My personal yoga practice has served me well during a time I was making a huge life transition into a new role - mother.
Becoming a mother amplified the importance of the choices I make because I became aware that they not only affect me, but also my baby. Channeling certain aspects of yogic philosophy has played an integral part in helping bring awareness to the choices I needed to make. These yogic principles teach what it means to do no-harm to one’s self, mind and body as well as others, it also teaches what it means to be content and the importance of surrender. These principles also discuss the importance of truthfulness, and the ability of being honest with ourselves.
Practicing these yogic principles have guided me in making other choices in life, such as being more mindful of what I consumed and my lifestyle choices prior to pregnancy; however, I still had to pause and re-evaluate my choices because I wanted to give my babies the best foundation of health possible.
How did my yoga practice help me do this?
As someone who chose an “unconventional” way to birth (at home, in water and without interventions) - I was met with: “are you crazy?!” “Just go for the drugs!” “Is that even safe?” ...and it goes on and on.
The thing is, while these comments and opinions were most likely coming from a good place, I’ve realized I had to empower myself with knowledge, research, and a deeper understanding of how the different aspects of my self interacted (mind, body and soul). Though well meaning, these comments were coming from a place of social conditioning rather than knowledge of what is really optimal for health and well being. The practice of yoga and yogic principles gave me the power to hold my ground and not give in to the seeds of doubt.
This meant…
… I had to do the work to reframe the birthing experience. How can I reframe society’s portrayal of birth as an unsafe and scary event, into a safe and positive one? Have you noticed we are inundated with negative birth stories through the media? Why do we focus on all the things that could go wrong, instead of all the things that can go right?
…I had to learn how my mind, body and soul all play a role in the overall pregnancy and birth experience. How can I nourish all of these aspects of myself for an optimal experience?
…I had to learn how the people I allowed in the birthing room would impact my experience. I had to think about what kind of energy I wanted around me during my postpartum period. This is all about setting healthy boundaries with love.
Yoga has not only seen me through just pregnancy and birth, but has been supportive in my postpartum period. Without diving into too much detail here, I had intense anxious feelings for 3 months after having my 1st child. This was totally understandable as I was navigating this new life with a little human, and I was just in survival mode. I wasn’t putting myself first (I bet this is a common 1st time mom mistake). I made it a duty to turn that around, and started nourishing all the aspects of myself - so I got back into my yoga practice! This was the thing that grounded me back into my body and got me feeling like myself again. With my 2nd, I made sure to stay disciplined in my practice, especially shortly after giving birth. What a difference it made!
Why is any of this important? Because in order to ensure my kids got the best of me, I had to focus on making sure I was showing up for myself and continually working on being the best version of myself. Yoga helped me to do just this.
That’s why I’ve created the Enlightened Pregnancy, Birth and Beyond Workshop - to help teach mamas-to-be how yoga can support their transition into motherhood. This workshop is designed to equip mamas with the tools and practices that can be implemented right away and be consistently used to optimize their pregnancy, birth and beyond experiences. I also address all of the above in more detail, the yogic philosophy and principles behind these choices that have helped me to navigate my journey into motherhood, and how they can be applied to your experience as well.
Join me and an intimate group of women on the same path to optimizing their journey into motherhood!