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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels September 29, 2004 Preparing for birth with Mama Yoga By Amanda Bolsinger Tidings Correspondent Relaxing music drifts through the room as an Indian woman in traditional Indian dress and bare feet practices yoga around her growing stomach. Ananda Foley teaches Bhanu lyer the correct positioning during a recent yoga class for women who are pregnant at the Ashland Yoga Sanctuary. Andrew Mariman | Ashland Daily Tidings Bhanu M Iyer is pregnant with her second child and was looking for a prenatal class when she found Mama Yoga. A prenatal yoga class offered at the Yoga Sanctuary, Mama Yoga is a way that many women in various stages of pregnancy use for relaxing, while strengthening themselves for giving birth and parenting. The classes, taught by Ananda Foley, are asana yoga sessions focused on the needs of women as they progress through their pregnancy. "I spoke with a lot of people about the classes," Iyer said. "Yoga doesn't strain the muscles and I know all of the benefits. I like the stretching and relaxation that I get from the Yoga." Women who have taken the class praise the physical and emotional benefits. Better appetite, more energy, more relaxed, better sleep at night, and an easier labor are just some of the benefits women found from the class. "I had a long, early labor," said Leah Cates, who switched to Mama Yoga once she became pregnant. "Once I remembered how to breathe, my labor progressed really fast." "I slept better, I had more energy, I noticed an increase in appetite," said Clee Ferris, who began practicing yoga while pregnant with her fourth child. "I think yoga in general - the flexibility makes you more flexible on more levels. It's important when you are pregnant to be flexible mentally. When I do yoga I let go, and let my body relax, letting go of little things - all of the little aches here and there." Cynde Gragert, the owner of Yoga Sanctuary, stresses letting the mind get out of the way of the body. "You can knock a woman out and she will still give birth. Her body knows what to do," Gragert says. She emphasizes relaxing through breathing to let the mind relax and not focus on the pain in order to let the body do what it already knows how to do. Different yoga poses teach how to push through pain and to focus, through breathing and relaxation, on your body. That way when the women go into labor they know that they can physically handle more pain and how to mentally escape the pain. One pose that Foley practices has the women balance on their toes, but she asks that once the pose becomes painful, that the women hold it for longer to expand the women's ability to be with the pain. Sheryl Grunde is a yoga instructor as well and taught prenatal classes, and is now teaching a postpartum class at the Yoga Sanctuary. She stresses the benefits of being with other pregnant women for the moral support. "It was fun to be pregnant, and teach pregnant women," Grunde said. "We could all relate to each other and it's nice to not feel alone. I could share what had helped with me in my first pregnancy and the women could all discuss what they were going through with one another." Carole Whitridge took the Mama Yoga class while pregnant and was practicing yoga up until the day she gave birth to her daughter. "It's so important not to feel alone," Whitridge said. "There is so much to learn about being pregnant, and you can learn so much more while being with other pregnant women." Cates said being with other pregnant women was a constant reminder to her that she was beautiful despite feeling uncomfortable while pregnant. "Nothing fits, you feel heavy, then you go to class and see other beautiful pregnant women and remember that you are beautiful," Cates said. Prenatal yoga also benefits the growing child. A pregnant woman and her child share body chemistry, so when the mother feels relaxed or comfortable the child receives the same chemicals and also feels relaxed and comfortable. While exercising, blood becomes oxygenated and the child receives richer, healthier blood. Many women see their time to do yoga as a time to bond with their unborn child. "When Zepher, [her son] is fussy, I 'Ohm' to him," Cates said. "It makes a huge difference. We did it a lot in class so he heard it in the belly and it really relaxes him now." "There is a unity between baby body and mind, and mama body and mind," Foley said. "When the mama is relaxed and calm, the baby will be relaxed and calm." The Yoga Sanctuary offers prenatal, postpartum, partner, child, teenage, and adult yoga classes. For more information, call 482-8132. 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