Here's
me with some of the amazing kula in March. i'm standing 4th
from the left in the brown and pink. 
who
knew that month i was to join them in prenatal bliss? 
happy
to be pregnant with the kula...
pondering
the changes  and
so grateful for the yoga - it reminds me we are part of something amazing, helps
me feel great, and keeps me pain-free at 8 1/2 months...
 helps
me stay playful when everything goes topsy turvy...
 and
inspires me to move toward my center as life takes a big shift.
Smiling at 2 weeks.
Still happy at 1
And driving at 2. Boy it goes by fast!
jessica: background
and training.
I
have been teaching Anusara yoga since 2000, and one of the most beautiful things
in my life has been helping develop the Los Angeles Anusara Prenatal Kula (heart-filled
community). When I first started teaching prenatal
yoga, I looked around at these beautiful pregnant women and thought, "There
is nothing I can teach them - they are so full of goddess wisdom and beauty right
now." Soon I realized that students were not feeling goddess-like at all:
in our busy city lives, pregnancy is often a time of fear and isolation for women,
full of overwhelming choices, physical discomfort, and frightening life and physical
changes.
I discovered that Anusara Yoga with its Universal
Principles of Alignment was the perfect method to help us enjoy
pregnancy: to helps us find play and happiness in the process, relieve
us from suffering aches and pains, and to encourage us to be transformed
by each challenges of our journey. The idea that we are co-creators
with the divine is nowhere more obvious than in a prenatal yoga
class; the heart-opening poses help us not only find strength and
openness, but also feel more connected to our growing baby and ourselves
as a mother.
I
come from both Eastern and Western traditions, as I have always
believed strongly that the guru appears in many forms. I received
my Masters in Kinesiology (Exercise Science/Rehab Exercise) in 2009,
after studying nutrition, pregnancy exercise, and biomechanics.
I trained as a doula (through Doulas of North America, or DONA)
and combine my in-home prenatal services with birth preparation.
My greatest honor was after over 1000 hours of Anusara Yoga training
becoming a Certified Anusara Yoga Instructor in 2006.
I
was fortunate to be able to
team up with the Chief of Staff of OB/Gyn at Kaiser to create a
program for pregnant women as part of my Masters thesis, in which
patients come for long group medical visits instead of short individual
appointments, have discussions and share experiences, and then
practice yoga together.
We
completed our clinical study comparing the satisfaction of 100 people
who went through the group visit and yoga program with that of 100
people who did traditional, one-on-one care. Needless to say, satisfaction
with prenatal care was far higher for those who got to go through
it with friends and do yoga in the process!
The
surprise was that the program (called Pregnancy in Balance) also
had a positive effect on birth outcomes - there were less Caesarians
in the intervention group, even when we controlled for repeats.
Our incredible results convinced me that this program has the potential
to become standard of care at all of Kaiser's 150 facilities (I'm
working on it!).
Through it
all, the ever-expanding Prenatal Kula has been an amazing gift in my life. Getting
to share in this amazing journey with pregnant students constantly opens my eyes
to nature's intelligence and beauty, deepens my gratitude and awe for our embodied
experience, and reminds me of the profound power of nature that each of us can
learn to align with so that we can offer our brightest light to the world. 
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