for the first time.