A chai and a chat with pre-natal yoga expert Katie. (August blog)

I’ve never actually met Qi’s prenatal teacher, Katie, before but I immediately recognise she’s a yoga teacher: she’s wearing Lululemon, of course! I also detect one of those ‘Auslish’ accents. You’re from England too, I say. “Yep, from Bournemouth and married to an Englishman, but we’ve been here 10 years now.” She pauses a moment and looks down at her two year old son Leo, “But my kids are Australian!”  As a fellow Pom I start to think, if I have kids they too would be Australian. Strange… Uh oh, what am I thinking, am I getting broody…? I think I’ll get the drinks in. What’ll it be? A peppermint tea for Katie, and a babychino for Leo. It’s a glorious blue-sky winter’s day so we head to the park area overlooking Freshwater beach. Then, all of a sudden, a bird swoops overhead and leaves me a err ‘gift’ on the first page of my new notepad. We both start rummaging in our bags for a tissue and Katie quickly explains,  “Sorry I’m just not the type of mum who carries tissues and stuff like that around with me…” and she hands me a crumpled receipt instead with a smile. Well, as you can probably tell I don’t have kids yet, so I thought I’d kick off with a bit of the prenatal stuff because (obviously), I’ve never been to one of Katie’s classes. I’d really like to know what happens in there on a Saturday morning, after my Ashtangis have left the yoga room, all hot and steamy… “It’s gentle but I’ll always give people different options. Some students come to me from Bikram’s or Ashtanga so are looking for more challenging postures. You have to be creative but make sure these ladies are not pushing themselves too hard.” Whilst I’m considering this, she’s suddenly down on all fours on the floor of the play area, arms outstretched in mandukasana (frog pose), to demonstrate to me how this posture, for example, can be really gentle or you can make it quite strong and really dynamic. Once she’s back upright again, she adds, “Of course I’ll also incorporate some of my other skills, like massage, in the class. You’d learn some partner massage, self-massage and baby bonding techniques; and belly massage feels really nice as well for mums, so we often do some of that. There’s always a really long relaxation at the end. I also find visualisation really helpful. When I first got pregnant I kept thinking, ‘I can’t believe there’s a baby in there,’ so I really think this helps women to connect with their baby.” So we’re told that yoga is awesome for everyone, why’s it so good for pregnant ladies and why do women often start yoga when they’re pregnant? “Well it really helps you to tune into your body and your baby. Yoga is a very grounding practice. When you’re pregnant you’ve got so many hormones, especially after the baby is born, so it’s good for you emotionally. Plus it helps you stay fit, healthy and vibrant, and the exercises and breathing practices (pranyama) help prepare you for the birth.” Katie is clearly a bit of a baby boffin, as she is also a qualified Doula, infant massage therapist, as well as baby yoga, post-natal yoga and yoga for mums ‘n’ bubs teacher.  So, what about after the pregnancy, I get the impression women kind of see yoga as a bit of a quick fix whilst pregnant and then stop altogether once they’ve had their bub? I ask. Katie nods vigorously, “So many women stop after their baby is born but you should carry on, as it’s so important at this time to continue your practice. I’m really passionate about this as I firmly believe yoga supports and prepares you for all that motherhood entails.” She pauses and adds, “It also helps mums with the aches and pains physically, and emotionally as you become a parent.” Yikes, I’m thinking. So do people practice right up to birth? I ask, suddenly having this (terrifying!) image of me doing crow pose (or some other arm balance) at nine months pregnant…  “I’ve had girls in labour in my class! You can do yoga during your birth.” she laughs. “It really helps. I was doing cat pose during all of my childbirths; yoga’s perfect for that!” So no crow pose then. Phew…. Some yoga teachers tell you that you should wait until you’re in your second trimester before practicing yoga. Katie takes a different view: “To be honest, I think you can go to a specific pre-natal yoga class right from the start of your pregnancy, as long as the doctor clears you to do so. It’s a very safe practice and I always know where students are at and what they can do. Pregnancy can be such an emotional time and it not only gives you energy, it helps you learn to listen to your body so it’s such a good support for women throughout the entire pregnancy.” I mean I’m not a prenatal expert but it makes sense to me; yoga is a pretty flexible tool and you should able to adapt it to suit your condition, whatever that is, rather than having women feel somehow restricted or compromised by pregnancy. So I ask Katie about what got her interested in yoga, how did she start? “I was an only child and had lots of time at home alone. When I was 13 I found a yoga book called ‘Everyday Yoga’ which I just devoured! I just loved to do it! Then years later when I was working as a journalist in London for a national magazine it was a very stressful job so the yoga really helped me to manage that stress.” She’s so breezy and easy going I can’t imagine her as the stressed out London media gun. “Then I got a job about 10 years ago working on ‘That’s Life’ magazine as Deputy Editor, so we decided to emigrate to Australia. You know those magazine are actually really great to work on because you get to hear people’s stories.” She smiles, “Then in 2001 I did my yoga teacher training and absolutely loved it! Sadly, during this time, Katie’s mum was diagnosed with a very serious cancer, “I think through the yoga I was learning I was able to offer her some support. Certainly the experience with my mum gave me a new depth to my experience.” Intriguingly Katie got into prenatal yoga before she was pregnant: “At this time I was teaching the ‘Healthy Lifestyle’ Yoga class at Mona Vale Hospital. A couple of my friends were getting pregnant and a few people in the class were pregnant so I felt it was important to understand a bit more about prenatal yoga. It was only really when I was pregnant myself that I fully understood though. I do think it would be hard to teach a prenatal class unless you’ve been through it, I think it would be hard to connect with the students fully.” Naturally Katie practiced yoga throughout her three pregnancies and labours, “I feel it helped me to birth my children more easily and the yoga philosophies, relaxations techniques and pranayama practices all helped me adapt to being a mum.” Aside from being a yoga teacher and mum what else does she get up to? Katie writes a parenting and health column for Fernwood magazines, is a published author and has produced two DVDs – Yoga for Pregnancy & Birth and Yoga for Mums ‘n’ Bubs and some relaxation CDs. Oh yes, she’s also a yoga teacher and a mother of three little ones; Leo, who is 2; Lucas, the eldest is 8; and her “wild child” India who is 5. One of the big challenges for a yoga teacher is to find time for their yoga as well. I mean I am childless, have not released any DVDs (yet, though watch this space hahaha!) and find it difficult to find time to do anything, I’m baffled how she manages to keep up her yoga as well. “Well, it is hard to find time to practice. I mean you have to keep your yoga practice short, because the minute I get into a pose, I’ve got someone climbing on my back! Unless you get to a class of course, but I know it can be hard to find the time, that’s why I wrote my book, ‘Mother Me’ in 2008. I’ve experienced what it’s like to be a mum and it’s hard to find a balance. The DVD ‘Yoga for Pregnancy and Birth’ has got two sequences for pregnant ladies. Plus I’m bringing out a new one: Yoga for Mums’ n’ Bubs, which includes some shorter exercises for Mums, a bit of baby yoga and a baby chakra relaxation.” All right, so she’s not the type of mum who carries tissues, but she’s not doing too badly eh. Thanks Katie, maybe I’ll come to one of your classes, one day! We’d love to hear your stories here, or if you’ve got any questions about prenatal yoga ask them here and Claire or Katie will be able to respond to them! You can check out Katie’s website www.yogababes.com.au

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