Heart Openers for Breast Feeding

Our beautiful baby boy arrived October 22nd (birth story to come). It has been so amazing having him out of my belly and in my arms. When he was born my heart expanded to make room for all the love I have for him and the new love I have for my husband seeing him in his daddy role. I want to lift my now bigger + fuller heart up. However holding and breast feeding baby Sage puts my body in a position that hides my heart, tightens my upper neck and pec muscles while over lengthening and straining my back muscles. Ouch. I have been doing these gentle stretches to keep my body somewhat in alignment. 

Holding a baby and breast feeding takes my body into horrible alignment that creates more stress and tension in my life. I am so happy to do it and LOVE all over my baby. But I don't want my body to forget optimal alignment, the alignment that creates more harmony and happiness in my life. 

The main alignment actions I am reminding my body of during this sequence are:

• Side Bodies Long + Inner Body Bright
• Arm Bones Back  + Shoulder Blades Together
• Chin Up + Palate of Mouth Back

my favorite thing to so with a strap to help integrate arm bones back. start with the strap horizontally behind back under shoulder blades, bring the tails of the straps in front, over and behind the shoulders, cross the tails behind your back forming am X, tighten strap and grab each strap and pull forward. Lengthen from hips up through arm pits and into the sides of the neck. Expand your ribs and broaden the collar bone opening your chest. Watch that the floating ribs don't stick out causing a collapse in the kidneys. If you notice this is happening pull the floating ribs in toning the abdominal muscles. Lastly check your head, is it sticking forward? Lift the chin to horizontal and slide throat back until the palette is over the spine. Once in this pose you can do some neck lengtheners: take chin to chest, and then one ear to one shoulder and other ear to other shoulder, then back to center

I like to start with a strap and pull up as high as I can and then pull down as far as I can. then I take the full pose by bringing my hands together. Just like in the sequence above: lengthen your side bodies, expand your chest opening your heart, draw arm bones back, squeeze shoulder blades together, draw floating ribs in, extend from pelvis into floor and from pelvis up through crown of head. I like to hold these shoulder stretches for 2 minutes.

Start with a block on the 2nd level horizontally placed below cervical vertebrae 7 (to find look toward belly button feel the back of your neck. That boney vertebrae that sticks up is C7) and slowly wiggle your way down stopping between each vertebrae from C7 to T12. Keep floating ribs pulling toward pubic bone to avoid kidney collapse. With each breath lengthen from hips up side bodies and draw arm bones back hollowing arm pits out. I like to hold each place for 2 minutes.

Restorative Yoga Class

Tonight was great because I had an opportunity to teach a restorative yoga class called “relax and release” at Flow Yoga SLC. I have taken this class a few time and I have subbed this class a few years ago and the class reminded me very much of a gentle yoga class. My new understanding of Anusara especially my knowledge about therapeutics made me really excited to sub this class. I am an avid reader of Maria Cristina’s blog and she often writes about her restorative classes. In her classes from what I can tell she offers as many as I would say 5 poses and as few as 3 in a 90 minute class. The reason for this is using multiple props to help hold the body with the universal principles of alignment and then allowing the body to completely surrender onto the floor, props, chairs… for a duration of 5-15 mins. I didn’t want to totally shook the class with only 4 poses so we did move a little in the beginning. It was really great experience I overheard students saying I feel so restored yeah. I did notice as the students we holding some of these supported poses past 2 mins they started to twitch.


So that’s what we did:
Tadasana ½ moon stretch, AMS
anjaneyasana twist
Moving bridge
Supta pigeon
Supported bound sputa baddha konasana (bolster, blocks, blanket)
Legs up wall (bolster,strap)
(I wanted to do a long supported twist but didn’t have time)
Shavasana (bolster)