HEALTH - Top 8 Yoga postures for pregnant women - INDIA

The writer has posted comments on this articleIPSHITA MITRAIPSHITA MITRA | Aug 6, 2012, 12.00AM IST

Yoga: It is this ancient form of exercise that has contributed in the holistic living of individuals in the most natural and trusted way since years. Yoga is like a spiritual route to a relaxed mind and healthy body.

In times of pregnancy, when women are battling mood swings at varying levels, fatigue and sickness, painful leg cramps and breathing problems; yoga exercises, techniques and postures ease all such conditions ensuring a period of relieved nine months followed by an easier labour and smooth delivery.

Former Miss Universe and Bollywood actress Lara Dutta who recently became a mother of a baby girl launched her prenatal yoga DVD titled 'Heal with Lara' under pre-natal yoga expert Tonia Clarke. Her initiative is just another example of stating the significance of pregnancy yoga that is developing as an important fitness trend among would-be mothers.

Women who are regulars would require minor modifications to their yoga routine during pregnancy months when the body is undergoing hormonal changes. The aim of pregnancy yoga is to help the mother bring the unborn into the world with minimum hassle and completely no health complications. Positions and exercises practiced across the three trimesters of pregnancy differ with every phase. It isn't just about yoga; it is about doing it under expert supervision and favourable environment.

A pregnant woman must take into consideration her health history before beginning with the exercises. For those who are doing yoga for the first time and have not been following a regime otherwise should not rush into the same without prior medical consent. The first three months are the most crucial and chances of miscarriage are high; therefore utmost caution is paramount during this time.

With all clauses and health tips in mind, let us now move forward to the 'asanas' most recommended for would-be-mothers. Yoga postures mentioned below focus on strengthening the pelvic muscles that help enhance the womb space for the healthy growth of the foetus. Yoga teacher and nutritionist Abhilasha Kale believes that, "The benefits of asanas are many. By doing regular exercises, a lot of happy hormones are released called 'endorphins' that keep a mother energetic and positive sans the deterring and erratic mood swings coming in way."

Here's a list of the top exercises that Abhilasha suggests women to attempt during pregnancy months. She also guides us on doing them correctly:


Vakrasna (Twisted pose)

-Sit erect with feet stretched in front (parallel).

-Inhale and raise your arms at shoulder level, palms facing down.

-Exhaling, twist your body from waist towards your right moving head and hands simultaneously to the same side. Swing arms back as much as possible. Do not bend your knees.

-Inhale and come back to original position maintaining your hands shoulder level and parallel to each other.

-Repeat on other side.

Benefit-Your spine, legs, hands, neck are exercised along with gentle massage to abdominal organs.

Utkatasana (Chair pose)

- Strengthens thigh and pelvic muscles

-Stand erect with feet 12 inches apart. Keep your feet parallel to each other.

-Inhale for 2 seconds and raise your heels and arms at shoulder level, palms facing down simultaneously.

-Exhale slowly; sit in squat pose, on your toes. If not comfortable standing on your toes, stand normally keeping feet flat on the ground.

-Keeping your hands in the same position, inhaling, get up slowly and stand on your toes.

-Exhale, hands down and heels down simultaneously.

Konasana (Angle pose)

- Flexibility of waist and fat remains under control in the waist region

-Stand erect with feet 24 inches apart. You can do this asana with the support of wall.

-Raise your right hand up keeping elbow straight. Give a nice upward stretch and while you inhale, bend sideward towards your left. Exhale and come back and put your hand down.

-Repeat the same with other side.


Paryankasana (Ham's pose with one leg)

- Strengthens abdominal, pelvic and thigh muscles

-Lie down on your back. Straighten your legs. Keep your knees together.

-Now, fold your right leg in the knee at the side of your posterior. Breathe normally. Hold the position as long as you're comfortable and repeat the same on other side. Straighten your leg.

-Repeat with the left leg.

Hast Panangustasana (Extended hand to big tow pose)

- Strengthens pelvic and thigh muscles

-Lie down on your back. Straighten your legs. Keep your body in one line.

-Your hands in T-position, palms facing down.

-Slide right leg towards your right side. Don't try very hard. Hold toe with your right hand if possible.

-Sliding your leg come back to original position.

-Repeat the same on left side.

Bhadrasana (Butterfly pose)

- Strengthens inner thighs and pelvic region

-Sit on the mat with legs fully stretched.

-Keeping the legs in contact with the mat, form 'Namaste' with your feet. -Sit erect, without leaning forward. Place your hands on knees or thighs. Hold the posture till the time you feel comfortable.

-Straighten your legs and repeat again.


Parvatasana (Mountain pose)

- Improves body posture, relief in backache

-Sit on the mat in sukhasna, padmasana or ardhapadmasana.

-Sit straight and while you inhale, raise your arm and join your palms in 'Namaste' position. Keep your elbows straight. Hands are near to your ears. Hold the position for a few seconds and come back to normal position again.

-Repeat 2-3 times

Yastikasana (Stick pose)

- Corrects posture, body gets stretched, relieves body tension

- Lie down on your back. Straighten your legs. Keep your body in one line. Knees and feet are together. Feet point upward. Hands rest on the sides.

-Inhale and raise your hands; rest them on the floor and stretch upward. Push your toes out simultaneously.

-Exhale, raise your hands and come back into normal position.

-Repeat 3-4 times with in between breaks.

Some important reminders/safety measures:

- Mothers with condition of asthma can try the above mentioned asanas but shouldn't hold or suspend breath during the practice of pranayams/asanas.

- On the basis of pregnancy trimesters there are certain exercises that cannot be carried throughout all pregnancy months. Konasana (angle pose) for instance should not be continued post seven months of pregnancy. Once the mother feels uncomfortable doing an asana, it is advisable to stop immediately without further straining the muscles.

- Avoid forward bending asanas (strong back bends, such as the boat pose), inverted poses and exercises that might put pressure on the abdomen. Asanas that require lying down on the weight of your stomach should be strictly avoided.

- Exercises involving balance should be done with utmost care.

- Please avoid hurrying into weight-loss exercise regime immediately after delivery. Post-natal yoga (post six weeks after birth) and exercises should be practiced only when the mother's body is fully ready and relaxed.

- Simple stretching exercises encourage circulation, help fluid retention, and relieve stress

- If mothers feel pain or nausea doing any of the exercises, then they should stop immediately and consult doctor.

LIFESTYLE - LOVE AND SEX - AUSTRALIA

Are we in need of sexual healing?

Date

July 12, 2012 - 7:52AM

New research ... 66 per cent of more than 2,200 (heterosexual) women surveyed reported having sexual difficulties. Photo: Getty

Sex seems like something that should be easy. So easy we can do it with our eyes closed … or just drunk. In fact, I’m pretty sure some of my friends have even claimed they’ve done it by accident.

But new research shows Australian women seem to be finding sex really difficult. In fact, 66 per cent of more than 2,200 (heterosexual) women surveyed reported having sexual difficulties. Half the women said they had lacked interest in sex, 21 per cent said they took too long to orgasm and another 21 per cent said they couldn’t have an orgasm at all.

(Although so few women said they had a problem with coming to orgasm too quickly that the researchers had to exclude that sexual problem from the rest of their study.)

What’s fascinating is that these problems ran across every age group. The cliché is that women in their 20s go through a brief sex-mad period, which then tapers off slowly but surely - except perhaps for a brief resurgence for cougars in their 40s - as we all tell our partners we “have a headache”.

“Although lacking interest in having sex was the most commonly reported difficulty … its persistence/recurrence was not age-related. The persistence/recurrence of other sexual difficulties, including not finding sex pleasurable, experiencing physical pain during intercourse, and sexual performance anxiety, were also not predicted by age,” the authors wrote in the Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy.

The age the most women said they lacked interest in sex (54 per cent) was the 30-39 group, the age group with the fewest (45 per cent) was 20-29.

Another fascinating titbit from the study was that the women who were not living with their partners were more likely to be unable to have an orgasm, to take too long to orgasm and to feel pain during sex.

What’s going on here, I wonder? These are pretty scary statistics. I can’t remember a single conversation I have had with my lady-friends about sexual difficulties, so I don’t even have anecdotal reports about what people think is an acceptable time-period for an orgasm.

A co-author of the study, Juliet Richters, says the questions in the survey are “deeply social”, rather than being about objective standards or medical problems.

She says, for example, that when she surveyed men about whether they came too quickly, the age group most likely to say they didn’t were those aged 16 to 19.

“My guess is they simply hadn’t perceived that as a social injunction just yet,” she says. “What the answer was reflecting was not how long they could last but their perception of whether they were coming too fast”.

So perhaps these answers are actually reflecting the pressure so many of us feel to live up to standards we’re not sure about, or only know about from watching tv, movies or porn.

Luckily for all us undersexed, slow-orgasming women out there, our old friend US psychiatry is on a mission to help.

Yes, along with the other questionable diagnoses being added to the system used to diagnose psychiatric disorders is Female Sexual Interest/Arousal Disorder (and they’re also thinking about including Female Orgasmic Disorder).

Richters says she is concerned the addition “could be dangerous”, given that it is largely being pushed by doctors with connections to the drug industry trying to create medical “cures” for these disorders (cures, that, Richters notes, are very different to those for treating men’s sexual problems. While female sexual disorders are defined by a lack of desire, in the case of men the desire is not the problem, it is the ability).

Perhaps if we all just started putting a little less pressure on ourselves, sex might actually get a little bit easier without the need for a diagnosis or a magic pill.

WOMEN / LIFESTYLE - UNITED STATES

Nurturing a Baby and a Start-Up Business

Michael Falco for The New York Times

Co-founder of the Knot, Carley Roney, with her sons, Cairo, 8, and Dublin, 4, at the Knot offices in downtown Manhattan.

By HANNAH SELIGSON

Published: June 9, 2012

FLEDGLING companies are like sticky-fingered toddlers. You’ve got to watch them every single minute.

And yet a small group of women is proving that it’s possible to start a high-growth technology company and have children at the same time. They are dispelling the image of the tech entrepreneur as a single, usually male, wunderkind. Consider Jennifer Fleiss, 28, co-founder of Rent the Runway, an online dress and accessories rental site with 2.5 million members. She gave birth to a daughter, Daniella, in December.

And there’s Carley Roney, 43, co-founder of the XO Group, a publicly traded media company valued at $300 million. Her three children range in age from 4 to 14.

Divya Gugnani, meanwhile, is the founder and chief executive of Send the Trend, an e-commerce site for accessories and beauty items that was bought by QVC in February. In May, Ms. Gugnani, 35, gave birth to her son, Ashvin. And the list goes on.

The average age of a first-time founder of a company is 39 — meaning that start-up life for some entrepreneurs is less about video game marathons on Saturdays and more about balancing parental responsibilities.

Ms. Fleiss, Ms. Roney and Ms. Gugnani all have husbands with high-powered jobs, so there are no stay-at-home fathers to take charge of their households. On the other hand, financial resources for child care are ample.

Yet much of the investment world, heavily dominated by men, remains skeptical about a woman’s ability to combine running a fast-growing tech start-up and motherhood, Ms. Gugnani says. She raised $3 million from investors before becoming pregnant.

“All of the women I know who went to raise money did it when they didn’t have kids,” she says. “There is total discrimination in the start-up world against women who are pregnant.”

Making pregnancy and motherhood a focal point of the investment process is an outdated way of thinking, she adds.

Female entrepreneurs are less numerous and raise less money than their male counterparts. Women make up 10 percent of the founders at high-growth tech companies, “and they raise 70 percent less money than men do because of their lack of access to capital,” says Lesa Mitchell of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, where she is vice president for initiatives on advancing innovation.

Ms. Roney says venture capitalists will assert that a female entrepreneur’s pregnancy and motherhood aren’t factors in deciding whether to invest in a firm — that it’s all about good ideas and the management team. “But I can pretty much guarantee you, behind closed doors it is a factor,” she says.

That is why, Ms. Roney says, “in those first moments of having a business and having a baby, the baby was a complete and total secret.”

At a start-up, which lacks much corporate infrastructure, founders typically do the jobs of at least five people. “The expectation of the devotion of your time, particularly if you are a founder, is that you should be doing this and nothing else — if you aren’t, you are not giving everything you have to the company,” Ms. Roney explains.

Ms. Fleiss was able to secure $15 million in Series B venture funding last year, shortly before she gave birth. If she had been pregnant as she pitched the company in the first round of financing, when it was still an unproved entity, she says she would have talked to mentors and advisers about how to present that fact.

Investors do need a full picture of a founder’s other life commitments, Ms. Fleiss contends.

“I don’t agree that men should be considered in the same exact context as women around aspects of raising a family,” she says. Certain factors like breast-feeding and body recovery require a women to take more time off, she notes. Ms. Fleiss took 10 weeks of maternity leave, she says, while her husband, Andrew M. P. Fleiss, a principal at the private equity firm Liberty Partners in Manhattan, took a week off.

Aileen Lee, a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the venture capital firm in Menlo Park, Calif., put it this way: “If someone was having some surgery that was going to put them out for three months, it’s something you should consider, with a man or a woman. What is the impact of having the C.E.O. or visionary out for three months?”

Ms. Lee stresses that pregnancy is not a red flag for her, and that she backs companies for the long run. Of her 11 portfolio companies, three are run by women with children, including Rent the Runway, Ms. Fleiss’s company.

LAST year, Paige Craig, an angel investor in 61 tech companies, said on the Business Insider site that “I’m probably going to get myself in a bit of trouble here” before he stated that “a pregnant founder/C.E.O. is going to fail her company.” He wrote the post after deciding to invest in a crowdsourced financing company called ProFounder, started in 2009. One of the founders, Jessica Jackley, he discovered before making his decision, was pregnant with twins.

Mr. Craig says he was confident in Ms. Jackley and wrote the post not as a rallying cry against investing in women with children, but to raise the question: “So I have this bias, let me dig in, and is it justified?”

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