Meditate. Another thing on your to-do list. You suspect the benefits – like keeping calm in the face of a surly child, enjoying time for yourself, having better concentration… but how do you add this practice to our busy agendas? Accompanied by Sandra Zeller, the founder of Ilado, we explain the path to this practice.

Time for yourself

When asked what meditation is, Sandra says, “It’s taking time. Meditation allows us to get away from the action, the stress and the intense rhythm of our daily lives”. She sees this time as an inner silence. The opportunity “to listen to your breath and your emotions”.

The young woman discovered the practice when she was expecting her first child in 2013. As an executive at L’Oréal, the pressure was intense. Since then, meditation has never left her and the pregnancy has even given her a new professional project: Ilado. Gone are the days of the big group, hello freedom and creativity! For 7 years now, Sandra has been selecting the most beautiful rituals from all over the world for moms: bolas, beneficial teas, swaddling cocoons, and very soon a line of cosmetics. The story doesn’t stop there.

Meditation for all

During the first confinement, Sandra takes her belongings and embarks her family in an unknown land, in the direction of French Burgundy. This new life, closer to nature, has a revealing effect.

From now on, the well-being of mothers will be the main driver of her professional decisions. “In 2020, the Covid crisis marked the beginning of a new life for my family. In this new life setting, I felt like accompanying expectant and young mothers more closely, creating the meditation podcast Birth of a Mom.”

Sandra chooses a free and accessible tool to reach as many people as possible. Her wish? To help moms live their pregnancy better, to approach childbirth with confidence and to go through the postpartum period more serenely.

Little seeds on your way

In her podcast and on her YouTube channel, Sandra accompanies the different stages of motherhood. Wishing for a child, pregnancy pains, childbirth, parenthood, postpartum… the subjects are multiple. Her solutions too, between breathing exercises, meditations, visualizations, affirmations.

Sandra adds, “Meditation will not transform, but plant seeds and open doors. I don’t want to tell women to do this or that, but rather offer a list of ingredients to achieve motherhood for oneself.”

The birth of a mother

In her soft voice, Sandra continues to explain her vision: “Pregnancy transforms life, the couple, the relationship with one’s own parents… During a birth, we do not only witness the birth of a child, but also the birth of a mother”.

Meditation helps prepare for the time before, during and after pregnancy, which is just the beginning of the great adventure of parenthood. “Being a woman is an opportunity. Pregnancy is an opportunity to take a step back. We have to question our changing body. We ask ourselves a lot of questions about the world around us, as we want the best for our baby.”

She continues to explain her point of view, shared by many women “The time of pregnancy is very medicalized. Women are often infantilized. Meditation gives us the opportunity to reconnect to our intuitions.”

Other benefits of meditation

By meditating, mothers-to-be offer themselves a gentle interlude, away from everyday life and stress. It is a moment to calm the tensions of their body and to better live all its transformations during the pregnancy, to listen to their emotions, to recharge their batteries and to connect with their baby.

Meditation is an opportunity to learn how to let go, a necessary notion when you become a parent! Sandra completes “Women discover tools to adapt and get through experiences”.

Finally, meditation can also help expectant mothers discover the power of breathing, a precious ally during pregnancy, on the day of their delivery and throughout their lives as women.

How to meditate?

Sit in a quiet place where you will not be disturbed. Allow 20 to 30 minutes. Plug in your headphones and let yourself be guided.

 

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