This week, I spoke with Emma who is a Personal Trainer and is now 32 weeks pregnant and has been attending the yoga classes since she was 14 weeks. Here's what she had to say about the sessions...
As an avid reader, well alright then, a complete book junkie, I have, over the years, developed a system with my lovelies (my term of endearment for my books!) There's the 'next to the sofa' pile and there's the 'next to the bed' pile. Someone asked me recently what I was reading. Whilst it would be easy to give the name of one book, I am totally unashamed to admit, that I have several on the go at once.
Inspiration for classes can come from a variety of sources – sometimes as teachers we choose to work to a theme for a set number of weeks. In the past I have had rotations of various guises as a foundation and at other times it can be hip openers or back strengthening.
Sometimes inspiration can come from a mantra or a short piece of writing, or it may even be one posture that lends itself to the creation of a whole class.
I was recently introduced to a term 'visual noise', which in essence is used to describe everything around us that we see, which in turn creates some sort of feedback, whether pleasant, unpleasant or neutral.
Taking time to consider this further, it would make sense that our outer world is, to the best of our abilities, visually appealing, irrespective of where we may find ourselves. We may not be blessed with a garden, but we can bring colour into the home through the use of fabrics or houseplants.
Teaching yoga and or meditation, takes a leap of faith at times. As teachers, our hope is to be able to share with others, practices that we have found meaningful as well as helpful and to be able to convey it in such a way that it inspires others to want to try.
How often have you started to read something and had the thought that the author was writing about you? Or when you’ve seen someone on television talking of their experience and it echoes yours, almost as if they had taken it word for word?
Well that’s the power we are trying to uncover behind our project “Women’s Voices of PND”. It started out as an idea and has grown.
The journey to its inception comes from the difficulties experienced with pregnancy and postnatal depression.
At the start of a yoga class I invite the students to set an intention - sankalpa (sanskrit). This is very different to goal setting, which is a valuable in and of itself, in helping to provide a direction for your life. It's also not a New Year's resolution.
An intention is quite different, as it is not directed to a future outcome, instead it is focused on how you are 'being' in the present moment (or intending to be).
Last weekend, I ran one of my popular workshops ‘Being Stillness’. These were borne out of the direction that my own personal yoga practice had been taking me and in 2011 I decided to dip a toe in the water and see what others thought of the approach.
Offering something that is different to what you are normally associated with can be quite daunting and requires a willingness to be vulnerable and really show your ‘soft centre’.
clairemurphy
