What differentiates yoga from other forms of exercise is the connection to the breath. Yoga breathing is different from other breathing practices.

One type of breathing is Ujjayi, or “victory breathing.” It is simple to learn and easy to do. The sound of the breath helps the mind to focus on one point (one-pointed mindfulness), which helps you to be in the present. It also balances energy and can help you to access your energy. We know that energy cannot be created nor destroyed. It simply gets stuck. Ujjayi, along with yoga postures can help to free this energy. (See below for instructions on Ujayi Breathing.)

Practicing yoga postures can help a pregnant woman alleviate many of the common discomforts of pregnancy like sciatica, restless legs, heartburn, nausea, low back pain, pelvic pain, sacro-iliac joint dysfunction, neck and shoulder pain, carpal tunnel syndrome and more. Yoga poses also strengthen the body, while developing endurance without strain.

Birth is very physical as well as mental, emotional and spiritual. Yoga helps us to connect to all aspects of our humaness. In western medical science, we are beginning to realize how the mind affects the body. Knowing your state of mind and learning not to attach yourself to it allows the body to do what it needs to do.

Most importantly, the combination of breath work with physical postures helps the expectant mother connect to her baby and her own spirit. Do we ever consider that the baby knows how to be born? Do we trust in this knowledge? Do we listen to the messages that the baby gives during labor? The practice of yoga helps the pregnant mother to know herself and to be present with her baby. Then she is better able to respond in the moment to what life gives her.

One other very important factor that I teach in my yoga classes is knowing your environment – your birthing culture. The yogi lives in the world. She must be in reality to understand fully how to live in it. This means that she needs to be in the present moment, not caught in past thoughts or the imagined future.

Following are several poses and sequences I recommend, along with some suggestions on letting go during birth.

Best positions in the last trimester:

Flowy cat/cow pose

Why? Because the pelvis can widen in this position. It can give baby space to get in the right position for birth, and it also can encourage baby to turn from OP to OA. The mother gets used to being on her hands and knees, as this is a great labor and birth position. It is one of the best positions for big babies.
How to do it: Place hands shoulder-width apart, about 6 inches in front of shoulders, knees a little wider that hip width apart. Inhale and as you exhale tuck the tailbone and sit back towards your heels, rounding your back. Inhale, bend the elbows slightly while keeping them in line with the shoulders, scoop your chest forward until your elbows are straight, look up; now exhale, tuck the tailbone, round the back and sit towards the heels; inhale and continue this flowy motion of cat/cow position 6-10 cycles. It helps to strengthen the arms, open the hips and groin, widens the pelvis and encourages baby to get in optimal position for birth.

Cobbler’s pose

Why? It opens the hips, strengthens the back, brings energy into the pelvis and helps to dilate the cervix only when mother is ripe and ready for birth; otherwise it brings a flow of energy and blood into pelvis. Where there is blood there is more oxygen and health.
How to do it: Sit with the soles of the feet together and knees out to the sides. Hold ankles or feet (sit up on the folded edge of a blanket if knees are raised above the hips). Exhale, root through the tailbone and lengthen up the spine as you inhale. Then bring your awareness to your baby. Breathe into your baby, connecting the breath to your heart, exhaling from your heart to your baby. Begin with 10 breath cycles and lengthen up to 5 minutes. Sit against the wall if your back hurts. Place your hands under your knees and lift them up to come out, then straighten your legs.

Supine cobbler’s pose

Why? It opens the hips and pelvis, while supporting the low back. The chest is open, so breathing is fuller and easier. This is a very restful pose. Mother learns how to relax and restore energy.
How to do it: Lie over a rectangular cushion or folded blankets, with a blanket under your head if necessary. Raise your head and trunk as much as you need to breathe and feel comfortable. Bring the soles of the feet together, knees out to the side. Place folded blankets under your thighs for support. Arms rest on the floor. Be aware of your breath as you release into the pose. To come out, roll to the side and sit. Do flowy cat to adjust your spine. Rest in child’s pose for a minute.

Ujjayi, or “Victory Breathing,” helps to focus and calm the mind, soothes the nervous system, slows the heart rate and lowers blood pressure. Ujjayi helps to alleviate insomnia because of its tranquilizing effect on the body.
How to do it: Part your lips slightly, inhale and exhale whispering “ha.”  Your breath will have an aspirate sound. You will feel and hear the breath in the back of the throat. Then close your mouth and breathe through the nostrils. Imagine that you are breathing through the throat. It may feel like you are about to snore.
Your breathing should be audible to you. You can inhale and exhale deeply, but do not strain. Practice for five minutes in the beginning, increasing it to 15 minutes or more.

Some other advice for labor:

Empty completely– of thoughts, techniques and plans. Be willing to be in the unknown, open and be ready for what life has to offer. Then you can move freely and spontaneously.

Dive into the sensations. Don’t try to change anything or resist what is happening. Be willing to be in the pain. Follow your breath. It is your guide to being in the moment. When you embrace completely what you are experiencing,  this is when the transformation happens.

Get out of your head and into your body. Whatever thoughts arise, let them pass. Observe them but don’t get caught up by identifying with them. Be a witness. It’s like watching a movie.

My favorite healing positions for after the birth (the first six weeks postpartum):

Legs up the Wall – lie on the floor on your back and put legs up the wall or on a chair.
Ujjayi breathing – see above for instructions. Use ujjayi with every pose. Keep your attention on the breath. Notice when your attention wanders away, and then bring it back to the breath. This helps to create focus and calm while energizing. You can do this at any time, especially while you are feeding your baby!
Supine cobbler’s pose – see above for instructions.

Six Weeks To Your Best Backbend

My Six Weeks to Your Best Backbend series starts next week, so I wanted to explain a bit about it for those who are interested. My intention for the series, first and foremost, and to have fun with backbends!

They are one of those types of postures where students seem to love or hate them, and I really want to help people find the real fun with these postures. To find the fun, though, you need to feel safe. So we’ll be taking it slow and really working on how to feel safe and comfortable getting into a backbend. Like in my Six Weeks to Handstand series, we will be working together and helping each other out, creating a community of support where we are all in it together.  The idea is that with real safety and understanding of backbends you’ll be able to move forward from where you are now to a much deeper and expressive experience.

Another thing is to understand that a series like this will really help your whole practice.  When you focus on just one type of posture, or even one specific posture, over a six week period the knowledge you learn in your body and your mind will definitely relate to the rest of your yoga practice.

As for experience level to attend the class, it would be good for students to have at least some experience with backbends.  It’s fine for people to have lots of different experience levels in the class, that’s great, but at least some yoga backbend experience would be good.  If you aren’t sure, you can post a response here and we can figure out if it’s good for you.

Hope to see you there!   John

It’s great sometimes just to recognize how much we all really do have. And this “stuff” we have is so much more important than material stuff. Be it friends, family, knowledge, love, whatever – there is some great stuff in our lives and in our hearts that we can take for granted, but it’s really the stuff that sustains us and makes life worth living.

I’ve attached a short free yoga video class with this in mind. It’s my 20th free video class, which I’m very excited about. I hope you enjoy it! John

If you aren’t able to make it over to Montpelier then come over to Evolution and take a class from Margaret, Patrick, Lindsay or Lydia.  Really, don’t even think about going outside.  Be with your yoga community in Montpelier or Burlington.  :-)

Enjoy your practice wherever you are – John

I am spending the week at Kripalu assisting Todd Norian and Ann Greene at an Anusara workshop. It’s been a really wonderful experience. On top of that, last week my wife and I assisted Ann in teaching a couples workshop here. While Jane and I were helping out with the couples workshop we came up with the Chit Ananda game. Chit Ananda is a concept of remembering that you are a blissful being. So, when you play the Chit Ananda game you ask “why” having to do with any action, with the answer being about Chit Ananda. I know, it’s a little strange and obscure, but you definitely have to stay on your toes and be quick with the Chit Ananda answers.

For those Chit Ananda junkies out there, here’s an example. Say I’m doing the dishes and asked “why”, I’d say something like — “well, when you do the dishes it creates a clarity in my house and space in my mind to more easily see that my true state is to be joyful and happy.” That’s actually a pretty good example.

So, I have Chit Ananda on the brain, so this weeks video is about remembering and recognizing the fact that our true nature is to be blissful. In the asana part of the class we do backbends, which are great for finding your true bliss. And, besides that, I recorded the video here a Kripalu in the yoga space where we have been holding the workshop, which is very cool. Enjoy! John

I’m please to welcome DJ HyFI to Burlington from his trips around the country, spreading music, yoga and love.

Join us on Saturday, July 24th from 6-8 pm on a journey across a sonic landscape of groovin’ beats and lush atmospherics. The journey starts with an hour and a half of asana to live DJ mixing and flows into a 30 min sonic meditation/savasana.

In the yoga portion of the workshop, I will lead you to new depth and in the meditative portion of the workshop, DJ HyFi will be layering and mixing ambient sounds to create a smooth sound scape that will transport you to another dimension.
-Jane Jarecki Lanza

Just relax and let the river carry you along…
$25
6-8 pm
Register: Pre-registration required

Yoga-teacher turned DJ who spends his time touring the country spinning live in-studio at Yoga workshops and events nationwide… DJ HyFi brings it to the next level! To download DJ HyFi’s June 2010 mix for free :: click here ::

Sincerely,

Janet Carscadden PT

janet@evolutionvt.com

Department of Rehabilitation and Movement Science

Dr. Sharon M. Henry R01 “Mechanisms of Specific Trunk Exercises in Low Back Pain”

Are you between 21-55 years old and suffer from chronic, low back pain?

You may be eligible to participate in a research study, conducted by the University of Vermont, that includes the following benefits:

- Pre and post-treatment testing sessions at the UVM Human Motion Analysis Lab (includes a free physical therapy evaluation)

- 6 physical therapy treatment sessions with a physical therapist at no charge to you or your health insurance

- $100 total compensation upon completion of study

The purpose of this study is to examine whether or not matching treatment to your specific symptoms is better at decreasing your pain and increasing your function than a non-specific strengthening/conditioning program.

This study is being conducted by Dr. Sharon M. Henry, Professor and Associate Dean of Research at the University of Vermont, College of Nursing and Health Sciences.

For more information or to sign-up, please call 802-656-1478, or e mail HLBPS@uvm.edu

Running with a bun in the oven is much harder than running solo. You get winded more easily, your muscles tire more quickly, and since your body is changing so much, you may experience some aches and pains. In the beginning of my pregnancy, I would get subtle cramps way up in my uterus when running; every time I felt them, I’d just stop and walk. Now in my fifth month with a “popped” belly, I’ve discovered a new sensation in my lower ab muscles. It’s a longer-lasting, dull ache, that feels like the muscles are overstretching.

At my last checkup, I learned this pain is round ligament pain and it’s really common for pregos in their second trimester. To find out if it’s harmful to your baby or if it means you should give up running, read more.

My doc assured me that round ligament pain is not serious and won’t cause harm to my growing babe. This pain can be felt as a long-lasting dull ache like I’ve experienced when I’m running, but it can also cause sharp, intense pangs if you suddenly change position, like when you sit up quickly, roll over in bed, or cough.

The round ligaments surround your uterus inside your pelvis, and as your belly grows, those ligaments stretch out to support the weight, like rubber bands. The pain you feel is a result of the tugging on nerve fibers. It usually begins in the groin, and moves upward and outward toward your hips, but normally only lasts a few seconds. Many women may feel the pain more on their right side because the uterus tends to turn toward the right. If you feel the pain lasting longer, and it’s accompanied by contractions lasting over an hour, call your OB pronto. Also call your doc if the pain is severe and coupled with low back pain, pressure in the pelvis, fever, chills, bleeding, or changes in vaginal discharge.

If the pain really bothers you on your runs, it’s probably best to take it easy. Decrease the intensity of your workouts by running slower, sticking to flat surfaces, wogging, or walking instead. If your round ligament pain is just slightly uncomfortable, here’s a suggestion my doctor made that has really helped me. I told her that when I hold my hands under my belly as I run, the pain goes away, so she recommended I try wearing a compression support band on my lower belly. If you have a Bella Band, that might work for you, but it didn’t hold my belly tight enough. The Amom Maternity Support Band offers more support and is specifically designed for use during exercise. Wearing that and slowing down my pace has solved my problem.

Tell me, have any of you experienced round ligament pain?

-Guest Post by Jenny Sugar at FitSugar.com