Yoga asana practised without breath awareness is dangerously close to a gymnastics class. Pranayama literally and metaphorically brings oxygen – and energy – into the body, as it flows from posture to posture. In life, breathing without thinking about it is taken for granted, but when giving birth it’s important to pay attention to the […]
OFP, Optimal Foetal Positioning, is just one of the many arcane acronyms that seem to fill pregnant life: PGP (Pelvic Girdle Pain), ROA (Right Occiput Anterior), LOA (Left Occiput Anterior), AIMS (Association for Improvements in the Maternity Services) and many, many more. If given a choice to pick my favourite, I would definitely go for
Home Practice after Week 13 Each day is different in pregnancy, not to mention the difference between trimesters. It is common to experience a boost of energy and strength between 16 and 34 weeks. Further down the line, imbalance and heaviness become noticeable and the body changes yet again, so it’s important to change your
There are many reasons to give yoga a go. My fellow Zen Monkey writer, Rob Cook, who’s never done yoga before is about to dive into yoga with both feet by doing 30 yoga classes in 30 days in July. An inspirational, if extreme, idea. You might have a friend who’s been saying how great
I hated backbends when I began practising yoga. They were soo hard and seemed unachievable for my stiff middle-aged body. But now I can’t get enough! I love the feeling of length in the front of the body; my hips opening into extension and my chest broadening and lifting. Sometimes I truly feel like I
Many people are attracted to yoga by its physicality rather than its spirituality. Teaching some simple deep breathing techniques is a great way to introduce pranayama to novice yogis. So What is Pranayama Anyway? In its simplest form, pranayama is just deep breathing. Yes, we can make it technical by using only one nostril, closing
Prenatal, Pregnant or Postnatal Yoga — these are not the same animal! Yes, you read that right. There are three different stages and they each require something different. Here is a quick skinny on how to approach each of them. If you’re curious about becoming a pregnancy yoga teacher, check out YogaLondon’s Pregnancy Yoga Teacher Training.
“I’ll have to take up knitting,” a sulking friend confessed to me several days ago. She just conceived, and the advice given to her was to avoid vigorous physical activity until at least the 12th week of pregnancy, after the first trimester. It sounded like a lifetime to a gym-bunny like her. To add insult
If you’re reading this because you’ve just had a baby – congratulations! And if you haven’t heard it yet, you and your body will never be the same again. Your body has achieved the miraculous; it has conceived, grown, protected, fed and then delivered a brand new human into the world. As a sideline, it
The Sacroiliac Joint, commonly known as the SIJ, is a wondrous thing. We have two of them. They are the joints that connect our legs to our spine. They are incredibly stable but can also move in all directions. They house the shortest ligament in the body and they are a really common, but often
