I often find in teaching prenatal yoga, that I have to adjust my instructions from the classic or traditional ways in which certain asanas are instructed. Part of this is because the body most of the yoga asanas were developed on was a male body, but some of this is also because some of the cues are outdated, and have become overused or over-instructed. The prime example? Tucking the tailbone!
Read moreToddler bedtime or hostage negotiation?
Bedtime/naptime had pretty much become an all out fight for me. I had prided myself on being the parent who never raised her voice, or saw red when coping with her child, but the reality was far from matching my intentions as a parent. This was where an accidental use of tactics from an FBI hostage negotiator suddenly changed things.
Read moreThe subtle cues
Ever notice that some of the instructions you get from yoga teachers don’t seem to make any physical sense? Sure there are the big obvious instructions; put our left foot forward, turn your right heel out. But then there are the more tiny adjustments; drop your tail bone, lengthen the skin on the back of your hips, soften your eyes, or relax your vision out the sides. What exactly are teachers asking for when they say to sink deep within your ears?
Read moreKey through the keyhole- the Cardinal movements of labor
While it might seem like a baby simply slides through its mother’s pelvis to be born; in fact the baby makes a series of twists and turns in order to emerge. Called the Cardinal movements, these extensions and rotations help the baby find the best fit to spiral down and out of the body.
Read moreTake a breath...how? (Breathing for pregnancy and labor)
The Fear-Tension-Pain cycle can have a dramatic impact on how we experience the sensations of labor, and thus on our ability to work with those sensations. Simply put, when we are afraid, our bodies tense, and when we are holding excessive tension in muscles, we feel more discomfort, and an understandable emotional response to feeling increased discomfort and pain would be greater fear, and thus we create a downward spiral.
Read moreStop scaring pregnant people!
I open my inbox, and see the words I hate to see from a student. “I just heard the worst birth story from my friend…” My heart sinks. She goes on to describe how a friend at a backyard barbeque had recounted the story of his wife’s “brutal” labor – this was the word he apparently used- and that this story had been further reinforced by another friend who worked as a midwife.
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