meditation

The Joys of Home Yoga Practice by Carol Gray at MamaSpace Yoga

7 Things to Love About Home Yoga Practice

By Carol Gray, LMT, CST, RPYT, ERYT-200 I confess. I’ve been practicing yoga for decades and teaching it for (less than 10) years. I always attended yoga studio classes — even when traveling. In the Before Times, did I ever practice at home on my own? Uh, maybe I did it 7 times. I thought I loved the mindless aspect of being on my  mat, losing myself in the flow,

What We Leave Behind by Carol Gray at MamaSpace Yoga

What We Leave Behind

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 by Carol Gray at MamaSpace Yoga

Insomnia — The Movie

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 by Carol Gray at MamaSpace Yoga

Pregnancy Insomnia Help

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

Mimi The Pandemic Dog at MamaSpace Yoga

Pandemic Fatigue

By Carol Gray, LMT, CST, RPYT, ERYT-200 I’ve been reading about pandemic fatigue. I’m tired of the pandemic. It’s pretty easy to fall into complaining about the things I love, but can’t do until – when? I was talking with my doctor recently. She said that she asks her patients what new thing they have learned during the pandemic. For many of us, learning is a key to happiness. What

Online Fertility Yoga Classes at MamaSpace Yoga

Why Fertility Yoga?

By Carol Gray, LMT, CST, RPYT, ERYT-200 I Was Hooked Several years ago when I was a student in a San Francisco prenatal yoga teacher training, my teacher mentioned a fertility yoga sequence that she had practiced when she wanted to start her family. Instantly intrigued, I asked her if she was going to teach it to us. She said she didn’t have time to add it to the current

Learn How to Have a Better Cesarean Birth at MamaSpace Yoga

Cesareans! Emergencies! and Strategies!

By Carol Gray, LMT, CST, RPYT, ERYT-200 The word “emergency” used to ONLY apply to childbirth. The baby emerges, get it? Two (Three) Kinds of Cesareans Lately, I have been hearing an emergent theme in the stories people have been sharing with me about their cesarean births. They divide them into two categories – planned and emergency. Often a parent will say to me that their cesarean birth was not

A View of the MamaSpace Yoga Video Studio

I Miss Teaching In-Person Prenatal Yoga Classes

By Carol Gray, LMT, CST, RPYT, ERYT-200 As I stand in our old yoga studio, I prepare to begin again. I’ve rearranged this room – several times. In some ways it’s almost unrecognizable. I’ve moved shelving and props. I’ve hung blankets from the ceiling and walls to produce better sound quality for our yoga videos. I’ve hauled lighting and camera equipment up and down flights of stairs. I’ve spent hours

Inanna's Journey by Carol Gray at MamaSpace Yoga

Inanna’s Journery

By Carol Gray, LMT, CST, RPYT, ERYT-200 Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth, was a goddess revered by the ancient Sumerians. I love her story of descent into and return from the Underworld. It’s a wonderful analog for the process of preparing for, moving through and returning from birth. Inanna undertook a perilous journey to the underworld – a place from which nobody had ever returned alive. She prepared, she

Our Responsibility to You at MamaSpace Yoga

Responsibility

By Carol Gray, LMT, CST, RPYT, ERYT-200 Many yoga studios around the world have reopened or are planning to reopen for in-person yoga classes. We aren’t (yet). At MamaSpace Yoga we serve a particular population – pregnant and postpartum people. It’s obvious to me that we can’t yet know what any long-term (or short term) effects of COVID-19 infection in the first trimester of pregnancy would be. People who have