First of all, we would like to send you our very best wishes for the New Year 2012, may this be the Year when you get everything that you would hope for. Good health and successes for your family, loved ones and children and have many small events coming your way whether friends meetings or encounters that remind you to keep fun in your life!

New Years Resolutions: Do One Thing, Do Yoga

We took a call earlier this week and spoke to a lovely lady Carol who quoted an article of the Surrey Mirror in December last month ‘ if you do one thing  next year, Do Yoga’. Thank you Carol for this.

It is just amazing how the benefits of Yoga are now commonly spoken of, often in the press or around friends, on TV. There is not a week that goes by says my Mum when Yoga and its amazing benefits get mentioned on French TV and Radio. And the French know one thing or two about well being… There is such a long list of Yoga Benefits that I could not possibly be listing them all.

If your New Years Resolutions Are About Physical Fitness

Just to name a few on the physical side: general flexibility and tone of muscles, joints and ligaments, cardio vascular benefits,slowing down and regulating breathing and heart rate, reducing blood pressure, strengthening bones (great prevention against osteoporosis), losing weight, improving sleep quality etc,.. If your New Years Resolutions are anything to do with general fitness then it may be that yoga is for you.  See if you can find a class that suits you here

Or It May Be that Yoga Helps You Emotionally and Spiritually

You can take your Yoga off the mat and like me write down the few things that you know Yoga can help you focus on this Year. I had not until now written down my New Years Resolutions however I know that it is always best to write them down so here they are:

1) Remember every morning what you are grateful for: this is just a very simple trick to get yourself in a positive and loving mood. Just write a list of what you are grateful for,loving family, good health etc….. and remind yourself every morning before you get up. This will help counter any stressful or negative thoughts about getting up. Imagine if everyone out there on your commuting track had practiced the same? would not it help everyone to slow down?

2) More emotional control to enjoy space and ease especially when you feel you have too much to do: practice breath awareness any time you feel restricted simply focus on your breath and remember your inner resource, your inner smile to find ease, space and control.

3) Discipline: practice small and often your chosen effective Yoga poses whether your focusing on Core Strength, Upper Body Strength or Pelvic Floor Health, there are lots of simple poses you can practice at home or at your desk often.

4) Take care of yourself first: it is a common concept that one needs to be able to love oneself, and take care of oneself before being able to love others and take care of others. Well this year, I decided to take this one quite literally and prioritise so that I get to do the things I enjoy rather than letting it be pushed down the bottom of the household long list. I discovered that If I do this, then I am much more tolerant of other family members doing the same… Bingo!

and most importantly…..

5) Have fun: life is too short to go around your life like it is a long string of chores. Bring more awareness and fun into the very small tasks from everyday life. If you become focused on the task and slow down then the activity – however mundane -becomes more fullfilling. Otherwise, why not practice laughter Yoga along the way?

And Finally…. like Carol who called us earlier, when it comes to making New Years Resolutions,  Take Action, give that phone call, find out about what it is you would like to do, and Go For It….:)))

Wanted to wish our great friends, family, customers and all those amazing people we met this year a Very Merry Christmas!
Have a great time and see you all very soon!

Warmest
Laurence Turner and family!

My personal experience is certainly part of my passion for Baby Yoga and a reason why I want to share Baby Yoga with other Mums and Babies.  Thanks to my course work, I was encouraged to look deeper into the reasons why Baby Yoga helped Abigail so well and in particular through reading two fascinating books The Well Balanced Child from Sally Goddard Blythe and Baby Yoga from Francoise Freedman.

Both Sally Goddard and Francoise Freedman identify movement as a critical component to motor development. Sally Goddard ‘s book looks particularly at the role of movement and balance affecting the vestibular systems, other baby sensory systems and early learning all together under the premise that a well balanced body affects positively a child’s mental balance and learning ability. Francoise Freeman in her book Baby Yoga looks specifically at the effect of movement but also touch, again affecting all the bodily systems within a loving environment with the primary carer.

Having reviewed these two fascinating books, I understand the main axes of influence of motor development in newborns and infants as follow:

Baby Yoga Motor Development: Important Things to Know

The mastery of head control is first learnt in the horizontal position within 6 weeks of birth, first when babies are placed on their tummys and later on on their back. This is the first step of development with enormous implications:

First babies ability to lift their head when placed on their tummy is their first attempt at maturing the primitive reflex known as TLR or Tonic Labyrinthine Reflex, one of the most important reflexes in the sense that it takes up to 3.5years of age to completely being superseded by established behaviour. Correct placement of the head is fundamental to later balance, posture and coordination because it works in conjunction with the vestibular system and other senses like vision.

Secondly, motor development is cephalo caudal (from head to toe) and proximo distal (from center to outwards) so it is critical to encourage this first step of head control on the tummy as this will lead to strengthening of the neck and spine and finally limbs, helping babies to achieve major development milestones (for instance, control of neck, to creeping or crawling) and minor development milestones (for instance control of individual fingers such as the pince grab).

Winter Babies 2010

Baby Yoga and The Vestibular System

Thirdly the vestibular system is another critical component that helps motor development in infants. This is the most developed of the sensory systems at birth and also the one that continues to develop up to 7 years of age which says a lot about its complexity.  Located deeply into the inner ear it defines ones position in space, relative position of limbs working together with the visual and auditory systems to give our sense of balance and orientation. Movement, spinning, rolling and rocking all help this system to mature.

Baby Yoga is instrumental in helping develop the vestibular system through the various ways of holding and carrying baby, dips and lifts, rolling over in the arms or the legs, rocking over the knees and also spiral lifts. Such movements encourage babies to gain the confidence to roll over on their own, one of the major development milestone that takes place any time between 3 months and 6-8 months.  Also, to be noted, lack of maturity of this system may well be at the root of conditions such as dyslexia, dyspraxia , problems of concentration, language difficulties and also emotional issues.

Finally another major contribution to motor development is the development of the motor pathways in the nervous system. Babies who are exposed to asymmetric and cross pattern movements on a regular basis will naturally develop the pathways which are critical to Crawling. In Baby Yoga we practice these movements to songs in a fun way, repeatedly which encourages parents to practice at home.  In addition, the Hips sequences help strengthen the hips and legs in Baby Yoga.

Baby Yoga has been a great personal experience for me with my baby Abigail. When we took the Birthlight course at the end of May 2011 Abigail was 5 months and not so confident on her tummy or in her ability to roll one way.

Within a couple of weeks after the course as we continued practicing she started rolling both ways and enjoyed many ways of being carried, rolled , swung and I only wished I had attended a course with her as a student from 12 weeks on.

She started pushing to all Fours about 8 weeks later and from then on seemed to be breezing through the motor milestones, crawling 4 weeks later, pulling up to standing 2 weeks after this and at 10 months now she is cruising along furniture. It seemed to me that irrespective of what milestones are achieved on average at a certain age, Abilgail seems to be very comfortable in her body and her abilities while she had little exposure to tummy time prior to her Baby Yoga practice.

In other words, I felt that her Yoga practice helped her development.

Baby Yoga encourages tummy time and rolling over

For many reasons detailed in my Post How Baby Yoga Can Assist Motor Development Milestones,  I now know that Baby Yoga is instrumental in promoting sound motor development specifically as Baby Yoga among other things encourages tummy time and rolling over.

Like other Mums, I was told tummy time is very important, however I did not know up to recently just how critical it is. Furthermore I did not know of any fun ways to practice tummy time, hence my baby did not get a lot of exposure up to 5 months old when we started Baby Yoga just because she did not seem to like it. Abigail had rolled over once by accident at 4 months and took another month until she did it another time.

Baby Yoga Sequences we practised

Once we had mastered the Prone Hold, and the Spiral Lifts first, then the Roller Coaster and the Rolling up the Arms and Down the Legs, Abigail made significant progress and we both moved on, leaving behind any psychological resistance to tummy time and rolling. I am sure there are many other mums and babies in the same situation.

If you have any question about Baby Yoga please feel free to contact me

I am just back from the Yoga Show at London Olympia, it takes place every year around this time and I missed it last year as I was heavily pregnant. I prefer going on the Friday rather than at the week end, hoping that it will be less busy. And indeed it was, it was just wonderful to be there as it was not too crowded at all. In fact, it was very easy to navigate around and all the stalls owners where approachable and available to talk to.

What can you find at The Yoga Show

The Yoga Show is a great place to go if you want to practice some Yoga and get exposed to everything related to Yoga: there is a minimal fee to get in, you can then attend free 30mins Open Classes all day at 5 different spots around the room.

In addition, there are some Open Lectures with presenters discussing various philosophical and therapeutic aspects of Yoga for 30mins. There is also a main stage with Yoga demonstration. And of course, a vast array of stalls of Yoga Therapies, treatments, Spirituality, Whole Food and Snacks, Health juices,Clothing, Books, Equipment, not to forget all the main Yoga associations such as the Yoga Alliance, The British Wheel of Yoga, the Iyengar Yoga Association, Sivananda Yoga

The Yoga Show Program

The Yoga Show Program

If you want to practice a bit more, then I highly recommend booking a workshop for 90mins class or an intensive (several hours) with the leading Yoga teachers in the UK and abroad. This is what I did, I had booked 3 workshops.

Here are some of the messages I am bringing back from The Yoga Show

• Balance starts from the feet up (Anne-Marie Newland)
• What is critical for Balance postures is your Attitude (Anne-Marie Newland)
• Here are some very effective Yoga poses: Chair Pose, Forearm Plank, Forearm Sideplank (Howard Napper)
• Balance Postures keep you young: try getting into Warrior III with Momentum(Howard Napper)
• Have Fun with Poses such as Half Wheel, Tip Toe Snake, and Rock Star (or Wild Thing) (Faith Hunter)
• We cannot change our chronological age but can affect our biological and subjective age (Howard Napper)
• To keep young, take up something new, a new hobby and surround yourself with people of all ages (Howard Napper)

Just have to practice now! and I hope I have inspired you to attend The Yoga Show next year!

The monthly Labour Preparation Workshop was taking place at the week end. This is a popular event and was attended by the expecting mums due over the next 3 mnths.

What makes it very special is that local New Mums in Reigate are due at the same time, and their babies will be very close in age, so they have lots to share and in common and they babies will get to know each other.

Indeed, it is not unusual to make good friends in class and it is fantastic to keep in touch with groups of Mums who actually met at my pregnancy classes. They are still in contact and see each other every week, scheduling activities together and their babies are getting to know each other.

So when one of the Mums asked me after the workshop if Yogamoo would be able to facilitate a community or forum on-line for them to keep in touch,  I thought it was a great idea.

A community of Winter Babies

This is how the Private Group ‘Winter Babies’ is born today on the Yogamoo Facebook page.   We have thousands of Yoga friends on our Facebook Page however a Private Group is great because only Members can see Posts in the Group, including picture and videos which are really easy to upload. When logged on you can also chat online with the other members present at that time. And it’s free of course.

Winter Babies 2010

I wondered about what Picture to upload to represent the Group and I found the perfect one, the montage on this post. It was taken by Penny Carolan, professional photographer when I launched my Pregnancy Yoga book in March this year. And what’s great, is that all the babies present are the Winter Babies 2010, including my own Baby Abigail who is also a Winter Baby.

How you can join the Winter Babies Group

So if you are attending our Pregnancy Yoga classes and you are due this Winter 2011/12 then you are welcome to join our Winter Babies Group, simply become a friend and let me know by email so that I can review and add you.

Seasonal…

Apple and Ginger Jam

I had some extra ginger to use and I am always looking for ways to use up the apples from our garden.  I found this very simple recipe on-line. You only need 4 ingredients: Apple, Ginger, Sugar and Water and It works. It was quick and easy and it tastes very gingerly while the apple makes a jam that holds really well, not runny at all…!

Therapeutic…

Ginger has fantastic properties, not only digestive and to ward off morning sickness but as a decongestant for cold and flu, and also great to boost the immune system. Tip: If you cut the Ginger not too small, then they can be easily avoided by the children as the pieces of Ginger are actually really quite hot, which makes it spicy and decongestant, otherwise quite a kick if you have trouble waking up over breakfast.

Fun Family Affair…

Luz, 3, loves seating by when I am peeling the fruit and cutting the Ginger. It is a great opportunity to get her to eat some fruit. The cooking time is only 20 mins during which time I get the jars ready. Then there is some mixing taking place, always a favourite of children. Another 10mins cooking once the sugar has been added..andwe are ready to fill up the jars…. then it is tasting time, every ones favourite.

Here is how I did it

Mix 750gr chopped Apples with 150gr chopped Ginger. Add 375ml water, bring to the boil and simmer for 20mins or until the Apples have melted in. Then add 1 kg sugar. Once the sugar has dissolved, bring over a high heat for ~10mins. That’s IT !! The Jam is now ready to be poured into the jars.

We were so pleased to exhibit at the Reigate Sports Festival this year, among the dozens Reigate’s Sports Associations. We (Phillip) arrived for set up around 9am and we all left around 4pm. Thank you Phillip for setting up for me.

It was such a joy to see so many people participate in the YMCA Fun Run which was taking place from 10.30am with many family activities and sports demonstrations throughout the day.

The great thing is that we had nice weather, much unlike the previous year when it had been raining solidly all morning.  Belinda who is leading our new Beginners Yoga Course joined me to help (Thank you Belinda) and I think we even caught the sun.  The storm that had been on the weather forecast for the Royal Wedding since Friday must have passed its way on…Perfect week end.

We met other sports associations such as the Meadvale Karate club , fellow users of our Meadvale Hall and the Reigate Pilates, all in very good spirit.

We had much to publicise ourselves with new Courses starting over the next couple of weeks, whether the Pregnancy and Postnatal Courses next week, the Beginners Yoga Course on 10th May or the new Baby Yoga Class on 7th June.

New potential students left their email addresses with us to receive our Yoga updates and we are looking forward to seeing them soon.

We organised a Prize Draw and we are very pleased to announce that Claire Clark won a Core Stability Ball, complete with DVD.

We would like to thank Sue Sergeant the Council’s Leisure Development Officer to have kindly invited us again this year. We felt the organisation of it was just perfect and it was very easy for sports clubs to participate. Thank you.

We have been working closely with the Yoga Alliance UK our member organisation:  Yogamoo is now a Centre of Excellence with the Yoga Alliance and Laurence is being featured as the Featured Teacher on their homepage.

The member organisation is also promoting Yogamoo Pregnancy on-line classes.

Reigate yoga teacher launches pregnancy book

Reigate yoga teacher Laurence Turner was pregnant with her second child when she decided to write her book, Pregnancy Yoga, which will be launched this weekend.

Laurence, 39, of Copse Road, Reigate, teaches regular yoga as well as pregnancy yoga classes in Reigate and Redhill. Last year, she taught nearly 30 pregnant women each week and during her own pregnancy shared with her students the benefits that yoga postures, breathing techniques and meditation can bring.

“It made me grow closer to them,” she says. “I was furthering my knowledge while pregnant, as I realised it was critical. I was also curious to see how all the techniques would work during labour – they did.”

Abigail, was born in December. She and her husband, Phillip, who runs an internet company, have another daughter, Luz, who will be three in May.

Her experience during the pregnancy inspired her to write a manual for women who did not attend classes, so that they could practice the techniques at home. It is divided into three sections covering information about yoga practice before birth, the physical sequences, which are presented with a structure that allows women to put routines together, and emotional and mental preparation for birth through Relaxation and Visualisation.

Laurence, a Frenchwoman, who took up yoga after moving to England with Phillip in 2002, received a teaching qualification recognised by Yoga Alliance, before going on to train to teach pregnancy yoga and yoga for children.

She already offers online pregnancy yoga classes on her website, yogamoo.com, and hopes the book, which is illustrated with pictures of Laurence during her pregnancy, will encourage other pregnant women to use yoga to prepare for birth – and to benefit from it as she did..

‘This book is the essence of my experience, knowledge and thought processes during the year. It is a practical manual that new mums can use at home,” she says.

“In my second labour, my recovery time was quicker and, because I was pleased with the experience, I felt much more ready to welcome the baby and to enjoy every minute of it.”

Pregnancy Yoga, by Laurence Turner, is self-published with CreateSpace  £16.99