But this was actually really great for me.   I needed a weekend of intensive yoga – no teaching, just doing my own thing.  It was wonderful to take care of my hamstring and shoulder, and go at my own pace.   There was a sense of less ego and performance for me in this conference than I probably had 10 years ago at my last conference.   Injury and experience both will humble you, I guess!

I saw some teachers I’d studied with before and to whom I wanted to make a little pilgrimage.  David Swenson, Shiva Rea, and Beryl Bender Birch were all great, and it was nice to be in their energy again. Each one is so different!  It’s good to study with lots of people.

New for me was Desiree Rumbaugh, an Anusara teacher.   I have always liked Anusara, but just haven’t pursued training because I like a lot of other styles too.  I’d never studied with Desiree and I’m so glad I did!   She’s got a lot of energy, and she teaches well.   She reminds me of my teacher Amba with her infectious laugh and joie de vivre.  I did a handstanding workshop, and though I’m very proficient in handstands, I learned a little of the Anusara approach, which is definitely different than any other approach I’ve learned or intuited on my own.   I’m considering another workshop with Desiree later in the summer, because this short intro was not enough!

I also had an introduction to Julie Gudmestad, who had written the Anatomy column in Yoga Journal for forever!   She’s a physical therapist and yoga teacher, and I did a course with her on the rotator cuff.   It was great because my rotator cuff has been getting aggravated easily in the last few months.   She had some really helpful information, and in general, the conference helped me zone in a bit more on some of the things I am doing in my teaching that are probably contributing to the problem.

So, do I recommend conferences?   Yes!  But sparingly.  A conference once every 5 years or so is plenty for me.  If you’re interested in studying yoga more intensively, a conference is a good way to shop around for potential teachers, and could even be a good way to explore one topic with many teachers.   For example, if you wanted to work on arm balances, you could do a conference and pick sessions that help you learn a bit more about arm balances (word to the wise though – these conferences are tiring, so make sure you don’t injure yourself overdoing it!).

Once you have teachers you love, seek them out and learn from them.   Most teachers who inspire you will be a deep well of information and transformation, good to learn from several times over many years.   I think there’s beauty in going deep with one teacher or tradition, and while a conference doesn’t give you that, it’s a valuable sampling.

Now get on the mat!

Barrett

And then I read this article from the NYTimes two days ago, all about “babywearing” instead of strollering.   Very interesting!   Moms and Dads, what do you prefer?

Love and light,

Barrett

I realize that wherever you are in the world, it’s so important to find a community that can give you these kinds of resources.   I’m always learning from moms in my classes about new resources.   It got me thinking -

How do you find your community?  

1)     Go to movement class – preferably yoga!!   When you’re pregnant, it’s so helpful not only to move and breathe in pregnancy, but also to meet moms.  This goes for the postpartum period as well.   After my Friday afternoon new moms yoga class, participants go across the street to the local café to keep on talking.   I know many pregnant and new moms make walking/hiking dates, and even have girls’ nights out, baby-free!  

2)     When you’re pregnant, go to the new moms groups, like LaLecheLeague.  Going before you have your baby helps you scope out the best  resources ahead of time, while you still have time! 

3)     Consider taking  childbirth education classes earlier.  The trend these days is to take CBE classes all in one weekend later in the 3^rd trimester.   I recommend taking a 6 week series between your 2^nd-3^rd trimester (like 24-30 weeks).   You’ll interact more in a longer series, and you’ll have more opportunity to act on helpful information you receive (caregivers, test options, etc.)

4)      Keep hanging out with your non-parent friends.   Keeping this all in context is so important!!  In the first months postpartum, it’s difficult to talk about anything else besides babies.   Having some good friends around who have been with you through pregnancy will be invaluable in this time.   They’ll listen to you, but they’ll also help you with some non-baby conversation and stimulation!

5)     Get online.   There are a lot of virtual communities as well that can be a good source of support and information.  Nothing replaces real human connection, of course, but this can be a good adjunct.

I hope this helps moms in my local area, but also around the world.   Please pass along!

Love and light,

Barrett 

What’s not so well known is Nasya, and it’s been hugely helpful to me in this very dry start to winter.  Nasya are oil drops that you put in your nose whenever you’re feeling dry. If, like me, you wake up every morning, and your face feels like the Sahara, and you need to drink about 5 glasses of water before you feel like you’re not all dried up from the inside, then Nasya may help.   My nose has been totally dried out, which then leads to an overproduction of mucus throughout the morning, and some really gross nose blowing (when your sinuses and nasal passages get dried out, sometimes the mucus is bloody when you blow your nose.  Yep, too much information, I know).  

You can put any plain oil you’d like in your nose, and it will help with the dryness.  I recommend olive oil or sesame oil.   In Ayurveda  and yoga, however, Nasya is not just used for these medicinal purposes.   Nasya oil has some essential oils infused in it, including the famous Ayurvedic herb Brahmi, as well as Eucalyptus, and the combination together is said to promote awareness and concentration.    

I’m all for more awareness, so I’ve got a yoga tincture from Banyan Botanicals sitting on my desk.  It’s a nice morning ritual along with my several glasses of water.   I’ve found a good combo for me is using the Neti pot a once per week to help ward off flu and colds, and daily Nasya to keep the nasal passages happy.  I recently heard Dr. Oz recommend coating the inside of your nose with Vaseline before flying to eliminate germs coming in through the nose.  I have no idea if it works, but I’ll give it a try next time. 

Finally, I also have a great humidifier that I sleep with at night which has made life a lot better.   I kind of enjoy the white noise of the humidifier, and of course, not feeling like a prune every morning has been a definite bonus.

 Stay well oiled and not dried out this winter time!!  I’d love to write more on Ayurveda (and learn more myself) – anyone else interested in this over the winter?  Let me know!

Barrett

The article also talks about fresh and local produce being more accessible to kids in school and to residents through farm shares. 

It reminds me of this article earlier in the week, about a doctor who eats only organical food for 3 years.  He’s coming out with a new book on ”green” living during pregnancy.   Should be interesting!

It’s an amazing video for those of you thinking about your birth options, now or in the future.  It’s pretty well-balanced, interviewing a range of providers and families, but the central story it tells is about why giving birth, and the place you give birth and the way you give birth, is controversial.  And why it matters to many women and their partners.  

I want to recommend it to anyone who is planning on being pregnant in the next few years, or to anyone who cares about healthcare and access to a range of care options.  I found particularly compelling the parts of the documentary about how few birth centers there are, and about the lobbying actions of ACOG (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) to make homebirth illegal.  In Massachusetts, we had 3 birth centers when I started working in the prenatal field – one closed about 3 years ago, and 1 is on the  verge of closing now, as I’ve written about here in this blog.  That leaves only one left, the Cambridge Birth Center.   They are maxed out, filled to capacity, months in advance.   Clearly, there’s a desire on the part of women to avoid the excess of interventions in birth, and yet there’s little access to low-tech birth options.

Anyway, when I watch something like this, it confirms to me that prenatal yoga is more important than ever.  As you’re growing your baby, you need a safe and sacred space away from all the hype, and the fear, and the questioning.   Each of us need that space in our lives to be still and silent, and let our bodies’ wisdom shine forth.   I think if more women felt good about themselves, from yoga or childbirth education classes, or from positive, empowering visits with their midwives/doctors, then we’d have better outcomes for women and babies.    

I encourage you to watch the documentary – it’s compelling! Next on my list is to read Birth and Pushed.   Anyone read them?

We have been following the presidential elections for what seems like forever. And the time has come to actually cast our votes. I’d like to share with you in this post some of the resources I use to become a more informed voter.

Like many of you, Barrett and I have had many discussions about the political issues of the day; taxes, the economy, the wars, health care, and education. We’ve gossiped about the latest game changers and gaffs with our friends. And, we have poured over polls, political blogs, opinion pieces, and TV pundits views, but now it’s time to vote.

I’ve made up my mind about who to vote for President; however, on my ballot there will also be candidates for local races and ballot questions. In order to make a more informed decision I’ve gotten into a habit every two years of researching the details of my ballot.

So, here are some resources to help you vote mindfully.

1) Find out where to vote.

I highly recommend going to your state’s Secretary of State website. For those of you in Massachusetts you can find out where to vote at the where to vote link (this form is a little temperamental, but stick with it, the results are great).

2) Find out who is on your ballot.

Again the Secretary of State web site is likely a good source for this. In my case I was able to get a list of all the choices on my ballot. Here is what my ballot will look like.

Another site that has a fair bit of information on what you are likely to see on your ballot is votesmart.org. Here is a list of candidates and elected officials for my ward on their site.

3) Find out what the ballot questions are.

These are sometimes worded awkwardly so you aren’t entirely sure which way you are voting. I don’t think this is intentional, just a consequence of legalese and an attempt to be very precise. Sometimes it leads to not very readable prose.

Once again, I found the Secretary of State web site to be the best resource for finding out what the actual ballot measures are. I found the links on the left panel of this page (Question 1) provide the most detailed information about the ballot questions.

4) Finally, find out why.

I have found a couple of non-partisan sites that are somewhat useful for comparing candidates on the issues.

On votesmart.org candidates are asked to fill out a positions survey called the “Political Courage Test” (or “Issue Positions”). Unfortunately, few candidates have filled out this survey. To see how awesome these are check out my Congressman Michael Capuano’s positions or my State Legislator Alice K. Wolf’s.

Still there is a ton of other information on each candidates page that makes this site really helpful. Check out the candidates for this years Senate race in Massachusetts:

• Jeffrey K. Beatty (R)
• John F. Kerry (D)
• Robert J. Underwood (L)

Another decent site for positions of candidates is OnTheIssues.org. It’s definitely more geared towards national races but it still has good information about the candidates. For example, here are the pages for the candidates for this years Senate race in Massachusetts:

• Jeff Beatty (R)
• John Kerry (D)
• Bob Underwood (L)

I know I’ve thrown a lot of links at you, but I hope this information helps you learn in more detail what choices you have on Election Day.

Finally, I am not in any way claiming that these resources are the be all and end all. Rather I think they are something to start from. Do you have any other sites that you really like? If so, please let me know!

One of my favorite classes all week is my Postpartum class on Thursday mornings.  All the moms I’ve grown close to in Prenatal class suddenly disappear once they have their babies. Over the past year that I’ve been teaching this postpartum class, I’ve been able to stay in better touch with my students and continue to observe and support their entry into parenthood (even if they’re already parents to older children).  Plus I get to hang out with cute babies

New parenthood is hard!  Most of my students are smart, organized professionals who have a fair amount of resources, and still they can really struggle with the first few months postpartum.   Not only do babies require a lot, but so do moms – proper physical exercise after carrying a baby for 40-some weeks, nourishment for supporting feeding a baby, learning to cope with a new sleep pattern, figuring out a new work/social schedule, etc. 

So, anytime a new resource comes up that can help new moms, I’m all about promoting it.   My dear friend Christi Collins has written a fantastically practical and super helpful Ebook called “How to Eat to Survive Motherhood.” 

I learned a lot by reading it, some of which I’m excited to impart to my students – for example, what the most important nutritional needs are in the postpartum period, and practical foods to have on hand for those needs.   

But if you are a new mom, or looking to help out a friend who is a new parent, I highly recommend you buy this Ebook.   This Ebook has recipes and worksheets that I think will take the important informational content and make it actionable.

Check out Christi’s site here to buy the Ebook.   Even if you’re a new mom who has it pretty together, this book will help you feel even better.   And I can’t emphasize enough, that if you’re a friend of new parents, please consider giving something other than a cute outfit for the baby.   I know it’s fun to pick out those things, but parents really need a good home-cooked meal, or a massage, or a yoga class, or an afternoon of babysitting or help with chores.   This Ebook could be the perfect gift.   

Also, my new mom’s class is Thursday mornings from 10-11:15 at Black Lotus for any mom.   You are welcome to bring babies up to crawling (usually 6-7 months).

Namaste,

Barrett

I’m excited about how much yoga is cropping up in academic settings.  On Monday I had the opportunity to present some material for a college class at Lesley University.  I did some Masters degree work at Lesley awhile back, and still have a few great connections with some of the other grad students who are there and studying yoga academically. 

The format of this class is exactly what I’ve always wanted a class to be:  1 hour of physical yoga practice followed by 1.5 hours of academic class.  Students sat on the floor (not at desks slumped over) and I tried to tie in the physical yoga practice to the topic we were talking about afterwards (the yamas and niyamas – perhaps more on that in a later post!). 

My advisor when I was at Lesley has been spending time looking at how yoga is being incorporated into K-12 classrooms as well.  Though I don’t do that kind of work, I’m so excited to think that perhaps yoga can help us in our search for a new paradigm for our education system. 

Unfortunately, there’s a lot of controversy about bringing yoga into public schools.  In the last 15 years, several opponents to yoga in the classroom have cited the separation of church and state in the schools, claiming that yoga is too linked to religious practice to be considered secular.   Check out this recent article about a school system in New York state that is struggling with this issue. 

Though yoga definitely comes out of spiritual roots, it is so clear (to me) that we have really removed the “religion” from the physical practice we engage in today.   In this classroom (admittedly, at a private university, not a public grade school), it just seemed so obvious to me how some yoga mindfulness fit in to the learning environment.  

It makes me sort of interested to teach kids in school and see what that’s like!

I’m curious if any of you teach in schools, or have kids who are learning yoga in school?  Share your experiences in this expanding field! 

I found this article in the NYTimes very interesting because it points out some of the other problems with “studying” yoga through scientific research.  Interestingly, Sat Bir Khalsa is interviewed in the article.  I met him at the conference in 2007 and he casually invited me to participate as a teacher in his insomnia study at Harvard Medical School.  I didn’t follow up, mostly because I wanted to focus on other aspects of yoga teaching and studying in my work.   But I think his work is interesting and will probably yield some very positive results for yoga.   I know from many many students how helpful yoga is for their insomnia.

Here’s a fascinating list of 77 health benefits from yoga practice.  This information is based off of many of the small studies that the NYTimes article mentions.  

This was a great article printed in the NYTimes a month ago.  I’ve been meaning to share it in my newsletter, but we will air it here instead

As I teach a lot of classes every week, I sometimes forget that newcomers in class don’t know all of our lingo, from the opening asanas (postures) to the last Namaste (our ending that we say to each other).  Below is a humorous run-down of what you might hear in yoga class.

See the article on The New York Times here. 

August 24, 2008   

NAMASTE  by Jaimie Epstein

‘At the beginning of class, we stood at the front of our mats and let out a long, dirgelike moan,” the first-time yoga student recollected. “Then the teacher yelled, ‘Chili-pepper pasta,’ and everyone hit the floor.” Sanskrit, the language of yoga, is said to unite sound and meaning; that is, saying the word gives the experience of its meaning. But for the novice yogi (the word for male as well as female practitioners), whose ears need to be tuned to a new frequency, that experience can be as elusive as an overnight parking spot in Manhattan. Thus, chaturanga dandasana (four-legged staff pose, which looks like the bottom of a pushup, your body hovering inches above the floor) might become “chili-pepper pasta” if you’ve got dinner reservations at the latest outpost of the latest fusion craze. And the ear-twisters don’t end there. So let’s do some untwisting…

To read the rest of the article and learn more about yoga lingo, go here.