Yoga For A Joyful Birth

Pregnancy is one of the most beautiful aspects of womanhood.

Each pregnancy, each child born, is a special opportunity for a woman to discover within herself great strength and flexibility.

 She can discover her great power yet her ability to surrender; her great compassion yet a detachment. Most importantly, her greatest capacity to LOVE.
 
The experience of birth is a peak experience in your life. Yet, surprisingly, the experience of childbirth often leaves you physically shattered, emotionally bereft and mentally confused.
 
During your pregancy, there can be difficulties and disappointments, but, ultimately one needs to go past those varicose veins, edema, back pain, nausea, impatience, frustration, tiredness, abdominal discomfort, sleeplessness, depression… Gosh! Did I leave out anything??
 
All these as well as birthing traumas can be overcome if the mind and heart remain one-pointed on the true purpose of procreation, rather than the unfolding effects of it.

Yoga and Meditation have the capacity to produce a higher quality of conception, a healthier maternal environment for pregnancy and a more harmonious birthing experience. 
  
More importantly for the new-born, the yoga techniques assist in bringing into the world a child less inhibited by stress and potential illness.

Yoga has well developed tools that make natural birthing more probable as compared to administered c-sections.Yoga exercises are a great help in facilitating a gentle and uncomplicated delivery. 

Yoga aspects and techniques should help to make your pregnancy a more “Joyful” experience.

Motherhood & Yoga

I am not a Yoga teacher. I’ve only attended about 3 Yoga classes although my gym offers Yoga classes.

So, why am I writing about Yoga when I know nothing about it? I am curious – that’s my nature. And through the years, this curiosity has helped me develop a career as a freelance graphic designer and writer.

And it is through a very weird type of Yoga (my own type, or whatever I thought was Yoga at that point in time) that helped me swim ashore when I was teetering between drowning in the sea of depression after giving birth to my sons.

Both times, I was hit badly and constantly turned to the bottle for a solution. The bottle never will be a solution and yet, I hoped it would be.

Yoga and the soon-to-be-mother

There’s all this hype about Yoga that I didn’t fully understand before – what’s all this clamor about Yoga for pregnancy?? What’s the big deal? You have a big belly, retch half the time, have a sudden liking for pickle and have to wear your husband’s clothing….you need Yoga to help you deal with all that?

But of course, I only began the understand the benefits of Yoga as a mother when I started going for the classes, read about them in books, magazines and websites. This amazing method can help mothers regain their physical strength and sends them into a journey of self-discovery and improvement.

Instead of helping you deal with others, in Yoga, everything starts from within. Therefore, to solve a problem, you have to go inside.

And inside a mother, it’s always a battle zone…and it’s tumultuous half the time. Pizza or no pizza? Sex or no sex tonight? What kind of mother will I be? Will I sprain my own child’s fingers when I try to put his/her clothes on?

With the kind of bizarre thinking (and hormones) going on inside our mind and our body, mothers often have a  difficulty finding peace. Your doctor will tell you time and time again that although nutrition is important, finding peace, quiet and calm in yourself and in your life is just important for an expectant mother.

Yoga for the regular mother
Considering the fact that Yoga can help bring calm into calamity, it’s obviously a good choice for you to try out Yoga if you’re thinking of starting an exercise program. Better yet, join a gym…which is what I did.

I used to scoff at people who join gyms and judging from the loud dance music, I remember thinking to myself… “Yikes…gym is just a sorry excuse for a disco.  Instead of serving peanuts, they serve fruit mixes. Instead of alcohol, they serve bottled water. But everyone’s trying to get into a social thing in the gym. It’s a social club!”

And as a mother, I don’t have the time to join a social club. But I was wrong.

As soon as I gave the 10-day free classes trial, I was hooked. No makeup, no dressup (oh, the younger gym-goers still dress up to the nines and apply mascara for gym) and no pretense. I go to the gym and attend the Yoga class to sweat – to end up looking ugly but feeling damn good!

Mothers can open up their minds and free up their hearts after Yoga
Yoga has this tranquilizing effect on people that can hardly be explained with words. It has to be felt. It’s like you’re striking those poses, stretching those muscles and bending over backwards…and all this while, your mind is opening up and all impure thoughts are just flying out of it.

Yoga can be like ‘taking out the trash’. And this can be good for the whole family, especially the kids, as well. After a session of uninterrupted Yoga, you’ll feel renewed. Even a grumpy, sleeping, tired and beaten-out mother will have more energy to spend time with the kids.

Instead of feeling disgruntled and trapped, a mother can use Yoga to actually find an opening, a release that helps relax, not only the body, but the mind as well.

I don’t know about you…but I am going for more classes because I have seen the benefits. Yoga can do a whole lot for the ordinary non-married kidless people….imagine what it can do for a mother.

Yoga For Kids

Children are exposed to a lot of stress factors nowadays.

There is homework that they do daily…
the competition with other children…
TV and computer games…
and even over-scheduling.

And just like adults these kids need something relaxing to turn into and that could be: Yoga.

Yoga for kids helps then develop better body awareness, it also delivers to them a total self control, flexibility and coordination.

All of these they could carry not just on their class but this exercises can help them with their daily routines.

Yoga for kids has shown to help children who are hyper active to tone down and to brighten up those attention deficit ones. Children today crave movement and sensory motor stimuli that can help then balance out their inner souls flow.

Yoga for kids helps them channel out this impulses in a positive way.

The main Yoga for kids poses that seem to work perfectly with kids are the warrior pose and the tree pose. These two yoga for kids poses helps instill in them calm, confidence and balance.

The trick to get them to do Yoga for kids is to go beyond just doing the proper poses, you should have to get them think about what the real posture means.

Let them think that they are really what the poses are symbolizing, let them be the postures – strong and confident like a warrior.

Yoga for kids with partners is also a good way to build up trust with you children. It develops their team skills and fosters a closer bonding.

Some kids when it comes to relaxation have a big trouble closing their eyes and having them focus on their exercises. One thing that encourages a child to relax is visualization. Let them think of something that they really like and let them imagine being like these things.

You may also have them focus out on belly breathing first and have them listen to soothing and relaxing music.

Then ask them to imagine their favorite spot in the house or let them think that they are in outer space floating, or let them visualize that they are at the beach, playing their favorite sport or doing the best activity that they like.

Sometimes for boys letting them think of a favorite girlfriend helps them relax, but this is sometimes hard to do because they become shy and intolerable when this kind of issues are discussed. Just stick to the visualization thing if this technique is quite complicated for you.

Every day at the end of each relaxation exercises, encourage the children to share their own experiences. Ask them to tell to the group what it was like to be in their visualized surroundings. Ask them also to share what place have they imagined they where in.

Another approach is to create a guided imagination by telling them a story with a calming theme of some sort.

As you know children have the most active imagination, they imagine all sorts of things. And at this point of imagination it makes them feel calm. So when doing yoga for kids let them think that they are walking on a green pasture.

You can even let them think that they are butterflies in a beautiful garden. The main idea in here is to instill a sense of peace and feeling of oneness with nature.

Yoga for kids should be taught more often and in different places. It is important to teach children the meaning of union of mind, body and spirit.

There is such a wealth of knowledge we can offer our children with the practice of Yoga.

Prenatal Yoga Exercise

Prenatal yoga is an exercise that is designed to promote breathing exercises, posture and emotional relaxation.

If you’re expecting, then you’ll be glad to know there are even greater benefits to yoga for pregnant women. Perhaps you are preparing for a natural childbirth or  you’d like to stay physically and emotionally healthy during your pregnancy.

The Many Benefits Of Prenatal Yoga

One of the many benefits of prenatal yoga is the lack of physical exertion that is required, which makes it a safe practice for many moms-to-be.  Is yoga for you?

During the pain that is associated with a natural childbirth, prenatal yoga will attempt to promote proper breathing that will help to make the process an easier one. In addition, relaxation is essential during the childbirth process and although it can be difficult, prenatal yoga can help to teach women how to relax themselves as much as possible.

For some, prenatal yoga may be sought as part of a spiritual process that helps them to connect with their unborn child and/or prepare for the new arrival.

In some cases, prenatal yoga may even be beneficial after the birth as it instills techniques that are associated with relaxation. As every new mom knows, there is a definite need for relaxation after having a child.

For some, prenatal yoga may help women to return to their pre-pregnancy weight more quickly than others. For most, this is a struggle that takes a lot of patience and determination. In general, yoga is an exercise that promotes physical fitness, relaxation, breathing, spiritual and emotional connections, etc.

FInding An Instructor

If you are searching for a prenatal yoga class or instructor, the best place to start is through your physician.

During your next visit, ask the doctor if prenatal yoga would be safe for you and, if so, who you could contact for instruction. Most physicians are aware of any local classes or instruction being given and will often be able to refer patients to a class that is most convenient for them.

Most women prefer that the father of their child or a friend or family member attend prenatal yoga classes for support and guidance. Having someone familiar will also make the classes more enjoyable and relaxing for the mom-to-be.

Before enrolling in prenatal yoga, it’s best to make sure that the instructor is licensed, certified or highly trained and experienced in teaching this type of relaxation method.

The information in this article is to be used for informational purposes only. It should not be used in place of, or in conjunction with, professional medical advice. Anyone with questions regarding prenatal yoga must consult their physician for further information.