Mom & Wellness 852

Our Founder's Story
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'I first tried yoga in 2006 when, still in my 20's, as a way to to treat the shoulder problem I had started to develop (blame it on a mis-spent university youth on loads of softball and badminton). Over the next 10 years, spending most of my time shackled to a desk (never kind on the shoulders) as a banker, I went to yoga class as often as I could and it really helped relieve my shoulder problem.

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In 2013, I definitely had a turning point with my yoga practice. I went to Forrest Yoga Foundation Teacher Training with a very experienced and inspiring teacher called Ana Forrest. Gradually over the following years, I began to get more into groove of my own more regular practice and I started regularly teaching a group of breast cancer survivors (I have to thank them for their patience and their tolerance in accommodating lots of my flaws during the start of my yoga-teaching journey). I went through the Advanced Teacher Training with Ana Forrest and became a Certified Forrest Yoga Teacher. If you try to google Forrest Yoga online, you will find Ana doing some crazy handstand poses. I can never do them despite the fact that I am a trained Forrest Yoga teacher. This is partly because of my two pregnancies that happened within three years. The progress of my practice has been interrupted and partly the same as all modern moms, I had to juggle in between my day job, yoga teaching, my own practice and baby duty. After being a mother, I realised yoga is not a competition or a quest for perfection (or handstand), and we learn so much more along the way than we give ourselves credit for. I wish to spread the message among women to make use of pregnancy, a big change in life, to slow down in their yoga practice, find their own pace in life, learn ways to prepare for birth and to help their body to recover after birth. I still remember I went back to prenatal class three months after I gave birth to my elder daughter because there is no post-natal class in any studio in town (very often moms forget to take care of themselves after giving birth, so it does not make economic sense to have postnatal yoga from studio point of view). The teacher was stunned and said "prenatal class helps you open up your body, you are supposed to close parts of your body that has been loosen up now." This triggered me to learn more about pre and post natal yoga. I went to Mindful Birth Training with Michelle Papa and Dr. Jean Bryne and became a Certified Pre- and Postnatal Yoga Teacher. I learnt about scar tissues, abdominal muscle separation (Diastasis Recti) to be cured before any post-natal women can jump into a back-bending class. These are exactly the information modern moms can never receive from their own mothers or confinement ladies. I wish I could bring postnatal fitness and care to moms at your comfortable home and teach you how to return to your yoga mat safely.

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Another turning point came in 2015 when I conceived by first daughter Jaime. Same as all working woman, I worked until the day before a scheduled Caesarian section. On the first day of my maternity leave, voila! I have this gorgeous baby girl in my arms, whom I have absolutely no idea what I have to do to keep her alive.Thanks to the confinement lady, definitely a life-saving angel especially in the first week after we were discharged from the hospital, I learnt the basics on how to take care of Jaime. Without much research and preparation, I took up the role as a mother. I wished to breastfeed her for a year because I did not want Jaime to fall sick while she was still so small and could not express herself. I started to learn from confinement lady on breastfeeding skills. No offence, confinement lady was indeed a god-sent. Blame it on their training, a lot of information about breastfeeding floating around among groups of confinement ladies (who are mostly in their late 50's and probably have never breastfed their babies before in their generation when formula-feeding was so popular) were wrong and misleading. Those wrong information created problems which make the already-very-steep learning curve of new moms like me even rougher. Things like over production by pumping, poorly managed blocked ducts etc started popping up after the first month. I was in such a pain every day that I cried and I almost gave up. In the end, I read tons and tons of information and researches about lactation and successfully breastfed Jaime until she was 9-month old.

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To cut a very long story short, this sparked a 3 year long progress of research, tons of interviews with new moms and hundreds and hundreds of clinical practice hours with my beloved mentor, Dr. Sophie Leung, who is a paediatrician/ lactation consultant. Her 40-over years of experience with kids and breastfeeding were invaluable and I hope I can pass them on to new moms.

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Overall, it's been a joy and a privilege for me to develop Mom & Wellness 852 and to grow it from scratch. Mom & Wellness 852 will not do your asana practice or breastfeed your baby for you, but if it helps to make new mom's life a bit (or a lot) easier or enjoyable (because that's what motherhood is all about), then I am a happy yogi mom!

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I am constantly excited about what we're trying to achieve here and I'm beyond grateful fo the many wonderful people who have helped us along the way. Those who believed in and supported my ambitions at the earliest stage. They all know who they are, and I thank them whole-heartedly.

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Aho!

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Love,

Michelle​