Monday, October 15, 2007
Belly asanas and bleeding . . . part II
I meant to say that I thought about not practicing this morning, since I had bleeding. But I went to M's house anyway (we practice together on Monday mornings). When I got there he said that he was feeling sick, so he wanted to take the day off. I took that as a sign and did not practice and don't plan to today.
Belly asanas and bleeding . . .
This weekend I practiced intermediate and primary. Questions and worries arose regarding all the "on your belly" postures. I was thinking, when do I stop doing salabhasana, bhekasana, and dhanurasana?
1. I once saw a very pregnant woman practicing intermediate. All I saw was her doing parsva dhanurasana, nothing else, so I'm not sure what led up to that back bend. Or what she did afterwards. I had seen her practice pre pregnancy and it was strong and advanced. I sure would like to talk to her now.
2. Doesn't it seem like you'd have to do the belly work before you could go into the "on your knees" back bends? I'm not sure how my body would take it if I didn't do salabhasana, bhekasana, and dhanurasana, and went on to the following intense backbends. Yikes.
3. So what does that mean--dropping to primary already?
4. During my first pregnancy I had a lot of bleeding at six weeks, thought I was losing the baby. I had an ultrasound, everything was fine, so I just went on my merry way. But at the time, that was the moment I gave up doing anything on my belly. Being on my belly just felt bad, physically and psychologically, so I gave it up.
5. So, ironically, I woke up this morning and had bleeding. I'm just at six weeks. Kind of heavy, very red. I know I will hear from the OB office today as I went in for another blood test on Saturday. They wanted to make sure my pregnancy hormone levels ( hCG), were rising appropriately.
6. Kind of sad about the bleeding, but I'm trying to remain calm as this happened last time and now I have a healthy, smart, funny, crazy little three year old living with me.
7. But interestingly, yesterday I finally didn't feel tired. I didn't feel as pregnant. And now I am having some cramping, so maybe I really am losing this person.
8. Sigh.
1. I once saw a very pregnant woman practicing intermediate. All I saw was her doing parsva dhanurasana, nothing else, so I'm not sure what led up to that back bend. Or what she did afterwards. I had seen her practice pre pregnancy and it was strong and advanced. I sure would like to talk to her now.
2. Doesn't it seem like you'd have to do the belly work before you could go into the "on your knees" back bends? I'm not sure how my body would take it if I didn't do salabhasana, bhekasana, and dhanurasana, and went on to the following intense backbends. Yikes.
3. So what does that mean--dropping to primary already?
4. During my first pregnancy I had a lot of bleeding at six weeks, thought I was losing the baby. I had an ultrasound, everything was fine, so I just went on my merry way. But at the time, that was the moment I gave up doing anything on my belly. Being on my belly just felt bad, physically and psychologically, so I gave it up.
5. So, ironically, I woke up this morning and had bleeding. I'm just at six weeks. Kind of heavy, very red. I know I will hear from the OB office today as I went in for another blood test on Saturday. They wanted to make sure my pregnancy hormone levels ( hCG), were rising appropriately.
6. Kind of sad about the bleeding, but I'm trying to remain calm as this happened last time and now I have a healthy, smart, funny, crazy little three year old living with me.
7. But interestingly, yesterday I finally didn't feel tired. I didn't feel as pregnant. And now I am having some cramping, so maybe I really am losing this person.
8. Sigh.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Practice 10/12/07
I had pasasana no problem yesterday. Today (yes, intermediate on Fridays . . . I practice primary on Sundays . . . just the way it works out!) it was a little harder. And today after supta vajrasana I thought J looked at me funny. After class she followed me out and said, "What's going on with . . . " She knew I wanted to get pregnant. I happily told her I was about five weeks. She said she could see a little bump when I went back. That's a change from Tuesday, the last time I practiced with her.
Background--I'm up to yogi nidrasana. The leg behind the head thing is quite an experience!
Background--I'm up to yogi nidrasana. The leg behind the head thing is quite an experience!
The Start
I'm five weeks pregnant. Very exciting. And I am writing this blog to document what it's like to be an Ashtangi and go through a pregnancy. I've read practically everything about pregnancy and ashtanga and the advice all seems very loose. More like, "do what feels right." But for goal oriented-people like me, that can be hard to decipher. "Am I wimping out or do I really feel more tired than usual today," that kind of thing. So I thought this blog of my experience might end up being helpful to someone out there.
I've heard: You shouldn't practice while you are trying to conceive or during the first trimester, to only do what feels right.
Advice from M (one of my teachers): Start practicing like you have a big belly already (and I'm a paranoid or is he already NOT helping me in Dwi Pada?).
Advice from J and N (two of my teachers): We practiced through a few pregnancies--you'll be fine.
This is my second pregnancy. The first time I was only doing led ashtanga classes and had not yet started doing daily mysore practice. I ended up not practicing very much, gained a lot of weight, and generally felt exhausted the whole time. I'm hoping this time, if I keep my practice up, I will actually gain energy. That's my theory so far--remains to be seen!
So this will not be definitive either, but maybe what I experience can be helpful to others in the future.
I've heard: You shouldn't practice while you are trying to conceive or during the first trimester, to only do what feels right.
Advice from M (one of my teachers): Start practicing like you have a big belly already (and I'm a paranoid or is he already NOT helping me in Dwi Pada?).
Advice from J and N (two of my teachers): We practiced through a few pregnancies--you'll be fine.
This is my second pregnancy. The first time I was only doing led ashtanga classes and had not yet started doing daily mysore practice. I ended up not practicing very much, gained a lot of weight, and generally felt exhausted the whole time. I'm hoping this time, if I keep my practice up, I will actually gain energy. That's my theory so far--remains to be seen!
So this will not be definitive either, but maybe what I experience can be helpful to others in the future.
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