Baby Yoga in Amsterdam

Teeny Tiny Yoga Has Arrived in Amsterdam

After arriving on the ferry in early October, following closely by a huge container lorry with our furniture, clothes and baby yoga equipment, we have arrived in South Amsterdam. 

My family and I have been travelling as much as we can by bike and enjoying exploring our new home.

We've also been busy looking into running baby yoga classes in Amsterdam and have found a wonderful new venue in Oud Zuid. Here is a sneak preview of the venue. As you can see, it is perfect for baby yoga, very clean and with a soft flooring.

Classes will run on Thursday mornings from the end of February 2014. Please contact teenytinyyoga@gmail.com  or www.teenytinyyoga.com for more information. Classes will be in English, with English songs.

Tuilips, Windmills and Cloggs

Classes are busy, I'm running baby and children's yoga classes at Debutots summer workship, the Lollibop festival and I've been offered three private contracts to teach baby yoga and my middle child will be in school for full days from September.

So, just when I felt that my life here was falling into place, something comes along to change EVERYTHING. 

My husband has accepted a new job in Amsterdam from the middle of August. We have decided to move to Haarlem in October this year. 

This means leaving behind family, friends, our lovely house and garden and my thriving business in which I've invested so much into during the last two years.

We don't speak Dutch, the children can't cycle and we barely know anyone in the Netherlands.

However, we plan to move by the sea, the children are safe to play out in the streets, the pace of life will be slower and we will learn about Dutch culture and learn to speak some Dutch.

So here are some things I am learning about Amsterdam:

• Amsterdam is the home of the Montesorri movement

• Bank holiday's take place on Thursday's so people can enjoy a 4 day weekend (unlike UK, where we often have a 3 day weekend as the bank holiday falls on a Monday).

• There are more museums in Amsterdam than any other city in the world

• There are twice as many bikes as cars.

• Children have no school on Wednesday or Friday afternoons and take a packed lunch
• The work-life balance is valued. People leave the office generally no later than 5.30pm.

It will take a few months to settle into our new home. 

While we live in the Netherlands, I plan to deepen my knowledge of yoga, carry out research and study the benefits of baby yoga and run new classes in Haarlem from January 2014. 

It will be fun to cycle around and visit new museums and make new friends. 

Our new house will be a short cycle ride to the beach, so we will look forward to visiting the longest beach in Europe and flying a kite.

Tummy Muscles Knitting Back together Post Pregnancy (Diastasis Recti)

It's amazing just how much your tummy stretches during pregnancy. It takes 9 months to grow a lovely big tummy and that tummy is not going to look the same as it did before you had your baby straight away (if ever!). I used to be very proud of my nice, toned tummy. Three babies later, it's not quite as washboard looking as it was in my mid 20's. I wish I had known which were the safest and most effective exercises to help strengthen and tone my abdominals.

During some pregnancies, your abdominal muscles may split completely causing diastasis recti.

The textbook definition of diastasis recti (also known as abdominal separation) is a disorder defined as a separation of the rectus abdominis muscle into right and left halves. Normally, the two sides of the muscle are joined at the linea alba at the body midline. It is essentially a cosmetic condition, with no associated morbidity or mortality. Diastasis means 'separation of normally joined parts' and 'Recti' means 'straight muscles'.

So, what's the worse that can happen if the long muscles in your tummy don't knit back together again after you've had a baby? Weak abdominal muscles can lead to back pain.  In severe cases, with no muscle coverage, it will be possible to view your internal organs moving and there will be a lot of loose skin.   However, in most cases, the gap will close up within a few months of delivery.

Here is a great video which explains how to self diagnose diastasis recti.

How to Fix Diastasis Recti

Most importantly , do not attempt any sit ups or tummy crunches, or any other tummy exercises where you're lying on your back. These will do more damage than good as they are exercising the muscles which will widen the gap between your abdominal recti.  

Here are some exercises to try. 

1. Plank

Leaning on your knees and elbows, lock your hands together. Straighten your legs and raise your body so that you're supported by the balls of your feet, with feet hip-distance apart. Face the floor, being careful not to arch your back or stick your bottom in the air. Hold this position for as long as you can, perhaps starting with 10 seconds, extending the time gradually as your strength increases.

2. Seated Tupler Technique: If you are holding your baby properly, you can do this one while breastfeeding. Remember, pillow(s) under baby, bring him/her up to you, rather than bringing your breast down to them-- no bending. You need to be sitting for this exercise. Cross-legged with your back against a wall, or in a chair where your thighs and bottom are completely supported. The seat should be firm but comfortable. Sit with your bottom touching the back of the chair. 

There are two parts to the Tupler Technique: Elevators, and Contractions. If you are breastfeeding, you can switch exercises halfway through when you switch breasts.

Part One: Elevators: sit as described above. Place your hands on your tummy, one above the belly button, one below. Take a belly breath and expand tummy to floor one. (Floor 1 is all the way out, floor 5 feels like your tummy is touching your spine, floor six you try to push your tummy outside your back.. Then bring your bellybutton back toward your spine-- floor 5. Imagine your ribs coming together. Hold for 30 counts but count outloud so you know you're still breathing. Then pull your tummy back even further to 6 for a little squeeze, and count as you do 5 of these squeezes, and release. Do a full, deep belly breath. Do ten sets of these every day.

Part Two: Contractions: sit as above. Place hands in the same position, above and below bellybutton. This is so you can feel that both top and bottom are moving backward.

3. Zipping

Place a finger on your pubic bone. Trace a line very slowly up to your belly button. As your finger moves, tighten the muscles where your finger tip touches the skin.

Good luck and if you have any concerns, visit your GP.

Reference: Tupler Technique

It's All About the Hips

The foundation of your baby's body is also the foundation of baby yoga.  As in hatha yoga, the hip movements aim to open the knee joints and the hips in order to tone the deeper muscles of the body around the base of the spine.  The benefits of these movements have been well researched by the Birthlight Trust. 


Should your baby have 'clicky hips', please refer to the 'Hip Dysplasia' website for more information.

Why is it important to practice hip sequences with your baby? 

These exercises help to strengthen the muscles at the base of your baby's spine and also have beneficial effects on the nervous systems and endocrine systems. Some baby's are very flexible and some can be quite stiff.  These exercises help to achieve a balance, either improving muscle tone to enable babies to have more stability and balance or improving flexibility.  Of course, we always observe our baby's faces and ensure they are comfortable and happy during the hip opening exercises  Having stability and balance allow a baby to sit up.  

The video below demonstrates some of the hip opening exercises we practice during a baby yoga course.

Squatting

I'm not talking about living in someone else's house illegally.

Squatting, as in sitting back on your hunches, with your heels flat on the floor is a lost art in the UK. When you visit countries, such as Japan, you'll notice that the majority of people squat to eat and it is a very natural position. See link 

Squatting (or crouching) has many scientifically proven health benefits, including a reduction in prostate cancer, improving balance, stimulating the digestive system and lengthening the spine. I've heard that squatting can help improve bad knee conditions and is a wonderful birthing position, which has been used for centuries.

I've also noticed that toddlers squat a lot when playing. It's a very natural position for a child to play in and an incredibly important one for them developmentally as it helps strengthen their muscles.  Squatting does use completely different muscles to the ones you may be used to using, so it may take some practice until it feels comfortable.

While sitting in a chair or sofa is very comfortable, it is not the optimum position for our spine to be in. We often find ourselves hunched over a computer screen or slouched watching television. When you squat, your leg muscles are active and your head held high and your spine is straight.

During baby yoga classes, I often encourage mums'/carers to squat while holding their babies and come to a standing position. It's a wonderful exercise with many benefits, as stated above.

If you’re happy and you know it, take a breath

“If you’re happy and you know it, take a breath. 
If you’re happy and you know it, take a breath! 
If you’re happy and you’re breathing, all your joy will be increasing, if you’re happy and you know it, take a breath!"

I Forgot to Breathe

Inspirational Breathing

Did you know that the word for inspiration in Latin is ‘Inspare’?

When we breathe in, we inhale fresh oxygen, new ideas, new life into our bodies. When we exhale, we are letting go of toxins of negativity and beliefs which are no longer productive. Learning to control our breathing can help us in a number of ways. You may notice that when you are in a stressful situation, your breathing becomes faster and shallower. 

I remember during labour with my first child. I forgot to breathe. I panicked. I held my breathe. Baby did appear, very rapidly, but I think I would have been more flowing and calmer had I learnt breathing control. With baby number two, I tried very hard to remember to breathe, but still panicked and wow, it really hurt. With baby number three, I had a false alarm and during the false alarm, I practiced hypno birthing relaxation techniques and breathed and managed to fall asleep and went into a deep relaxation. This helped me relax more when the real labour began.

Normally, we breathe using the upper part of our lungs. The problem is, this doesn’t remove all of the old air from our lungs, only part of it. By breathing using our diaphragms, we can train our lungs to remove much more of the old air stored in them and replace it with fresh air. Not only does the fresh air provide our bodies with more oxygen, by slowing our breath down, it makes us feel more relaxed.

In any situation, you have a choice in how you react. For example, imagine you are late for an important meeting or to collect someone and you are stuck in traffic. You can choose to be stressed or you can choose to be calm.  Should you decide to approach the situation in a calm manner, you can alter your breathing.  By imitating a deeply relaxed state, you will find your mind will follow and feel more relaxed. Try breathing more deeply, filling up your entire lungs with oxygen. Take a deep breath in through your nose and into your belly and exhale through your nose. 

It makes sense that a calm mind is a much better state to problem solve. Once you are calm, you will be able to think of more imaginative ways to resolve problems. It’s much easier to find solutions when you are in a calm state than a stressed one, when you go into panic mode.

Have a go at practicing the yogic breath detailed at the bottom of the blog. It may feel a little strange at first, but once you become accustomed to it, you’ll feel so much better. While you’re practicing, try and imagine you are breathing in positive thoughts and energy and breathing out any negative thoughts and redundant beliefs. 

Breath is Life. According to Yoga philosophy, our life is measured in the number of breaths we take.

You may hear of breathing excercises being called ‘Pranayama’. Searching on Wikepedia, I found that Prāṇāyām (Sanskrit: प्राणायाम prāṇāyām) is a Sanskrit word meaning "extension of the prāṇ or breath" or, "extension of the life force". The word is composed of two Sanskrit words, Prāṇ, life force, or vital energy, particularly, the breath, and "ayām", to extend or draw out. (Not 'restrain, or control' as is often translated from 'yam' instead of 'ayāma').

The reported benefits of Yoga Breathing include:

• ·         Increased vitality and alertness
• ·         Stress management
• ·         Improved sleep
• ·         Greater confidence and positive thinking
• ·         Improved concentration and memory.

The full yogic breath can be carried out using the following technique:

Full Yogic Breath time

1. Close those eyes.

2. Place your hands on your stomach, slightly interlacing the fingers so that the fingertips come to the second knuckle of the opposite hand. Your navel should feel cradled.

3. Begin to breathe deeply into the navel, into the belly (see photo)

4. Practice breathing with a controlled, slow breath so that you feel the fingers slide apart on the inhale and back together on the exhale. As much as you try to expand on the intake, see how much you can expel on the out breath. You may find that you can  have those fingertips slide together farther than they started. Whether they do or do not, the most important thing here is to work on controlling the breath. Smooth in, smooth out. Notice where you tend to rush or lose control.

5. Breathe like this 15-20 times as deeply as you can without discomfort or force.

6. Slide the hands up to your ribcage. A good estimation is to have your little fingers hang over the edge of your ribs with thumbs right below the pectorals. 

7. Continue breathing, except now inhale into the belly, in to the ribs. Fill the belly first before expanding the hands on the ribs. Visualise the breath filling in your body from the bottom up. First the belly, then the ribs. Feel the ribs expand in all directions-- not just forward, but sideways and into the back body.

8. As you exhale, retrace the steps from the inhale. Exhale starting from the ribs, finshing off with the belly. The navel drawing in should help fully expel your air. Don't force your breath in either direction, in or out.

9.  Repeat this another 15-20 times. Into the belly, into the ribs. Out from the ribs, out from the belly

10. Separate the hands and place them on your chest, resting the palms above the heart centre with fingertips gently curled over the collar bones. 

11. Continue breathing. Start into the belly, into the ribs, into the chest. Filling up your torso with breath from the bottom  up, all the way to your fingertips. Feel the breath rise along the spine, expanding the insides in all directions.  Exhale the way the breath came in. From the chest, through the ribs, out of the belly.

12. This is a great time to remind yourself to keep the spine as tall as possible. Just by following the breath from the bottom to the top, from the top to the bottom, you're already mindful of how the spine is stacked.

13. Repeat this 15-20 times.

Source of yogic breath instruction: Daniel Scott

Living with Pelvic Girdle Pain After Pregnancy

As a baby and toddler yoga teacher, I have noticed an increase in the number of mum's attending baby yoga classes suffering with Pelvic Girdle Pain (‘PGP’). I have a basic understanding of Pelvic Girdle Pain having trained as a yoga teacher and a massage therapist, but felt a need to deepen my knowledge and find out more practical information to help my clients. If you are experiencing any symptoms of PGP, I recommend a visit your GP to receive professional guidance, if you haven’t done already.

As many as 80% of women experience pelvic girdle pain in the first trimester of pregnancy. One in ten women will still suffer Pelvic Girdle Pain post pregnancy.

What is Pelvic Girdle Pain?

Pelvic Girdle Pain feels like anything from a minor ache to a searing sensation across your lower back and sometimes underneath your tummy.

Although the pelvis appears to be a firmly fixed circle of bone, it consists of four parts – the sacrum and coccyx at the back and at the sides and the two hip bones which curve around to meet at the front. These are joined at the front by the symphysis pubis.

“After having my third child, the problems began when I was in my third trimester. I started having pain walking and standing for long periods of time. It has been 4 years now and I live with this horrible pain every day. Some days are better then others. I am very active, I go to the gym, practice yoga, and dance. Sometimes I can't get out of my car or walk up the stairs.” Katy

What Causes Pelvic Girdle Pain?

Pelvic Girdle Pain is caused by a combination of extra pressure placed on your bones and ligaments during pregnancy and a release in hormones to relax the ligaments in your body.  Pelvic Girdle Pain can be diagnosed as Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction (‘SPD’), although please note that Symphysis Pubis Dysfuntion only applies to the symphysis pubis joint and most sufferers also experience pain in other joints in the pelvis.

What is Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction?

Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction applies to where the pregnancy hormone relaxin causes the pelvic ligaments to slacken so much that the front joint of the pelvic girdle called the symphysis pubis, separates.

It is normal for there to be a gap of 4-5mm between the two pubic points at the symphysis pubis joint and during any pregnancy this widens by another 2-3mm. If this gap widens more than this pain may occur and in some cases a severe form of the condition called diastasis symphysis pubis is diagnosed.

The job of the symphysis pubis joint is to hold the pelvis steady when we use our legs, and if the ligaments have softened or stretched too much the joint stops working properly and strain is put on the other pelvic joints, causing pain.

How do I know if I have PGP / SPD?

The main symptom of PGP is pain in the pelvic joints. There can also be instability of the joints, which makes walking and day-to-day activities difficult.

If in any doubt of the severity of your problem, it is advisable to have an x-ray to see how far the pubic bones are separated.  If they are separated far enough it won't matter how much muscle and core work you do, you will experience pain because you are out of alignment because of the separation.  To continue trying to ‘fix’ the problem without surgery could cause more damage.

Ideas to Offer Some Relief

Yoga can help to realign the spine and stabilise the pelvis by strengthening muscles that support it. Yoga postures also engage the core muscles and the pelvic floor muscles. If you would like to attend a yoga class, it is advisable to contact your teacher before the class and let him/her know of your condition. However, remember that pain is your body’s way of telling you that you have a problem.  It is important to listen to your body and become aware of any ‘twinges’ or areas of pain.  If you have been diagnosed with SPD/PGP, please contact your GP for medical consent before carrying out any exercise.

Yoga Postures for SPD/PGP

1.    Pranayama (Abdominal Breathing)

Abdominal breathing helps to strengthen abdominal muscles, relaxes the mind and body, optimally oxygenates the blood and cleanses the lungs of residual toxin.

Step 1: Sit in a comfortable position with your spine, and neck straight. You could also lie down on your back. Start by taking slow, long, and deep nasal breaths

Step 2: As you inhale, let your abdomen fill with air. As you exhale, let your belly deflate like a balloon. Repeat the exercise a few times, keeping your breath smooth and relaxed. Never strain

Step 3: Breathe into your belly as in Step 2, but also inflate your thoracic region by letting your rib cage open up. Exhale and repeat the exercise a few times

Step 4: Follow steps 2 and 3 and continue inhaling by opening the clavicle region or upper chest. Exhale and repeat the exercise a few times

    Combine all three steps into one continuous or complete flow.

2.    Tadasana (Mountain Pose)

This pose increases awareness of your posture and also aligns your spine. It is a good idea to practice this posture in front of a mirror to check your alignment.

Stand straight and pull both your legs and feet together. Take your toes and raise them all up, let them flex out a little and set them down again as you allow the arches of your feet to lift.  Your big toes should touch.  Tighten your legs together and allow your spine to lengthen. Your chin should be parallel to the ground and your arms relaxed at your side. Breathe into your chest, with slow deep breaths. Gently move your abdomen, towards your spine. Pull your shoulders first back and then down.

Other Pain Relief Suggestions

1. Using a u-shaped maternity pillow in bed can provide support to your pelvis.
2. Acupuncture can offer pain relief.
3. Contact the Pelvic Partnership, a registered charity (www.pelvicpartnership.org.uk) via telephone and request a local specialist osteopath. 01235 820921      
4. A support belt. Try doubling up with a wide elasticated belt to take the weight off your symphasis pubis and a stiff non- stretchy thin belt to support your pelvis.

Here is the experience of Pelvic Girdle Pain from one of the mum's from a Teeny Tiny Baby Yoga class:

I got spd symptoms at around 5 months pregnant and it was manageable with excercises, a bit of physio and as time went on, a support belt. At 8 months pregnant, I woke up unable to walk at all, the pain was so severe I couldn't even drag myself on the floor to get to the bathroom let alone limp. Things improved gradually towards final days of pregnancy and disappeared as soon as I had my baby. It reappeared 3 weeks later, after I walked further then normal and has not gone away since, 6 months later. Its nowhere near as bad and is now like a chronic nagging pain in my right sacroiliac joint which flares up with walking longer than approx 10 mins. I manage by not being too active and taking paracetamol and ibuprofen when need be. I've seen physios since and do my pelvic floor excercises and stretches advised but it continues. I just live hoping it will go but I can't see it going anytime soon. I think pregnancy hormone relaxin doesn't help, which is still present as still breastfeeding. It gets me down and limits me in what I do and frustrates me not being able to start getting fit again. My advice would be to make sure a GP refers you to physio when pregnant if bad hip pain, either demand or go private of which I did both. It was quite late before I got help. GPs dont really know much about it. Also, to rest as much as possible. I should have gone on maternity leave long before 8 months, this would probably have meant the joint not getting so inflamed according to hospital.

Jenni Grossman is the Director of Teeny Tiny Yoga.  Baby, toddler and children’s yoga classes run from Totteridge Tennis Club in North London. www.teenytinyyoga.com.