Amanda Ramcharitar Yoga

I can’t lie, Asana was much simpler before i had a baby.  Before mommahood I never understood what woman really sacrifice by bringing another human into this world.  Post-pregnancy it has been like putting a jigsaw puzzle back together, joint by joint.  A few weeks ago i had a long conversation with an astangi Yogi who also 6 months post- pregnancy still felt numb from lower abdomen down, the bandhas? What bandha’s?  And I have to admit, being a teacher of Yoga for many years before i had a baby, i really had no understanding when women said they couldn’t connect to their pelvic floor after there fourth child, i used to think, just connect your brain to the pelvis.  But the karma stick descended heavy and fierce following baby appearance.  I thought i’d be one of the woman who would be jumping back into handstands and also being over 40, time was not on my side. 

I did begin to practice as advised from the second week, post-pregnancy with light standing, soft core engagement, pelvic tilts etc… I progressed to a point, but there was definitely a limitation, small injuries were appearing, i just could not engage my core as i used to.  I could feel l was pulling very sensitive areas out of place, such as the sacral-iliac joint, which would cause lumbar issues.  I began to decrease my focus from what i used to be able to do and accept that if I wanted to carry on my practice, i needed to really figure out what was happening! And the utmost importance was to stabilise my pelvis.  It was to be a slow road back to finding true stability, from learning about the the correct engagement and importance of the femur’s connection into the hip socket to the breaths deep connection to the pubic symphysis muscles.

It blows my mind that so many woman, never reconnect to their physical inner strength, that woman get back into life after giving the gift of life to not to just carry there own body’s weight but that of another if not a few others!  I am so thankful that Yoga does provide many of the important keys understandings for woman looking to find their strength again.  For myself it has been an amazing and enlightening exploration, along with putting many of my students through highly concentrated small exercises to truly help find those tiny micro muscles, i feel relieved that it can be done! But it takes slow painstaking effort, reconnecting what a little baba spends 9 months spreading out…

I actually implore woman to take your time to become physically stable again, try not to rush back into the world of movement without physically reconnecting to your centre of strength the pelvis.  Really feel the body suturing back together and supporting your spine.  Its been a 3 year journey for me so far, and it seems as my daughter finds her feet, so do I… A blessing on so many levels…