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(public domain image from www.pixabay.com)
“There are quite a number of authoritative texts in Yoga and Ayurvedic treatises that prescribe Yogic practices for pregnant ladies, both in good health and for those who are not. My own experience shows that such a practice is of considerable benefit to the mother, the unborn child and the child when born.” - T. Krishnamacharya, Essence of Yoga
I just finished a workshop on Yoga and Pregnancy. It was highly informative for me as a yoga teacher and given me some great tools, poses, approaches to use for pregnant women who come to my public classes. Here are ten ways yoga definitely helps during pregnancy:
1. Yoga helps a woman's body adjust to the many changes during pregnancy.
2. Yoga strengthens the main muscles necessary for pregnancy and delivery - those of the pelvic floor, hips and abdominal muscles.
3. Yoga relieves common physical discomforts of pregnancy - lower back pain, insomnia, fatigue.
4. Yoga balances mood shifts due to hormonal changes.
5. Yoga increases pain tolerance.
6. Yoga encourages better, more efficient breathing, something which is vitally important during labor.
7. Yoga, especially in restorative poses, brings comfort to body, mind, spirit and emotions.
8. Yoga empowers women to become more in tune with their bodies and this creates greater pregnancy confidence.
9. Yoga promotes better sleep and greater restfulness.
10. Yoga builds a healthy pregnancy which, in turn, results in a healthy baby.
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Getting regular restful sleep is an essential key to staying healthy and vital, yet it is so
often neglected or underemphasized. There is even a tendency for people to boast about how little sleep they can get by on. In reality, a lack of restful sleep disrupts the body’s innate balance, weakens our immune system, and speeds up the aging process. - Deepak Chopra
often neglected or underemphasized. There is even a tendency for people to boast about how little sleep they can get by on. In reality, a lack of restful sleep disrupts the body’s innate balance, weakens our immune system, and speeds up the aging process. - Deepak Chopra
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The ninth-century Zen master Chin Lee instructed, “if you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.” In his essay “Killing the Buddha,” author and neuroscientist Sam Harris explains that in spite of the violent language, the sentence makes this invaluable point: "to turn the Buddha into a religious fetish is to miss the essence of what he taught.”
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Never wrestle with the mind. When the mind is jumping and wandering much, make no violent effort to control it but rather allow it to run along for a while and exhaust its efforts.
It will take advantage of the opportunity and will jump around like an unchained monkey at first. Then it will gradually become quiet and look to you for orders. - Swami Sivananda
It will take advantage of the opportunity and will jump around like an unchained monkey at first. Then it will gradually become quiet and look to you for orders. - Swami Sivananda
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1. They express gratitude. When people were told to write and then personally deliver a letter of gratitude to someone who had been especially kind to them, but whom they had never thanked properly, they experienced a huge increase in happiness, according to a study at the University of Pennsylvania. Even more, that happiness boost lasted an entire month.
2. They smile more. Smiling does more than make us look happy—it makes us feel happy, too. Studies have found that smiling has provides a variety of psychological and physical benefits including: lowering stress levels, improving your mood, and helping you make more friends. Researchers believe that this is because smiling reduces stress hormones and makes you appear more approachable.
3. They forgive. Although it may be easier said than done, learning to forgive instead of holding a grudge leads to a more positive lifestyle, says David Mezzapelle, author of Contagious Optimism. “Make peace with your past so that it won’t spoil the present. Once you accomplish this, you will close those chapters and live a more positive and happy life.”
4. They write down good things which come into their lives. Those who pay attention to the positive and write down the good which comes their way tend to be happier notes psychologist Amy Przeworski, PhD. Even if it wasn’t a particularly great day, try to find something positive to say about it, she advises. “Most situations can be seen in both a positive and negative light. You just have to find the positive one and keep reminding yourself of it in order to eventually believe it.” Taking time to write down positive experiences is a way of training the brain to be more optimistic in general. And, the benefits of being a positive person extend far beyond the writing exercise. A study of Catholic nuns who journaled regularly found that those who focused on more uplifting content ended up living longer.
5. They spend time around positive people.
One study reported that forty-eight percent of the women surveyed strongly agreed that they are happier when around optimistic people. Good moods are contagious, as are bad ones.
Associating with positive people breeds more positivity in your own life. It’s an upward spiral rather than a downward one when spending too much time with negative individuals.
(feel free to re-post and/or link to your social media)
2. They smile more. Smiling does more than make us look happy—it makes us feel happy, too. Studies have found that smiling has provides a variety of psychological and physical benefits including: lowering stress levels, improving your mood, and helping you make more friends. Researchers believe that this is because smiling reduces stress hormones and makes you appear more approachable.
3. They forgive. Although it may be easier said than done, learning to forgive instead of holding a grudge leads to a more positive lifestyle, says David Mezzapelle, author of Contagious Optimism. “Make peace with your past so that it won’t spoil the present. Once you accomplish this, you will close those chapters and live a more positive and happy life.”
4. They write down good things which come into their lives. Those who pay attention to the positive and write down the good which comes their way tend to be happier notes psychologist Amy Przeworski, PhD. Even if it wasn’t a particularly great day, try to find something positive to say about it, she advises. “Most situations can be seen in both a positive and negative light. You just have to find the positive one and keep reminding yourself of it in order to eventually believe it.” Taking time to write down positive experiences is a way of training the brain to be more optimistic in general. And, the benefits of being a positive person extend far beyond the writing exercise. A study of Catholic nuns who journaled regularly found that those who focused on more uplifting content ended up living longer.
5. They spend time around positive people.
One study reported that forty-eight percent of the women surveyed strongly agreed that they are happier when around optimistic people. Good moods are contagious, as are bad ones.
Associating with positive people breeds more positivity in your own life. It’s an upward spiral rather than a downward one when spending too much time with negative individuals.
(feel free to re-post and/or link to your social media)
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In hard times when you get distracted and reactive, stop. Breathe. Invite mindfulness. Mindfulness sees kindly, without reacting. You know how. - Jack Kornfield
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Yoga is a spiritual tradition
which seeks to bestow
happiness and inner freedom
rather than merely
physical fitness and health.
- Georg Feuerstein
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When you feel diligent and enthusiastic you meditate, and when you feel lazy you meditate. — Ajahn Chah
(My comment: It doesn't matter how you feel when it comes to meditate; just sit)
(My comment: It doesn't matter how you feel when it comes to meditate; just sit)
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I usually recommend that people learn a traditional meditation practice from a qualified instructor. That way, you know exactly what to do at any point in meditation and with any experience that comes along. Often when people try to learn on their own or from a book, they learn incorrectly and soon give up in frustration because they aren’t experiencing the expected benefits. - Deepak Chopra
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In the past several years, America has embraced values that cannot create a sustainable society and world. Currently, we organize our activities around beliefs that are inherently life-destroying. We believe that growth can be endless, that competition creates healthy relationships, that consumption need have no limits, that meaning is found in things, that aggression brings peace. Societies that use these values end up, as do all voracious predators in nature, dead.
I know that most Americans would be shocked at this list of national values, but I see them clearly in our behaviors and the choices we make. I also know that this is not who we want to be. So how did we get here? What happened to our ideals of life, liberty, democracy, independence, imagination? - Margaret Wheatley
I know that most Americans would be shocked at this list of national values, but I see them clearly in our behaviors and the choices we make. I also know that this is not who we want to be. So how did we get here? What happened to our ideals of life, liberty, democracy, independence, imagination? - Margaret Wheatley