Day 18 - Saturdays

When one chooses to be a yoga teacher, one has to accept the fact that they will work whilst other people are having fun. It's just the way of things. There's no point running a yoga class at 9.30am on a Monday morning as very few people will have the luxury of turning up!

Working evenings never really bothers me but there is something about a Saturday morning -- a feeling of sanctity that I presume is left over from doing the Monday to Friday 9 to 5 grind for so many years. Saturday mornings used to be a time for long lie ins and cooked breakfast and reading the papers and generally doing as little as possible.

These days my Saturday mornings are spent in the company of between 6 and 8 pregnant women! If you'd told me two years ago that this would be the case I would have thought you quite mad, but in fact once I get over the intial shock of getting up early on a Saturday and preparing for the class, I think my pregnancy yoga class is my favourite to teach.

Which is probably an odd statement coming from somebody who has never been, nor has any intention to be pregnant!

Ancient wisdom seperates the stages of womanhood into: maiden, mother, crone (no, I don't particularly like the word crone either -- how about wise woman?). I guess at 34 I'm well into that "mother" aspect of womanhood. However, this does not necessarily incorporate having children of one's own. There are so many ways that this nuturing side of womanhood can be expressed:- as teachers, as childcarers, as midwives.... as pregnancy and postnatal yoga teachers.

I play a small part in helping quite a lot of women bring their little ones into the world. And that is an amazing thing.

Day 4 - Nearly holiday!

I have just finished teaching my Saturday morning pregnancy yoga class - 6 round women this morning, and in a particularly rowdy mood. Took me ages to settle them to get started and they bordered on the hysterical whilst we were doing partner squats! Must be something in the air - everything is in full bloom and the air smells of sunshine and spring. Spirits are lifting from the dull days of winter.

So now, time for some lunch before a private session with a client this afternoon. She is one of my regulars from my Wednesday night class who comes about once a month to work on her own self practice. She likes to pay particular attention to core strength so I incorporate quite a bit of Pilates into her sessions.

Once she goes I have no more classes or clients until Tuesday 14th April. Whilst I love teaching, I love time off just as much. It helps me gain that perspective I was talking about.

I hope it is beautiful spring weather for all of you.

Namaste!

On health and decisions....

My health has not been great recently. My fibromyalgia has been flaring up badly (for which I am mercifully and finally about to start some new treatment) and I've been having very bad stress related migraines (the last one lasted 5 days). Consequently I have felt unable to get on my mat every single day as I would like, and then I become more stressed and the cycle continues. It has taken every ounce of strength I have to teach my classes.

Whilst I feel I cannot let my clients and students down, if I am making myself ill then I am going to end up letting them down eventually. So I have decided, much to my regret (but also to slight relief), to give up the Yoga for Cancer class I teach on Fridays on a voluntary basis at the Mulberry Centre. Much as teaching this class has brought me great joy and I have learned much, I feel that right now I have to put my own health and my treatment first.

Besides as Andy and I have decided that 2010 will be the year we move back to Cambridge to be near my family, I will gradually have to start letting my classes go -- and find somebody who is interested enough to buy my business. That's going to be a hard thing to let go of. Not quite ready yet.....
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In other news, a colleague and I (a colleague incidentally who would be perfect to take my business over from me, she just doesn't know it yet) are trying to get the local Council to release funding to allow Yoga for Pregnancy classes for pregnant teenagers in the area. We propose working with trained psychologists who are already employed by the Council and hope to get £1000 for a pilot project.....

Fingers crossed.

And finally I must update the other blog. I've been working on some lovely modifications for people with back pain and scoliosis. I'll get on to that tomorrow!

Peas in a Pod

I taught my first official pregnancy class on Saturday. I've been teaching pregnancy yoga for a while, mixing my pregnant ladies in with my general classes (the more gentle ones obviously) but this is not ideal. It involves a lot of stopping and starting to modify the postures for those who are pregnant, interrupting the flow for those who aren't!

So after training with Uma Dinsmore-Tuli at Sitaram, I decided the time had come to start a class specific for pregnancy on Saturday mornings in my home studio where there is room for about four or five students. I got four students within a week of putting it up on my website!

After some intial confusion (the world and his wife seem to have an inability to find my house), and a late start to the class, three wonderfully round and pregnant women and skinny ol' me (one poor lady has this bug that's going around and won't be starting until next week) flowed a beautifully energising pranayama and gentle asana practice with preparation for birth breathing, chanting (which the baby can hear), and deep relaxation.

Everyone (including me) seemed pleased and content after class.

Here's to next week - and a whole new adventure!