The psoas is the deepest hip flexor in the body, and has a dramatic impact on both the spinal positioning, as well as how the baby positions during pregnancy. Draping over the pelvic right and left, the two muscles almost serve as a guidewire for the baby to rotate and enter the pelvis.

It's one of the most well known yoga movements, but Cat/Cow offers far more than simply mobilizing your spine and freeing your hips. When done well this rocking movement sequence can bring better balance to the pelvic floor, mobilize pelvic joints in preparation for labor, tone the deep abdominals, and create fluidity throughout the spine to allow for better alignment throughout pregnancy.

I want to debunk the 3 biggest misconceptions about what it means to have a meditation practice as a parent.

I recently thought back on how having a mindfulness practice helped me in my life as both a yogi and a parent, and I realized that one of the most powerful ways it shifted things, was it helped me be friendly with my own inner critic, which has then helped me be more aware and present as a parent.

I'm going to share a little secret I tell all my childbirth education classes. There is no one right way to birth- except for the one that is right for you on the day this baby arrives.

Ask around the yoga world and you will get wildly differing opinions about whether or not to do plank pose. Some say this is the best way to maintain abdominal strength throughout pregnancy, while others say the pose will contribute to diastasis recti and should be avoided at all times. And still others will split the fence and say it is fine in the first trimester, but not afterwards. No wonder many moms (and yoga teachers) are left with confusion around this pose!

Once we come to the opening of that labor tunnel, and we feel ourselves going in, we want to go in without hesitation and begin working with whatever experience lies within it. And inside the tunnel is, well, like a tunnel. Meaning things may seem dark, maybe scary, it may seem lonely or claustrophobic, since after all we are in a tunnel. And here is where the final cornerstone to working with your labor comes into play. What is your magic labor thought?

Things falling apart is a kind of testing and also a kind of healing. We think that the point is to pass the test or to solve the problem, but the truth is that things don’t really get solved. They come together, and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It’s just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen. Room for grief, room for relief, for suffering, for joy” -Pema Chodron

I know what you’re thinking. She means the Birth canal, right?

Nope!

While I could wax poetical about the different aspects, twists and turns, and unique properties of the pathway through the pelvic, not to mention a whole discussion of why we refer to this part of the body by a structure that involves high concrete walls (Um, not a good image here!) The tunnel I’m referring to is the mental one we all have to move into and through during the process of welcoming our babies. And how we engage with this mental space is the 3rd cornerstone in working with our labor.

Sometimes I wonder about the impact of yoga for my students in their birth experiences, because so often people just seem to disappear from classes when they give birth. So I was extremely grateful to this mom who was able to share her birth story with me. It illustrates just how much being empowered and trusting in your body and your baby can influence our ability to lean into the circumstances of our labor and birth.

There’s a very simple practice that I teach to all my yoga students about how to promote lifelong function and tone in their pelvic floor during and after their pregnancy. And if you read my earlier post you probably know that it’s not Kegels!

What if you could do actual functional exercises, learn the physiology, and actually prepare the pelvic floor not only for birth, but to avoid tearing and be better able to recover afterwards? Who wouldn't like to pee their pants less post birth!? (Yeah, that's a thing, if no one's mentioned it yet. Common- but not normal!)

Ok Truth time. I have been ragingly mad at my own child.

I still remember the moment, we were in one of our epic struggles around naps, and I was trying to get him to quiet down, all the while thinking about how I was going to be late for my Mommy Meditation group- Oh the irony!

There are things you can control for during childbirth, and there are things you cannot. Rather than wasting your time trying to control things you can’t influence in the first place, stay on your mat. Stick to what you can actually control and then find ways to let go of the rest.

How is Labor like Valentines day? No this isn’t one of those horrible jokes. The childbirth process and the hallmark holiday are both centered around one key emotion that guides the whole process: Love.

Or more specifically for labor, the love hormone of Oxytocin.

Ask someone the first thought they associate with childbirth, and they usually say pain. This idea has been reinforced for years. Story after story mentions the pain, sometimes focusing on it almost exclusively. Certainly there can be pain during the labor process, but the key to this cornerstone of working with your labor is this: Your experience isn’t about the pain. It's about your mental attitude towards it.