Balancing Chakras: Life Stages ~ Neck Stretch

Neck Stretch

Building a family and its nest is a primordial undertaking - where we operate predominantly from the lower, the heart and below, chakras. (Aka ‘survival mode’.) Once these basics are in place, we are available to lift our energy back into the higher chakras, the heart and above, where life is more spirited and less physical. 

🍒 Kamp Kirschenbaum 🍒 2026

Ardha Dhanurasana - Half Bow Pose 🏹 and chiiiiill
Iced coffee, chocolate milk bottles and popsicles at our convenience. 🧋🍼🍦

What shall we do today Kampers? Life is good when you are your own Kounselor; No forms, no packing lists, no weather updates, no transportation issues, no allergies, no early mornings, no problemo. 

At 🍒 Kamp Kirschenbaum 🍒 there are no rules (except be polite!) 

Kamper Ash is a careful builder.

Kamper Lélé refinishes furniture.

Crochet Kampers Opal, Pansy and Ocean.

Kounselor Astrid Kirschenbaum is not pictured as very minimal oversight is necessary 😻

Grand Prize ~ Homemaker

Homemaker-Asana

Anytime I am away from the home on other business for the day, I am always relieved to return to the fold; for family-life is where my passions, priorities and talents lay.

But, of course, I wouldn’t know about home-making's high ranking if I didn’t flee in the first place 😉 …

Lavender Fields ~ Headstand Variation

Sirsasana ~ Headstand variation 
To safeguard my neck, I typically headstand with tripod arms.

When I was growing up, the day school ended my family and I flew (fled?) to the French Riviera and returned to the USA only after the school supplies had - much to my dismay - run out at the American stores. Summer was not filled with planned activities or camps or playdates but with open-ended European road trips and unhurried, unstructured, seemingly endless days chez nous en Provence. 🪻🪻🪻

With my four petites being ages 3-13, it is likely not prudent to emulate this relaxed, improvisational, détendue, and highly unAmerican protocol, but I am going to give it a shot. I will let you know how it goes...

❤️Red 🤍White 🩵Blue & 💓Pink ~ Headstand Yoga Pose variation

Sirsasana - Headstand variation 
Loving red-white-blue (plus pink).

In preparation - or was it the opposite? - for this Summer I said sayonara to my week-daily sunrise yoga, I eschewed all camps for the kiddos, we bought only one-way airplane tickets, and I haven’t sought out a single sitter. Naturally, I am becoming petrified and beginning to panic as school winds its way down  (4 kids - 10 year spread - 75 straight days!), but this weekend is going so well I think it’s going to be the best Summer yet!!! 💙🤍❤️ ✌️🤞😎😎😎😎😎🤞✌️❤️🤍💙

The Tone of Your Home

Zesty, starry, shiny, peppery, salty, coppery, green, energetic, soft, pink, calm, blue... Mom Vibes - to infinity and beyond!!!

As women we set the tone of our home, and that energy, embodied in the members of our family and the visitors to our environment, ripples out indefinitely.

Cloudy days call for colorful dinners…

Not pictured: Stormy Day Dinner was chicken tortilla soup (from a dear school-mom-friend's Boulder CO soup company) with plenty of Astrid's home-baked vanilla pound cake (new fave) with fresh CO cow whipped cream. 

🌼 Ditzy Bimbo 🌼

What is a girl to do?

I have a penchant for embarrassing myself. Hopefully it amuses others and maybe puts them at ease? This blonde likes to have fun and doesn’t mind looking like a lunatic doing it (knocking over cups full of pens in a solemn bank meeting 😬, showing up to the pool opening - and swimming! - 2 days early with 6 kids in tow: “why is no one else here?” 😬, bopping around town with my shirt inside-out 😬, stating my drive-thru order loud and clearly into the trash can placed en route to the speaker 😬, and on and on all the days long…)

Happy-go-lucky, carefree and a bit daffy while hard-working in my home, active at our school, engaged in the neighborhood, out-and-about in my community…

When actively occupied both at-home and about-town, faux pas are bound to happen and, in my case, it is gaffes galore!! You are welcome?🙏 

Candles On My Cake ~ Virabhadrasana II

Virabhadrasana II - Warrior 2

 

__ Kisses when I wake.

__ Candles on my cake.

We have closed ‘Birthday Season’ (until next October) in the Kirschenbaum home. A huge EXHALE for a mother who decorates and celebrates (6 human stars and a sparkle pup) in fantastical excess. 💐 

Inner Universe ~ Meditate with Bolster 🦋

Hand to Heart and bébé belly.
Butterfly Legs Seated on Bolster.

 Make PEACE (rather than happiness, joy, love) your aspired state of being.

Cherry and Pit ~ Prasarita Padottanasana

Prasarita Padottanasana III - Wide Legged Forward Fold C

What was the cherry (peak) and what was the pit (valley) of your day? We use this as our analogy since our last name is “Kirschenbaum”, German for Cherry Tree. 🍒

When our family has been apart for the day’s working hours conquering the world, we dine together at sunset while comparing notes, but when the weekend has been seemingly endless hours of “mom”, “MOM”, “dad”, “DAD”, why not serve the children separately?

Is Your Rest Constructive? ~ Constructive Rest Pose

Constructive Rest Pose

Knees together, feet apart.

 Deeply relaxing - like a self hug. 💞

Just as your food should be nourishing, your rest should be deliberate. 🫛

Green Goddess Dressing, Flower Blossom Cookies, Nut Stuffed Bacon Wrapped Dates, Mamachi’s Tomato sauce has carrots and cream, Homemade Food makes your fridge beautiful.

Garnish with your garden flowers (lilac here).

Breaking Bread ~ Parfait-asana

Berries, dairy, crystal. 🍓🐮💎

Procuring, preparing, serving, and bussing (week)daily dinner takes an immense amount of effort, consideration and sacrifice; therefore, it is imperative to nourish your family by making and sharing the recipes you yourself LOVE. Breaking bread is a daily form of modeling universal respect and zest for life.

Germans liebe potato salad.

Chocolate pots all around.

Greek salad is pretty in pink and green.

Just add granola: substantial Greek yogurt and berry dessert to prevent late night snacking.

Badass Then, Badass Now, But Different … ~ Knee to Nose Pose

Knee to Nose from Three Legged Dog

Weight forward, shoulders over wrists, for the ‘badass’ version.

Wear leopard-like patterns and large gems.

After dropping the girls off at violin lessons this afternoon, I took the boys to the new North Boulder Library and parked right in front of an apartment that we lived in for two years. It has been exactly a decade since the one toddler days we spent there, but, as I did then, I still have a three year old. Patrick’s comportment at the coffee shop and playground nearby was so similar to Goldie’s ten years back that I came home exhausted from the surreal experience. I was badass then, and I’m badass now, but different…

Hand-me-downs ~ Virabhadrasana I

Virabhadrasana I - Warrior One 
The color of the heart is green.

I am stuck on the Stuff Merry-Go-Round. Packing for a family of six makes me lose my mind a little. I have beneficially and appropriately kept and corralled many, many seasons and sizes of duds and doo-dads, but this again? How many times can I unbox, unfold, sort, fold, wash, dry, sort, fold, pack, unpack, sort, shakeout, dust off, examine, sort, fold, keep, pass along, repeat …

Most Wanted ~ Laghu Vajrasana

Laghu Vajrasana - Little Thunderbolt Pose
Yes, mom’s light shines on us all. 🥰

 A few hours of uninterrupted work time daily for yourself and then they, whoever, can have the rest! 

Stretch for Success ~ Skandasana

Skandasana - Skiiers Lunge

Parents: we are elite athletes - yoga, stretch and strengthen, daily for mental clarity and to avoid injury.

Early Riser ~ Virabhadrasana II

Virabhadrasana II - Warrior 2 Pose

Surya Namaskar - Sun Salutation

To each era its own rhythm and organization: I may rise at 5am regularly now, but I was not astir so early when I frequently awoke throughout the night with bébés - or in my twenties with other motives and goals!

Parent Handbook ~ Utthita Parsva Konasana

Utthita Parsva Konasana - Extended Side Angle Pose
You are right - it is not easy. 

Parenting is the epitome of primal living. It is unyieldingly petrifying, thrilling and rewarding. Good luck! 🍀 

Bye Bye, Bra ~ Pranayama

I wore a more traditional bralette today for my AM movement and, boy, did I regret it. It was sweet with lace, constructed from organic cotton and seemed benign enough, but I was suffocating by the hours end with that tight-ish band encircling my ribcage and constricting my lung expansion, I couldn’t wait to rip it off (and toss it out)!

‘Burn’ any BRA that restricts - strangles! - your diaphragm. Wear soft, little camisoles without the throttling punishment of asphyxiation, or simply go bare, and fully breathe in life once again! 

Cookies, Socks and Winter Activities - Oh My 😝 ~ Parsva Urdhva Hastasana

Parsva Urdhva Hastasana - Upward Salute Side Bend Pose
Can you straighten your arms? All the way?

I am back in the kitchen with verve baking up a storm once again. Is it my new “easy bake oven” (air fryer)? Or the fact that my youngest is now three and slightly less underfoot? It is both I am sure, and other factors, too. (Chilly weather💨.) Whatever it is sparking my creative joy, I will run with it…as do my children and so should you! 🍪

Brownies, banana bread, oatmeal raisin balls, yogurt cake, sugar cookies, cream cheese frosting… biscuits, french fries, quiche, pigs in a blanket, pizza, grilled cheese, quesadillas, roasted (air fried) everything and the list goes on… I kid you not, these kids actually expect me to feed them EVERY DAY!!! 🤪

My daughter knits socks.  🧶 🧦 For MY feet. 😍🥰

& these adorable and refreshing Gen Alpha kids also sing, tinker on the piano, play violin, craft, craft, craft and, obviously, level-up our nestle chips. 🎻🌸🎉