In honour of Mother’s Day, I have written this blog post which is not so informative as it is a “shout out”. I would like to show a little gratitude towards specific people and towards a business that has put together very beneficial programs that really help moms across Canada feel better about themselves.
Let me start from the beginning! Springtime, 1 year ago,I had just had a baby, felt frumpy, did not know other new moms and was struggling with some post-partum depression and anxiety. I came across an amazing program from Hot Mama Health and Fitness called the Postpartum Initiative. This program gives 4 weeks of free classes to mamas within 8 and 24 weeks postpartum. I can not possibly explain this initiative better then their website.
This is how Hot Mama describes their program.
“Motherhood is hard and it can often be fairly isolating. We want to help. We want to get new Mamas moving through safe exercise programs and we want all Mamas to feel supported, inspired and cared for through our Postpartum Initiative!”
I signed up for my 8 free classes but did not understand what was coming! I thought maybe I could lose some baby weight, get fit again, maybe even find some of my long-lost energy. What I did not expect to find was a group of amazing, supportive, non-judgmental woman who would just make everything better. I found a group of like-minded women who were looking to improve their health but also willing to help other vent, drop truth bombs, feel better as moms and feel like themselves again.
This group allows you to bring your kiddo to class and many moms do. Some moms value some free time away from kids or even have older children in school. There are a variety of classes to chose from like many gym programs. What I did not expect to find was the positive body image and mindset work. Hot Mama offers a few programs that are geared to help woman become healthier through nutrition and fitness, but the focus is not to be “skinny”.
So let me go back to the beginning of my story… I had just had a baby, felt frumpy, did not know other moms and was struggling with some postpartum depression and anxiety. Losing some baby weight and running a 10 km race would not have fixed all of my issues but the whole Hot Mama experience did. I took those classes which focused on learning nutrition and about different types of fitness. They taught me to set goals, push myself and achieve those goals. I learned to celebrate those wins and to change my mindset The group classes taught me to appreciate myself and my body and to stop trying to live up to unrealistic expectations. Not many other gym programs do that!
I was planning on writing a blog on how important it is for moms to appreciate themselves, accept themselves and love themselves by focusing on their mental and physical health. I am extremely grateful to the amazing ladies who have listened and accepted my venting, my crazy and my weirdness. I appreciate the “mom’s night out” that our leader organizes, the friendships and making my body stronger. What I really needed was the physical and mental support this program gave me over the past year. I was already feeling gratitude for this amazing group of women. Then Friday happened.
Our leader regularly raises money for a valued charity and this day was no exception. All class fees and raffle draw proceeds from Friday’s class went to an amazing group in our area. This fabulous leader, a mom of 4 not only organized a fantastic, creative workout to celebrate moms with prizes, food and a good workout but she also gave each of us an amazing gift. Within this workout, we had rotating partners for different stations of exercise. At each station, we had a pen and post it note and we wrote down a compliment or positive thought for the other person at that station. All the notes went into a bag for that person. We were given the bag at the end of class and told not to open this bag until Mother’s Day. This leaves each mom with about 10 post-it notes of compliments to read on Mothers Day.
No one knows how your Mother’s Day goes. Maybe we have a partner away, a soccer tournament, no partner or the best partner in the world. EVERY mother deserves a bag of compliments to read on Mother’s Day even if the rest of the day is crazy. That is a truly valuable and thoughtful gift. What an incredibly generous gift. I will always remember this Mother’s Day.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Hot Mama’s in my life for being so amazing and to say Happy Mother’s Day! I want to send love to our Hot Mama instructors, leaders and the Original Hot Mama for developing this program.
Thank you for reading this special blog post. I would love to hear about what has helped or touched you profoundly this past year. Let’s keep the gratitude going ❤️ Happy Mothers Day everyone!
