Music as Therapy

I know those of you who are sane will already know this but it took a LOT for me to realise that the answer lay in music.

I have had one of those weeks where every day I felt like I got out the wrong side of the bed; it wasn't of all my own making - the husband has been challenging me with his words, behaviour and tone since Saturday onwards and it's been an upward struggle - this morning I could not even take solace from the various forums I am a member of, as it got to the stage where I thought if I hear one more human say ANYTHING remotely emotional I will eat my own head AND hat.

So the computer got turned off and Aaron and I went out in the sun.  We're only just back.

NORMALLY that would mean that while I washed the dishes I would have lbc 97.3 on, but given that I haven't got any room for voices in my head today I put Magic on (a channel I never listen to) and it is back to back music with no adverts and I was transported.

The first song was bon jovi, which was the absolute favourite of my best mate in secondary school - a warm glow enveloped me immediately and it was cheaper better than any therapy.

Next song up and I was being spoken to, but I don't know the name of the song, but the lyrics were certainly speaking to me and telling me to get on with it - my heart opened.

And once the last song had told me what I now need to do, the next song rather appropriately sang to me:
Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now

So this weekend I need to get my other website up and running, and more often realise, that therapy can be found in music, and the artist's chosen lyrics!

I am feeling much better than I did earlier.

To anyone spiritual who may be reading, this 2012 shit is really really hotting up.

I won't go into details in this post, BUT there is INTENSE planetary energetic stuff going on, and it'll hot up for 12/12/2012 and for Winter Solstice 21/22 December.

We'll be a new world after that.  We've been building up to this for over 20 years.

I've had THREE newsletters about it, and it took till the 3rd one for them to say you might have bad moods, nightmares and depression.  Yeah, er, thanks for that.  Had it all.  Wish you'd sent me that a week ago though so I could have been better prepared ;-)

But it is now time to hang on tight as the rollercoaster of life is just about to speed up.  Either hold on or fall off.

I am going to have a damn good try at holding on.

Liska xx

Caine's Cardboard Challenge - UK - 6th October

This is a brief post, just to ask that you hop to this Brit Mum's post, and get crafty this time next week with some cardboard all for Caine's Cardboard Challenge, but the money you raise can be for a local charity as I have outlined in the Brit Mum's post...

Bye for now
Liska x

What Is Your Sangat - Don't Lose it (or yourself) When You Have a Baby

Disclaimer:
If you didn't lose the real you when you gave birth, then this post may not be for you.
If you didn't suffer from post natal depression then this post may not be for you.
If you came here purely to judge, then step away.
If you don't like me being honest, bye!

Okay, who's left?

I had another epiphany - I know, two in one week, it's getting a bit ridiculous.  Maybe I am on a journey of personal self-discovery.

After I wrote my turban post, I at first felt great, after all, the yoga me was meeting the New Mum Online me, but I popped out to get my nails done (I know, not very yogic, but I was on the radio last night).

While I was out I had my epiphany and I thought to myself one of the most dangerous things you can do when being a new mum is be lonely.

It starts off as lonely but when the PND takes root, it becomes an excuse to cut yourself off, exclude yourself, go within, and pretend to yourself that nobody would notice if you ran away.

When you are at the teetering edge of feeling (I don't want to use the word but it begins with a S), it is the most dangerous thing ever to get yourself in a position where you are so solitary that really nobody would notice if you ran away.

With all my family being in Ireland, and the Yoga Teaching coming to a stop at 37 weeks pregnant (after teaching for 6 solid years), it meant I had no sangat. My yoga community was no longer - for me anyway (apart from on Facebook).

And while I was out getting my nails done yesterday afternoon, THAT was the word that popped into my head: sangat.

But you also lose your work connections, your colleagues, when you go on maternity leave.

So, what helped.  Well, last Summer I started going to church every Sunday.  I had been a lapsed Catholic but wanted to get Aaron baptised.  I ended up joining the choir.  I love it.  They all know me.  When I miss a week they worry.  When I come back they ask "where've you been".  When you are a New Mum, who is in danger of isolating herself, you need this.

But, with my sweeping comment about the church yesterday, you'd never know that I go every Sunday.  You'd never know that I LOVE it.  You'd never know that it was one of my many PND cures.  You'd never know that church, and the community I find there truly feeds my soul.

When they make eye contact, I feel like I really am on this Earth after all.  I am a mum but someone still knows who I am.

This is necessary.

But I delved into the old me when I wrote yesterday's post, and the old me knows that Church and Priests are from the Piscean age, and Spirituality is from the Aquarian age.  The former is about doctrine and obedience and the latter is about experience.  I prefer the latter, but the former has a place too.

It really does.

I take for granted that you know the difference between the Piscean and Aquarian Age (I learned it all as part of my Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training), but a great snap shot of the differences are listed on the bright red table here: http://catalystyogi.com/resources/what-is-the-aquarian-age/

Energetically we are no longer built (or hard-wired) to say yes sir, no sir, to the Priest.  In the Aquarian age we are more quizzical and have to personally experience in order to believe.

But I believe, dare I say, that the Church still has a place, or certainly the sense of community (and sangat)  that resides within its walls does.

What do you think?

If you have PND, please don't be alone.

Anyway as well as having my epiphany while I was out, I came back to a comment on my post, that linked to a follow up post, and although Lorraine outwardly doesn't criticise me, she celebrates the church and religion in defense of the fact that I flippantly knocked it yesterday.

I hope this post goes some way towards apologising for that, and showing that I too am a fan of the church, but it will have to move with the times, as we all will.  This is 2012 after all, and there are huge energetic shake-ups occurring and karma to be cleared.

Liska x

ME on the RADIO - LBC 97.3 tonight! Topic of Conversation: The Olympics

Hi

Last night I was on
If you are still up and you are in the UK please tune into LBC 97.3 at 3 a.m. to hear me, in a panel of 4, talking with Duncan Barkes about the London Olympics.  We were invited in, so that real Londoners could give their views on the forthcoming Olympics, coming to a City near you in just 7 days....

If you are anywhere in the World, you can listen to LBC 97.3 at http://ukrp.musicradio.com/lbc973/live

Here is the Olympics Panel speaking: listen to me here.

Here are the photos.  Such an enjoyable way to spend my night :-)

An absolute honour!

The reception - their offices are in Leicester Square - should I say "recording studios"?

View of Leicester Square from the "green room"

Me and the view - self portrait!

Inspirational posters in the green room

Inspirational posters in the green room

Inspirational posters in the green room

The "Olympics Panel" - real LBC 97.3 listeners and Duncan (me in red!)

Thank God Cat took the photo again :-)

Me @NewMumOnline and @CatFarnsy (Duncan's producer)

Duncan and Matt (the 16 year old on the panel) who represented the voice of Sport and Youth!

Same again!

The panel, Duncan, Cat and the LBC logo (yes we got a guided tour of LBC studios) - LONDON'S BIGGEST CONVERSATION

 While I was acting like a celebrity on the radio, my baby was asleep in the car with Daddy (as below) - Daddy who gave me a lift there and home - thank you Daddy :-)

My wonderful sleeping lad xxxx

LBC 97.3 thank you so so much for the opportunity - thoroughly enjoyed it!

Liska xxx

Inner Truth - Week 12

 
The truth is, I am drawn to run a weekly blog hop linky BUT, Mumentum fizzled out, and its replacement Inner Truth was created at a time when I didn't have the self-discipline or time to dedicate to it.

Well the "truth" is I am a secret dowser and I just dowsed several possible blog hop linky themes and the only one that got a STRONG yes (versus the strong nos to the other suggestions) was, you guessed it, Inner Truth.  Full credit to Mama Owl for designing the badge.

So here I am again, feel free to participate.  Linky is at the very bottom...

It will be of a spiritual/personal development nature, with a 2012* theme running through, as this is a year where we are being called to action, and if we don't make the required changes, life will assist us by giving us challenges that make us re-look at things - THAT is where I am at.

*I have just hopped back up here from the bottom of this post, as when loading up the linky I discovered this is week 12 of this linky; how appropriate when I want this linky to be about the issues we are personally facing in 2012, as a result of the energetic changes that are taking place in 2012.

But I never use what I know.

What I know about yoga.
What I know about nutrition.
What I know about health.
What I know about spiritualilty.
What I know about Angels.
What I know about light and dark.

It means I don't live what I know, I don't practice what I know.

This cannot continue.

So, given that I know that hair around my face annoys me; given that I know a fringe blocks my third eye, I write this with a turban on - but rather than a proper one, it is a £1.50 one from Primark that I put on 2 hours ago (it is designed to be worn when one's hair is wet - my hair is not currently wet).

I probably look quite funny right now, or at the very least like someone who's just washed their hair.

Back when I wore a turban to teach Kundalini Yoga a Cranio Sacral therapist confirmed to me the anatomical benefits to wearing a turban.  And you know what, it isn't claptrap - you can FEEL it.  This is the thing about spirituality versus religion.  With religion we did what we were told! It was very Piscean, and meant we were deferential to Priests.  With spirituality we can't be told, because we only believe what we personally experience, (it is the age of aquarius after all) and I personally experience the benefits of wearing a turban, and despite having not practised yoga since Aaron was born, I am being increasingly drawn to wearing a turban.

The one I have on now is a purple towelling one - like I said, principally for hair drying, but it is having the desired effect.  I feel clearer, and more focused.

The below text is taken from here:

Wearing a head covering enables you to command your sixth center, the Ajna Chakra. Covering the head stabilizes the cerebral matter and the 26 parts of the brain, which are interlocked with the neurological system and electromagnetic field. Covering the head creates a focus of the functional circuit of the hemispheres of the brain, and tunes the neurological system. The whole head is to be covered, not just the crown chakra.

TURBANS AS TECHNOLOGY

Head coverings of any kind are useful for a meditative practice. Turbans in particular are useful for holding energy in, and for creating a meditative focus at the third eye point (brow point). In addition, the turban provides a nice cranial adjustment. Some teachers wear a turban or head covering for these yogic reasons alone.

The skull is made up of tiny bones that are constantly moving even if only by micromillimeters and the degree to which they move impacts levels of calmness or anxiety. Covering the head provides a sense of containment and focus while practicing yoga or while doing work that requires clarity of thought. It literally helps "keep your head together."

The benefit of wearing a turban is that when you wrap the 5 to 7 layers of cloth, you cover the temples, which prevents any variance or movement in the different parts of the skull. A turban automatically gives you a cranial self-adjustment. You can pay for a cranial adjustment, or you can tie a turban for free!

I leave you with pictures of the old me, the radiant turban tying (slimmer me) of bygone earlier years:

This is a blog hop linky:


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Brit Mums Live 2012 - What I learned

What I learned at Brit Mums Live...

Thursday night having bought Bare Minerals makeup after they made me over (in Boots) *smug*

... From the sessions / workshops:

One

As above, I learned how to do a collage and watermark it (via Blog Stomp) from the "Advanced Blogging: Photography" session with Julia Boggio on Saturday morning.  She is famous for this YOU TUBE video which resulted in her being on Oprah and getting to dance with Patrick Swayze - wouldn't we all just LOVE to do that.  I have wanted to be able to watermark my photos for a very long time and just did not know how - I get a lot of hits due to images so it is particularly important to me.  Top top from me: name your images accurately if you want Google to pick them up.

Her session was the slickest of them all to be fair and we learned a lot about how lighting is the secret of a great photo even if it is taken with a phone - here is my recent living proof of that!

Two

I learned a lot about You Tube from Christine Beardsell at "Advanced Blogging: Video Blogging".  I have already added a few videos to my New Mum Online channel, as I was so inspired.  I thought a couple of them, like Bhangra Baby may take off, but sadly no...  She told us that video results appear in about 70% of the top 100 listings.  Video increases the likelihood of a front page Google search result by 96%.  PLUS videos can add 2 minutes to the length of time that someone stays on your blog :-)

She also said that a BIG THING in the States is to become the host of content, but it hasn't really taken off here.  So instead of being a Travel blogger you could be a blog that points at all the good content so that people know where to look.

She doesn't normally recommend that brands go viral as it is hard to do on purpose, but as we all have kids, she said "kids go viral" so put the camera on them!

A hilarious video blogger in the States is "Cool Mom".

She said we need to "test and learn" as it is often the case that people upload 10 videos before they find the one that takes off.

Three

Discussion Den: Sod the Stats - Blogging for Happiness

In this session the audience spoke a lot and I really got to hear what makes people happy and how their blog makes a difference - it was humbling actually.  

In this session Mammasaurus said it is quite often the posts that you write quickly with "what's going on in your mind" that do really well, with lots of hits and comments.  The ones you over-think and invest a lot of time in don't give you the return.  I, Liska, think, from a purist point of view, it is because the very essence of blogging is writing what is going on in our minds, but as we all read each others blogs we tend to write with the reader in mind which kind of self-censors us.  If I read back to the posts I wrote before I discovered the community, I can really see the real me, as I was just me, poured out in words.  I would really love to come full circle back to that, perhaps to the writing style I had in my original blog, when I was blogging in obscurity. To be fair I did not take many notes in this session as it lived up to its name and it really was a discussion den open to the floor.

Four

I wrote about this session here: Bloggers' Studio - Crossing The Chasm.

Five

With regards to the Pinterest session I did not learn a thing, which is a shame, as if you go to my Pinterest account I only have one pin as I really don't know what I am doing and this session did not change that fact.

Six

The Discussion Den: Secrets & Lies - Bad Behaviour Online, really lived up to my expectations.  It was a pleasure to see A Modern Military Mother on stage, as I had met and talked to her in All Bar One the night before.  Having had a very bad online experience in February it was really appreciated that I got to have a one to one with Lisa, AKA The Mummy Whisperer afterwards - she basically gave me free therapy - beautiful!

The slide in this picture says it all really, along with the fact that Lisa has her hand up as if to say "talk to the hand" but a great quote from the session was:

"When a light shines the shadows appear darker, so shine brighter!"

... From the conference:

From now on I will get back to where I was when I started blogging.

... About myself:

That I love my blogging friends:

1. Jenny - my buddy for most of the conference.
2. Lisa - my counsellor and Life Coach at the end of the Discussion Den workshop when I completely broke down.  She has given me some required reading which I must catch up at some point - I'd rather be cool with my kindle than a Bully with a BlackBerry :-)
3. Mich - is an all round good egg.  Top blogger with a top attitude!
4. Kate - had a lovely heart to heart at All Bar One which I really appreciated.
5. Kerry - as above had a lovely heart to heart at All Bar One which I really appreciated.
6. Laura - my drinking after dark buddy below - during the day she was the biatch of Butlins :-)

Tired Mummy of Two and Me!

I learned that despite spending all that money...

... I should never ever have worn something (on the second day) that didn't fit me properly, and with heels that didn't really suit the outfit (Crocs saved my blister) and that would have gone better with boots anyhow, like it did on Sunday when I tried again:

Top tip - be comfortable!  If you are not used to heels, this isn't the time to suddenly wear them for a whole day!

I learned that I like men who look like this:

 (despite a lot of bloggers taking the moral highground on this)

My union jack legs - dressed for £9.50 from your very own Marks & Sparks!

I learned that despite never wearing heels or dresses, I can dare to get my legs out, even making a statement with union jack tights - yes THAT was me!

I was over the moon to catch up with:

Circus Queen Mum

Romanian Mum

Circus Mums

Hermelness Speaks

Lunch Box World

Mummy's Little Monkey - thanks for the down to earth chat - was lovely talking to someone so like-minded.

Nickie.
Kate on Thin Ice.

Not a Nottinghill Mum.

I made some new friends:

Save Every Step

River Cottage Diaries 

Missy B

Walking With Angels

I learned alot about the brands but I think I will save that for another post (I'm tired).

I learned that ... the mummy blogging community rocks!

I learned that I missed Brit Mums, so despite so publicly leaving I have become an active member again and I am happy about it.

Bye for now, Liska x

Orlando at Brit Mums Live 2012

Anyone else LOVE the photo booth at Brit Mums Live 2012?

You know the one where you got transported to Orlando, and then clicked your Dorothy heels and all of a sudden you were back in the room.

This is me and Jenny's trip to Orlando - I just LOVE Disney.

I am also very excited to see that Jenny now has the URL for Treading on Lego - coolest blog name around! Well done Jen!

I have about 9 packets of Disney photos when we went to the one in Tokyo in 2004 (yes there is one there) but sadly although I got my digital camera on that Japan trip, the photos were taken before, so they lie in a packet, where nobody online can see them :-(