Pregnancy is an extraordinary time of transformation and a profound rite of passage that requires special care and guidance. The complementary tools and practices of Ayurveda and yoga have been used together for thousands of years to support a healthy body, balanced mind, and higher consciousness. With Yoga Mama, Yoga Baby, Margo Shapiro Bachman brings readers the first book to show how these "sister sciences" can support the miraculous journey of pregnancy. This thoroughly detailed guidebook shares practical and easy-to-apply teachings and information to help women experience pregnancy with radiant health and abundant joy, including: The basics of Ayurveda, yoga, diet, and lifestyle—cornerstone principles, basic terms and concepts, essential self-assessments, and moreMonth-by-month exercises and practices, including meditation, mantra, breathwork, asana, journaling, and massagePractical tips to encourage natural labor and deliveryGuidance on staying healthy and happy in the precious first postpartum weeks with baby For women everywhere, Yoga Mama, Yoga Baby is an indispensable resource for treasuring every moment of pregnancy and blessing the mother and child with health, happiness, consciousness, and love.

The first pre- and postnatal book geared specifically to experienced yoga practitioners—from an established author, with contributions from the leaders in the field. You've been practicing yoga for years. It is a part of the way you live, move, and breathe. And then . . . you get pregnant. Pregnancy can throw any woman a curve ball. Even established and experienced yoga practitioners will likely find that their body, mind, and practice are challenged during pregnancy, birth, and motherhood. This book is the yoga practitioner's companion through this period, offering practical advice, step-by-step asana sequences, pranayama practices, and meditation techniques, all of which are designed to help new mothers connect more deeply to their experience and prepare for their journey—physically, mentally, and spiritually. Grounded in both ancient wisdom and contemporary knowledge, Yoga Mama covers each trimester, labor and birth, and the postpartum years. The beautifully photographed sequences include modifications and suggestions to accommodate a growing belly and to address the concerns or challenges that may arise during this time. Holistic and ayurvedic medicine perspectives help women understand what is happening in their bodies at every juncture, and personal stories connect them to pregnant women everywhere. Through practice, self-reflection, and learning how to let go, yoga gives us the opportunity to be an active, informed participant in the birthing of our baby and a healthy, happy parent. Yoga Mama is the perfect companion for the experienced yoga practitioner during her pregnancy and on into motherhood. This pre- and postnatal book offers practical advice and inspiration, asana sequences, pranayama practices, and meditation techniques, all of which speak to and help new mothers connect more deeply to their experience and prepare for their journey--physically, mentally, and spiritually. Grounded in ancient wisdom and contemporary knowledge, the book covers each trimester, labor and birth, and the postpartum years. It includes: • Flowing sequences that emphasize self-awareness and promote strength, flexibility, and balance • Modifications that accommodate a pregnant woman's growing belly, recalibrate her balance, and honor fluctuations in her energy levels • Mini sequences for specific trimester challenges: morning sickness, fatigue, anxiety, low-back issues, etc. • Asana, pranayama, and meditation practices designed to deeply connect mother and baby from the beginning of pregnancy through the postpartum years • A dedicated section on the pelvic floor to encourage women to let go and prepare for labor and birth • Special breathing techniques for labor that encourage natural childbirth • Deeper practices and ancient teachings that can help women tap into their strength and create a prenatal and birthing experience that is empowering and unique • Postpartum advice and sequences designed to help knit things back together, address postpartum challenges, and offer tips for bonding, nursing, self-care, and nutrition • Information (from a Western holistic and ayurvedic perspective) on what is happening in the body at every juncture--prenatal, labor and birth, and postpartum • Personal advice and stories from a wide array of pre- and postnatal experts With contributions from: • Elena Brower: founder and director of Virayoga in New York City, prenatal teacher for YogaGlo.com, and author of Art of Attention • Stephanie Snyder: teacher in San Francisco, pre- and postnatal teacher for YogaGlo.com • Jane Austin: pre- and postnatal yoga teacher, midwife, childbirth educator, and director of Mama Tree prenatal teacher training programs in San Francisco • Margi Young: OM yoga teacher in New York and San Francisco • De West: pre- and postnatal yoga teacher and childbirth educator in Boulder • Dustienne Miller: certified physical therapist and Kripalu yoga teacher in Boston • Kate Hanley: OM yoga teacher, mind-body coach, and author of The 28 Days Lighter Diet • Melissa Billie Williams: pre- and postnatal teacher and director of Yoga Junction studio in Louisville, Colorado

S-T-R-E-T-C-H, STRENGTHEN, AND MEDITATE—WITH YOUR BABY Practicing yoga with your baby—as you hold your baby, have your baby next to you, or have your baby leaning against your thighs or atop your belly—is a wonderful way to add joy to your first year together. Popular yoga teacher Jyothi Larson shares the specially adapted yoga poses she has taught to hundreds of moms and their “Buddha babies,” her term for the happy and calm babies in her classes. Whether you are new to yoga or an experienced student, whatever shape you are in, you are in the perfect place to practice yoga. In this beautifully illustrated book with easy-to-follow instructions, Larson presents twenty routines that help you get back in shape faster as you bond with your baby. Included are: • prenatal yoga, with a focus on the last trimester • what to do after birth through the first six weeks, with special poses for women who have had C-sections • modified yoga poses that respect your changing post-pregnancy body and give all of yoga’s benefits—stretching, strengthening, and relaxing • fun yoga moves that encourage your baby’s natural flexibility and growth • breathing and relaxation exercises as well as partner postures and much more! Experience the joy of yoga while bonding with your baby.

Yoga Mama contains many beautiful photographs of Yoga teacher Rebecca Weisman, of Iyengar Yoga Center of Vermont. and her gestating baby, in a variety of yoga poses. It includes hand-lettered poses and transliteration, and also Sanskrit copy of each pose. There's plenty of space to document one's practice and engage in contemplation.

A unique way to see and process the motherhood experience through the lens of yoga, Whole Mama Yoga covers all phases and stages of becoming and being a mother or birth parent—offering a way to extend yoga’s gifts and tools for all who parent. Women are drawn to yoga for its physical benefits, its ability to induce calm and presence, and its offering of spiritual depth. Whole Mama Yoga offers a way to extend yoga’s gifts into the motherhood experience and offers guidance that eases not just physical discomforts but existential ones. Many moms and birth parents balance boundless love and boredom, overwhelming joy and moments of isolation, self-confidence and self-doubt. Yoga provides an opportunity to practice the much needed body love and self-connection many parents need. Accessible to new yoga students, advanced yoga practitioners, and yoga teachers alike, Whole Mama Yoga is for parents with children of all ages. It is for those just thinking about beginning a family, those in the early stages of pregnancy, those getting close to labor and delivery, and for those new moms, who often feel harried and overwhelmed. This is a book to reference as children grow, change, and become little (and big) people. With yoga poses at the core of the text, yogi moms and instructors Alexandra DeSiato and Lauren Sacks offer helpful information in movement offerings that meet all moms and birth parents where they are. Organized into sections titled Relate, Move, Reflect, Wisdom, and Breathe, Whole Mama Yoga provides breathing techniques, suggestions for meditation and mantra, inspiring tidbits of yoga philosophy, funny and uplifting stories from yoga-moms, and journal prompts that allow readers to reflect on their own experience of parenthood.

Parents who want to better understand the energies that inspire and motivate their children will find Jenny Bees A Yogi Mamas Guide to Yoga, Ayurveda & Your Child a creative and helpful tool along the way. Jenny takes you on an empathetic journey relatable to every parent. What makes my child tick? How can I help them fully become their happy healthy selves? Jenny, in her own journey with her children, has found good answers through Ayurveda and yoga, and even better, she shares those with you with humour and love in this very special book. As a lifelong yoga practitioner, parent and teacher of children, and follower of the Ayurvedic diet, I am confident that you will enjoy your relationship with children even more once you read this book and, to the best of your ability, follow the practices and tips given within its pages. Shakta Khalsa, founder and director of Radiant Child Yoga This is a unique book written for parents and children and is about kids, yoga and Ayurveda, and how we can all become better, more intentional parents with the help of the intuitive five-thousand-year-old sister science of Yoga. The heart of the book is three beautifully illustrated poems, each written to clearly explain one of Ayurvedas three doshas, which in combination make up a persons prakriti (their nature). The text is simple enough that children of all ages will have a sense of what this Ayurveda thing is. And it wont be lost on Mom or Dad either.