Postpartum Wisdom

This is a late posting. I wrote it at 3 months postpartum but haven't wanted to post it until now, almost 8 months postpartum but here it is:) 

During my pregnancy I couldn’t practice as much as I liked. I was teaching a fair amount and found the teaching to be enough for me. Once I gave birth I couldn’t wait to be back on my mat. At my four week postpartum visit, my midwife gave me the go ahead to go to a yoga class. I was so excited to be back on my mat and to be surrounded by my familiar yoga community. My physical yoga practice was advanced before getting pregnant -- I knew it would be different but I never would have guessed just how different. The experience that I had at that first class postpartum was eye opening and humbling.

Going into the class I expected my body to be different, I would take it slow, stay in child’s pose if I had to, I had no problem with that. The class started off with cat/cow. Usually the action of rounding and arching my spine is one of the most delicious things I can do for my front and back body. The sensations that I experienced were anything but comfortable. As I dropped my belly towards the earth I felt a tightening all across my midline. I stopped immediately and moved to rounding my back, it didn’t round, it felt stuck and choppy, the actions felt awkward. We continued on in a nice flow, but I found myself modifying  EVERYTHING  even a gentle cobra, I chose child’s pose.

My practice had shifted. I was struggling to stay focused on my breath, struggling to stop wondering what my peers would think. Prior to pregnancy I had trained myself to find my breath and to not care what people thought, I was confident in my practice. All of a sudden I was a beginner with no midline, no stability, and barely any strength.  I had to rediscover myself on the mat and analyze a new role I played – I was (I am) a mom. I had shared my body with my son for 9 months and now had to explore that body.  My initial thought was “holy crap, what happened to me” and of course I knew people would respond with “you just had a baby, it’s going to be different.” The knowledge of this difference and experiencing this difference are two very different things.

Postpartum is a tricky time for any woman but yoga has taught me that nothing is consistent (we shape and shift everyday) and that we are nothing. We are not the roles we play, the job we keep, or the way we practice on our mat, we are nothing but an essence that evolves closer to oneness as our physical world changes around us – including our bodies.  Initially, I was embarrassed of how my practice was not the fluid dance it once was. After a couple more public classes, I came to realize that this seemingly backwards fall toward a beginner’s practice was an evolution, a growth of wisdom. I have been reminded that no matter how our bodies change that body should be celebrated because the physical changes are signs of growth and wisdom. This goes for everything, not only postpartum. If we all can accept the evolution of our bodies as we get older (more wrinkles, more scars, more stretch marks) and view these changes as rites of passage to being closer to our higher self, we can live more freely as we navigate our way down a spiritual path.

…At 3 months postpartum I am still trying to find my midline but that is okay.

Raw Beauty

Lately I have been thinking about what beauty really is. Who defines beauty? What defines beauty? With it being the 21st century where did I turn to have this question answered? None other than Google, of course. I hopped on my computer and typed in "what is beauty" the first response I got was this:

"A combination of qualities, such as shape, color, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, esp. the sight. A combination of qualities that pleases the intellect or moral sense" - Wikipedia

Not being satisfied with the answer I began to make a mind map of what beauty is to me. (There is a picture of it below). The words that I connect with the most are highlighted in blue signifying a primary connection and yellow as secondary; although, all resonate with me on a large scale. The words that pop out the most to me are fluid movement, simplicity, oneness, energy, nature, innocence, love and loyalty. Going with Wikipedia's answer, there is no doubt a combination of qualities that create beauty and I don't think there are any hard fast rules to this definition.

I have tried endlessly to write a post on "Raw Beauty" or even just beauty but everything I wrote didn't seem quite right and went off on tangents about the complexities of beauty in our world today. I think the reason why I can't write about it is because it is not describable but rather, it is simple, pure, raw something that can't be expressed through an explanation but has to evoke a feeling, it tickles all five senses. This inability to truly describe beauty in a raw form led to the creation of a list of things that I think raw beauty is. The combinations of the letters below, I believe evoke different feelings and therefore are beautiful -- in words and in experience. Enjoy this list of "Raw Beauty." 
(of course there are a million other words -- this is just a start)

Raw Beauty:

The emotions that a good song create at the base of your belly. The ability to watch a seed blossom into a vegetable or flower. The sacred feeling of being on a mountain peak as snowflakes fall around you. The sounds of a paddle in calm waters. The feeling of a cool lake water surrounding your body. The comfort of being in your own skin, free - free of expectations. The change in your heart beat by the touch of a lover. The feeling evoked by seeing joy in someone else.  The melding of body and breath. Community. The taste of a really good meal. The wonder of mountains. The complexities of How this world functions in the most simple form. The crashing of waves against the shoreline. Children's laughter. The ability to express yourself without fear of judgement. The unity of breath and movement. The connection of friendship. The beauty of a newborn baby and its' mother. The tenderness of age old love.  The sound of heavy rain hitting the earth. The sound of carving through powder. The feeling, sound and smell of a wood burning fire. The aromatics of a good wine. The simple feeling of breath filling your body.

Connect with yourself on a pure level, a raw level and find freedom -- lightness in your heart and actions.  Take time out of each day to savor the qualities of the raw beauty within yourself and your surroundings and you will feel ever comfortable in your own skin. Be raw, be real.

~Liz 

Yoga Photos By Jessica Butler!

A while back I got in touch with Jess about the possibility of doing some yoga photos with her. After many schedule conflicts and rescheduling we finally made it happen -- it was super fun! Jess is a Squamish local who has an amazing eye to create the perfect picture and is really nice to work with. I highly recommend you check her out if you ever need any professional photos taken, she is your girl!
To get in touch with Jess you can find her on her facebook page at JB Candid Photography:)

Below are a few of our favorites.

Are You in Touch With Your Deep Connective Tissue?

Do you spend your time rock climbing, mountain biking, swimming, running, playing golf,  caring for your babies,  in the garden? I could list every and any activity -- a  regular yoga practice will benefit your body, really!  I love yoga but I also enjoy many other types of physical activity. When I partake in other activities I am quick to notice a tightness in body. When I come back to my mat after a day of hiking and mountain biking the simplest stretches have me bliss.

Why does it feel so good to stretch? When you stretch the same muscle group for an extended period of time you allow for a release in your fascia (one of the many types of connective tissue in the body). Fascia consist of two proteins elastin (~75%) and collagen (~25%) these two proteins envelope muscles to create one bundle of muscle.When you exercise your muscles contract (the muscle shortens) and does not fully release back to a relaxed state when you finish your workout, until you stretch. If you don't stretch after a workout your muscles stay in a shorten state. This is also true if you have an office job  or are in school where are constantly hunched over books or a computer. Your muscles begin to mold to the "hunched" form, unless you counteract it with stretching in the opposite direction. Over time lack of stretching will decrease the range of motion of your joints and will pull your bones out of alignment -- causing your skeleton to deviate from its' optimal position. When your bones are not in optimal alignment it can cause pain which results in chiropractic, massage and physiotherapy bills.

 
To counteract the contraction and "molding" of connective tissue that surrounds your bone (fascia) in a non-optimal position, stretches need to be held for an extended period of time. This is where yoga comes in handy. Studies have shown that stretching for 30 seconds can be useful to release some tension but longer holds (greater that 60 seconds) are required to allow for a full release, maintain a healthy range of motion in your joints and keep your bones in anatomical alignment (JB. Feland et al, 2001 and SL Herman et al, 2008). This is where yin yoga really comes into play. Yin is a style of yoga that is much slower than other forms of yoga because the asana are held for 3 - 5 minutes. What is interesting about holding the asana for this amount of time is that you can see and feel your body begin to release. After 90 seconds you are able to go deeper into the posture, the science speaks for itself.

People who are very active -- take part in high endurance sports or train for multiple hours a week often experience injuries and the injuries tend to reoccur -- I am no stranger to this world. When I was a gymnast it was either my back, may shoulder, may hamstrings, my groin, my neck, my wrist...I could go on to list every part in the body! While a gymnast is very flexible the type of stretching a gymnast does is not the healing type experienced in yoga. My muscles were being built up and then torn to gain more flexibility. It wasn't until I started doing yoga that my chronic back pain went away and my physiotherapy and chiropractic bill went to nothing. 

I encourage you to begin to think of yoga as a compliment to any activity you do. Once you begin a regular practice you will see how much it improves the other activities in your life. Give it a whirl!

~Liz

*photo by Carly Esplen

Eat Local

Two weeks ago I was taking a teacher training in Vancouver (taught by the lovely Kristin Campbell, also a Squamish local) and was able to make a handful of new friends. We laughed, we joked, we got serious, as most girls do.

As with many conversations we diverted to the topic of food. The first question about food that arises with yogis is meat consumption. I call myself  a quasi vegetarian because I only eat meat if it is local, grass fed and has not been injected with hormones or antibiotics. I had just finished telling one of my fellow trainees this and she asked if I knew where the feed for the organic meat was coming from. My heart immediately sunk, oh no, the feed! After a momentary feeling of betrayal I asked my friend, "what about the feed?" Many of you may already be aware of this and I suppose I may be last to know of this "secret" but I feel it is important to share the knowledge.

My friend began to tell me how the animals are not fed organic feed but instead are fed genetically modified corn based products. She also said  that organic farms that have fully organic (non-genetically modified crops) can be in close enough range to non-organic farms that the seedlings from the non-organic farms travel (by wind) to the organic farmland where they land and germinate. This causes issue in the authenticity of the organic farm crops as well as issues of who truly owns the crops, the organic or non-organic farmer, but I won't get into that. The issue of natural seed dispersal is the biggest problem for corn and soy crops as these two crops are the world's most prominent non-organic crops. Here I thought when I was eating soy it was better than eating conventional meat!

 Of course this rolls over into the garden, surprise, surprise. I have been excited for years, yes years, to have a garden of my own. Living in Squamish allows me to bring this excitement to life. I went out and bought a bunch of different seeds to start growing inside and they have sprouted up nicely. When I got home from training and gazed over at my beautiful little buds poking out from the soil, curiosity got the best of me, and I started to research where my seeds had come from. I should have guessed! They were coming from the crop tycoon of the world and were anything but natural. The realization hit hard, my home grown little sprouts would produce veggies that were no better than the conventional grocery store products. Luckily, I have a garden savvy neighbor and she told me where she gets her organic (non tampered with) seeds. I quickly did some research on the company and decided to go get some more seeds from the "West Coast" seed company. Their seeds are grown in Canada are organic and are not genetically modified (yipee!).

If you like to eat organic, natural food it is important to do your research, as I have learned! Buy local and grow local. We are lucky here in Squamish, as we have the "Squamish Farmers Market" every other weekend during the winter and every weekend in the summer. Not only is the Farmers Market a great place to buy local fruits, veggies and personal care products, but it is a great place to meet the community!

Below are some links about different non-organic and organic foods and the issues with the seedlings. Happy reading:)

Feel free to leave any comments or insight to this topic. 

~Liz




http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1599110,00.html
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/life-video/video-debunking-myths-about-genetically-modified-foods/article4360365/?from=7018634
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19584953

SPRING - Fresh, New, Exciting

With the "spring forward" time change now effect, less rainy days, warm sunshine, a carefree puppy and some new freckles on my face it is beginning to feel like spring -- especially with all the tulips that are being sold around town (I caved and bought some today!)

Spring is bitter sweet for me as I love Winter in the mountains. Being able to fill my free time snowboarding, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing and taking part in other glorious winter sports can make it hard to be happy for those rays of sunshine to be beating down on the mountain face; however, Spring/Summer brings a whole smattering of activities that are also loaded with enjoyment.

  
As the days become longer and the sun shine begins to greet me wherever I go I begin to feel fresh, renewed, excited. I think it is because there is something enchanting about Spring. In the morning there is dew on the ground but as the sun comes out the dew is turned into natures glistening crystals, bringing a magical sparkle to the lawn. New life begins to grow as I prepare my garden box, my tomato seeds have already sprouted (I have pre-planted inside!) The birds begin to sing filling my ears with up-lifting tunes, the flowers begin bloom and there is an unmistakable smell of spring in the air. All of these things are familiar but each year spring pops up I feel a sense of wonder -- an excitement to explore new things. As I was thinking about this I thought how this is very similar to one of the reasons why I love yoga so much.

Every time I come to my mat it is familiar, the smell and the feel but it is never exactly the same. Some days my body is more flexible than others, some days my balance is off, some days I am impatient with my practice and just want to get it over with, some days I love my practice and want to stay longer. Even though I know my mat and my body well each time I practice I have a different experience. Each different experience allows me to learn and grow and keeps my practice exciting -- enchanting -- a lot like Spring.

As the flowers begin to blossom, the birds begin to sing and the sun shines for an extended period of time try to embody a feeling of lightness, of excitement, approaching all experiences with an open heart -- whatever they may be. 

~Liz

Sea-to-Sky Yoga Photos

A few weeks ago my very talented brother-in-law (Jesse Bueckert) agreed to take some photos of me doing yoga while capturing the beauty of the Sea-to-Sky corridor. Here are a few of our favorites!

Jesse has been taking photos since high school when he took a class in photography in grade 12. He is  a SCUBA instructor and has spent the last three years in Turks and Caicos diving and capturing pictures of exotic sea life and beautiful landscapes. He has a passion for the outdoors as he is on a constant search for gnar while diving, snowboarding, and surfing (gnar = powder, awesome waves or an amazing dive). This passion can be seen through his photos with his insightful eye for nature's beauty. You can check out his adventures and more of his amazing photos at his blog here: http://gnarinc.blogspot.ca/