The Benefits of Postnatal Yoga with Sarah Evans
We now have TWO postnatal instructors on our team, Jill Birt and Sarah Evans. These two powerhouse women are leaders in the Central Texas prenatal and postnatal yoga community. To learn more about postnatal yoga, I reached out to our newest postnatal instructor, Sarah Evans, to hear more about her experiences and this class offering. Check out what Sarah has to say below!
CLARA: Tell us more about your experience. How did you get into teaching postnatal yoga?
SARAH: After the birth of my first child, I began attending Postnatal yoga classes. At that point, I had been teaching Prenatal and Hatha classes for a little over a year. I enjoyed the Postnatal class a lot, but when the teacher asked me to take over her class, I thought to myself, “No way! The babies cry! I’m still figuring out this mothering thing! How can I teach other mothers?” Well…after some soul searching, I took a Postpartum yoga teacher training and stepped in to the challenge. All these years later, I’m still serving mothers and their babies through the practice of yoga.
It is such gratifying work. One of my greatest joys in teaching this specialty yoga class is facilitating the supportive community. Mothers ask questions and offer tips for each other. They authentically share their experiences, which opens the conversation to begin normalizing the joys and challenges that parenthood brings. Becoming a parent changes pretty much everything: relationships, career, finances, identity, physical body, emotional state, mental processing, spiritual connection, etc. Yep, it is a massive shift!
CLARA: What are some of the biggest benefits of taking a Postnatal class as opposed to jumping back into a Flow class?
SARAH: Different aspects of the yoga practice help address these monumental changes:
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Asana (Physical postures)
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Help repair pelvic floor and abdominal muscles that were strained during pregnancy and delivery. Mamas learn how to harness the core to stabilize and help her appropriately move her “new” body.
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Relieve discomfort in the neck, shoulders, and upper back caused by leaning forward during breastfeeding, pumping, holding the baby, etc.
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Pranayama (Breathing techniques) and Meditation
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Help mamas soften the chatter of the mind
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Increase self awareness
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Balance energy
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Stabilize mood, promoting emotional well-being
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Decrease stress, anxiety and depression
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It is imperative that a postpartum mother take care of herself *first* so she has more energy and reserves to be present for the greatest responsibility of her life: taking care of her baby. Yoga is part of a holistic healthcare approach for both mama and child.
Meet Jill Birt!
Jill is passionate about increasing health and wellness through the connection of mind, body and spirit. She teaches Vinyasa Flow and Prenatal Yoga as well as regular Wellness Workshops and Childbirth Preparation. She considers our breath to be one of our most powerful resources. “The breath is always available to us, you don’t need money to use it and you will never forget to put in your car or pack it in your bag. Through breath we have the ability to influence the alchemy of the body towards homeostasis and bring ease to the mind.” Her intention is to guide others through practices of movement, breath and stillness in a way that brings clarity inward toward the wisdom and wellbeing that exists within one’s own self.
Jill has always been intrigued by the human body and drawn to health and wellness, she is a Registered Nurse, Yoga, Prenatal Yoga teacher. She began her career as an RN in Labor and Delivery in 2001. She took up the practice of yoga in 2004 as a means of support to her love for running but through her practice she quickly began to notice yoga was far more than a physical experience. She planted a seed in herself of intention to “someday” become certified as a yoga teacher. In 2016, after several years of struggle with anxiety and depression, she decided “someday” had arrived. Through the teachings, Jill found profound healing along with the guidance and support necessary to live in the fullness of her life with intention and awareness. Her study of yoga has deepened her understanding of the human body. Jill is also and advocate and educator of essential oils. From her viewpoint integrative healthcare is the best form of healthcare. She believes in the energy of connection, holds a great respect for the power nature offers in healing, values advancements of modern medicine, and relies upon the wisdom and spiritual teachings of yoga to guide her way.
Jill is married to her high school sweetheart and together they have 3 children. She is incredibly grateful for the way yoga has fortified her life, especially in her experience of motherhood and relationship.
To learn more about Jill you can visit www.jillbirtyoga.com
To hear her story of healing through yoga in her own words you can listen to her podcast (episode 6) interview by Hello My Tribe @ https://www.hellomytribe.com/podcast/
Meet Sarah Evans!
Sarah began her yoga journey in 1998. After being an avid Hatha student for a few years, she craved deeper study and became a registered yoga instructor. She was specifically interested in the study of prenatal yoga.
Sarah’s family history was sprinkled with pregnancy loss. As Sarah and her husband embarked on creating a family, she wanted to learn everything she could to support her body and spirit from preconception through a healthy pregnancy. Thankfully she overcame her family’s struggles and had two healthy babies. She believes that part of that success can be attributed to her yogic awareness.
Because her own pregnancies were so powerfully influenced by her practice, she was drawn to share yoga’s transformative effects with mothers-to-be. She became certified to teach both prenatal and postnatal classes, to support mothers and their babies. She is very passionate about creating a community of support and self care as women transition into the beautiful path of motherhood.
She has been voted Best Prenatal Yoga Instructor at the Austin Birth Awards. She is certified through the Yoga Alliance as an experienced 500 hour Registered Yoga Teacher (E-RYT).
To learn more about Sarah, you can visit http://www.motheryoga.com/.
Want to learn more about postnatal yoga? Check out the links below!
https://www.yogajournal.com/lifestyle/postnatal-yoga-conditions-and-cures-for-both-mama-and-babe
https://yogainternational.com/article/view/postpartum-practice
https://www.doyouyoga.com/7-gentle-post-partum-yoga-poses-for-new-moms/
https://yogainternational.com/article/view/yoga-and-diastasis-recti
https://www.yogajournal.com/yoga-101/calming-postpartum-yoga-sequence-for-the-fourth-trimester
Also, check out Soul Strong Yoga’s online and self-paced Yoga Alliance Yoga Teacher Training at www.teachyogaforall.com. You’ll become a 200 hour certified yoga teacher with Yoga Alliance with a specialization in vinyasa yoga for all people. We have an incredible module in our online self-paced yoga teacher training on both prenatal yoga and postnatal yoga for all people!
