Day 8 Babe

Day 8 of my 30 day yoga challenge found me coughing so hard I almost threw up and praying to my netty pot for peace and forgiveness. I’m not terribly sick by any means, but my sinuses are a little funky, and they keep draining into my throat and doing that little tickly thing back there that makes me keep coughing. Just annoying enough to make me not want to work or do yoga. But…I hit the mat with “Sheevs” (that’s my recent nickname for Shiva, my fearless yogi teacher). I did the Hip Opening sequence on her Fluid Power DVD. It was good.  I like Fluid Power much better than the Shakti DVD.

Moving Meditation (A circular kind of jiggy warm up)
Fluid Sequence (Non-traditional sun salutes, with lots of planks and pulsations in the poses)
Another Fluid Sequence. Unsure of the name but this was a sequence I’ve practiced with Shiva before and LOVE. Lets see if I can describe it. From downward facing dog. You inhale right leg to the sky, exhale step it through between your hands, inhale turn both feet and body toward the right, left hand planted, right hand stretches parallel to the ground over the right leg. Next, exhale shift over the other leg for half squat hamstring stretch, inhale turn to back of mat, left knee bent, right knee planted on the mat, inhale into supine crescent lunge. Next, exhale hands to the floor, facing the back of the mat, step back into half-plank, left foot lifted, lower through chaturanga, inhale upward facing dog, exhale downward facing dog, BOOM start over on the same leg facing the back of the mat. Magical it is!
Handstand Flow
Backbend Flow
Meditation
Shavasana

It’s really hard to write out a yoga practice. I’m going to keep practicing this sequence this week and try to teach it in my classes so join me if you want some fun.
This is what my yoga challenge has looked like so far:

Day 1 – 90 min/Shiva DVD
Day 2 – 50 min/taught and practiced vinyasa
Day 3 – 60 min/Shiva DVD
Day 4 – 75 min/taught vinyasa, flu attacked me, sinus headache nonsense, but did a few poses on floor
Day 5 – 75 min/taught and practiced vinyasa
Day 6 – poi and hula hooping. yes they counted.
Day 7 – 10 min vinyasa in the warm sunshine. Until interrupted. ‘Tis life.

Babies are all around me these days. I’ve been blessed to have been close with my brothers when they were babies and I’m excited to see so many great friends start down the path of parenthood as well. I spent most of my youth baby sitting my brothers, then later being scared of everything being a parent implied. Now I am more in awe of the journey of life and am excited to experience it in whatever ways it touches me. I am excited by the opportunity to learn and share health and wellness with people of all shapes, sizes, and phases of life, including my fearless mama friends on the mat. I found the following articles that were pretty good. Here it is ladies:

1. Stay off the mat for 6-8 weeks, no joke. I have heard of women working out too quickly and the abs never get a chance to heal correctly. Let your body adjust. It took 40 weeks to grow the baby, give your body a chance to recover on it’s own.
2. Don’t forget to take care of yourself a little bit. Even though you’re responsible for a helpless little cutie pie and very driven by their schedule, it’s good to remember to take care of yourself a little bit. This is a great article with miscellaneous poses for mom and baby while adjusting to parenthood, Conditions and Cures for Both Mama and Babe, from Yoga Journal.
3. Here’s another article for teachers, but I think it’s got really great info for new mamas. It explains how exactly the body is recovering and what we can do to make it as painless as possible.
4. I also found some DVD’s.  Although I’d rather practice in the studio, DVD’s can be a great resource.  My girl Shiva even has a Post Natal DVD.  You can search Amazon for Pre/Post Natal, I was shocked at the number of DVD’s or Check out this list from Amazon.  It’s a list of yoga resources from a mama herself.