Really Pants

Om-my Goodness

Om-my goodness.

If someone had said to me 18 months ago that even with a big belly, I could have got myself bent in half with my belly and forehead both touching the floor, then I would have laughed. A lot. Very loudly. Read on…

But 6 months later, I was most certainly doing that – and many other seemingly impossible positions. Things that would have in fact, been nigh on impossible BEFORE I was pregnant. And yet – here I was, bending in all sorts of directions- and pregnant.

2 weeks before I got pregnant, the school I was teaching at, arranged for a yoga teacher to come and run an after school club for our year 4 and 5 children.

I had recently been considering trying it out as much for relaxation as for fitness purposes. I had heard good things about it and as I was really getting into Reiki and crystals by then, I felt like it would compliment the positive energy I was discovering.

So I went along, had a try and after one session, despite leaping around (as it was very much geared up for people under the age of 10), I felt fantastic and carried on. 3 weeks later and by the power of Clear blue, we got a positive result on a pregnancy test. So I thought that was it for me and yoga until after bubba had well and truly arrived.

How wrong was I. I shared the news with Julie( from http://www.yogalighthouse.co.uk/) who was running the course and she guided me to positions that were more suitable during those sessions. And also told me about a place I could start doing yoga for pregnancy, once I was 16 weeks.

So I rang up Hannah and Ameet at http://www.theyogahome.co.uk/ to get myself booked in.

I had the phone call when I was 17 weeks pregnant to say there was a place for me, so I took myself off to their wonderful yoga space in their converted loft, to begin trying to get my body in a suitable condition for pregnancy and child birth.

It was lovely as Hannah was also pregnant so we all really felt that she knew just where our bodies were at. When she went on her maternity leave, Ameet took over the sessions at a local community centre and the fun continued. And don’t be fooled, a man running a yoga for pregnancy course really does make sense! In fact, it was really interesting to kind of hear a male perspective on pregnancy and parenthood.

We all had chance to meet other pregnant ladies, at varying stages, and share worries, stories and experiences. One by one, we got larger and larger, and yet somehow got into more and more flexible positions. As well as that, we had plenty of chance for “yoga nidra” which in simple terms, is relaxation practises, and really helped us zone out from every day life. For me, it was really life changing and really helped me get past some stressful situations, as well as feeling an extra connection with my unborn baby.( we won’t mention that I couldn’t lie down for long because of the hideous heartburn …)

The kinship between the ladies was fantastic and we made some really great friendships that over a year later, are friendships that will hopefully last our life time, as well as our children’s.

When the babies were 10 weeks old, we started doing a class for mother and baby which we continued until they were crawling. MP really loved it and we still do many of the practises and songs at home now, as well as watching Waybuloo on Cbeebies which features children using yoga positions. We are hoping when she is a bit bigger that we can start going to a toddler yoga session as well.

We also had chance to do a “yoga birthing class” which basically helped us as a couple, work together to get through labour. The daddy to be was introduced to many of the things I was doing during the pregnancy classes and he was shown how he could support me using them. It was a really wonderful experience and we felt really connected in a new way after the class.

I am lucky enough to have a really chilled out, relaxed baby and I am sure that as much of that is to do with the fact I found space to chill out during my pregnancy and that we found that again together when she was born. Since then I have continued the Adult yoga for myself in an evening and I am far more flexible and feel more toned, (despite that little bit too wobbly belly), than I ever have in my life, not too mention seriously calm.

I have to say, it did cost me a good bit of my maternity pay to keep going to the classes, but it was definitely worth it. I missed out on the Health in pregnancy grant (http://campaigns2.direct.gov.uk/money4mum2be/en/ ) as it only started this year, but if it is still around when we have Baby 2, they may as well just write my cheque out and make it payable to the Yoga home. It just feels like a really good way to spend that bonus – because getting your physical and mental health right before the birth has got to be a good way of keeping it going afterwards, especially with all the excitement, emotion and fluctuating hormone levels of being a new mummy.

Not everyone can be lucky enough to practise yoga with Ameet and Hannah in Nottingham, but I am pretty sure there are super people teaching pregnancy yoga up and down the country.

If you check out the website for the British Wheel of Yoga at http://www.bwy.org.uk/ they have a link for finding a local yoga teacher, and I am sure that they would be able to find a registered teacher either for adult yoga or antenatal.

If you haven’t tried it before, I can’t recommend it enough. And if you are in Nottingham, then seriously, head for The Yoga Home.

Namaste