I invited Shiva Rea, Gurmukh Khalsa, and Rainbeau Mars into my living room and they soon became my teachers and birthing inspirations with my first baby, Mayu. Their loving guidance on how to bend and twist my body, lie on my side and slow my breath allowed me to prepare for childbirth. Gurmukh discussed the importance of a healthy diet, positive energy and awareness. Shiva offered skilled advice on positioning and how to adjust myself for each stage of my pregnancy. Rainbeau had a wonderful flow class that gave me energy and made me glow. They each had their niche, their expertise and gift of teaching me how to tune into my body and into my baby. Yoga at home was something I looked forward to daily. 

Before pregnancy I had an active Yoga practice. I studied Iyengar and even did the first modular of training at TheYoga Place (now Yoga Works.) My husband and I would take classes there up to 3 times a week. I was supplementing with a home practice by myself or with DVD's and an occasional class closer to home. It was a given that I would continue my practice through pregnancy. From everything I had read, Pre-Natal yoga prepares your body for birth like nothing else can. It made perfectly good sense to me.

I was faced with a multitude of challenges when I went into labor with my Mayu. The day before my labor began I was told I had another week to deliver and so I decided to stay up late nesting getting only a few hours of sleep before my body went into labor. This and the positioning of my baby compromised my entire labor. I had maternal exhaustion and after 27 hours at home, was transported to the hospital with my midwife to induce my baby who was not dropping. Another 7 hours later, Pitocin without an epidural and 3 hours of pushing, my baby was born.

Read more: Prenatal Yoga

You Are What You Eat explores the connection between what we eat and how it affects us in body, mind, and spirit. As America faces an epidemic of preventable health issues, You Are What You Eat presents experts in the field of food and nutrition in order to shed light on the mysteries of how food affects us.
 
Presented by Yolanda Quiroz Soto, J.D. (IM: Center for Integrative Medicine) and Christy Funk (Belly Sprout).

Keynote Speakers: Mariel Hemingway and Ann Gentry.

Read more: You Are What You Eat

Now that the kids are back in school, summer is officially over and the warm weather (hopefully) will begin to turn towards fall. Our beauty routine of tinted moisturizer and lip tints might need to be updated to meet the needs of drier skin as we move into cooler weather. Here is what you will need:

Face: If you have even-toned skin, then the tinted moisturizer may still work for you. If you need more coverage, switch back to a liquid foundation or a loose mineral powder. Belly Sprout carries a fantastic new stick foundation from Europe that gives phenomenal coverage and can easily be carried in your bag (diapers bags included!) Just remember that most people living in California will need a minimum of 2 shades of foundation throughout the year because of our exposure to the sun (even indirect sun). You certainly don't want to walk around with a face color that is darker than your neck, so make sure that the color blends easily into the neckline.

Blush: This is where you can actually mimic a healthy glow, so don't forget to add a pop of it right into those apples of your cheeks. Please don't confuse blush color with bronzer color. When we have a flush in our cheeks it is never, ever brown, so instead go for a rosy or peachy hue. I like the brighter, more vibrant colors as they mimic the natural flush of our cheeks better than the more subdued colors. Within an hour your natural oils will come to surface and warm up your face to tone down powder and blush color. Cream blushes are suitable for everyone and especially for drier skins. Just remember to put cream blushes on top of liquid or creamy foundations or underneath mineral powder foundations to insure that you don't get any streaking. Belly Sprout has the most amazing brand of lip-to-cheek colors! These little pots should be in every moms bag for a quick and beautiful touch-up.

Bronzer: Most women tend to use bronzer just in the warmer months, but when we really need that warm glow is when our skin loses its color in the cooler months. When applying bronzer hit the areas where the sun normally hits your face: temples, bridge of nose, above the cheek bones, chin and even down into the neck. Belly Sprout has a few different bronzers that will warm up your face, while still looking totally natural.

Eyes: Mascara may have been optional as you were running to the beach with the kids, but going into Fall, it is something you want to use to make your eyes stand out. Invest in a good eyelash curler from Sephora (Shu Uemura makes the best one). Most of us don't have time for more than one shadow, if that, so make it a neutral shimmer (not a frost or metallic) in a champagne tone. Sweep this on your lid, pick a brown eyeliner (pencil or powder) and that's all you need. Once we get officially into Fall, we can play with color in our shadows and even eyeliners!

Read more: Eco-Beauty at Belly Sprout

Our children are exposed to so many environmental toxins from the time they are inside their mothers' womb to the harsh realities once born. Although we cannot control many of the environmental toxins they absorb in their little bodies once they enter the great big world, we can choose safer alternatives for them in their early years. Remember that children inhale more air than we do and that their skin is 5 times thinner than ours, making toxins that much more permeable. What has minimal effect on adults can have sometimes devastating developmental effects on our small children. Most commercial products contain ingredients or chemicals which can be harmful to our babies and toddlers. I will highlight the basic four: skincare, diapers, feeding supplies and toys.

SKINCARE:

When shopping for skincare, opt for organic and natural. Commercial brands are loaded with fragrance, dyes, sulfates (among other toxic chemicals) to make them bubble and smell "clean".

Check the labels for:

*fragrance
*sodium lauryl sulfate
* PEG (polyethylene glycol) and PG (propylene glycol)
*PARABENS: methylparaben, propylparaben, butylparaben
*mineral oil, petrolatum, petroleum jelly
*talc

OPT FOR:

* BOTANICAL OILS: Jojoba, almond, coconut, olive, sunflower, apricot, etc.
* Calendula which is a healing flower
* VITAMINS: vitamin A, B, C, E
*Grapefruit seed extracts, citric acid make great natural preservatives
* Soaps containing castille or glycerin and vegetable based-soaps
*Aloe Vera, shea butter, beeswax, etc.

Read more: ECO-SPROUTS: NON TOXIC CARE FOR OUR LITTLE ONES

It has been 2 years since the doors first opened to Orange County natural mamas. Who would've known that we would become THE hub for all things related to natural parenting? The word-of-mouth spread, the community has grown and each day is a new lesson for me and my family. The challenges have been there as we navigate through parenthood while running a real "mom and pop", and the rewards have been great. It is not often that you can be a part of changing the course of someones life and this is what both my husband and I thrive on, whether it is providing resources to a pregnant woman considering a natural childbirth, guiding a family to switch to cloth diapers or sharing the joys of living green!

Read more: Belly Sprout 2 years later