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Thanks for stopping by my online home!
I love to connect with new friends so I’m really happy you’ve found your way here!
My pronouns are she/her and I’ve been described as a giant hug. I hope you feel my love coming through cyberspace all the way to you!
I’m a playful parenting coach, yoga teacher, and board certified genetic counselor for parents and children who feel overtired and underappreciated trying to keep up in this busy, turbulent world. I help them tap into their own super powers so they can transform struggles into more snuggles!
We all have super powers!
Mine is seeing your uniqueness and reflecting how worthy and special you are in the world. I know parenting can feel like a rollercoaster with lots of messy and uncomfortable twists and turns. I show you how to find the fun so you feel ready to lift your hands off the safety bar and enjoy the ride!
If you’ve made it here, you’re most likely a loving, generous, and TIRED momma of energetic, independent, busy kids.
Individually and as a family, you crave a deeper sense of togetherness but, you’re all so stressed, that you don’t know how to connect in a way that’s meaningful and enjoyable for everyone. Tempers flare, buttons get pushed, and everyone ends up feeling even more disconnected and underappreciated.
You swear it won’t happen next time and you’ve got a hard drive full of PDFs and a Kindle full of books that teach ways to be more mindful and supportive of one another. But, you struggle with implementing the tools consistently and successfully.
As a mom of two boys, I’ve been there! I can’t count the number of times I’ve yelled in exasperation then felt ashamed about losing my temper.
Or the number of hours I’ve spent researching and training in tools to be more intentional and present-minded only to forget to use them in the chaotic moments when I needed them most.
It took a lot of trial and error and a severe physical and mental burnout to finally learn how to connect more deeply with my family while still aligning with my values and prioritizing my needs.
They say life begins at the end of your comfort zone. In that case, my life began in 2009.
We were living in Colorado with our 20-month-old son when my husband was offered his dream job in Bordeaux, France. I loved my job as a pediatric genetic counselor at a large hospital but it was an opportunity we couldn’t turn down. So, we sold our apartment and set off for the land of baguettes and wine.
Fast forward a few years and life had so much to be grateful for. We had a second son and I loved being a mom of these two sweet, funny, energetic, bilingual kids. I had a husband who was well-respected in his profession and helped out immeasurably at home. Within an hour’s drive, I could go to the beach to eat freshly harvested oysters or to a vineyard to eat foie gras and sip on wine while lounging on a picnic blanket.
When we arrived, I knew that I was lucky. But I felt miserable. Just because I could do all those things, didn’t mean that I was. My day-to-day life was pretty average: get up, get the kids off to school, get some work done, pick up the kids, eat dinner, do some more work, go to bed.
Wash, rinse, repeat.
Don’t get me wrong, we love to venture out–but picnics in the vineyards are rare occurrences and oysters are expensive!
To look at my social media at the time, my life looked like one extended vacation. But the legos on the floor, piles of dirty laundry, and the merde hitting the fan rarely made it onto my news feeds.
We’d moved between cities in the US before, but moving to a new country, especially a non-anglophone one felt, for me, like moving to a different planet! Not only did I have to get used to a new city and find new friends, new places to shop, and new work, but I also also had to adapt to a whole new set of cultural norms and bureaucratic BS and learn to do it in a whole new language!
Plus, I had to learn to drive a manual transmission!
I was alone at home with my sons in the suburbs, struggling to create a new identity, to fit in with a new group of people.
Thanks to Facebook, I was able to stay in touch with family and friends who were 5,000 miles away but it was exhausting and overwhelming and I was severely lonely.
At first, in an effort to stay positive and connect, I took the “fake it until I make it” approach. I said oui to every invitation and job request I was offered. I took on a lot of responsibilities and made a lot of commitments that helped others but left little time for myself.
One day, exhausted and depressed, I couldn’t decide which one of the (what felt like) 600 types of mustard to choose from the shelf. An older lady walked past and started scolding me because I was letting my 3 year old eat potato chips at 10am.
I wanted to scream at her that they were helping him to sit calmly in the shopping cart but no words came. Just a lump in my throat as I held back the tears until she left.
First, I experienced a miscarriage in early 2010, followed by irregular and painful periods. It took almost a full year to get pregnant again. And, after the birth of my second son in 2011, I developed severe reflux.
Food is supposed to be nourishment, but every time I’d take a bite, my body screamed for me to stop. I literally couldn’t get comfort from food.
The physical symptoms I suffered were manifestations of my emotional pain – the thoughts, feelings, and beliefs that accompanied the stress, anxiety, and exhaustion of raising two small children.
Small changes can change everything
Unlike the emotional pain, which I numbed by trying to fix everything else and everyone else around me, the physical pain gave me an excuse to stop trying to DO IT ALL myself. I reached out for help and was happy to find that it was usually there. I asked my husband to cook dinner and pick up the kids from school. I started saying no to invitations and requests for my time. We hired a housekeeper to come once a week to help with the vacuuming and laundry (how is there always so much laundry, am I right?!)
As my body returned to normal, I started to realize that, not only was I never going to be Superwoman, I, honestly, didn’t even want to be. I just wanted to be me.
My doctor recommended yoga and mindfulness practices. But, with small children at home, it was clear that practicing at home was going to mean having little puppies crawl all around me when I was in downdog.
I decided to just go with the flow and see what happened. And what happened felt magical! My inner Mary Poppins came out. Together, on the mat with my boys, we found fun. Yoga didn’t feel like a job I had to do for my healing. It became a game I got to play while connecting with my kids.
I had reconnected with my core values of connection and experimentation. We’d make up stories as we flowed through poses. I was moving and stretching my body, laughing more and stressing less. We were creating ease and joy!
And, watching how my boys played, I remembered my core belief: every individual is a unique being. I learned in genetic counseling school that, of the 108 billion people that have walked the Earth since the beginning of humanity, no two people have ever shared the exact same DNA.
There will always be stressful moments and even whole days when I wish life came with a pause button. But, each day, I remember that we’re unique souls, divinely chosen to live in this time and place. And I have been gifted the opportunity to parent the unique souls, divinely chosen to be my children. I learn just as much from them (if not more!) as I’m teaching.
We’re partners, co-creating our relationship.
Today, it is my deepest honor and joy to help my clients – kids and adults – tap into their uniqueness so they can stop “shoulding” on themselves, connect more deeply as a family, and experience more ease and joy.
I’d love to hear from you! Does this resonate with you? What are your biggest challenges as a parent right now? I answer each email personally!
Ready for more play?
Early yogis used imagination and creativity to stretch their bodies and reduce their stress. How about you?
5 Ways to Play More are the same tools I incorporated on and off the yoga mat with my children after my burnout. They helped, not only in my healing journey, but in creating a deeper connection with my kids than I could have ever imagined.
Grab it here for free:
