Creating more space for baby during 3rd trimester pregnancy. Photo courtesy of Gigi Terinoni.
De West, a local certified yoga instructor, offered a prenatal yoga intensive training this past weekend that drew yoga teachers and pregnant women from Boulder, Denver, and the two coasts. The class of 15 students was fortunate to have all three pregnancy trimesters represented among themselves which made for amazing demonstrations. The intensive was held at the Yoga Workshop in downtown Boulder. De began each of the four days with clear intention as everyone chanted and meditated to support the goals of that day. De carefully covered fertility, each pregnancy trimester and post partum in great depth as she demonstrated the specific yoga asana sequences that benefit these women.
De also organized 12 health care practitioners to speak about their experience with pregnant and post partum women. Among them were a midwife (Jenifer Dossett), a western Ob/Gyn (Dr. Sarah Truitt, MD), a doula and nurse (Sutay Berman), a physical therapist (Michele Kreisberg) who explained how the body prepares for baby’s arrival and so much more, a Sanskrit teacher (Marcia Solomon) to help with asana names and meaning in a playful way, a yoga teacher and author (Linda Sparrowe) who addressed communicating the experience of loss, a massage therapist and doula (Karena Lindell), an ayurvedic postpartum doula (Lee Macik), a certified coach (Cynthia Morris), a doula and massage therapist (Ruth Hartman), a nutritionist (Sara Peternell), and a local lactation specialist and owner of Becoming Mothers (Stephanie Moore). De closed with a panel of women who graciously shared their stories on how yoga has influenced their lives through fertility, miscarriages, and births over the years. It was a powerful event that opened many hearts and inspired more yoga teachers to work with the under served birthing population in traditional yoga classes. This yoga intensive also offered students the chance to build networks with the presenting health care practitioners. As they teach pregnant and post partum women, they know who to refer their yoga students to as they need support throughout their pregnancy and post partum journey.
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