Adapted from ‘The Yoga of Pregnancy’ book and DVD by author Mel Campbell.

Week 17: Our Nervous Systems

 Intention

I take a rest and place my hands over my belly.
I tell you how much I love you.
I wait for a response:
a gentle kick; a hiccup; a tender prod.
Thank you, I love you.

Asana for the Week

Viparita Karani – The Great Rejuvenator

For this pose I will need a yoga mat, a wall, several small cushions and an eye pillow. This pose is suitable for all stages of my pregnancy.

•  I sit sideways beside a wall with my legs extended out in front of me and right hip and shoulder against the wall. Pivoting at my hips, I swing my legs up the wall and lie down. I lift my hips and place several cushions under my pelvis. I place a folded blanket under my head and let my arms rest alongside my body
• I place an eye pillow over my closed eyes
• Resting my hands over you, I sense you beneath my touch
• I practice this week’s intention, telling you how much I love you, and listen for your response
• Staying here for up to fifteen minutes, I mindfully repeat this week’s affirmation:
  Each sensation I feel of my growing baby moving reassures me that all is well
• To come out of the pose, I bend my knees and rest my feet against the wall. I lift my hips, remove the cushions from under my pelvis, then roll over to my left side. I stay here for a few minutes before using my hands to gently assist me up into a sitting position

Reflection

This week I relaxed and re-energized with a restorative practice, which calmed and recharged our nervous systems.

Viparita Karani – The Great Rejuventor

Benefits: Viparita Karani regulates blood flow; improves circulation; relaxes the nervous system; calms the mind; helps alleviate swollen ankles and calves; rests tired legs.

Cautions: It is advised that I do not practice this pose after week 34 of my pregnancy or once my baby is engaged.

The Yoga of Pregnancy book & DVD by Mel Campbell.

Focusing on creating a conscious union with the growing baby in utero, this detailed guide introduces a practice of weekly meditations, yoga, and affirmations that reflect the developmental and physiological changes taking place both inside and outside the womb. The prenatal yoga book enhances the experience of pregnancy and prepares mothers physically, emotionally, and spiritually for child birth and motherhood. Beginners to yoga as well as regular practitioners will learn unique approaches and proper techniques that initiate a healthful, purposeful connection with the mother’s own body and with their unborn child.

Reviews:

An excellent book packed full of weekly exercises that perfectly compliment each stage of the pregnancy and helps the mother to remain supple, relaxed and happy. The Yoga of Pregnancy also contains wonderful affirmations and intentions to create a strong, loving connection between mother and baby. Highly recommended. –Martin Gill, Yoga Magazine

This 40 week-by-week journey is a fantastic way to get to know your baby and stay in touch with the rapidly changing physiology of your own body. To stay healthy and aware during this miraculous process is surely an appropriate aim for every mother to be. To make this happen for you, the book’s content and design is sensitively written and presented. It will be an inspiriation to keep by you. Enjoy! –Bill Anderton at pilgrimsmindbodyspirit.co.uk

About the Author
Mel Campbell is an internationally renowned yoga teacher who was instrumental in pioneering prenatal yoga to expectant mothers in Thailand during her residency there. She is accredited with Yoga Alliance and holds a National Diploma in occupational therapy.

The Yoga of Pregnancy Book

The Yoga of Pregnancy DVD

The lovely Jo from RedMoonYoga wrote this lovely review of my pregnancy yoga book The Yoga of Pregnancy

hi mel,

i teach yoga at the muma baby sanctuary in lewes where i believe you used to teach; i guess this must be where i know about you from. i bought your book recently and i just wanted to let you know i think it’s great.

i have 3 children (all boys), all born at home in water. i practiced daily throughout all my pregnancies (and through 2 pregnancies that didn’t come to fruition) and i’m passionate about asana practice as a foundation for pregnancy, birth, parenting and partnering. (i do have other practices but i am in love with asana!) it’s my experience that these “off the mat” practices support my formal practice, too. i believe that yoga, like parenting, requires us to drop our ideas about how things should be in order to see clearly how things actually are, and that there is liberation and huge transformational potential inherent in this. so i’m really pleased to come across a down-to-earth, accessible book with some lovely gentle practices, and some more challenging ones, too. although there is of course huge value in slow, gentle poses, particularly for pregnant women who are often very stressed and live far from their bodies, my experience is that there is also room for poses that allow us to experience intense sensation and to notice our responses to this; and that the deep engagement stronger poses demand and working with ahimsa can support each other. i often get disheartened with pregnancy yoga books as they seem to fall into 2 camps – either endless cat pose and the odd squat, or headstands in the 8th month (iyengar yoga). your book bridges that gap beautifully and i shall certainly refer my students to it. gorgeously modelled poses, too 🙂

so thanks, mel! i hope you and your family are well, and that your practice and teaching are thriving. perhaps we’ll meet some day and pool ideas, knowledge and wisdom.

love and blessings,