Welcome to our first Ask the Expert feature which we showcase in our monthly newsletter. Here at Ilado we are all about bringing zen and happiness to expecting mothers to help create happy and healthy babies all while creating a beautiful bond between mother to be and baby growing inside.
Creating a positive pregnancy has a lot to do with our thoughts and so we talked with Karen Barski, a meditation coach; mom of five; and inventor of the global swaddle brand Woombie, to ask her tips for creating a positive life through meditation, gratitude, and intention.
1. Tell us a little more about yourself and what you do:
This best describes me: RN BSN for 25 years, wife and high energy mom of 5 (including twins!) and one angel child up in heaven, Infant Care Specialist, Emotion Code Practitioner, Reiki IIII Master, visionary, artist, designer, business coach, inventor, and to top it all off a Leo.
I'm best known for inventing the Woombie baby swaddle which is now a global brand helping parents and babies get the sleep they deserve without compromising safety.
Lastly, I also have a blog called Juiceboxes + TEQUILA which is all about raising happy and healthy kids through lots of love, experiences instead of things, and going slightly against the grain of “normal” society.
2. How has positive living changed your life?
Positive living has changed my life in so many ways. In 2000 I was faced with a hardship (stillborn baby) that forced me into a darkness. I was watching Oprah one day and the law of attraction book was the topic of conversation. I bought the book, "The Secret," and never looked back!
I was able to tip the scale from sadness to a happy, fulfilling life by implementing the practice of gratitude. Faster than I could imagine I was beginning to attract circumstances, events, and people into my life which helped to raise, evolve, enlighten, and inspire me to do great things.
Without learning and implementing the Law of Attraction, I do not know where I would be today!
3. What is the law of attraction?
The law of attraction is truly a lifestyle. Generally, it means what you think about you bring about. What you focus on will expand. This can either work for you- or against you!
4. How important is gratitude and how can we practice this every day?
Gratitude is the single most important thing you can do each day to bring in positive events and circumstances. A gratitude journal is the best way to started. I keep one at my bedside and each night write down five things that you are grateful for, and it does not need to be anything lavish! Thank you for the sunshine today, thank you for the $5 I found in the dryer, for the parking spot up front, etc...
Starting each and every day with gratitude is also just as important. This sets the tone for the entire day. If you get up in the morning and think, "I'm so tired" or "Ugh, Monday...got to go to work" or "I have to pay my bills" or anything negative it starts a chain reaction on how your day will go.
Instead, as soon as you wake up and as you put two feet on the ground think to yourself, "I am so grateful for another day in this life. Let's make today count!"
Then as you brush your teeth or whatever the first thing you do in the morning, go through your gratitude list:
- I am so grateful for my healthy kids.
- I am so grateful for my loving and respectful marriage.
- I am so grateful for the home with live in.
- I am so grateful for our vehicle.
- I am so grateful for my successful businesses.
- I am so grateful I am a money magnet.
- I am so grateful to be healthy.
- I am so grateful...etc. etc. whatever you are grateful for big or small.
And include grateful intentions too. What this means is being grateful for something you want but has not happened yet.
This is powerful because when you feel grateful for something as if it already happened, the law of attraction kicks into overdrive and will make that certain something come true faster. It's fascinating and it works.
5. What tips can you offer to create positive energy around an expecting mom?
Gratitude and intention are the best ways to create anything positive in your life. As mentioned, a gratitude journal is a great way to start, where mom can write all of the things she is currently grateful for as well as adding future events that she would like to attract- such as an easy delivery!
You can write in a way that is positive, such as. "I am grateful for an easy delivery" or "I am grateful for a happy healthy baby." Always verbalize positive, and if you catch yourself with a negative thought, you can intentionally cancel it out with the "cancel cancel" method.
This is a technique made famous by the Silva Method. How it works is if you catch yourself with a negative thought mentally tell yourself and the universe, "Cancel. Cancel." Then follow it up with the opposite, rephrased positive thought.
So for example, say an expecting mother thinks, "I am over 40 and have a higher risk of having a down syndrome baby." Immediately think, "Cancel. Cancel" and think or say, "I am strong and healthy; my pregnancy will be smooth and my baby will be strong and healthy. There are so many moms who have healthy babies over 40 these days."
6. What are your best meditation tips?
My best tip is to find a quiet, dark place that is not distracting in any way. I use a white noise machine to help "blurr out" the background noise. Remember to breathe deeply and as you breathe, envision the white light entering your body, and as you breathe out, see a gray smoke exiting which is releasing anything that does not serve you. Some envision dark clouds leaving them. You can choose to do it the way you like, but the gray smoke works best for me.
7. Do you have a go-to meditation technique that pregnant or new moms could use?
An expectant mom has lots to think about and can get off track with worry and anxiety about delivery and parenthood. I encourage expectant moms to do a simple grounding and breathing practice daily:
- Find a quiet spot where you can sit comfortably
- Close your eyes and begin to breathe deeply in for 4 seconds, hold for 2 seconds, breathe out for 5 seconds.
- Envision a red light (root chakra) moving down your legs and then feet and then rooting (like tree roots) deep into the earth, hooking around the core of the earth. Then envision a green light traveling from the core back up to you, offering you a grounding mother earth/gaia energy.
- Envision a white light from above entering the top of your head, crown chakra, offering you a protective spiritual energy bubble of safety and love around you.
You are now connected to what is above and what is below.
To take it a step further, place your hands over the heart and give thanks for your healthy body, your healthy baby, and an easy delivery when the time arises.
8. Tell us more about your Energy Art pieces that you offer?
For those who are local in Connecticut I offer a Reiki Healing session, with a Meditative Acrylic Pour, and then 15 minute intention setting meditation. The piece of art brings positive energy into your home or office.
However, we can create art for anyone in the world and do reiki healing during the process and set the intention the customer provides to us whether it be a happy and healthy pregnancy and baby, healthy and harmonious home life, wildly successful business, or something else.
We've had moms send photos of their nurseries and what we do is choose the right colors to match the room.
If interested in receiving a positivity pour art piece please email me at [email protected] and I will send you the details and questionnaire to get started.
9. Where can we follow you on social media?
Woombie Baby Swaddle
@WoombieUSA on Facebook and @WoombieUSA on Instagram
Zenergy is a brand new business and I'm @zenergycenter on Instagram.
10. Do you have a website?
Yes, www.woombie.com, www.zenergycenter.com, and www.karenbarski.com
