Tanisha Walters lives in Cooper Landing in Alaska. Tanisha and her husband Zack live with their two daughters Kaia and Maya, in a home they built together. She is a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Japanese acupuncture practitioner, and yoga teacher.

Tanisha shares how Traditional Chinese Medicine supports fertility and pregnancy through diet, how she used Moxibustion to flip her breech baby, acupuncture for induction for her second pregnancy, and Chinese herbs to support anaemia. She also observed the period of “sitting” during post partum after her babies were born.

Tanisha shares her experience of two fast home births, one where her midwife only arrived after the birth of her second daughter, assisting with the delivery of the placenta.

Other themes include managing anaemia, rectus diastases, prolapse, parenting, becoming a mother, self practice, Chinese medicine dietary recommendations for pregnancy, and living sustainably.

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Tanisha Walters

Resources
Birthin from Within
Business of Being Born

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Grace Joukhadar is a yoga teacher specialising in pre and post natal yoga,  and "mums and bubs" yoga classes. She has been practicing ashtanga yoga since 2003. Grace is originally from Sydney in Australia and has spent time in Port Hedland, a remote town in Western Australia before moving to Melbourne.

She had three children within a short period of time. She talks us through her three very different experiences, including two caesarian births, and then her decision making process around having a vaginal birth after the two caesarians. Grace attracted the right people around her and had a vaginal birth with her third baby.

Grace shares her need to create community, and how she felt most engaged when giving back to those around her. For her, this evolved over time, and being a mother has enriched her yoga teaching.

We hear how Grace integrates yoga into motherhood, focusing on "finding the calm in the chaos".

Connect:
Yoga with Grace

Resources
Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth - Henci Goer
Midwives and Mothers Australia - MAMA 

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Irena Bartolec spends her time between Bali, Croatia and Costa Rica, and is an authorized ashtanga yoga teacher. She is an amazing strong woman and shares with us her story of raising her child as a single mother.

Despite being told she wouldn't be able to conceive, Irena found out she was pregnant at eight weeks. Early into her third trimester, Irena experienced an issue with her cervix and was told to have complete bed rest. Irena craved moving her body, so practiced yoga by visualising and breathing, and later by lying on her back with her legs against a wall.

When her daughter was only two weeks old, her husband left and she was left to raise her daughter alone. Irena turned to her yoga mat and began a practice, feeling this was her only safe place.

Irena has taken trips to Mysore and then Bali, where she found a supportive community of mothers. We hear how yoga has given her the strength to endure the challenges and heartache that she faced.

This is a great episode, and you will get to hear all about how she has managed to raise her daughter, maintained her ashtanga yoga practice, while teaching or running her yoga shala. And about family and yoga community.

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Lisa Meconi has been a practitioner of ashtanga yoga for 10 years, practicing primary and intermediate series. She and her partner Jeremiah, and son Cormac live in New Hampshire, USA.

This is a heartfelt episode, as Lisa shares in depth her journey of loss during pregnancy, experiencing a miscarriage within the first trimester of her first pregnancy. 

This episode is pertinent, as this month, October, is International Pregnancy and Infancy Loss month. In our society, women and families are encouraged to keep pregnancy to themselves during the first trimester, due to the high incidence of pregnancies not being viable. However, in doing so, this shuts down the support circle during the healing period after loss.

Lisa shares how the women around her rallied, and gave her immense support during the initial phase of grieving the loss of her child. Lisa then shares the process through healing grief and being in a place to plan for another pregnancy.

Following the birth of her son, Lisa experienced post natal anxiety and depression, due to body trauma from birth, a debilitating back condition and the guilt that she felt. Lisa's resilience through this time is inspiring, she would visualise her yoga practice in the absence of a physical practice.

This story covers the unique relationship a teacher can create with a student, pregnancy after miscarriage, placenta previa, adjusting practice during pregnancy, hospital birth, epidural, birth trauma, back condition, post natal anxiety and depression, and returning to practice after birth.

If this episode creates distress based on past or present events, and you are not familiar with what professional support is available to you, please reach out to be connected with services in your area.

Mentions

Kimberly Dahlmann Yoga East 

Nancy Gilgoff

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Katy Wright has been a student of Ashtanga Yoga since 2005. While she has dabbled in teaching yoga her main profession is as a writer. She’s originally from the UK, and currently lives in France with her partner. Two years ago, Katy gave birth to their daughter Iris.

Being a writer Katy takes us on a journey through her experience of pregnancy birth and postpartum recovery. She shares the research she discovered during her pregnancy and postpartum, that she has since shared as a blog, for ashtanga practitioners.

Katy also shares her experience of having a baby while living abroad, with the language barrier creating a challenge during antenatal classes, and later, the isolation that this brought. Katy was also aware of the differences in attitudes and approaches to birth in France, compared to the UK.

Katy Wright postpartum blog

Kia Naddermier Mysore Paris

Paula Rios Fernandez

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Bibi Lorenzetti is an Authorized Level II ashtanga yoga teacher living in Newburgh in the United States, with her partner Walker. Bibi gave birth to her son Indie earlier this year,  her story is fresh and she shares in depth and with some humorous detail her pregnancy, birth and postpartum experience.

Bibi is also open in sharing her past experience of anorexia and issues with body image, and how this influenced her thoughts around pregnancy and becoming a mother. Bibi gives an honest account of her thoughts and experience, shared by many women, in accepting the body post partum.

We also get to hear some of the post partum practices Bibi discovered, including observing the first forty days, vaginal steaming, consuming the placenta, and nourishment through foods.

Connect:

Bibi Lorenzetti

Bibi on instagram

Books

Birth Partner: A Complete Guide to Childbirth for Dads, Partners, Doulas, and All Other Labor Companions by Penny Simkin

The First Forty Days: The Essential Art of Nourishing the New Mother by Heng Ou

Podcast

Magamama

Ayurveda
Maria Rubinate

Reach out if this episode has raised current or past issues, and you need help seeking support.

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Nadia Stinga Rihani is an authorized ashtanga yoga teacher living in Manly Australia. Nadia and her partner Gabriel have a four year old daughter Indi.

Nadia shares how she met her partner Gabriel, who also practices and teaches ashtanga yoga, when studying with Sharath Jois in Mysore India. Their love blossomed and he moved to Australia.

In 2019 Nadia sold the yoga studio she had owned and operated for many years, and she and her family went travelling. When she returned, as she was about to begin life again in Australia, Nadia was in a serious accident, leaving her with multiple injuries and breaks in the pelvis.

Nadia shares her journey with her pregnancy and birth of daughter Indi, and in particular processing her journey into motherhood. Nadia also touches on the challenges she now faces and how her injuries might impact future pregnancies or births.

Connect with Nadia through her website or Instagram here;

Nadia and Gabriel Ashtanga Yoga

Nadia Stinga Rihani instagram

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Jessica Hunt is an authorized ashtanga yoga teacher in Columbus Ohio and co-founder of the Trini Foundation with her husband Taylor.

Jess and Taylor have three children together, Makayla, Isaiah and Xavier. It was during her recovery from addiction she found ashtanga yoga, and it became and still is integral in her recovery. After experiencing severe endometriosis in her early 20s, and a series of medications to assist this, Jess was surprised to find out she was pregnant. She shares her birth experience and adjusting to being a mother at a young age.

Jess also shares the three very different pregnancies and birth experiences she had with her children. Following her first birth experience, Jess educated herself, and her second birth to son Isiah was a drug free vaginal birth.

After such a beautiful birth with her second son, Jess planned an intimate home water birth, with a birth photographer to document the experience. When it became apparently her baby was stuck, Jess was taken to hospital and underwent a caesarian. She shares the challenges of the physical recovery following the caesarian, as well as mourning the outcome of the birth.

Jess is full of wisdom and insight, there is so much to absorb from how she approaches motherhood, and what she has learnt as a mother of three. 

To connect with Jess, and to find out more information on some of the topics covered;

Ashtanga Yoga Columbus

Trini Foundation

MuTu system

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Joumana Saber is an authorized ashtanga yoga teacher living in Dubai. Joumana is currently pregnant with her second child. In this episode she shares her journey with pregnancy, and also the birth of her daughter Tara.

For the birth of her daughter Tara, Joumana had a doula and had planned a water birth. After 26 hours of labour, when her waters were broken, meconium was discovered, and the birth took a different direction.

Joumana shares her journey after the birth, experiencing post partum depression and processing a traumatic birth. It was 18 months before she was able to acknowledge how she was feeling.

Joumana is vegan, shares details of how she raises her daughter as a vegan too. 

In this episode, Joumana also shares how her relationship with her husband Yousef has deepened, having a child together is something else they are able to bond over.

Instagram Joumana Yoga

Business of Being Born

Ina May Gaskin

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Patrick Nolan is an authorized ashtanga yoga teacher living in Miami Springs in the USA. He is the father to three year old Joaquin, with his partner Nubia.

Patrick started his yoga journey at Miami Life Centre, with well known ashtanga yoga teachers Kino MacGregor, Tim Feldmann and Greg Nardi, before leaving to start his own Mysore program.

After Patrick married his partner, Nubia, they wanted to start a family, however this became a prolonged journey. Patrick shares the heartache they felt each cycle, when this did not happen.

When their son was born, Nubia returned to her career, and Patrick was the primary care giver. He shares how isolating and monotonous he found being the stay at home parent, exacerbated by his partner having to travel for work and being away.

Patrick's story is heartfelt, honest and real. It is also refreshing to hear parenthood from a fathers perspective. To connect with Patrick, you can find him here:

Ashtanga Yoga Phulla

Ashtanga Yoga Phulla on instagram

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