Ana Davis Blog http://www.anadavis.com/blog?task=feed&type=rss 2012-04-30 10:00:00 English (United Kingdom) hourly 1 Yoga for Miscarriage: healing the scars /blog/2012/04/30/34-yoga-for-miscarriage-healing-the-scars- /blog/2012/04/30/34-yoga-for-miscarriage-healing-the-scars-#comment Ana The emotional scars of miscarriage can remain long after the body has healed. This is why yoga, with its holistic, mind-body approach, can be a wonderful support for

The emotional scars of miscarriage can remain long after the body has healed. This is why yoga, with its holistic, mind-body approach, can be a wonderful support for a woman in healing both her body and her emotions after this distressing event.

Yoga may be safely practiced, with some modifications, a short time after the event. While the woman is still bleeding, she will need to practice only very gentle restorative postures such as supta baddha konasana (reclining coblers posture: see figure #1) and supported child pose (see figure #2).   She may find it helpful to relieve abdominal pain and congestion by placing a heat-pack or hot-water bottle on her abdomen in supine postures like supta baddha konasana (see figure #1), and on her sacrum, in the supported child posture (see figure #2.

Yoga Nidra and gentle pranayama exercises (that do not over-activate the abdominal area) may also be helpful in relaxing her, relieving trauma symptoms, and supporting her overall healing and rejuvenation.

Once bleeding has ceased and it has been confirmed that her uterus has completed the process of miscarriage, she may begin to introduce a few more postures into her practice.   Gentle inversions such as Viparita Karani (legs-up-the-wall) on a bolster (see figure #3) and gentle, half shoulderstand (see figure #4) may be beneficial in helping her uterus tone and realign, and in re-toning the pelvic floor.   Gentle bridge postures either active or with a brick or bolster under the sacrum (see figure #5), will also be beneficial.

It’s important that she proceeds gradually and gently in her practice and avoids postures that may cause strain to the abdominal organs. So, twists, abdominal toning exercises, deep forward bends and dynamic backbends should be gradually introduced, and not until at least two- three weeks post-miscarriage.

The woman will need time to grieve and release her energy around this little spirit that has left her body.   A version of savasana in which she lies prone, on double bolsters (see figure #6) can feel very safe and nurturing for her, and may allow her the opportunity for a deep release, particularly if she sighs out her breath through an open mouth and mentally repeats a simple mantra such as “let go..”

In any meditations and self-reflection time, she needs to encourage an attitude of self-love, nurture and acceptance.   Feeling any sense of self-responsibility, blame or guilt around the miscarriage is unhelpful and will only impede her healing process.  

Most importantly, as with any grieving, the healing will take time, and she needs to create space around this for herself, and hopefully avail herself of the support of loved ones, and professionals, if necessary.

Other resources:  Ana's Online Yoga for Menstruation practice is a beautiful restorative practice suitable for recovery from miscarriage

Figure #1                                    Figure #2                       Figure #3              Figure #4

supta baddhakonasanaadho mukha virasanaviparita karaniHalfShoulderStandlowres


Figure #5                           Figure #6

bolsterbridgelowresDoubleChildPose

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 10:00:00 -0500 /blog/2012/04/30/34-yoga-for-miscarriage-healing-the-scars- http://www.anadavis.com/blog?task=feed&type=rss2&id=34 6 tips for Conscious Conception /blog/2012/04/29/33-conscious-conception- /blog/2012/04/29/33-conscious-conception-#comment Ana Conceiving consciously allows you to prepare yourself and your partner more fully for your journey through pregnancy, birth and parenting. You are able to create optimal conditions to bring new life into your body and into the world.

Conceiving consciously allows you to prepare yourself and your partner more fully for your journey through pregnancy, birth and parenting. You are able to create optimal conditions to bring new life into your body and into the world.

Bliss Baby Teacher and co-creator of Tantric Mama, Rosie Matheson, shares her 6 tips for conscious conception. 

1. Clearing the old 

It is important to deal with old issues and fears, in order to let go of stagnant energies and stories that are not serving you. Let go of what you are certain you don't want to pass onto your own children. Think about what you have taken from your parents that you would love give up. I bet there are certain issues that you’d have liked them to sort out before you arrived. You can do this for your children now. This is something for yourself, and your partner to spend time looking into. Like everything in this realm every person’s path is very individual. The way you choose to go out about this process might differ greatly from your partner so be sure to find the tools that work best for you personally.

A few suggestions: body work, hypnosis, counseling, emotional freedom technique, theta healing, breath work, journaling, Sedona method (www.sedona.com), yoga, meditation, and simply bringing your awareness to old unwanted habits and replacing them with new choices.

2. Optimizing your pre-conception health

Making sure you are healthy is the best foundation for your baby’s health. The months prior to conception are best for any detoxing or fasting that you might want to do in order to release built up toxins and prepare your body to be a clean slate for pregnancy. This is also the ideal time to make any big changes such as quitting drinking or smoking, becoming vegetarian or making any other major changes your diet. Doing this before conception allows you time to release old emotions or physical toxins associated with these changes.

Increase your intake of folic acid this is good to do in the months prior to conception but becomes especially important around the time of ovulation and the 2 weeks following once you are actively aiming for conception. Folic acid supports neural tube development. The neural tube is the precursor to the central nervous system and begins to form within the first two weeks of conception. Some suggestions for foods high in folic acid are: broccoli and spinach (ideally raw), avocado, beetroot, lentils, and tahini.

Also, an alkaline diet supports fertility best. This is created through cutting down as much as possible on acidic foods like meat, dairy, coffee, caffeine in general and sweets as well as highly processed foods. Stress also increases acidity in your body so it is equally important right now to cultivate both internal and external support systems. Eating plenty of fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains is ideal to alkalize your body. Also fresh juices are a great way to get in heaps of extra vitamins, minerals and goodness. Become more aware of pesticides and treatments used on your food, choose organic where you can leaving your body free of unnecessary chemicals. A good diet is as important for you as it is for your partner.

3.Strengthening your relationship 

Invest extra love and time to really explore and improve your relationship with your partner. Work with honesty to release unhealthy dynamics and patterns. Think about the kind of example you want to set for your children? They will learn about relationships from you first. What do you want to model? As well as clearing out old habits now is a great time to create new ones. Experiment with new ways of relating and connecting with each other. A few suggestions: Trust games, partner meditation, Tantra, counseling and nonviolent, communication www.cnvc.org.

It is also helpful to acknowledge and appreciate the innate differences between men and women, two books we love that explore this are; Men are From Mars Women are from Venus by John Gray, and Why men don’t listen and women can’t read maps by Allan & Barbara Pease.

4. Strengthening your relationship with yourself 

Connect more deeply with yourself; the time before pregnancy and birth is such precious ‘you time’. Enjoy it! Use the tools available to you that allow you to find a stronger sense of inner calm, self love and joy. These could be yoga, art, dance, cooking, walking in nature, meditation, or journaling.

Practice self love and acceptance every chance you remember. The greater your capacity to be compassionate with yourself, the greater your capacity to be compassionate with others. This is especially important for your new little being. Throughout your entire journey we really encourage you to do your own home work and above all listen to your intuition. Remember to check in with yourself a few times on big issues to be sure you're really hearing your intuition and not your fear or social conditioning. 

5. Preparing for the big picture: parenting 

Start talking about the big picture with your partner.  Openly discuss parenting styles, schooling, immunization, circumcision etc.  Get clear on things now in order to avoid unnecessary pain and tension during pregnancy, and early parenting. Do your homework on all of these topics, question yourselves and each other to be sure the choices you’re making are conscious and compassionate and not made simply based on social norms or by your auto pilot systems.

6. Knowledge is Power 

Start reading pregnancy, birth and parenting books now before your brain turns all beautifully gooey upon conception (natures wonderful design to encourage us to go inwards during pregnancy). Preparation allows for a much smoother flow and for greater harmony for everyone as well as for deeper confidence.

Stay tuned next month for Rosie's beautiful 'womb' meditation for conscious conception. 

Rosie Matheson and Ana Davis will be offering a Fertility Yoga & Conscious Conception workshop in Melbourne in August.  Read here for more information. 

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 10:00:00 -0500 /blog/2012/04/29/33-conscious-conception- http://www.anadavis.com/blog?task=feed&type=rss2&id=33 To supine or not to supine, that is the question! /blog/2012/04/09/31-whether-to-practise-supine-yoga-postures-during-pregnancy- /blog/2012/04/09/31-whether-to-practise-supine-yoga-postures-during-pregnancy-#comment Ana Some thoughts on practising supine yoga postures during pregnancy.. It has generally been understood that it’s not appropriate for a pregnant yoga student to practice any supine positions (ie: lying on h

Some thoughts on practising supine yoga postures during pregnancy..

It has generally been understood that it’s not appropriate for a pregnant yoga student to practice any supine positions (ie: lying on her back) for a prolonged period of time, after the 14th week of her pregnancy.   It’s a given in our prenatal yoga teacher training courses that we recommend you have your pregnant students lie on their side for savasana (supine relaxation practice) or,  that they adopt an  inclined supported position such as the ‘armchair queen’ posture.   The same goes for any normally-supine, pranayama (breathing) practices.  

As we know, the reasViparita Karani 5 1on we avoid lying on our backs during pregnancy is due to something called ‘vena caval syndrome’ or otherwise known as ‘pregnancy hypotension’, in which the weight of the pregnant uterus can compress the vein that runs up the right side of the body and potentially restrict the blood flow for mother and baby. 

However, due to the latest information coming from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (ACOG), the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecolgists of Canada  (SOGC)  and the Association for Chartered Physiotherapists in Women’s Health,  which states that a pregnant woman should completely avoid lying on her back, even for a short period, we’re having to re-think our approach in the practice and teaching of prenatal yoga.  

On researching further, I have also discovered that the medical recommendation is to avoid even the modifications of raising the hips up on a bolster or block, for example in Viparita Karani, ‘ legs up the wall’ (see diagram above), or supported  Settu Bhandasana, ‘bridge pose’ (see diagram below) .   I consulted with experienced midwife and Bliss Baby Prenatal Teacher Graduate,  Vicki Thomson, and this is what she said about this:

“I have spent many hours researching this area and there seems to be little substantial evidence that supine position in pregnant women is dangerous, but I thought to those that it is [with the benign (women asymptomatic) type] it is not worth the risk because they may in the course of their pregnancies spend extended time in these asanas. Also Midwives and Obstetricians are professionally bound to have 'evidence based practice' so they are not prepaSupine Pevlic Lift with block 3red to change until research supports change.”

She continues: “I have spoken with a few Obstetricians who agree with my logic that raising the hips will not prevent supine hypertension as the compression is between the spine and the gravid uterus and elevation wont alter this. I asked this without giving my thoughts first.”

So… the upshot is, that we need to take care when teaching our pregnant students postures like Viparita Karani, ‘legs up the wall’ (see diagram above), even with a bolster under her  pelvis,  and supported settu bhanda, ‘bridge pose’. 

In my teaching and my own practice, the best guide for safety has always been the intuition – tuning into the pregnant body and adjusting or avoiding a posture depending on how the woman is feeling and responding to the posture.   I know that in my own pregnancy, simply by raising the hips so that the uterus and chest were not on the same plane, meant that I no longer experienced the common vena cava compression symptoms of dizziness and discomfort. 

Many experienced prenatal yoga teachers still support the use of these postures during pregnancy.  For example in Geeta S. Iyengar’s latest publication, “Iyengar Yoga for Motherhood” (published in 2010) she recommends the practice of Viparita Karani, ‘legs up the wall’, (among other inversions) as extremely beneficial during pregnancy.

Personally I think it’s a great shame that we lose so many potential benefits from this gentle inversion, by eliminating this posture altogether from our prenatal repertoire.

According to Geeta Iyengar,  inversions, like viparita karani “bring about harmony among the circulatory, endocrinologic, and nervous systems and improve the health of the nervous and respiratory systems.  They help regulate blood pressure and improve blood supply, distribution, and circulation which helps prevent varicose veins.” 

However, we do live in litigious times and we need to be extra vigilant as alternative health care professionals to always conduct ourselves with professional responsibility and care with our students.

Perhaps a good compromise, so that we don’t end up – please pardon the pun - ‘throwing the baby out with the bath-water’, is to adapt the postures accordingly.  One way we might do this with Viparita Karini is to prop up the upper body with an inclined bolster (s)  whilst still having the  legs raised up a wall or even have the calves resting on the seat of the chair, so the body is in a kind of supported v-shape.   Play around with this variation with your pregnant students and see how they like it. 

Finally, I want to make an important note that the latest information from the aforementioned Obstetrician associations suggests that even the other supine- modification that we regularly employ in prenatal yoga with the torso raised on an inclined bolster (with a brick or another bolster raising up one end of the bolster) should not be practiced from the 38th week of pregnancy.    So, to be on the safe side, we will need to recommend these pregnant students sit upright (against a wall, for instance for support) or lie on the left side (optimal side),  when we are having the other women, who are earlier in their pregnancy, practice a posture like supta baddha konasana, ‘inclined groin stretch’ ,   or the arm-chair queen posture ( for diagram, see article: "Feel Good Mamma: Restorative Yoga for Mums-to-be") . 

Do feel free to contact us with any questions or comments on this issue of, “to supine or not to supine”. 

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 10:00:00 -0500 /blog/2012/04/09/31-whether-to-practise-supine-yoga-postures-during-pregnancy- http://www.anadavis.com/blog?task=feed&type=rss2&id=31 Spoilt for choice: so many wonderful teachers! /blog/2012/03/29/30-a-variety-of-experienced-womens-health-teachers-for-the-bliss-baby-100-hr-prenatal-and-postnatal-yoga-teacher-training- /blog/2012/03/29/30-a-variety-of-experienced-womens-health-teachers-for-the-bliss-baby-100-hr-prenatal-and-postnatal-yoga-teacher-training-#comment Ana I just LOVE working with amazing women who are as passionate as I am about yoga for women’s health.  That’s why I’ve pulled together an exceptional team of women’s healt

I just LOVE working with amazing women who are as passionate as I am about yoga for women’s health.  That’s why I’ve pulled together an exceptional team of women’s health specialists for the upcoming 100 hour Prenatal & Postnatal Yoga Teacher Training in beautiful Byron Bay in June.

The idea is that in this fully residential 10-day course, you’ll have the unique opportunity to immerse yourself in all things yoga and mummy-related.  You’ll get to soak up the knowledge and experience of a rich and diverse faculty of course teachers providing you with all-important and comprehensive background information in this specialized area of women’s health. 

These teachers include the following specialists: -