Yoga for Your Pregnancy

I wanted to quickly post about a prenatal yoga DVD I got for my birthday and absolutely LOVE! It is Yoga for Your Pregnancy by Yoga Journal & Lamaze. The video has multiple practices, which makes it a wonderful value for your money--there is an energizing practice, a relaxing practice, a postpartum practice and then quick practices of meditation for pregnancy, pranayama for pregnancy, and birthing room yoga. I adore the birthing room yoga segment. So good! It is only five minutes long and is perfect to use in birth classes. I've already incorporated it into my classes and it is wonderful. I bought this video specifically for ideas to use in birth classes--which is fulfilled perfectly with that great little segment--but was pleasantly surprised that I LOVE doing each of the practices as my own morning yoga routine. I'm not pregnant and find the practices really, really good even for not-pregnant people. They have a great balance of some challenge along with restorative, gentleness (they have modifications for people further along in pregnancy). The postpartum practice is really quite a workout, which was a surprise to me. Anyway, I just really enjoy this video!

There is an interview with the instructor as one of the bonus features and she talks about her planned homebirth which progressed very quickly and so she ended up having an unplanned unassisted birth, which I thought was cool. She also talks about using hypnosis to prepare for birth. Ever since I "met" Sheridan online, my ears perk up whenever I hear someone mention using hypnosis in labor!

As far as books, I only finished reading The Very Important Pregnancy Program by Gail Brewer. I didn't really like it that much. The emphasis on nutrition was intense! I recognize that nutrition is very important, but I wonder if it is the total end all be all that this book presents! Also, basically I collect books like this in order to glean new information or coping techniques to share in birth classes. I was interested that in this ENTIRE book there was basically ONE coping strategy, which was to do progressive relaxation in which a "wave" of relaxation passes through your body during each contraction. She even says that this technique might get "boring" since you have to do it for several hours of contractions, but doesn't really offer anything else! I forget that some approaches to birth preparation are much more passive than my own approach--the emphasis of this book, and in the Bradley book, is to lie still on your side basically the whole labor doing this relaxation technique the whole time. No thanks!

More Random Reads.. .

I'm pretty behind on entries about books I've read, so I'm going to do a quick catch up post. In the last two weeks or so, I've also read:

Amy's Answering Machine--I bought this at Goodwill yesterday for 20 cents and read it in about 20 minutes last night. Funny little book--totally lightweight, but made me laugh out loud! It is basically a series of transcripts from messages the author's mother has left on her answering machine.

The Highly Sensitive Person--I got this book from Bookins. I have read it before, but it has been several years. This book helps me understand why I'm so BUGGED by extraneous noises (ones that compete for space inside my brain. Not good at shutting them out) and also why I'm not a big fan of music (lots of HSP's are fans of music, but for me it is the competing for space issue). Also how it is possible that I feel like an extrovert and an introvert at the same time. I LOVE being with people, but I also get drained by it and HAVE to be alone and SILENT. The silent thing is hard to come by as a mother of little ones and this book helps me understand why I feel that need for silence and why I get frazzled without it.

The Unitarian Universalist Pocket Guide--Got this one from a friend at playgroup. Last year we started sporadically attending the local UU Fellowship. I've felt an instant kinship with the UU approach and philosophy and beliefs statements. I joked to M that UU should be the "official" religion of social work, since the "what we believe" statement from the UU church could practically have been lifted from the social work code of ethics (NASW). Then, reading this book I learned that one of the early UUs in the US was none other than Jane Addams, the "mother of social work." Hee hee! I KNEW it!

Secrets on 26th Street--This was another little AG "history mystery" that I got for Christmas (that I bought myself on clearance a long time ago). The mystery in this one was more engaging than in the other one I recently read, but no nursing of babies in this one!

Baby & Mom Prenatal Yoga--This is a DVD I bought at Goodwill. I read the reviews on Amazon before I watched it, which I shouldn't have, because it gave me preconceived notions. Anyway, the reviews were pretty evenly divided between "this video is WAY too new agey and I hated it" and "this video was so cool and made me feel so close to my baby." So, I was kind of excited to watch it because the negative reviews mentioned (and critiqued) things like "primal dancing" and "chanting" and I was like, cool! Then I watched it and was sad to agree with the bad reviews. This was too new agey for me. Plus, it barely resembled yoga at all. In small print on the box it says "simple and effective exercises for expectant moms." That was much more accurate. There was no recognizable prenatal yoga in the video at all. There was an interesting exercise where you alternately raised your arms in the air and back down (in rhythm) for 3 minutes without stopping. It sort of an example of coping with pain, I guess. It was HARD! I was surprised.