If you’re finding yourself struggling with the stress of the changing season, consider giving these simple practices and mantras a try.
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Whole Mama Yoga Co-Founder & Lead Teacher Lauren discusses what it means to lean into winter by finding stillness. Our annual day-long Winter Retreat offers just that.
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Our Co-Founders, Lauren & Alexandra, dive deep into what they love about leading our yoga teacher training, what they learn from our students & why they are SO excited to be returning to in-person learning this year!
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What happens in a prenatal yoga teacher training is the same thing that happens in a prenatal yoga class. Connection happens. When people connect with one another, just as in ALL of life, we discover that differences don't make us better or worse. They MAKE us, sure. And that realization that our stories are all important is a point of connection that happens so easily in a space of self-discovery and disclosure and vulnerability and community, all of which is fostered in both prenatal yoga class and yoga teacher training.
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When Lauren and I started co-teaching as Whole Mama Yoga nearly 7 years ago, my passion was teaching newly postpartum women and birth parents. That time period was so overwhelming for me personally, so coming out of early motherhood and back into "real life," I knew I wanted to serve women and parents in that same situation. I think that's why my favorite part of our Prenatal and Postpartum Yoga Teacher Training (PYTT) is facilitating the Postpartum portion of the training.
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Let’s talk about a pose that always feels good to my spine: thread the needle. This pose is accessible to nearly everyone. (Even pregnant, I loved this, although I elevated my head and shoulders on a blanket to make more space.) It’s a pose that allows for little shifts and micro movements that result in big sensations.
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Breathing isn’t as sexy-looking as the splits, or as bad-ass as an arm balance. But breathing is the foundation of your entire system- if you didn’t breathe, you would be dead. Breath doesn’t just keep you alive, though.
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If you can identify a pose that you avoid at all costs just as easily as you can identify one that brings you an internal sigh of relief, well, you’re not alone. Camel (Ustrasana) is totally my asana nemesis. Pigeon is a different story.
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There’s nothing easy about sitting or being quiet, in my opinion.
I’m writing this from a plane - both my husband and son are asleep. My nervous system is still in high gear after a 30-minute toddler meltdown. I’m not used to having much quiet time, and when I do get it I gravitate to my phone and scroll, check my work email, respond to that friend I’ve been meaning to respond to. My phone is full of to do’s.
What would it be like, to put it all down and just take a moment to be?
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Looking to shop small this holiday season? We’ve got your back! Here is a list of a few of our favorites - no sponsorships, no kick-backs - just things & businesses we really love. We hope it supports you this holiday season!
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Downward Facing Dog is one of my favorite poses. I teach this pose as both assessment and prescription. We can pause in downward facing dog and notice our baseline in each practice. Notice our energy, the tension we are holding in our bodies, the ways that we feel open. It is a pose that allows us to check in.
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One of the most powerful of the “simple poses” to me is Upward Salute. I love how this pose makes me feel, physically, emotionally, and mentally! Upward Salute is similar to Mountain Pose/Tadasana in that you are a standing tall and grounded with both feet on the mat. But, that’s where’s the similarities end for me.
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Mountain Pose is a seemingly simple pose with a lot of specificity and power. It is a pose that should make you feel confident, strong, balanced and grounded. It is a pose that should make you feel awesome (in fact, in my kids yoga classes I call it I Am Awesome Pose).
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When I think of rest, the first thing that comes to mind is how many things can get in the way of getting it. We can face so many logistical barriers to rest while balancing all our roles and responsibilities. Add a new pregnancy or newborn to the mix, and the list of barriers can really blossom. But, logistical barriers aren’t the only thing that get in the way of rest. Many of us struggle with internal barriers. Our beliefs about rest– for example –can seriously get in the way. There are three myths I have often encountered and am ready to part with.
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The past few weeks have been BUSY at our house. Lots of weekend yoga classes to teach and time for my husband, Doug, and I to catch up with our boys since we are working all week. This past Sunday, I very much wanted to lie down and do nothing, but that’s not really an option with 2 small boys – 2 and 4 years old.
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Our dear Erin is so intentional with her monthly themes. When she told us all that she planned to focus on rest this month, and tapped me to write our newsletter’s monthly greeting, it felt as close to kismet as writing a newsletter intro can feel. I LOVE rest. Over the years, I have come to claim it and own it and nestle into it. In a world where life moves at the pace of words I don’t even know because they were invented yesterday by people 20 years younger than me, rest is kind of anathema.
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October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. This is an important and tender month for many as we remember the pregnancies or babies we have lost. It’s a group I never wanted to be a part of, and my loss was much more difficult than I ever imagined.
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There’s a great irony of motherhood and parenthood. It starts in pregnancy and it continues until (well, from my experience until at least age 7, but I suspect much, much longer than that.) The irony is that although I am less active (less fit, ahem), and my life offers more chances to be sedentary (all those early months sitting and nursing, rocking, nurturing baby, all the days now of watching soccer and gymnastics), I am always tired. Despite all that sitting and ostensible restfulness, I am wandering through life in need of deep, deliberate rest.
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I am a working mother. I balance my flexible work schedule with my share of the domestic work required to run a household, the self-care required to resource my body, and my share of the caregiving required to love & nurture my two-year-old son. Sound familiar? This summer I found myself in a position of less work and more caregiving (but unfortunately the same number of laundry baskets full of clean clothes yet to be folded). Here is how I survived.
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Is there anything I can do to prevent diastasis recti during my pregnancy? No. Every pregnant person is going to have some sort of abdominal separation. It’s supposed to happen! While you may not be able to prevent DR, there are many things you can do DURING your pregnancy to set yourself up for optimal healing postpartum.
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