Tag Archives: doula

GO SLOWLY

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In my pre-pregnancy life I was typically running just late enough that rushing would almost always get me where I was going on time. This rushing became fully habitual as I began to plan to leave the house, or schedule time between appointments, based on the amount of time I would need if I rushed from place to place. This pace had taken over so fully that even when I didn’t have a particular place to be at a particular time, I could still be seen walking as fast as my little legs could carry me.

For years I have been telling my students that pregnancy is an important time to take things more slowly and move more mindfully.  There are several reasons for this, but one big one is because of the hormone relaxin. Relaxin is released immediately after conception and rises until about 14 weeks, where it remains constant until labor, when there is another significant increase. Relaxin loosens tendons, muscles and ligaments, necessary to allow the body to stretch to accommodate and birth baby, but also makes sprains and strains more common and slower to heal. Although I’ve been relaying this information for years, it was my husband who reminded me in one of those rushing-for-no-particular-reason-moments. “Where ya goin’ so fast, Rushie?” Oh right, now I’M pregnant and I have to listen to my own advice.

So after about a month or so filled with lots of emails and texts saying “Aaah, running 15 minutes late…again…sorry…” I think I’ve just about figured out the speed where my pregnant body wants to operate. And, I must say, I didn’t know what I was missing by my habitual rushing–everything from the newly blooming flowers, the faces of my neighbors and so many babies in our neighborhood, the sound of the birds,the list goes on, but the most profound for me was the calm that comes with moving through the world mindfully.

I leave you with the words of Thich Naht Hahn, which have become my mantra: “Smile, breathe, and go slowly.”

Aimee Karr is a DONA trained labor support doula, and yoga teacher specializing in prenatal, postnatal and restorative yoga. For more about Aimee visit www.aimeemccabe.com/yoga

{Upcoming Workshop} Partner Yoga for Labor & Birth: A Hands On Exploration of the Birth Partners Role

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Sunday, September 25th

1:30-3pm

$70 per couple

Led by certified Doula and Pre/Postnatal Yoga Instructor Aimee McCabe

The presence and participation of a birth partner can have an enormous impact on a mother’s satisfaction with her birth experience. Through partner yoga postures, breathwork, massage and other comfort techniques, this workshop will give partners tools to confidently support their lovely mommas-to-be. Connecting with our partners during this deeply important transitional time, this hands-on exploration will help to open up a new way of looking at the process of labor. With an emphasis on a practical approach to helping labor progress more smoothly, we will workshop breathing techniques, intuitive touch for partners, as well as positions for labor to help manage pain and cultivate a relaxed state during birth.

This workshop is open to pregnant women at any stage of pregnancy and their birth partner.

*No experience necessary*

Click here to reserve your spot!

About Aimee:

Aimee originally moved to New York from Kansas to pursue acting. She noticed that as her acting career progressed, she was continually more drawn to yoga because of the generosity, ease and sense of calm that her own practice cultivated in her life off the yoga mat. Aimee particularly enjoys working with women in particularly challenging times–teaching prenatal, Baby & Me yoga, and yoga to women through and after cancer, as well as working as a labor support doula. Bringing more than a decade of personal practice and teaching to her students, she infuses lightness into the practices that have brought her through difficult times.  She is endlessly grateful for the support and compassion shown by her teachers and feels blessed for the opportunity to teach and learn from her students.

Certifications: Women Cancer Survivors Training: Tari Prinster, Pre and Postnatal Certifications: Deb Flashenberg & Nikita Maxwell, Baby & Me: Jyothi Larsen, How to Teach Restorative: Margi Young, Pranayama Teacher Training: Cyndi Lee & Joe Miller, 200 hour certification: Cyndi Lee, Joe Miller, Frank Mauro,  Sarah Trelease, Margi Young, Christie Clark

{Upcoming Workshop} Partner Yoga for Labor & Birth: A Hands-On Exploration of the Birth Partner’s Role

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Aimee McCabe, certified Prenatal Yoga instructor and doula, is offering an exciting new workshop for soon-to-be moms and their significant other this March.

 

The presence and participation of a birth partner can have an enormous impact on a mother’s satisfaction with her birth experience. Through partner yoga postures, breathwork, massage and other comfort techniques, this workshop will give partners tools to confidently support their lovely mommas-to-be. Connecting with our partners during this deeply important transitional time, this hands-on exploration will help to open up a new way of looking at the process of labor. With an emphasis on a practical approach to helping labor progress more smoothly, we will workshop breathing techniques, intuitive touch for partners, as well as positions for labor to help manage pain and cultivate a relaxed state during birth.
This workshop is open to pregnant women at any stage of pregnancy and their birth partner.

Sunday, March 6th

1:30-3pm

$70 per couple

Click here to reserve your spot!

 

 

 

 

About Aimee:

Aimee originally moved to New York from Kansas to pursue acting. She noticed that as her acting career progressed, she was continually more drawn to yoga because of the generosity, ease and sense of calm that her own practice cultivated in her life off the
yoga mat.

Aimee particularly enjoys working with women in particularly challenging times–teaching prenatal, Baby & Me yoga, and yoga to women through and after cancer, as well as working as a labor support doula. Bringing more than a decade of personal practice and teaching to her students, she infuses lightness into the practices that have brought her through difficult times.

She is endlessly grateful for the support and compassion shown by her teachers and feels blessed for the opportunity to teach and learn from her students.