Yay, Yoga for V Pain classes started!

Victory dance!

I am so excited that my first "Yoga for V Pain" 5 class series started last Friday. Woo hoo! The series goes through November.

I am glad to be contributing to the yogic body of knowledge on v pain for a number of reasons. First, western medicine and gynecology are so behind the curve on this topic. 

Second, so is yoga.

Even though yoga in America today is often considered to be a women's activity, and indeed class attendance is dominated by female practitioners, historically yoga was a set of spiritual and religious practices by and for men - women were often intentionally excluded, their presence seen as harmful to men's focus. It's only been in the last twenty years or so that yoga has become popularized in the West, and in the West it has gained it's feminine connotations.

While women dominate the student body in the West, like so many other industries men dominate in leadership positions and are behind the big money in yoga - the founder of Lululemon, for instance, or the owners of various yoga chains (Bikram, CorePower.)

What does that mean for yoginis? ("Yoginis" are female practitioners, "yogis" are male.) The yoga we are teaching and practicing is still oriented towards male bodies, in ways large and small.

Sometimes I feel like a fish trying to see the water - the culture I grew up in is so male-dominated, and the yoga I have been taught is so male-dominated, and the medical system is so male-dominated, that I find myself struggling to imagine what a culture or yoga practice or medical care built to honor and nourish the female experience would look or feel like.

I persist in my inquiry anyway, with many questions and not many answers.

That said, I wonder if there will be a silver lining to the ignorance of v pain issues in Western medicine. Alternative and complementary modes of care are on the rise, and I hope v pain protocols of the future will benefit from the synergy between different schools of thought.

Yes, it is frustrating that my health care has been so poor, and the planet so ignorant about female bodies. But I am also excited to be part of the solution, and to be providing women helpful tools so they can be part of the solution too: in their own lives, yes, but also hopefully in the lives of others as well.

So here we go! Off on an adventure...

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PS Did this post get your brain gears crankin'?

Feel free to start a conversation below (it's okay, you can be anonymous)!

Photography: At Rest

For some background on restorative yoga, read this post.

In order to get my Relax and Renew© restorative yoga teacher certification, I had to complete a project which involved teaching private classes and then submitting a report that included a write up of our sessions, student feedback after a week of independent home practice, and photographs of the students in their poses.

I found photographing people at rest to be a deeply sweet and profound experience.

How often do we look closely and lovingly at people doing nothing?

Never, right?

As I took snapshots on my phone, I would notice details on the screen that eluded me in real life. Oh wait, they still have some tension in their jaw...with my new insight I would go back and adjust a prop, witness the muscle let go, and photograph again. In that way, my phone screen became a learning tool for me.

But taking the photographs was more than helpful instant feedback. It gave me another way to interact with the sacredness of quiet.

Photographing someone at rest is totally different than photographing them active. No saying "cheese," no giggles, no rushing to get the shot before the opportunity passes. I had time to be slow. I set my phone on silent so they wouldn't hear the sound of a clicking shutter and be self-conscious. 

There is an art to being around people at rest, a way of maintaining your personal energy so as to be a reliable presence but not overbearing.  I have spent a lot of time in this space while teaching savasana over the years, but as I hold that space I often close my eyes, or leave them half-closed. That experience is more about sensing than seeing. With this project, I was in a similar quiet space but now had a camera in my hand: it required me to look at the student in ways I hadn't previously.

As they rested, I would notice the light on their face, the gentleness of the curves and angles of their body. Muscles soft, eyes closed...we may watch babies sleep, but I am acutely aware that seeing an adult surrender to rest is a rare experience in our world.

More than once I got teary as I saw how beautiful this person was in front of me: so complete, so whole.

I saw them for a few minutes as I imagine God does, and in that seeing saw myself that way too.

I felt so much love, sitting there in the quiet with them.

After our session, I would email the students photos and notes so they could practice on their own. I realized that I was sending them something even more rare than rest - an image of it. A portrait testifying to their inherent worth and dignity, a worth that no uncompleted To Do list can ever take away.

I am by no means a skilled photographer, but since we are such visual creatures this experience made me want to share some of these photos. Images have impact. How would our lives change if we were inundated with photos of beautiful resting people everywhere we looked?

For instance, what if rest took over social media for a day? Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and their brethren are filled with images of activity: "Look at what I'm doing. My life is awesome!" Psychologists have noticed that high rates of social media consumption leads to lower self-esteem and the related anxiety has its own acronym, "FOMO" - "fear of missing out." During my imaginary day in which rest takes over social media, I imagine everyone coming off of Facebook a little less anxious and a little more calm.

So while these were not art house quality photos to begin with and haven't improved much with my amateur editing (everything is classier in black and white, right?), I share them with you anyway. You know those gorgeous artsy yoga photos out there, all striking skinny beauty and bendy limbs? I now have a craving for equally beautiful shots of restorative yoga. (I'll add that to my To Do list.)

In the meanwhile, I will rest, and invite you to join me...

Many thanks to my students for giving me permission to use their images. Please respect them and me but not re-posting them. Thanks!

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PS Did this post get your brain gears crankin'?

Feel free to start a conversation below (it's okay, you can be anonymous)!

Yoga for V Pain Classes! AWESOME

I will be teaching a dedicated Yoga for V pain class this fall in Oakland and I am so excited!!! It's been a long time coming, but I finally found a good venue at good time and a decent price. Live locally? Check it out!

Why will this class be so totally awesome?

1. Discretion! I am renting a studio, not operating under their umbrella, so the class title won't be on their schedule anywhere. The studio is on the third floor of the building and the main ground floor entrance leads to another business as well (a women's clothing store) so people won't know why you're walking into 1635 Broadway. Maybe you just want an awesome new dress or are taking some other yoga class, amirite?
2. EVERYONE will have some kind of v pain, so you can ask all your v pain questions in a safe, confidential space.
3. It's a series! We'll have five classes to dive not only into anatomy but also a variety of yogic approaches that you can both practice at home or use to modify other classes you take.
4. It's a series Part 2! That means it will be the same group of women each time. You don't have to be brave enough to meet new people every time, just the once. It'll be like a book club for your vagina...
5. Come as you are! V health is so glaringly overlooked in yoga classes that it doesn't matter if you are a newbie or a seasoned practitioner, you will learn something new and awesome.
6. Come as you are Part 2! It doesn't matter if you have a diagnosis or not. Show up and we can help point you to resources you may be lacking.
7. Beautiful space! We will be at Barefoot Movement, all hardwood floors and high ceilings and original windows. There are mats to borrow (no charge) if you don't have one, and plenty of props to use for what a colleague of mine's 3 year old daughter calls "cozy yoga." You'll see why...
8. Convenient time! 7pm Fridays, but not all in a row so it won't mess up your social calendar...
9. Free street parking after 6pm, across the street from the 19th St BART station, and close to many bus lines.
10. Finally meet some other women dealing with this crap and have a good laugh and a good cry and eat some chocolate already!

You can learn more at my website faithcornwall.com, or head directly to my MeetUp group to sign up. $75 for 5 classes (that's $15/class, on the low side of average for the Bay Area.) Handouts will keep you caught up if you miss one!

Be there or be square!

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PS Did this post get your brain gears crankin'?

Feel free to start a conversation below (it's okay, you can be anonymous)!

Big News! I'm launching one of the first Pelvic Pain Yoga classes in the nation!

I'm starting a Yoga for Healing Pelvic Pain class here in Berkeley CA. I posted it on Meetup.com. And - holy cow -

IT'S ONE OF THE ONLY SUCH CLASSES IN THE NATION.

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The only two yoga teachers I know who specialize in pelvic health are Leslie Howard and Dustienne Miller (they are on my resources page - but you already knew that, right?)

Leslie specializes in pelvic floor dysfunction, including pain, and teaches workshops, private sessions, and has online downloads - but no public classes.

Dustienne is a physical therapist and sells DVDs for pelvic pain and dysfunction online, offers private sessions via Skype, and has public classes in the Boston area (which are finally listed on her newly revamped website as of about a week ago!) Two of her classes are entitled Gentle Yoga: Releasing the Pelvis (Yoga for Pelvic, Hip, and Back Pain.) Hopefully now that her public classes are listed on her website, more people will be able to find them.

As for additional teachers, Leslie offers teacher trainings on the topic of pelvic health, but the students of hers I have been able to find only teach workshops or private sessions. Some do not have pelvic-specific offerings at all.

So...

I'm pretty sure that Dustienne wins the prize for having the first public yoga classes for pelvic pain in the United States. Definitely the only ones you can find on the internet. Props to her!

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Aaaaand...

I am sooooo excited to be launching the United State's second public pelvic pain yoga class!

It's time has come. (Correction: it is way overdue. Why in the hell are there only two women's pelvic health specialist yoga teachers in the US of A, a country that has 20 million yoga practitioners, 80% of whom are women and presumably have pelvises?)

This class is so important because although yoga can be a huge help in managing pelvic pain, not all yoga is created equal.

Some styles and specific postures are inappropriate or contraindicated for pelvic pain, but since 99.9999% or yoga teachers don't know that (and 99.9999% of their students who have issues with pelvic pain won't tell said yoga teachers about their situation,) women can end up having a bad experience with a tool that can be a great help.

So I am SUPER PSYCHED!

Tell all your friends! I sure as heck am.

You can refer them to: www.FaithCornwall.com, where they can learn all about it and get linked on over to Meet Up.

And my MeetUp URL? Well that's also awesome. It's www.meetup.com/PelvicWarriors.

ps do you know of any other pelvic pain yoga classes or teachers? let me know here!