By Carol Gray, LMT, CST, RPYT, ERYT-200 In my other life I’m a bodyworker and bodywork teacher. When I taught in-person prenatal yoga classes, my students often asked me about the benefits of bodywork during pregnancy. They wanted to know more about Craniosacral Therapy (CST) and how it can help. Today I’ll explain it. Why Should People Get Bodywork During Pregnancy and Postpartum? Studies show that people who receive loving
What We Leave Behind
May 11, 2021
By Carol Gray, LMT, CST, RPYT, ERYT-200 Our Physical Space We are packing. We are preparing to leave what, for the last five years, has been the MamaSpace Yoga studio. For four of those five years this beautiful brick building with the huge light-filled windows was our sanctuary. It was the sacred space where pregnant and postpartum people came to practice and find community. Our Video Filming Location For the
Insomnia — The Movie
May 4, 2021
By Carol Gray, LMT, CST, RPYT, ERYT-200 Last week’s post, Pregnancy Insomnia Help, included a five-step yoga sequence for sleep. This week’s post is a 14-minute video of that sequence. It was fun making it. I hope you enjoy it. It makes sense to watch it for the first time when you’re not actually trying to sleep. That way, you can figure out where you’re going to set yourself up
Pregnancy Insomnia Help
April 27, 2021
By Carol Gray, LMT, CST, RPYT, ERYT-200 Insomnia is common during pregnancy. It ‘s no joke. Some people say it’s just practice for after your baby is born and they wake you at night. Not funny. There are two main categories of pregnancy-related insomnia: trouble falling asleep and trouble getting back to sleep after awakening during the night. I Can’t Fall Asleep I assume you have already instituted the typical
All About Posterior Pelvic Pain in Pregnancy
April 20, 2021
By Carol Gray, LMT, CST, RPYT, ERYT-200 How it All Starts Pain in the posterior pelvis is common during pregnancy. It typically begins in mid pregnancy. Although, it can start at any time. Sometimes it goes away during pregnancy. If it does, that usually happens in the third trimester. Other times it persists long after the birth. Your mileage may vary. Your SI Joints This pain often comes from the
The Best Props For Prenatal Yoga — Part 2
April 13, 2021
By Carol Gray, LMT, CST, RPYT, ERYT-200 As promised, I’m continuing my recommendations for the best prenatal yoga props. Well-chosen yoga props will improve your practice. They will help you discover things that you might not otherwise encounter on your mat. What a perfect time to introduce this intimate self-exploration! The path of fertility, pregnancy, labor, birth and parenting are guaranteed to take you beyond what you already know. All
Prenatal Yoga Safety
March 30, 2021
By Carol Gray, LMT, CST, RPYT, ERYT-200 It’s amazing what turns up when you do a Google search for “Prenatal Yoga Safety”. Just for laughs (and some seriousness), here are 10 gems that fail the Truth-O-Meter test: 1. “Any challenging yoga poses could lead to nausea and dizziness” Any? Could lead to? Do they really expect us to believe that any “challenging” yoga pose could really cause nausea and dizziness?
Yoga Inversions for Pregnancy
March 23, 2021
By Carol Gray, LMT, CST, RPYT, ERYT-200 Once again, people ask if it’s safe. This time, it’s about inversions during pregnancy. Once again, the short answer is yes. The Lineage Yoga practices (including the physical practices) were originally developed by men for men. At first, the “rules” and precautions surrounding yoga practice for women were developed by men for women to follow. While pregnancy can be a time of great
Go Ahead. Do It!
March 16, 2021
By Carol Gray, LMT, CST, RPYT, ERYT-200 Is It Safe? It’s super common for people to ask me if it’s safe to practice twisting poses during prenatal yoga. The short answer is yes. Block-Bellies I remember my own 200-hour yoga teacher training years ago. We had a memorable lesson about pregnant people in our classes. Our teacher had us stuff blocks into our tank tops over our bellies and then
Nadi Shodhana
March 9, 2021
By Carol Gray, LMT, CST, RPYT, ERYT-200 A True Story We were about halfway through a typical Thursday 9:30 AM prenatal yoga class when it happened. The fire alarm went off in the building. It was LOUD! I told my students to get up, walk toward the door, leave their yoga mats behind, put on their shoes, grab their belongings and walk down the stairs where we would meet outside.
