Many scientific studies have been done on how prenatal yoga can be beneficial in preparation for child birthing. These studies have found that the exercises, although focused on stretching and focused breathing, can be beneficial for a number of symptoms caused by pregnancy.

Symptoms reported by nearly eighty percent of pregnant woman can include: insomnia, stress, anxiety, lower back pain and hypertension. These symptoms have been alleviated in many women through the use of prenatal yoga and the benefits of prenatal yoga are normally seen right after you start the process.

The Benefits

The gentle stretching and postures are good for stretching your back and relieving muscle tension and focused breathing exercises will help calm symptoms of anxiety and stress brought on by pregnancy.

After prenatal yoga classes, your body will have a chance to relax its muscles and your heart rate will begin to restore to its normal rhythm, reducing hypertension and encouraging relaxed breathing. The stretches done will take pressure off of your lower back and strengthen lower muscles that are needed for the birthing process.

Sciatic nerve irritation can also be a symptom due to the excess pressure put on the legs during pregnancy. Relaxed muscles from prenatal yoga has been proven to diminish these symptoms and prepare your lower body for childbirth. Increased balance has also been noted as a benefit of prenatal yoga, as many women report feeling wobbly with the newly added weight of a child.

Why Not?

The benefits of prenatal yoga can be outstanding in preparing you for the birthing process. Focused and centered breathing, as well as the relaxed lower back muscles are absolutely necessary for giving birth. Prenatal yoga can help in a tremendous way for easing childbirth by relaxing the muscles as well as the mind and should not be overlooked if you plan on the perfect pregnancy.

The post The Benefits of Prenatal Yoga: Why is it Necessary? appeared first on theyogablog.com.

Oh boy. 

This just keeps getting stranger…

Both the plaintiff (Stephen and Jennifer Sedlock, parents of a child at EUSD) and defendant (EUSD) called upon witnesses to testify Tuesday and Wednesday.

The plaintiffs called upon Candy Brown, a professor of theology at Indiana University, to testify that Yoga is a religion and claimed that parts of Ashtanga are taught in the beginning and end of the children’s Yoga classes. Brown stated that:

via, via

“The purpose of Ashtanga yoga is to become one with Brahma,” she said, referring to a Hindu deity.

“Jois is very, very clear that the practice may appear physical, but that is very, very wrong,” she said. “It produces spiritual transformation.”

“Many yoga traditions, not just in the past but also today, share a religious goal and that goal is human salvation,” she said Tuesday. The associate professor said the goal could also include reincarnation or spending eternity with the Divine.

Brown believes there is no distinction between the physical and spiritual aspects of Yoga. She even claims that

The practice of asking students to reach up to the sun in the mountain pose was religious she testified.

I couldn’t disagree more, and just because there are postures similar to Ashtanga means nothing. All types of Yoga share similar poses. Yoga is just Yoga…different styles simply sequence the postures differently. 

And suddenly everyone lifting their arms over their heads while standing upright is practicing Hinduism? Wow. We need to tell the world! There are so many people out there that are practicing Hindus and they don’t even know it! 

Ironically, the defense pointed out Wednesday that Brown has links to Christian faith organizations. It’s no wonder that she is trying to push this whacky argument! 

On Wednesday, a Yoga instructor at the school, Jennifer Nicole Brown, took the stand and began to testify that her class is (of course) without religious connotation. 

“What we do in the school district is completely different to the way that I would teach adults in a traditional Ashtanga school,” Jennifer Nicole Brown testified.

But of course, this was not enough and eventually led to her demonstrating postures in front of the judge. 

I am just stunned by the lack of logic in the arguments made by the plaintiffs that I almost want to pull out my long, curly hair. 

We will keep you posted about further developments. You can see  Jennifer Nicole Brown on the stand and demonstrating postures below. 

I can tell by her face that she thinks the questions are ridiculous… 

What do you think? Are these logical arguments? 

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The Pen is Mightier  

The written word has deeply powerful properties. When used properly, it can be a tool to help you examine things that lie buried deep within yourself. Often, emotions trigger thoughts that are so wrapped up intense emotions that it can be difficult to unravel one from the other.

It’s human nature to want to avoid pain, at least for healthy people. Our nervous system is wired to move our hand away from a hot stove almost instantly. We don’t need to stop to think about what it happening. We register the pain, and we move it away. While we get burned, it would be a lot worse if we were unable to feel pain from the hot stove right away.

Emotional pain works in the same way. When we come up against painful or difficult memories or situations, our first instinct is often to pull back from talking or even thinking about them. It simply hurts us too much. Unlike a burn from a hot stove, though, the emotional pain doesn’t cause some redness or perhaps a blister and then heal.

It stays with us. In some cases, people carry around this pain for years without getting it resolved. It needs to be dealt with in some manner for them to get well.

Writing as a Healing Tool

Writing about a situation or a memory that is troubling gets the person to switch his or her train of thought to go from “I hurt,” which is completely focused on emotions (being angry, confused, frustrated, disappointed, let down, etc.) to “Why am I hurt?” The second approach allows the writer to take a step back from the situation and allows some logic to enter the (virtual) room.

There is nothing wrong with any of the emotions that a person feels about a given situation. They aren’t right or wrong, but they don’t tell the whole story about it. Holding onto them too tightly may not serve a person well either, if they lead to someone assuming that because they had a difficult time in the past, it foreshadows everything that will happen to them in the future.

Get the Words Down to Make Sense of the Situation

In order to make sense of something, a person may need to write it down. No two writing exercises need to look alike. One person may write a paragraph or a story. Another person may express him or herself in a poem. A third person may make a diagram about a situation or write a list. The exact form of expression doesn’t matter, so long as it makes sense to the writer.

Each person who uses this tool is writing his or her own story, and they are tapping into their own subconscious to pull out information, find patterns and make peace with something that is troubling them. There is no “right” or “wrong” way to accomplish this goal. There is only the way that makes sense for each person who uses this technique.

At first, it may seem a bit awkward to try writing words to heal emotional pain. Someone who has bottled up his or her emotions, especially for several years, will likely find it challenging to open up in this way.

The good thing about self-healing through writing is that it is entirely self-paced. No one can make a person progress at a faster pace than he or she feels comfortable with.

Getting thoughts and emotions down on paper is an excellent way to get them sorted out. Once they are held up to the light and examined, they may not seem quite to overwhelming.

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“What is Religion?”

Judge John Meyer asked this question in the opening proceedings to a case that will determine the future of a school Yoga program in Encinitas, CA. (For a history of the story, click here and for a history of the case click here)

There was no definitive answer from either side.

This trial, of course, is a result of parents upset that their children were “required” (so the claim goes) to take Yoga classes.

They believe that Yoga is inherently religious, and should not be in the public space.

The program was funded by the Ashtanga based Jois Foundation with a $534,000 grant.

Attorney Dean Broyles called in expert witness Candy Brown, a Harvard trained professor that claims physical Yoga or Asana is inseparable from it’s religious connotation due to it’s body/mind connection. Candy Brown’s deposition can be read here in it’s entirety.

Here’s what she said in the courtroom Monday:

“In the religious origins of yoga, body and spirit are not separable categories,” she wrote. “From such a perspective, it would make little sense to isolate bodily practices from spiritual purposes—as those promoting the EUSD yoga program claim to do.”

Broyles also called forth Tim Baird, superintendent of EUSD, and asked him “are you an expert on religion?” and accused him of being incapable of defining the program as non religious.

While Ashtanga is a particularly spiritual practice, the program in the schools was completely stripped of all references to it’s original Sanskrit names and connotations…though there was a slight reference in the very beginning of the program.

Dean Broyles is trying to make this into a big deal and has pointed to an Ashtanga brochure that says the practice can “lead to great awareness of our spiritual potential.”

The Yoga Alliance comes to the rescue

Thankfully, the cavalry is on the way. 

YA has gotten together two experts witnesses to help with the case, and has released a statement on their website.

Here’s a snippet: 

Yoga Alliance is participating in the case on behalf of the intervenors, YES! Yoga for Encinitas Students, to support the EUSD in their defense. We disagree with the petitioner’s view that yoga is inherently religious and that teaching yoga in school promotes religion, regardless of context. From our work with the yoga community over the past 13 years, we have interacted with people of many faiths, along with agnostics and atheists, as they engage in the practice and teaching of yoga. We believe that yoga can be taught in a completely secular manner and that children and adults alike can benefit from this transformative practice. We agree with the intervenors that, “EUSD students should not be deprived of their world class yoga program merely because of plaintiffs’ personal bias.” You can read the intervenor’s trial brief online.

The witnesses are Chris Chapple, PhD and professor of Indic and comparative religion at Loyola Marymount University and Brandon Hartsell, founder and CEO of Sunstone Yoga in Texas. You can read their depositions here and here. 

Richard Karpel the president of YA even wrote an opinion piece on the issue in USA Today. 

The hearing will continue

Who knows what will come next, or how long this will last. 

I am sincerely hoping the judge sees through the arguments against the program.

After all, Broyles is not even attacking the present program and instead is attacking slight Ashtanga references in the past. 

I cannot believe that stretching and breathing is inherently religious; the only thing inherently involved in such a curriculum is a calm mind and body. 

We will see what happens tomorrow….stay tuned. We will keep you updated. 

Sign the Petition to Protect Kid’s Yoga Program in Encinitas Schools

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I would have never liked golf if I hadn’t first studied yoga.

There are numerous yoga/golf retreats, and an ever-growing library of books and videos about how yoga can improve your golf game, so I started wondering why these two activities are so often paired together. As I began to dig into this, it was easy to see how the physical practice of yoga could help someone in golf, but I didn’t realize there were also many psychological similarities between the two practices.

Words like “quiet”, “still” or “precise” are not words that would typically be chosen to describe me. There are quite a few things that both yoga and golf require of a person that I don’t come by naturally. Thankfully by the time I had the opportunity to learn golf, I had learned some important lessons that uniquely prepared me to not only learn without frustration, but to enjoy myself and the experiences even while being a beginner.

Here are a few of those lessons:

1. Releasing expectation and accepting where you are today
2. Understanding the underlying mechanics of the body, of motion, and the mindfulness to control those two things
3. Allowing the mind to be quiet and be able to quiet yourself at will
4. Appreciating your surroundings. . . hearing the sounds, smelling the different aromas encountered, noticing beauty in subtleties, feeling the sky above and the earth below (unless you’re in the sand/water)
5. Honoring your practice and effort, without a relationship to outcome

You were probably expecting to see patience on this list, but if you can do these numbered items listed above, you’re already practicing patience. There are many situations in life that study of yoga has prepared me for.

Things like balance between exerting effort and accepting resistance, balance between what I can do now, and what I would like to do (and understanding what needs to happen in between those points), balance between honoring others and honoring yourself, the balance between giving and receiving, etc. etc. etc.

As I begin my golf journey, I find myself asking a lot of the same questions that I asked when I was new to yoga. Questions like “What will it teach me about life?”, “How will my approach to people and situations change because of what I’ve experienced?”, “How will the things I’m practicing weave itself into who I am?”

The most important thing I’ve noticed about golf (which is exactly the same in yoga) is that you are playing  for yourself rather than against others. I learn this lesson on my mat again and again and I watch others in their practice grappling with this as well. We practice yoga for ourselves, and unlike golf, we are not in competition with one another.  When we commit to our practice, to breathing, to reserving judgement, to being open and ready for the day…we all win.

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I don’t watch many videos that show up on my facebook feed, but when I saw this one, I couldn’t help but click on it. Being part of the yoga world, I had already been educated on what the word “yoni” means. In case you are wondering, it is a sanskrit word for vagina, or sacred gateway. Obviously with the word “yoni” in the title, I had to watch it.

The yoni express plays like a spoof music video offering both shock factor and laughter. SPOILER ALERT: within the first two scenes you might want to turn away, unless you wanna see a girl in down dog who bled through her shorts. Admittedly that made me squirm a little bit, but I appreciate the message that The Yoni Girls are spreading, ahem no pun intended.

I like the fact that they are making a joke out of embarrassing things that happen in real life to real women and their yoni’s.  By making light of topics such as these, Yoni Express is  empowering women to feel comfortable in their bodies, and to not be ashamed of our yoni’s.  After all it is the sacred gateway from which each of us came. Again, no pun intended. As if that message alone isn’t enough, Yoni Express also offers all natural organic products for your beloved yoni and they deliver them right to your door.

Watch it, have a laugh, share it with a sister, and support these fearless women standing up for yoni’s everywhere. Thank you, Yoni Girls for reminding us that sister’s gotta stick together.

Proud Yonis Unite!

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Is it true we are what we eat?

We are told time and time again that you are what you eat!  So if I eat a potato chip, I’m a potato chip?  If I eat a carrot, then I’m a carrot?

There are so many theories about what a healthy diet is, it can be confusing.  Per our various sources of “expert” information, a healthy diet is:

• Animal based with fruits and vegetables

• Vegetarian (you can eat everything under the sun except animal meat, and fish is “sometimes” and “sometimes” not in that category)

• Vegan (absolutely no animals or animal byproducts, like butter)

• Raw Vegetarian (Strictly and only live fruits & vegetables- that means nothing cooked)

It’s so confusing it’s no wonder why people have a hard time managing their weight.

In my 39 years of existence, I have been an animal eater, vegetarian, vegan and raw vegetarian at various points of my life.  My food consumption has varied based off of a health challenge (Ulcerative Colitis/Crohn’s Disease), weight loss, or healthier eating habits I was managing.   Needless to say, they may have all served a purpose at some given time, but were not beneficially sustainable for me.

When I was a vegetarian and vegan, my GI doctors said I needed to eat meat because I was anemic.  When I was a raw vegetarian, the Chinese herbalist said I needed to eat chicken and cooked vegetables to improve my anemia and get heat back into my body.

But when I ate  meat all the time, I didn’t digest it well and I personally didn’t feel well.

What’s a girl like me to do?

Through my experience, I’ve gained a very clear understanding regarding food and it’s connections with weight management by using it as a tool for healing and sustaining healthy living.  

My expert information this:

Learn your body and understand what makes it tick.  Write in a food journal to see what makes you feel good/bad.  This will help you find out what foods are helpful to you.

Listen to your body’s cravings.  And not the chocolate cravings; your body doesn’t NEED this all the time.  But get in tune with your body because the more aware you are, the better you can identify a real food craving which is your body is telling you it needs…because sometimes it is chocolate.

Monitor your food intake, limit your portions, and balance your food choices.

And remember- be a potato every now and again, but make sure you’re a carrot too.

Liv Your Truth!

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