This is a love letter to everything maternal about us. Mother worship, Mother ship, Mother Earth, Mother of Invention, Mother f-er, Mother-lode, Mama's boy -- whether you've ever actually had a child or not, if you're a chick you have some degree of the eternal maternal within you.

Motherhood is a pretty sacred subject, I'm aware of that, so I have to be careful how I say this. First I have to say this -- I think my mother is a saint. Who doesn't? She gave birth to nine of us! She was and still is the epitome of selflessness and unconditional love. If I said to her in passing how much I liked a piece of jewelry she was wearing, she would take it off and give it to me. If I said I was hungry, she would forgo her own hunger and let me eat her food. She did this for nine children. She must have been very hungry in the 60's and 70's. She never got to have her own career. She never got to take off and roam the world with a lover. She didn't get to climb any mountains or be the adventurer that she always dreamed about. She didn't get to go live at the beach, which she yearned for all of my waking life. She loves salt water taffy and the east coast smell of the ocean. She didn't get to "sow any oats" that I know of. When she was pregnant with her eleventh child (in addition to nine children, she also had three miscarriages), my father was falling in love with a colleague at work. He eventually ended the colleague affair for my mother out of guilt, but come on!

When I became a mother, I was so humbled at the enormity of it that I wanted to throw myself at my mother's feet and beg her forgiveness for every asinine, bitchy, teen tantrum that I threw; and I vowed to begin a new religion based on mother worship. (It never happened but I'm still young!) I was never so tired, so sad, so lonely, so stir crazy, so frustrated with the endless crying. It was a lesson in instant humility. Some days I was this close to disappearing off the face of the Earth. Let's face it … the job of ‘mothering' is the most difficult thing I have ever done in my life. And sometimes it downright sucks. There I've said it. ("Desperate Housewives" illuminates it a little and thank God that awareness is starting to increase in public consciousness.) In what other area of employ do you get pinched, poked, scratched, covered with all kinds of disgusting food items, and urinated on? Sound a lot like a wild animal trainer? Hmmm….if the shoe fits. That's what we are -- we're wild animal trainers! It makes sense. The only difference is that at the end of the day a wild animal trainer can walk away and leave those babies by themselves and have a LIFE! Some of you mothers may ask, "A life? What's that?" And if you don't have human children then this still pertains to you because I believe you're still a mother of a job, a pet, a man, or a series of friends.

Some mothers are crazy; some mothers are dedicated, awesome and have no life. And, sadly, some mothers are so wrapped up in the martyr role that their entire life becomes focused on being the PERFECT mother. What is that even? Perfect Mother? No such thing. So the big question is how do you maintain a "life", an identity integrated with motherhood when you decide to procreate? This is a struggle for so many of the women I know. The greatest gift you can give your children is a mother with a full, rich, passionate, fun, sexy life. Give it to yourself, ladies. Just because you have an exquisite wild animal child or two in your life it doesn't mean you need to lose your hot, your youth, your fire, your meowwww, your roar, your purr.

Here's what you gotta' do. You gotta' dress yourself up for yourself. You got to take your self out and get your nails or hair or something done. You got to look at that cool haircut, manicure, whatever you had done every now and then and say to yourself, "I'm a cool, hot chick. Not only am I a cool hot chick but I am god-like, I made a human being in my body and birthed him/her out of my VAGINA! Or for those that have had caesarians like me, out of my ABDOMEN!!!!!

You need to put on some lipstick. Something fiery plum or scintillating red. If you're feeling really ambitious add a dash of blush and blue (yes, blue, why not?) eye liner. Daily. Do it first thing in the morning, every day. When you catch a glimpse of that luscious babe in the rear view mirror, it'll be you! No more pasty faced days where you feel invisible, tired-eyed and well, over the hill of delicious. And don't even attempt to put that luscious new haircut up into a scrunchie. Who invented scrunchies anyway? I know, I know, I'm a mother; there are times when you would sell your soul for a scrunchie. The little one is eating some kind of melting syrupy sweet dish and you're holding them in your arms -- scrunchie time. The little one has a bout of the stomach flu and you're holding them in your arms -- scrunchie time. Keep the scrunchie, just know when to rip it out of your hair and let the goddess fly free. The kid's safely strapped in the backseat of the car and there's a great song on the radio? Open the windows, turn up the tunes, and let your hair fly free. Kid's playing left field in a two (yes, two) hour little league game and it's a gorgeous day with a great breeze blowing? Lose the scrunchie and let your hair flow down the back of your neck.

You're not just the ‘mother of some child.' You're not just ‘someone's wife/girlfriend.' You're not just ‘some company's female executive.' You're that wild child from high school, that cocky rebel from your early twenties. Remember her? She's there, just waiting to come out. You can still nurture and take care of your beautiful babies. You can still be the respectable member of the PTA and the ladies power lunch club but do it with the new haircut and nails. Throw on a pair of heels, honey, and low slung Joe jeans – just don't lose your badass. Don't lose your outlaw. Don't lose the fiery, sultry woman inside of you who lives life to its fullest with kids in tow, eyes aflame, and hair blowing in the wind.

All my love and respect,

BODY CONSCIOUS

You've heard of someone carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders? Well, women carry the world on and in their hips – and delivering children can take one hell of a toll on those hips. So in honor of mothers and nurturing women everywhere, let's stick our hips out proudly into the world.

Standing hip circles should be the biggest, roundest, most exaggerated circles your hips are capable of making. Get out of that linear, angular frame of mind and thing circular, rounded, think of an "S" …

1. Put on some bass heavy music to "S" to like "Air Force One's" by Nelly, "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes or this month's Music Pick, "Momma Said Knock You Out" by L.L. Cool J.

2. Stand with your feet a little more than hip-width apart. Bring your right hip toward the right wall.

3. Begin making wide, slow, clockwise circles with your hips as you inhale. Stick your butt out as far behind you as you can, arching your back and allowing your breasts to come forward to counter your hips.

4. Swing your hips slowly around to the left, pushing your left hip as far out to the left as you can.

5. Exhale as you circle your hips to the front. Tuck your butt and push your pelvic bones out toward the wall in front of you. Allow your upper body to counter backward. Take as much time circling around front as you do around back.

6. Bring your hips back around to the right, pushing your right hip toward the right as far as you can. Continue the circles. Don't lock your knees! The deeper you bend your knees, the wider the curve becomes and the harder the quads will work.

7. Circle ten times clockwise, then change direction for ten more circles.

Don't be discouraged if your hips are locked at first. Keep circling a little wider with each rotation. And, once unlocked, you may feel a rush of energy or emotion release in your body. Let it come and keep moving through it. If you carry the world on and in your hips, some pretty powerful stuff can be released. Illustrations for this exercise can be found on pages 32-33 of "The S Factor" book, and in our S Factor I & S Factor II Studio Series DVD's.

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