Fantastic journey: The practice of yoga during pregnancy

Pregnancy is the largest emotional and physical transformation a woman’s body will undergo. A woman also becomes more aware of her body and of the many physical and emotional changes that come with being pregnant. She may start experiencing lower back pain, nausea, slower digestion, fluid retention or muscle cramps. These do not affect all women though they all are fairly common symptoms of pregnancy.

Deep steady breathing such as ujjayi will increase mental focus and deep internal strength.

With the appropriate yoga practice, however, many of these issues can be addressed and slowly the mother will feel more balanced as she harnesses her energy and her body begins to function at a more optimal level.

Gentle and rhythmical movements for the lower back and pelvis ease back and hip pain whilst supported savasana will help with disturbed sleep patterns and give the mother some uninterrupted time with her baby. Deep steady breathing such as ujjayi will increase mental focus and deep internal strength. Focus should always be placed on asana that are grounding and work with the Apana Vayu, our downward energy.

This encourages the mother to stay grounded and helps her body prepare for birth, as this is all about physically and mentally letting go and working with nature’s forces, and not against them.

The mental act of ‘letting go’ and the acceptance of ‘what is’ is useful as it helps to nurture a sense of peace, allowing what is not needed for the next chapter in a mother’s life to simply drop away.

Making space for a baby and for mothering is a yoga practice in itself and should never be under-estimated.

Yoga teaches us to be mentally strong and encourages us to go with the flow. It helps us to realise we cannot control everything and prepares us for the unexpected, allowing us to adapt to unforeseen situations. These skills can be applied at any time of life but are especially effective during pregnancy and birth; it leaves us with more space to enjoy the journey from pregnancy into motherhood.

Sally Parkes

As featured in the September 2014 issue of OM Yoga Magazine

 

The art of teaching by Sally Parkes

What core skills and competences do students need to teach? 

There is so much choice these days that when it comes to choosing a yoga teacher training programme that making that the right decision can be quite a challenge. Once you have decided what style of yoga resonates with you the next question a prospective student teacher should ask themselves is ‘am I planning to teach at the end of this course?’

Whilst some people do teacher training purely for self-development and feel that they may like to teach somewhere in the future, others definitely want to teach directly after their course finishes and build a solid career doing so. If the latter is the case for you then you need to consider if the course you are looking at contains guidance on how to actually teach. Whilst this sounds like a very obvious aspect to be included in a course not all teacher trainings prepare you for work afterwards as the emphasis is more on developing your yoga practice. Yes, this is obviously invaluable, but teaching yoga as opposed to doing yoga is massively different and requires a very specific set of skills.

Communication skills

A great teacher training course should teach you to communicate with students of differing personalities, abilities and levels of yoga knowledge. And it should teach you to be accepting of your participants’ various stages of their journey into yoga.

Teachers should be able to empower their students to accept themselves on the mat as well as be encouraged to progress their practice and enjoy themselves in the process. This can be achieved by teachers whose skills set includes being able to teach in a visual, auditory and kinaesthetic manner whilst incorporating differing levels of each asana into the class. To make your class all encompassing, knowledge of modifications and progressions and how to integrate them is required as is a general knowledge of common conditions such a lower back ache, high blood pressure and knee injuries.

Teaching yoga as opposed to doing yoga is massively different and requires a very specific set of skills

Sequencing asana

Sequencing asana is also a huge subject that should be covered in your chosen course and how sequences should vary depending on what the teacher is trying to convey and achieve. It is ideal that, following a teacher training, you have several sequences you are familiar with so you are ready should you be asked to teach.

In addition to the order in which asana are taught in, the style they are taught in can dramatically alter the emphasis of the class. For example, the same sequence can be taught strongly with a fast pace and with an authoritive tone of voice and this class will come across as challenging. The same sequence can be taught with a softer voice and a much slower pace with an emphasis on relaxing into the postures, and this will again give a different edge. Both ways of teaching the sequence are effective but in different ways and an effective teacher will know how to change it up when it’s required.

Teaching practice

So, if you are considering teacher training with a view to teach soon after the completion of your course, ask the programme leader about these skills and whether they are included within the course contact hours. And find out how much emphasis is given to teaching practice. It’s also very useful to see how many teachers from a particular training school are actually working as yoga teachers as this is very telling of the course content.

Sally Parkes runs 200 hour Laxmi Yoga (Hatha and Vinyasa) teacher training and pregnancy yoga teacher training. She runs courses in England, Wales, Spain and Dubai (sallyparkesyoga.com)

As featured in the june issue of Om Magazine www.ommagazine.com

Carry on teacher

Giving back. Spreading the yoga love

by Paula Hines (@HumbleYogini75)

April 2013 marks two years since I learned I was being made (happily) redundant from my olf full-time job in television. The road since then has had its fair share of ups and downs for sure. I’m grateful I have learned (and continue to learn) so much about myself. And I stay grateful for the lessons, especially the ones that haven’t felt so good at the time (those are often the ones we need the most).

More than ever I feel privileged to have the opportunity to share yoga with others. I’ve been lucky enough to teach on three retreats so far this year and this month will be number four when I return to Marsh Farm House in Sussex for Sally Parkes Yoga’s Spring Detox Retreat. I’m thrilled to say I’ve been invited to join the teacher training team on the Laxmi Yoga 200hr course, led by Sally. I’m really looking forward to meeting the next group of Laxmi Yogis and sharing with them as they begin their teacher training journeys this month.

But then I realised: what a wonderful way to give back in sharing what I have learned so far

When I was first asked to join Sally’s team of fantastic tutorsI did think, “But who am I to do this? I don’t know enough!” It’s not as though I have the many years of teaching experience of the wonderful teachers I have studied with before (I think particularly of Judith Hanson Lasater’s 40-plus years).

But then I realised: what a wonderful way to give back in sharing what I have learned so far, particularly via my own experience of having a back injury and practicing and teaching yoga. It’s really not about knowing everything – no one does. But I know that I have even more passion for yoga now than when I began. Just as I wondered whether I could really be a yoga teacher before I took that first leap, the universe gave me a subtle push to tell me I was ready. This feels the same. As I often say, happily the learning never stops.

As I continue to grow as a yoga practitioner I’ve been fortunate to have people like Sally who have supported me and been there to show me  where I’ve been more ready to go than I thought I was. Now I get to help show the next group of Laxmi Yogis that they’re more ready than they think they are too.

Paula Hines @HumbleYogini75

As featured in the April 2013 issue of OM Yoga Magazine www.ommagazine.com

Paula’s blog: Adventures in Yoga – Notes from a Humble Yogini www.notesfromahumbleyogini.co.uk

Details of Sally Parkes Yoga Teacher Training can be found here: www.sallyparkesyoga.com/200hourYogaTeacherTraining

Peace, love and chocolate

Paula Hines finds peace and good chocolate on a yoga and cookery escape to the Sussex countryside

As featured in OM Magazine www.ommagazine.com

You can tell the food is good when the dinner table falls silent. The meal is asparagus and pea risotto expertly whipped up by chef, Lucie. The dinner table is in the dining room at the beautifully cosy and charming Marsh Farm House near Arundel, West Sussex. It’s not my usual Friday evening. I am on Sally Parkes’ yoga and vegetarian cookery weekend retreat (sallyparkesyoga.com). Just moments ago the table was buzzing with chatter and then…the food arrived.

I love yoga and I love food, so what better than to combine the two? I’ve been lacking inspiration in my own cooking and with certain food sensitivities revealing themselves last year, working out how and what to eat has at times been a challenge. When I heard about this retreat it sounded like a perfect opportunity to come away with some new recipes (and eat some very tasty food, of course).

Added to this, being on a tight budget, getting away on a yoga retreat seemed like a pipe dream, but the added beauty of this was it being a pocket friendly weekend away in pretty surroundings – great for those of us who want a retreat experience but aren’t able to jet off to far flung places.

As we tucked into our risotto, the itinerary for the weekend was explained. There would be yoga early (but not too early!) on Saturday morning, before breakfast. Then after some free time we’d have our first cookery workshop where we would make our lunch and later on help to make the dessert to accompany our dinner.

All the recipes in our workshops would be vegetarian, as with all the meals at Marsh Farm over the weekend. Lucie said she could also offer alternatives, taking into account any additional dietary requirements (vegan, wheat/gluten free etc). It all sounded good, but one pressing question remained: could we get the recipe for that risotto?

Saturday afternoon sushi

I awoke feeling incredibly rested on Saturday morning and noticed something different: birdsong. Actual ‘not being drowned out by city traffic’ birdsong. I hopped out of bed to check out the view of Marsh Farm’s garden from the window and in the field beyond I spotted a horse. Getting this excited by ‘nature’ showed me just how overdue this break away from the city was. Just as well I was in the ideal place for some rest and renewal. During a hearty breakfast from the range of options on offer (I went for the gluten free bircher muesli), I soon realised that the catchphrase among us for the weekend would be: ‘can we get the recipe for this as well?’

All the recipes in our workshops would be vegetarian, as with all the meals at Marsh Farm over the weekend. Lucie said she could also offer alternatives, taking into account any additional dietary requirements

With a bit of a wander around the garden I could appreciate, up-close, all the spring blooms out in force and the Alice in Wonderland-style hedge, which made me smile. Taking advantage of the gorgeous weather, we brought our ingredients out to the big garden table where Lucie taught us how to make vegetarian sushi – much easier than I expected and a lot of fun. Now we knew how to make California rolls with the best of ‘em. We rewarded ourselves by eating said sushi out in the sun.

Our free time after lunch allowed for exploring the ‘secret garden’ I had failed to spot earlier around the back of the farm house, while some of the group took a walk to the village. I opted to curl up with a book, something I rarely allow myself time to do at home. So, I sat in the garden with my horsey friend from earlier over the fence for company.

Our afternoon cookery workshop was making chocolate orange and avocado tarts, every bit as delicious as they sounded. And vegan too.

Sally’s mellow yoga class before dinner was the perfect way to round off the afternoon. Her classes welcome beginners and cater for all abilities so it was lovely to see the range of ages and yoga experience among our group from regular practitioners to those whose first ever yoga class was that weekend.

Some yoga nidra from our instructor put us all in a sufficiently chilled state for the evening ahead and our delicious meal of shepherd-less pie with wilted greens. Oh. And chocolate orange and avocado tarts. Happy taste buds all round.

Sunday spelt scones

Sunday morning brought more gorgeous Sussex sunshine, so after breakfast I stepped out into the garden, feeling the dew underfoot and taking the opportunity to soak up the stillness. A real reminder of how little I (like many of us) allow myself to pause during my day-today hustle bustle. Another bonus of this retreat: having some time and space to reflect.

Our last cookery workshop: surprisingly quick and easy to make spelt, sundried tomato and spinach scones. They accompanied our roasted tomato and lentil soup, roasted vegetable salad and carrot and sultana salad for lunch.

After we were all packed up and ready to go there was a surprise. Some of the chocolate orange and avocado tart filing was left over. A few spoons came out to help rectify that situation. Chocolate is a terrible thing to waste, after all.

Before we said our goodbyes, a learned member of our group of yogis translated the Latin phrase above the door in the dining room: “Divine help remains with us always”. I often feel in need of divine help in the kitchen. But Lucie’s explanations and demonstrations throughout the weekend made all the recipes so accessible. And with store-cupboard advice and even tips on knife skills too, I came away feeling that I could recreate all the recipes with confidence.

I’d arrived frazzled on Friday but returned home feeling frazzled no more, armed with some inspiring recipes and memories of delicious food, laughter, great company and of course, lovely yoga.