MSI Press Blog

Excerpt from Lessons of Labor: One Woman's Self-Discovery through Birth   (Aziz) - COMPETENCE AND EASE   I started mentally repeating a request to my unborn daughter: “Just hold on until the midwife gets here, and then you can come right out.” The pain of pushing, that now familiar ring of fire, barely registered in my brain. I was only focused on holding my baby in until professional help arrived. I didn’t fight or try to control the pushing, but I didn’t help it along. I just took shallow, panting breaths, let my body do its work, and asked my baby to come slowly.   Just a few minutes later, at 11:30 p.m., my midwife walked in the open door. She came straight over to me, crouched down, and caught my baby as she slipped easily out of my body.   Committing to the moment, I can discover competence and ease.   Do you know the feeling of being in the zone, when everything seems to fall into place with little or no effort? The freedom of living life in a state of flow i

  Excerpt from Girl, You Got This! Food Dieting is talked about a lot in our culture. Every couple of months there is a new trendy diet: Atkins, Keto, the potato diet. The problem with most fad diets, though, is they are restrictive. There are too many hard rules. In order to change your eating habits long term, you need balance .   Everyone has heard the phrase, “balanced diet.” In fact, it is such a common thing to hear that most people don’t really stop to think about what it means. It just goes in one ear and out the other. What makes a diet balanced?   A balanced diet is a diet that includes variety. You eat multiple foods from multiple food groups in order to fuel your body with the most nutrients possible.   The Standard American Diet (SAD) is full of “food” that isn’t really food. It is more like packaged food-science experiments. The results might taste great, but it is no longer natural. The best way to get the most out of what you put in your body is to keep i

I've been getting to know Tony, our new mail carrier. Though his day job takes up most of his energy, his passion is screenwriting, and he recently enrolled in a screenwriting course at the nearby community college. His ideas are beautiful, like a Pixar version of why bad things happen to good people. What he went through as a kid made him into a mystic, and he wants to offer hope for young people that are struggling. Tony and I originally connected because a Sports Illustrated had been mistakenly delivered to my house. I was on my way to walk it over to the neighbor’s house when I met up with him. Tony later told me he was afraid I was going to yell at him since that was how residents often approached. He was very surprised when I came up to him with an easygoing manner, and he wanted to know why I was like that. Now the fact that friendliness is an anomaly is something to think about in and of itself. But more importantly, we've got to stop yelling at the mailman! I know

From MidWest Book Review: Synopsis: "Girl, You Got This!: A Fitness Trainer's Personal Strategies for Success Transitioning into Motherhood" by Brittany Renz is a complete guide to setting yourself up for success while transitioning to motherhood. The 'real world practical' and experience based advice comes from an expert as Brittany is a wife, mother of one and a half kids (a three-year-old girl and soon-to-be born baby boy), entrepreneur, and personal trainer. In "Girl, You Got This!, Brittany deftly and accessibly shares her knowledge and experience to walk her readers through all of the phases of pregnancy, from before conception to delivery -- and ways to stay fit during each phase. Critique: A perfect gift book for expectant mothers, "Girl, You Got This!: A Fitness Trainer's Personal Strategies for Success Transitioning into Motherhood" features color photograph illustrations and is unreservedly endorsed and recommended for pers

Brittany Renz, author of Girl, You Got This! , had a great book signing last Saturday at Barnes & Noble in Gilroy. Here are some fun pictures from the event, including the participation of her husband HOlden and daughter Sophie.

Released yesterday. Mothers everywhere struggle with finding a comfortable balance between their own needs and their children’s needs. “Self-care, what’s that?” many moms joke, but believe it or not, you can be a super mom while still taking care of your home and yourself. Girl, You Got This! is a complete guide to setting yourself up for success while transitioning to motherhood, and the advice comes from an expert. Brittany Renz is a wife, mother of one and a half kids (a three-year-old girl and soon-to-be born baby boy), entrepreneur, and personal trainer. In this book, she uses her knowledge and experience to walk readers through all of the phases of pregnancy, from before conception to delivery. For each phase of pregnancy, this book offers readers advice not only on fitness and dieting, but also: ·         Money: budgeting for a growing family, ·         Medical Concerns: finding an OBGYN and pediatrician, ·         Housekeeping: establishing cleaning routine

Pregnant? Want to stay fit? Need to become fit? It is all goood for your baby and for you! Fitness training Brittany Renz, herself pregnant for the second time, tells you how in this beautifully illustrated book, due out July 1. Pre-order today at MSI Press's webstore. Read more about the book: Press Release .