Shantala & Therapy

Hi all! It is time for a well needed update! So much has happened in the last months!
As you can see in the pictures, I graduated from my Masters of Public Health!! It was a lot of work, but it was so worth it! During the program, I started developing an extended postpartum program that I cannot wait to share with you (hopefully soon!). To make everything even more exciting, my parents and brother got to come from Brazil to my commencement ceremony and celebrated with us! It was so special to have them here!
In other news... Surprise! We moved from Virginia! Raleigh, NC is our new home, and I am officially opening my agenda in September to teach Shantala courses here! If you don't live in the area, don't worry; we still go back to Virginia and I also offer online classes!
This move was not expected or planned, but it was the best decision we could have made. We are so happy in our new place, Lucca is so excited about our new home, and we know this is where we should be!

Hi all!
It has been awhile since I last popped up here! We had a lot going on, including our amazing trip to Brazil, and I barely had time to look at my phone (what was great! We really enjoyed our summer and our vacation!).
But today I wanted to share something with you that I am very excited about (and terrified!): I was accepted into the Masters of Public Health program at the University of Lynchburg and my classes started today!
Having a masters in Public Health will allow me to help even more families during the postpartum period, to bring Shantala to more people and I am so happy about it! The sad part is that I don't know if I will be able to come here often - between classes (and tons of readings and assignments), a busy toddler and some new projects, my priorities are shifting a bit. But I promise that I will try to come here every once a while and update you all on what is going on!
For now, wish me luck as I start this new chapter (that includes a Biostatistics class - )! And I'll see you soon!

Hi all!
I haven't been posting here as much as I had planned, but it is for a good reason! So many amazing things have been happening lately, and I can't wait to share all with you, starting with this one! I am beyond happy to share with you that my poster about Extended Postpartum Care was accepted and I will present it at the Postpartum Support International Conference in June!! I cannot put in words how honored I am to have the opportunity to share with other health care professionals something I am so passionate about! So exciting!!!

"Fill your life with women that empower you, that help you believe in your magic and aid them to believe in their own exceptional power and their incredible magic too. Women that believe in each other can achieve anything." - Nikita Gill
Happy International Woman's Day!

It was one of those nights. He was up every 30 minutes, crying, clearly uncomfortable. He nursed, finally fell asleep. And instead of sleeping, my brain could not shut down - what did we do today? Did he spend enough energy? Did he eat enough? Did I switch anything in his routine? Developmental leap? Teething? Am I stressed and he is feeling it? Is he getting sick? His dad is back at work, maybe he misses him. We used the phone too much talking to my parents on Facetime, maybe that’s what it is. Should I research some more? No, he’s finally asleep, the light will bother him. And that’s when I remember, he didn’t p**p today. His belly is probably the problem.
I look at the clock - 5 am. Sleeping for 40 minutes. I breathe and ask myself if transferring him to the bed would be too risky. Slowly, I start making the “ninja movements” that a mom needs to do smoothly to get the baby in bed. As soon as I put his bottom on the mattress, my husband snores. I freeze. Say 358 bad words in my mind and swear to kill him if the little one wakes up. For his luck, no movement - baby is sound asleep.
I take another breath. My bladder is exploding, but I gotta concentrate - this is the moment he usually wakes up. I very slowly put his head in the mattress, and even slower, take my arms off from around him and take a deep breath. I did it! He’s asleep in the bed!
A small ray of light comes in through the curtains, shining in his little face. As I get up to go to the bathroom, I look back at him and realize how much he has grown the last couple weeks. He is learning more words, is becoming more independent. He climbs everywhere without my help. He tells me all the things he likes and wants to do.
I immediately remember when he was only a newborn, not too long ago, and my heart shrinks. It goes by so fast. So I immediately go back to bed, pick him up, and wait anxiously until he opens his little eyes and says with the sweetest voice: “good morning, mamãe”!

"You can be a mom and pursue your dreams simultaneously ".
I heard that phrase not long ago, and that kept me thinking.
For the longest time, being a mom was the dream of my life. In fact, my mom says that I was barely 3 years old and when someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, my answer was always "I want to be a mom"!
After years waiting for the right moment, Lucca arrived to make my dream come true! And I have been living this dream, day after day, with all the joy, happiness, challenges and hardships, and a love that is impossible to put in words. I enjoy every second, every diaper change, every new discovery. It is amazing to see him learn, grow, and become this awesome little boy that he is - Lucca is the light of my life! I have been immersed in motherhood and living it very intensily; being a mom transformed me and it has been, truly, the realization of my biggest dream, my biggest accomplishment.
But close to Lucca's second birthday, things started to shift. He is becoming more independent, needing me less. Some professional opportunities started falling on my lap without me even trying. I started to feel that I wanted to share all the things I am learning, all the things I experienced, to help other families. I started to feel that I can be his mom, enjoy motherhood, and also have other dreams.
While all of these feelings were happening, I got an offer to write an encyclopedia entry about bonding. And if I I had a little sparkle already lightened up, writing and feeling productive in a different way just made that sparkle become a big fire of motivation, courage and determination to go pursue other dreams, other goals!
I'm still slowly dipping my toes in these waters, because often there's a little voice that tells me that this is impossible, that I can't do it. But days like today, where I managed to scheduled meetings, answered emails, got an amazing contract all while nursing my baby boy that is not feeling well, make me feel that yes, I can do it! It's not going to be easy, but I know it will be worth it and I can't wait to see all the other dreams I will make come true!

Two years ago yesterday, on November 2nd 2020, this little boy in the picture made his entrance in this world, and it has been the most intense and rewarding adventure of my life! Happy birthday to the little boy that made me a mom and teaches me every day how to be a better person! I love you, meu amor!

Good morning!!
I am so happy and excited to announce that we will have our first Shantala group course here in VA! Join us to learn a new way to connect with your baby!

You can sign up for our course on my website - https://www.shantalatherapy.com/group-course-registration

Can't wait to see you!

Live talk with Midwife Sydney Logan from Thrive Midwifery!

Bonding Live with midwife Sydney Logan

Today I would love to share with you my personal experience with Shantala and how it helped (and still helps) me and my son.
Lucca was born and, unfortunately, he needed to stay in the NICU - a long, long story for another day. I was only able to meet and to hold him 17 hours after he was born, and it was absolutely devastating to me. We didn’t have the chance to do skin to skin, we didn’t have our golden hour, and the beginning of our breastfeeding journey was very difficult (another long story for later).
After we got home and things settled down, I started feeling very sad when I thought about the beginning of our journey. I was very upset and cried so many days feeling that the main moment for us to bond was taken from us.
So I started doing some movements here and there in his little body (some days I massaged his hands, or his little feet that were so sensitive because of the NICU stay), and giving him the therapeutic bath. Slowly, I started understanding that even though we had lost our prime moment for bonding, we could build it, together, day by day.
Lucca was one month old when I started doing the full massage on him, and it became our favorite moment of the day - only the two of us, learning to communicate through touch, understanding who we were. Shantala got us through many hard moments - colic, teething, separation anxiety, developmental leaps, insecurities, meltdowns (both mine and his!) - and it made a huge difference on how secure I felt to deal with those situations, on how much I knew my baby and what he needed. It made a huge difference on how safe, how relaxed he felt.
Until today, Shantala is a part of our bedtime routine - Lucca gets out of the bath, lays down and reaches for the oil we use while asking for “lala” - and I also use it when we are both having a hard day. Shantala helps us both to take a breath, and reconnect, and restart. And I am so grateful for that!

📸 from the amazing Dallas Arthur Birth Stories & Support!