This is John Friend's program for increasing fertility. I did it almost every day while trying to conceive, which I did after 9 months of relaxing, resting, changing my diet (no caffeine, easy on the salt, no cold foods, no sugar) taking guafinesin, acupuncture and herbs and giving up hope.
Yoga Program for Increasing a Woman’s Fertility
The key to create a healthy energetic environment in a woman’s body in order to enhance fertility is opening the pelvic floor and increasing pranic pulsation down through the pelvis and legs.
The breath should be able to pulsate freely in the pelvic area and legs. A natural pulsation for the pelvic floor is reflected by an expansion of the lower pelvic area on inhalation and a soft contraction or exhalation. When this natural pulsation occurs, sensitivity to the pelvic floor increases and prana easily streams down into the pelvis and legs.
Basic Exercises:
Come onto all fours – hands and knees separated slightly wider, the width of the outer hips. Bend forward from the hips and place and turn your head, placing your cheek on the floor. Comfortably in position your arms slightly out in front of you, allow your belly and chest to deeply relax so the back gently arches. Relax your buttocks and pelvic floor. With each deep, slow inhalation allow the pelvic floor to expand. Feel the anus and genitals dilate with the inhalation. Relax deeply the entire pelvic area with each exhalation. Breathe deeply in this manner for 3-5 minutes.
Come back onto your hands and knees. Continue the same breathing pattern as in #1 as you focus on the movement of your pelvis. With each inhalation, arch the lower back, and lift and separate your sitting bones. With each exhalation, tuck your tailbone and round your lower back. To make bigger movements with your body, you can loop up and draw your chest forward when inhaling, and look down and puff your upper back when exhaling. Breathe slowly and deeply for a couple of minutes as you focus on increasing movement and sensitivity in your pelvic area.
Adjust your hands and feet on all fours so you have the right stance for Downward-facing Dog pose. Inhale and lift the knees up off the floor as you move into Downward-facing Dog. In Dog pose, keep the knees slightly bent with the feet parallel. Inner Spiral the legs
and open the pelvic floor with each inhalation. Keep the knees as wide apart as the ankles. The sitting bones should lift and separate with each inhalation. Simply relax the pelvic area with each exhalation. Breathe deep and slow, and perform this pose for a couple of minutes.
Perform Uttanasana – Standing forward bend with the feet parallel and separated hip-width apart. Bend the knees slightly and touch the floor with your fingertips. Inner Spiral the legs and open the pelvic floor with each inhalation. Keep the knees as wide apart as the ankles. The sitting bones should lift and separate with each inhalation. Simply relax the pelvic area with each exhalation. Breathe deep and slow, and perform this pose for a couple of minutes.
Lie on your back with your knees bent, feet on the floor separated a little wider than your hips. Do not have your feet too close to your hips. With each inhalation arch your lower back and move your sitting bones and tailbone down toward the floor. Keep the weight on all four corners of the feet as you keep the knees as wide apart as the ankles. With each inhalation open the pelvic floor wide, and keep the throat open by slightly lifting your chin. With each exhalation tuck the buttocks under and bring the lower back to the floor. With the exhalation let the back of the head extend away from the tailbone. Repeat this movement of the pelvis and head for 3-4 minutes with deep, slow breathing.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
In Motherwords: A Writing Workshop for Mothers
Time to explore those OTHER creative juices, Ma!
Liz (Belile) Shri | |
| Network: | Global |
| Start Time: | Wednesday, July 15, 2009 at 7:00pm |
| End Time: | Wednesday, August 19, 2009 at 9:00pm |
| Location: | Genuine Joe's Coffeehouse, the Cellar |
| Street: | 2001 W. Anderson Lane |
| City/Town: | Austin, TX |
| Phone: | 6589400 |
| Email: |
Description
This is a 6-week writing workshop for mamas who want and need to reconnect to their core creativity in a safe, supportive environment, write some beautiful and awful truths about themselves and about motherhood, and have fun while doing it!Mothers of all levels are welcome; brand new mamas like your fearless workshop leader are especially encouraged to attend, but senior and advanced moms who just need a last hurrah before school starts in August are MORE than welcome.
Cost is $150 for 6 weeks.
There will be a performance of the work created during Motherwords, to be held at Bookwoman, exact date TBD. (This is not mandatory, but will be encouraged and will be a focal point for some of the workshop.)
The series is led by seasoned writing and performance teacher Liz Belile, whose decade of "Breaking the Cherry" erotica writing and peformance workshops for women were life-changing for her, her students, and audience members alike.
Call to reserve your spot today. Space is limited.
658-9400
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Yoga and Fertility
I'm writing this blog entry only so that I will be beholden to myself and to YOU, dear reader, who are interested in learning more about the practice of yoga as a tool for enhancing fertility.
I have some great information and some suggestions about that, but I am exhausted and will have to keep looking at this blog entry until I finally just write itall out for you.
I'm scheming to start up a series for women who are TTC; also women who are preparing for IVF or more fertility treatments.
Here is a tidbit that I can't resist writing, even in my zombie-like state:
If you are trying to conceive and it has been challenging, my prescription for you is to REST. I would recommend a practice that is 75% restorative, and only about 25% more rigorous or cardiovascular.
I believe this is the best way to prepare our bodies for conception and pregnancy.
More on this soon.
Oh, and yes. That means quitting caffeine so you can REALLY rest.
I have some great information and some suggestions about that, but I am exhausted and will have to keep looking at this blog entry until I finally just write itall out for you.
I'm scheming to start up a series for women who are TTC; also women who are preparing for IVF or more fertility treatments.
Here is a tidbit that I can't resist writing, even in my zombie-like state:
If you are trying to conceive and it has been challenging, my prescription for you is to REST. I would recommend a practice that is 75% restorative, and only about 25% more rigorous or cardiovascular.
I believe this is the best way to prepare our bodies for conception and pregnancy.
Oh, and yes. That means quitting caffeine so you can REALLY rest.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Tribute to my Dad on Father's Day
Here it is, the piece that appeared in the Houston Chronicle on Father's Day about my Dad.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Post Partum Recession Blues
Houston, we have a juicer.
I finally broke out the magna-juicer we got AS A WEDDING PRESENT (November, 2005) and put it to use. And it rocks.
I was holding off on using it because the baby (now a toddler) was afraid of loud sounds, like the blender and the vacuum cleaner.
So yes, I have held off on vacuuming as much as I would like for that very same reason. I've been living a life without fresh juice and many dust bunnies. Still a sweet life, but missing something...
But maybe now I'm back. Almost.
I've had a LOT less asana practice this week, and even skipped my massage, since Bodhi was out of school and music class all week, and I've been helping a friend organize her mama blessing, and also reaching out to a newborn mama who has been teetering on the edge since she gave birth a couple weeks ago. It really takes me back to those first few weeks after B was born...shudder. So devastated by my hospital birth. My extended labor. Trying to recover from surgery, exhaustion, and so many challenges in breastfeeding.
So. Damn. Hard. As wonderful as it is now, it was shit on a stick for a long time there.
But the good news is that I spent an entire day this week with an old colleague and friend of mine who writes for the Houston Chronicle --- she read an update I posted on facebook a year ago about my Dad -- it said something to the effect of how listening to the mixes (mixtapes) that he made was like looking into the window of his soul -- how listening to anyone's mixtape is like looking into the window of their soul. And anyway it struck her as a great lead-in for a story, for her column, about remembering my Dad, or any Dad, on Father's Day.
The anniversary of his death, 060708, came and went with little fanfare, and that made me sad.
I meant to do something special to celebrate him, and didn't have the time. But a few days later I got to talk about him and play his mixes and his radio shows for my friend, and tell stories about him and cry and it was, after all, a fitting and fulfilling way to pay tribute to him. I have no idea what her story will be like, but it should appear in the Chron on Father's Day. There are so many secret parts to my Dad's life that he would never have wanted to be made public, secret parts that are agonizingly poignant. Luckily there are also plenty of wide-open parts that can and should be made public, which are also poignant and compelling. Like what a true pioneer and leading light he was in his field, and how he so loved his job, and how rare and special that actually is. What a tremendous talent he was. So hopefully that is what will come across. We'll see!
Andrew and I are talking about remodeling the closets in our living room so that they can be expanded and have shelving installed that will house Dad's vinyl collection, which is vast.
The CD mix that has mesmerized me has a bunch of songs that I have never heard -- and I am something of a musical encyclopedia -- mostly old R&B sax and sort of Cajun swing-y stuff, regional to SW Louisiana I imagine, since that is the gumbo-swampland-morass-source of my father's very soul and where his tastes were formed and fed. The Golden Triangle of Lake Charles, Beaumont, and Port Arthur. Along with Johnny Winter and Janis Joplin and Barbara Lynn and so many others, he played "race" music to mixed crowds, and stayed up late listening to "race" music on the radio, the only time it was played. So this CD haunts me, and I'm particularly obsessed with trying to find out who sang the version of "Let it Be Me" that is on there. In tracing the history of that song, I feel I will find clues to what made my father want to put it on a mix CD. And he wrote on the disc in Sharpie: "track 14: recognize those horns?" and "a few old faves and some new that I like" -- with no other labeling.
This fascinates me for so many reasons.
"Let it Be Me" is like the glinting ruby in the landfill, the next clue in the game that will take me to deeper levels of understanding. Tracking the rest of the songs and artists has also been fun; my Dad had huge collection of Bobby Blue Bland records, and there's a great BBB song, as well as Earl Hines and of course his favorite, Etta James. To be honest, listening to this mix has rekindled my deep love for the Blues.
While I was at Naropa, Allen Ginsberg taught a class on the Blues as Poetic Form. He said it was the first American poetic form. And we listened to a lot of blues that he played for us, like Blind Lemon Jefferson, Leadbelly, Bessie Smith, and many others I loved, then he had us write blues songs and play them or sing them for the class. I wrote a song called "Other Woman Blues" that I still think is quite kickass.
Lock up all your menfolk ladies, Lizbeth's come to town
I said lock up all your menfolk ladies, Lizbeth's come to town
and there ain't nobody safe when
Lizbeth comes around
I like my peaches sweet now honey
love to shake to your tree
Said I like my peaches sweet now honey
love to shake to your tree
but the fruit that's growin' in the other yard
looks so much sweeter to me
Got them blues
Got them blues
Got them Other Woman Blues
It's not the life I choose to lead
but if your man is missing, girl, you know that he's with me
I used to be real loyal to the sisterhood
I used to be real loyal to the sisterhood
Then some evil woman burned me
tooke my man and left for good
Ah but he did not get away scot free
no, he did not get away scot free
I told him I was reading a book of voodoo spells
told him I was reading a book of voodoo spells (and I am from Louisiana, child)
my Cajun blood was boiling and the black cat started to wail
Got them blues
Got them blues
Got them Other
Woman
Blues
Etc
I wrote this song quite tongue-in-cheek, as I am a very loyal woman-loving "sister." Someone had warned me to stay away from her boyfriend, a nice guy I worked with but had no interest in, so I wrote the song. Someday I'll add extra media to this blog and maybe you'll hear it.
In the great Book of Liz, Blues play a big role. The first American poetic form.
But back to the mix.
The mysterious Track 14. Is it Gene Terry and the Downbeats? A small yet legendary R&B band for whom my dad played sax? If so, they recorded on Goldband Records, and he is uncredited on the track. The lyrics of the song go "There ain't no season for squeezin'," as in, LOVIN' is okay any time of year, baby!
There's also a great version of "The Honey Dripper," which apparently has some history with Cab Calloway. Listening to it made me see the connection between Louisiana swing/swamp and R&B and big band swing. Maybe the connection between big band and blues.
Anyway. I need to ask my mom if she knows that song, and if it is my dad playing "recognize those horns?" Then the next question, which may forever remain unanswered, is: WHO did you make this for?
I finally broke out the magna-juicer we got AS A WEDDING PRESENT (November, 2005) and put it to use. And it rocks.
I was holding off on using it because the baby (now a toddler) was afraid of loud sounds, like the blender and the vacuum cleaner.
So yes, I have held off on vacuuming as much as I would like for that very same reason. I've been living a life without fresh juice and many dust bunnies. Still a sweet life, but missing something...
But maybe now I'm back. Almost.
I've had a LOT less asana practice this week, and even skipped my massage, since Bodhi was out of school and music class all week, and I've been helping a friend organize her mama blessing, and also reaching out to a newborn mama who has been teetering on the edge since she gave birth a couple weeks ago. It really takes me back to those first few weeks after B was born...shudder. So devastated by my hospital birth. My extended labor. Trying to recover from surgery, exhaustion, and so many challenges in breastfeeding.
So. Damn. Hard. As wonderful as it is now, it was shit on a stick for a long time there.
But the good news is that I spent an entire day this week with an old colleague and friend of mine who writes for the Houston Chronicle --- she read an update I posted on facebook a year ago about my Dad -- it said something to the effect of how listening to the mixes (mixtapes) that he made was like looking into the window of his soul -- how listening to anyone's mixtape is like looking into the window of their soul. And anyway it struck her as a great lead-in for a story, for her column, about remembering my Dad, or any Dad, on Father's Day.
The anniversary of his death, 060708, came and went with little fanfare, and that made me sad.
I meant to do something special to celebrate him, and didn't have the time. But a few days later I got to talk about him and play his mixes and his radio shows for my friend, and tell stories about him and cry and it was, after all, a fitting and fulfilling way to pay tribute to him. I have no idea what her story will be like, but it should appear in the Chron on Father's Day. There are so many secret parts to my Dad's life that he would never have wanted to be made public, secret parts that are agonizingly poignant. Luckily there are also plenty of wide-open parts that can and should be made public, which are also poignant and compelling. Like what a true pioneer and leading light he was in his field, and how he so loved his job, and how rare and special that actually is. What a tremendous talent he was. So hopefully that is what will come across. We'll see!
Andrew and I are talking about remodeling the closets in our living room so that they can be expanded and have shelving installed that will house Dad's vinyl collection, which is vast.
The CD mix that has mesmerized me has a bunch of songs that I have never heard -- and I am something of a musical encyclopedia -- mostly old R&B sax and sort of Cajun swing-y stuff, regional to SW Louisiana I imagine, since that is the gumbo-swampland-morass-source of my father's very soul and where his tastes were formed and fed. The Golden Triangle of Lake Charles, Beaumont, and Port Arthur. Along with Johnny Winter and Janis Joplin and Barbara Lynn and so many others, he played "race" music to mixed crowds, and stayed up late listening to "race" music on the radio, the only time it was played. So this CD haunts me, and I'm particularly obsessed with trying to find out who sang the version of "Let it Be Me" that is on there. In tracing the history of that song, I feel I will find clues to what made my father want to put it on a mix CD. And he wrote on the disc in Sharpie: "track 14: recognize those horns?" and "a few old faves and some new that I like" -- with no other labeling.
This fascinates me for so many reasons.
"Let it Be Me" is like the glinting ruby in the landfill, the next clue in the game that will take me to deeper levels of understanding. Tracking the rest of the songs and artists has also been fun; my Dad had huge collection of Bobby Blue Bland records, and there's a great BBB song, as well as Earl Hines and of course his favorite, Etta James. To be honest, listening to this mix has rekindled my deep love for the Blues.
While I was at Naropa, Allen Ginsberg taught a class on the Blues as Poetic Form. He said it was the first American poetic form. And we listened to a lot of blues that he played for us, like Blind Lemon Jefferson, Leadbelly, Bessie Smith, and many others I loved, then he had us write blues songs and play them or sing them for the class. I wrote a song called "Other Woman Blues" that I still think is quite kickass.
Lock up all your menfolk ladies, Lizbeth's come to town
I said lock up all your menfolk ladies, Lizbeth's come to town
and there ain't nobody safe when
Lizbeth comes around
I like my peaches sweet now honey
love to shake to your tree
Said I like my peaches sweet now honey
love to shake to your tree
but the fruit that's growin' in the other yard
looks so much sweeter to me
Got them blues
Got them blues
Got them Other Woman Blues
It's not the life I choose to lead
but if your man is missing, girl, you know that he's with me
I used to be real loyal to the sisterhood
I used to be real loyal to the sisterhood
Then some evil woman burned me
tooke my man and left for good
Ah but he did not get away scot free
no, he did not get away scot free
I told him I was reading a book of voodoo spells
told him I was reading a book of voodoo spells (and I am from Louisiana, child)
my Cajun blood was boiling and the black cat started to wail
Got them blues
Got them blues
Got them Other
Woman
Blues
Etc
I wrote this song quite tongue-in-cheek, as I am a very loyal woman-loving "sister." Someone had warned me to stay away from her boyfriend, a nice guy I worked with but had no interest in, so I wrote the song. Someday I'll add extra media to this blog and maybe you'll hear it.
In the great Book of Liz, Blues play a big role. The first American poetic form.
But back to the mix.
The mysterious Track 14. Is it Gene Terry and the Downbeats? A small yet legendary R&B band for whom my dad played sax? If so, they recorded on Goldband Records, and he is uncredited on the track. The lyrics of the song go "There ain't no season for squeezin'," as in, LOVIN' is okay any time of year, baby!
There's also a great version of "The Honey Dripper," which apparently has some history with Cab Calloway. Listening to it made me see the connection between Louisiana swing/swamp and R&B and big band swing. Maybe the connection between big band and blues.
Anyway. I need to ask my mom if she knows that song, and if it is my dad playing "recognize those horns?" Then the next question, which may forever remain unanswered, is: WHO did you make this for?
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Sundara...which means "Beautiful"
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Obligatory Ultrasound Photo: Shoulderstand at 16 weeks!