Yoga News
GRAND OPENING! OCTOBER 24TH, 2009
by Yoga Mama on Oct.02, 2009, under Community, Yoga, Yoga News, workshops
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How I Birthed Naturally Using Yoga
by Yoga Mama on Sep.13, 2009, under Spiral Mamas, Yoga, Yoga News
How I Birthed Naturally Using Yoga
By: Erin Weed
On August 18, 2009 I gave birth to our first baby – an 8 pound, 4 ounce, 22
inch long little boy named Miles. We planned a natural birth at the
Mountain Midwifery Center in Englewood, CO. (Which was the best decision my
husband and I ever made – the midwives are amazing!) But this post isn’t so
much about my birth story. It’s about 3 fundamental principles of yoga got
me through 8 hours of active labor and a successful delivery without any
pain medication. (To read my birth story, click here:
http://www.erinweed.com/2009/09/02/birth-story/)
Yoga has a place in birth, regardless how baby comes into the world -
whether it’s natural, using pain medication or via scheduled or emergency
c-section. The basic fundamentals roll into any stressful, painful or scary
situation (which most women feel at some point during the birth process),
and help keep us in the moment as the miracle of life unfolds. Below are
the 3 yogic lessons that I actively relied upon during my 8 hours of active
labor…I hope they help you too!
1. Choosing to be present.
I think all pregnant women should take pre-natal yoga classes at Spiral…and
they should also read a book called “Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle. When
feeling fear or pain, we naturally want to escape to some other time or
place. But during labor, there is no escape from the sensations that take
over (without medication), and this can cause great anxiety and fear. In my
case I had severe back labor, and I found no position gave me relief or
comfort. I found myself using breaks between surges to think about the pain
of the last contraction and to fear the next one on deck. This was a total
waste of energy, because I was using my rest period to get more stressed
out! Yoga helped me consciously identify this early on. As hard as it was,
I chose to ride the wave of a contraction as it happened, to bask in the
break when I had one, and to accept the new contraction as it arrived. (And
I emphasize that it’s a choice. A natural response to pain is to fight it,
but through yoga we can rise above our physical circumstances.)
2. Learning to surrender.
Because there was no escape from the pain, I learned to surrender to the
wisdom of my body. I found great hope and strength in my 6 year yoga
practice, recalling times when my teachers have assured us we could hold a
pose just 3 breaths longer – even when every muscle is shaking and you think
it’s impossible! I have yoga to thank for not only appreciating my body for
what it is, but knowing I can rely on it to get me through difficult
situations. Laura’s pre-natal classes specifically helped me surrender to
the greatness of the female body and what we are capable of.
3. Breathing.
I saved the most important yogic lesson for last. Without breath, there is
no life. And since birth is the act of bringing new life into this world,
there is no higher lesson. Pain can often lead to fear, which leads to
tension, which leads to one holding their breath. Ironically, this leads to
more pain, more fear and more tension…and complete and utter exhaustion as
your body fights itself. The midwives told me the #1 reason mamas transfer
from the birth center to the hospital is exhaustion, and I believe it.
Birth is like an endurance race…can you imagine finishing a marathon without
breathing? B.K.S. Iyengar once said, “When you inhale, you are taking the
strength from God. When you exhale, it represents the service you are
giving to the world.”
And what greater service can we provide as women, than to perpetuate life?
Hear ye, hear ye, NEW CLASSES ADDED!
by Yoga Mama on Aug.22, 2009, under Community, Spiral Mamas, Yoga, Yoga News
Yes, the fall is upon us, and we are launching several amazing classes; please keep checking back on our schedule, but here is what is in store:
SUNDAYS! 11:00-12:15 LISA SCHLELEIN Vinyasa Flow STARTS AUGUST 30th
THURSDAYS! 7:00-8:15pm REBECCA CHENOWETH Gentle Flow STARTS AUGUST 27th
THURSDAYS! 7:00-8:00am ALEX MOLDOVEANU Rise and Shine Yoga STARTS AUGUST 27th
TUESDAYS! 5:00-6:00pm SARAH GUENTHER Prenatal Yoga STARTS SEPTEMBER 1st
What else you can expect: The return of BETH SANCHEZ, amazing yogini, more classes with Laura Wade Jaster, and super-fun events including a fall open house…
Blissful Blessings!
MAKING A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE
by Yoga Mama on Jun.15, 2009, under Community, Seva/Service, Yoga News
Thank you to all of our students who helped us raise over $200 for midwifery services and birth kits for women in Ghana and Tibet. We also donated almost $200 to Yoga World Reach…you are making a world a difference!
New Events Coming – Checkout our schedule NEW Classes added.
by Yoga Mama on Jun.15, 2009, under Yoga, Yoga News
We are adding new events and classes to our already great schedule.
– WorkShops & Events –
Partner Yoga for Labor and Delivery
Co-facilitated by Brent Jaster, MD, and Laura Wade Jaster
Sunday, July 12th, 2-4:30pm
$40 in advance per couple, $50 at the door.
A fun and informative workshop for the expecting couple! Learn comfort measures, postpartum care guidelines, and enjoy one another before your little one arrives.
_______________________________________________
TWO AMAZING WORKSHOPS OFFERED BY LINDA BAIRD, MA, LPC:
EMBODYING THE DIVINE FEMININE
An 8-week journey of deepening into our Authentic Self through reflection and relationship with one another
Facilitated by Linda Baird, MA, LPC, Certified Hakomi Therapist
The Divine Feminine is the unseen dimension of soul to which we are connected through our instincts, feelings, and the longings of our heart. Too often this voice, aspect, part has been pushed aside or silenced by family or culture. Through the power of reflection and sharing in the group, we will help each other clear blockages and step into the magnificence we were all born with.
~ Intention of the group ~
We’ll come together as women who share a desire to be in the company of kindred souls in a sacred space to work through inquiries such as:
-
- Relationship to Self and power
- Relationship between Inner Feminine and Masculine
- Cultivating right livelihood and abundance
- Reclaiming authentic expression of Self
- Full embodiment of our gifts in order to give them back to the world
While there will be suggested experiential explorations, the group will decide where it wants to go.
~ When and where ~
Every other Thursday evening beginning July 23
(July 23, August 6, August 20, September 3, September 17, October 1, October 15 and October 29)
7:15-9 p.m.
Every other Thursday evening, 7:15-8:45pm
Starts July 23rd
_________________________________________
Couple’s Matrixworks weekend.
Description coming very soon!
August 7th-9th. $350 in advance, $400 at the door.
On site childcare may be provided, depending on need.
5 Foundational Elements with Drew Overholser
Saturday, July 19th, 2:00-5:00pm
Psychotherapy Goes from Couch to Yoga Mat
by Yoga Mama on Jun.04, 2009, under Yoga News
News article taken from Time.com – You can read the full article here
By ALANA B. ELIAS KORNFELD - Tuesday, Apr. 14, 2009
Talk. Share. Cry. Stretch? Psychotherapy has historically been an exercise of the mind, but in the offices of more and more modern-day mental-health providers, emotional healing is taking place not just on the couch but on the yoga mat.
The burgeoning field is called yoga therapy, and its practitioners include psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers who incorporate yoga poses and meditative breathing into their sessions, as well as yoga teachers who want to learn how to address the emotions that bubble up in students during class or in private sessions. The idea, say yoga therapists, is to allow yoga to empower people while priming them to access their deepest emotions.
A typical yoga-therapy session with Dr. Elizabeth Visceglia, a psychiatrist and yoga therapist based in New York City, often starts with some kind of breath work — energizing breaths for people who are depressed, balancing breaths for those with anxiety. Then patients practice yoga poses geared to their specific needs. People with severe posttraumatic stress disorder, for example, are prone to losing their sense of being in the room when they experience a vivid reliving of their trauma. So Visceglia has them hold simple grounding positions, like the warrior or chair pose, before transitioning into talk therapy.
“Emotional memories are stored in your body,” Visceglia says. “A group yoga class, is not structured to enable you to process that. Ideally one would want to work with someone who is paying attention to both the physical and emotional experiences.”
That’s the philosophy behind yoga therapy instruction at Phoenix Rising in West Stockbridge, Mass., where yoga therapists, who do not need to be mental-health practitioners, learn to address both the mind and body in one-on-one sessions and group classes. A Phoenix Rising yoga therapist puts clients in assisted yoga postures and does a kind of “verbal exploration” of the present moment. The yoga therapist acts as a witness to clients’ exploration, with empathy and positive regard for their experience.
The concept of healing the mind via the body, and vice versa, has been around for decades. “Freud used to work with hysterical women with unconscious conflicts that they couldn’t express through words,” says Visceglia. “Only through looking at the symptoms of their body [like phantom pregnancies] could they even get to what was psychologically needed for healing.”
Since the days of Freud, research into the mind-body relationship has come a long way. Studies show that not only are your mental health and mood dependent in large part on physical factors like exercise, but also unchecked stress, anxiety and depression can affect physical health, increasing blood pressure, heart disease and even risk of death. So it was perhaps inevitable that patients would start bringing their yoga mats into therapy.
The practice is quickly gaining popularity. There are now close to 50 schools of yoga offering yoga-therapy training in the U.S. And the International Association of Yoga Therapists has more than tripled its membership from 2003 to 2009, to about 2,500 members. “Now we have more licensed health-care providers, including psychologists, coming in who are interested in using yoga in their work,” says Kelly McGonigal, the editor in chief of theInternational Journal of Yoga Therapy.
In fact, yoga therapy may even offer some aid to psychiatry’s most intractable patients. Visceglia is in the process of analyzing data from a recent study she conducted at Bronx State Psychiatric Center on the effects of yoga therapy in people with chronic schizophrenia, some of whom have been hospitalized for 15 to 20 years. Her study suggests a decrease in negative symptoms and an increase in quality of life. The endocrine system and parasympathetic nervous system are out of whack in schizophrenia patients; yoga affects these systems, Visceglia says, leading to an increased overall feeling of calm.
That sense of peace is what Joan Stenzler, a licensed clinical social worker and a yoga teacher in Fresh Meadows, N.Y., tries to create in her sessions. In addition to using physical yoga poses, Stenzler teaches her clients about the five koshas, or layers of consciousness, in yoga: physical, energetic, mental-emotional, wisdom and bliss. “Each kosha represents one aspect of our existence or consciousness and can potentially be open and accessible to the individual, or blocked,” says Stenzler, who helps patients identify and free themselves from their areas of blockage.
“When I first came [to therapy] I was having a lot of anxiety and physical symptoms that made me feel trapped,” says Rachel W., a special-education teacher. “Through yoga, Joan helped me witness what I was experiencing and train myself to think past my body.”
But some experts are cautious about the combo therapy. Their main concern is safety: Are psychotherapists really equipped to teach yoga? “Yes, but only with extensive yoga training,” says Bo Forbes, a clinical psychologist, yoga teacher, and founder and director of the Center for Integrative Yoga Therapeutics in Boston. She believes that psychotherapists should have in-depth study of yoga and a strong background in anatomy and alignment to limit client injuries. Currently, there are no official licenses or standards of practice for yoga therapy.
Further, says Forbes, many mental-health experts who try yoga therapy may have a difficult time overcoming the mores of their profession. “As psychologists, we have been schooled against touch. For example, it can take work for the clinicians who go through our teacher-training programs to overcome that prohibition.”
Already, however, many therapists are guiding downward-dog poses in the office. Stenzler says yoga and psychotherapy make a perfect union — which is what yoga actually translates to in Sanskrit. “The goal and intention in psychotherapy is to support a patient to be who they always were. And that’s yoga! I’ve been doing it all along and didn’t realize,” Stenzler says