Prenatal Yoga & Natural Birth

Review of Prenatal Yoga & Natural Childbirth - Silver Anniversary edition by: Jeannine Parvati Baker by: Robin Lim My copy arrived by mail. I felt the stork had dropped a bundle on my doorstep. I so loved the first and later editions of Prenatal Yoga, and was nervous to see how 'she' had matured. First - the cover is delicious. Inside I found everything I always loved about prenatal yoga. The photos. The YOGA. The stories. A poem I treasure. Everything new in this book is ancient knowledge, wise words which I as a woman need to read over and over again. This book and I have a long 'herstory'. In 1975 to 76 I was a pregnant teenager. My midwives in Santa Barbara loaned me their 1st edition copy of Prenatal Yoga. I loved it so much that I bought one for myself. Following Jeannine's simple instructions for centering and healing my body through yoga, I achieved a blissful pregnancy, and an ecstatic passage into motherhood. I have always believed that, the quality of an expectant woman's fine level of feeling during pregnancy, greatly influences the wholeness of the baby's soul. Today, as I write, that first baby of mine, Déjà, is in Johannesburg, South Africa. She is a U.N. delegate at the World Summit on Sustainable Development. She is an advocate for human rights regarding HIV/AIDS policies for the poor. Today I cannot help but wonder if the quiet neck rolls, cat stretches, pythons, pelvic rocks and deep delicious breathing I did, daily while she grew under my heart, had an effect. The book Prenatal Yoga & Natural Childbirth, guided me through all five pregnancies. I have lost this book so many times. Loaned it out, given it away. Always when she comes home to me, I rejoice, and gobble up each word. As a midwife I plan to have many copies in my lending library. I do find that the women I help who practice prenatal yoga, have smoother deliveries. This makes my job less stressful. With the release of the silver anniversary edition I am certain that the next generation of mothers and their babies will be blessed. As a grandmother I intend to keep it on my shelf forever.

Prenatal yoga is the perfect companion for a beautiful, conscious birth. Here is a book for women who embrace the true meaning of what yoga is: Union with the absolute. It is not merely a book of postures for improving common pregnancy discomforts, but a true guide to being a woman with child, in all that this encompasses: living in our bodies as in the temple of the Goddess and of the child to come, embodying the tremendous energy and power that are ours to reclaim through the initiations of pregnancy and childbirth. Along with potent asanas preparing women for the journey of childbirth and becoming aligned and established in their true selves, are the author's own odyssey and growth into motherhood.This is a very personal book, both because Jeannine Parvati Baker invites us into her sacred space, and because she constantly invites us to find our own sacred space through the postures, conscious parenting decisions, and contemplation. It is a book to treasure and return to long after pregnancy, simply to steep in the sancticity of pregnancy. It is one of those gems of childbirth publications that makes you want to find a quiet space to relish being woman, and simply being.In addition, Prenatal Yoga not only is an honest look at the state of birth in the modern world, but a relief from those books that anesthesize families into thinking everything will be just fine if only they choose the right doctor. Through the examples of Baker's six births, ranging from doctor assisted to finally a freebirth, waterbirth, lotus-birth, the book urges women to look within to find their truth. She narrates how her truth was to birth ecstatically with the Goddesses and her partner as sole support. It is a choice she presents as both accessible and responsible when well-prepared. Finally, you will enjoy Prenatal Yoga for the quality of the prose, the vivid poetry, and beautiful photographs of the author and her growing family. A must-read!

My copy arrived by mail. I felt the stork had dropped a bundle on my doorstep. I so loved the first and later editions of Prenatal Yoga, and was nervous to see how 'she' had matured. First - the cover is delicious. Inside I found everything I always loved about prenatal yoga. The photos. The YOGA. The stories. A poem I treasure. Everything new in this book is ancient knowledge, wise words which I as a woman need to read over and over again. This book and I have a long 'herstory'. In 1975 to 76 I was a pregnant teenager. My midwives in Santa Barbara loaned me their 1st edition copy of Prenatal Yoga. I loved it so much that I bought one for myself. Following Jeannine's simple instructions for centering and healing my body through yoga, I achieved a blissful pregnancy, and an ecstatic passage into motherhood. I have always believed that, the quality of an expectant woman's fine level of feeling during pregnancy, greatly influences the wholeness of thebaby'ssoul. Today, as I write, that first baby of mine, Déjà, is inJohannesburg, South Africa. She is a U.N. delegate at the World Summit on Sustainable Development. She is an advocate for human rights regarding HIV/AIDS policies for the poor. Today I cannot help but wonder if the quiet neck rolls, cat stretches, pythons, pelvic rocks and deep delicious breathing I did, daily while she grew under my heart, had an effect. The book Prenatal Yoga & Natural Childbirth, guided me through all five pregnancies. I have lost this book so many times. Loaned it out, given it away. Always when she comes home to me, I rejoice, and gobble up each word. As a midwife I plan to have many copies in my lending library. I do find that the women I help who practice prenatal yoga, have smootherdeliveries. This makes my job less stressful. With the release of the silver anniversary edition I am certain that the next generation of mothers and their babies will be blessed. As a grandmother I intend to keep it on my shelf forever.

While there are numerous books on yoga few, if any, provide details for prenatal yoga. When I was pregnant I wondered what postures I could still do and for how long. Then I found Prenatal Yoga. My concerns were immediately put to rest as I found wise guidance and plentiful visual examples for happily continuing my yoga practice. I felt assured and confident with the author's teachings and experiences, all of which eventually led to my own beautiful and successful natural home birth. Highly recommended!

I had been doing yoga on and off for years but when I became pregnant, I found that my body was in such turmoil, I wasn't sure if it was the right thing for me to continue. Then I read PRENATAL YOGA and realized that this was precisely what I did need. I began right away and found that many of my aches & pains subsided. My body once again became more flexible & my mind became more at ease. All around, I felt better. I think it even helped me with my birth. I just breathed my child out! A must read for anyone interested in having an easier pregnancy. Also the pictures are great!