Being Better Blog
Melissa’s Period Truth
Being Better fam, meet another woman standing in her truth with bravery and honesty. Her name is Melissa Khoeum Barnett, and she’s my cousin, family by blood and one of my first real friends growing up! By day she works as a project manager, and by night she finds joy in being a beauty blogger under the name of Melissa Self Care, where she breaks down all things beauty, including skincare that works best for you throughout the changes of the month that you may or may not notice. I hope you enjoy as Melissa bares all here: this is her Period Truth.
Gregg’s Truth
Alright friends, this is a rare submission to the Being Better blog: a truth presented from a male’s perspective. And there’s none other to present this view than my dad, Gregg Ellers. A quick look into his background: he grew up in Billings, Montana, went to school for engineering, worked, and is finally retired. Through that journey, he’s married and brought two humans into this world- me, and then my brother. He’s had his own trials and tribulations and it was just recently that I’ve even made a realization: he could benefit from sharing his truth, and everyone else who doesn’t realize that men also need connection to their pelvic health could benefit too. So here it is, the first “He is Being Better” for you to read, enjoy, and share.
Lindsay’s Birth Truth
Better Beings, let me introduce you to a kind-hearted mother that I’ve known since childhood. Her name is Lindsay Olk, wife to Tristan, and mother to Seamus and Ciara. What sticks out to me about Lindsay is her love of words and how eloquently she writes. And when she writes about her experience transitioning to motherhood, well… it’s too important not to share. Here’s her birth truth.
Top 4 Postpartum Yoga Postures
So you went through nine-ish months of pregnancy, labor and birth of your baby, who is now taking up most of your bandwidth. When is it time for you to focus on you again and get back to your yoga practice? (Or any kind of movement for that matter?)
To keep things as simple as possible again, I recommend the four following yoga postures as a part of the postpartum healing process. The intention behind postpartum yoga is NOT the same as prenatal. While prenatal yoga is meant to help create space in your pelvis and belly for your baby, postpartum yoga is meant to help bind your body into strong alignment again.
Top 4 Prenatal Yoga Postures
I hope that everyone knows by now that breathwork and movement are great during the prenatal season of a person’s life. It can get overwhelming to figure out what to do, so I wanted to keep things as simple as possible for all you parents-to-be out there with my four favorites.
First things first, YOU are in charge of your body, and paying attention to how you feel is the essence of yoga as you breathe and move from moment to moment. Your practice can change from day to day, trimester to trimester. Maybe these postures need modifications as a pregnant person progresses, so remember to pay attention to what it is you’re actually feeling.
Without further ado, here are my faves (in no particular order than by trimesters)!
Top 4 Ways to Recover Like a Pro
Our energies, bodies, and world run on familiar cycles. The seasons of the year, days turning into nights, and of course, the menstrual cycle run on these patterns of ups and downs, high energy and low energy. They help us survive and maintain balance. Our workouts should follow this same pattern if we want to be active for life.
Nisha’s Birth Truth
Can I just share how amazed I am to be offering you another woman’s truth? It seems simple, yet it’s so profound. The more stories I read and share with you, the more I’m inspired to keep asking the questions. This story is no different. Nisha Logan and I met last December thanks to our mutual friend, Eunique. Having worked together before on yoga photoshoots, it seemed only natural to work together on capturing what it’s like to do a prenatal couple’s yoga session on camera. If you’ve been following along for a while with me on Instagram, Nisha and her husband Rick (with baby Lux still growing) have made many appearances. A fellow yogi and sweetest mama with the intention to host her own baby and me yoga classes, Nisha’s story is a testament to how powerful a woman’s and mother’s intuition truly is.
Jordan’s Birth Truth
This woman is a powerhouse and, at the same time, the most real and relatable. She was gracious enough to share her feelings and insights on her pregnancy and postpartum journey here with us. So without further delay, this is Jordan’s Birth Truth.
Khanara’s Birth Truth
Let’s be real, this story is about a beautiful couple (my mom, Khanara, was 30 and my dad, Gregg, was 42 when they had me), both transitioning into parenthood. Read on and enjoy this story through my mom’s eyes as she looks back 30 years ago and shares her birth truth.
Embodied + Empowered
But let me be clear: we are not our bodies. We are not our skin, boobs, butt, thighs, shoulders. We are way more than that, and I hope that’s obvious. We hope you know how beautiful and worthy you are in your body right here, right now.
Apps for Menstrual Cycle Tracking and Syncing
For many women nowadays, tracking their menstrual cycle is a must. Maybe for the majority it’s to prevent or plan for pregnancy using the Fertility Awareness Method (FAM). For a small, but hopefully growing, portion of women, tracking their menstrual cycle is more about cycle syncing, a method that helps optimize a woman’s life in all areas based on where she is at in her cycle.
Helpful and Hormonal
Hormonal: The hidden intelligence of hormones- how they drive desire, shape relationships, influence our choices, and make us wiser is written by Martie Haselton, PhD, a professor of psychology at UCLA and the Institute for Society and Genetics. She basically takes all of these scientific studies, humor, societal observations, past and current politics, and personal experience and writes comprehensively to show what I already felt was true about females and their hormones.