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Yoga Poses That Can Hurt You

Michaelle Edwards

"Anityasuciduhkhanatmasu nityasucisukhatmakhyatiravidya" (What at one time feels good or appears to be of help can turn out to be a problem; what we consider to be useful may in time prove to be harmful.) -- From Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, written in Sanskrit approximately 2,400 years ago.

As a 40-year yoga practitioner, with over two decades practicing massage therapy and teaching yoga, I have seen countless injuries, chronic pain and joint issues in yoga clients of every age and fitness level. My work and investigations with yoga injuries has revealed certain yoga poses engage the body in positions that are unnatural for the design of the human body. In this series of posts, I will explain why these poses need to be radically modified or eliminated to protect yoga practitioners from finding out that which was considered to be useful may in time prove to be harmful.

The sad truth is that years of practicing body positions that do not simulate real life function can lead to misalignment, chronic pain, and even surgical replacements.

To be smart and safe in yoga, we need to consider postural alignment and natural joint function, rather than blindly following a list of "must-do" traditional poses and boot camp challenges.

Yoga Can Heal and Yoga Can Hurt

Paschimottasana and Uttanasana are straight leg seated forward bending poses practiced from sitting or standing that go against how our body is "wired" to move. These poses and many variations are practiced with the compartmentalized idea that stretching the back while keeping the knees straight will lengthen the hamstrings and make the spinal column more flexible. But how does this contribute to real life anatomical function and a balance of postural dynamics?

Stop driving with your parking brakes on.

We must bend at least one knee to move forward. When both knees are straightened and we stretch forward as in yoga forward bends, we are driving with our brakes on and stretching the ligament forces needed for natural anatomical function. Try to walk without bending your knees and you will get the global picture of how your body works. Can you feel the unnatural torque and tension in the lower back and knees?

Touching your toes is a waste of time and could prove to be harmful in the long run.

All standing and seated forward bends with knees straight and ankles flexed in right angles undermine the spine's integrity creating the C shape, or slouch, stressing the necessary ligament tension needed for natural joint functions of our spine, hips and knees.

Keep your sexy curves by not engaging your body in straight lines!

We are not made of parts. Our body is made of curves, global in nature, and all parts affect the whole. We all want to be healthy and feel peaceful in body and mind. What is the purpose and function of doing yoga poses that flatten the curves, and stretch out the very seams of the fabric that holds us together?

Forward bends with straight knees can give you a flat butt!

Before and After YogAlign Practice

Many yogis wind up with a flat butt and sagging posture from ligaments that are too loose. Ligaments need to be "tight" enough to keep the hip joint stable during normal activity and movement.

The gluteus muscles are stretched out and weakened when we do straight leg forward bends because the butt muscles cannot functionally activate if both knees are straight. This is why people with strong tight butts have difficulty doing forward bends with their knees straight.

The flexible and bendy people have no trouble doing these poses and it can even feel "good," but over the long run, this flexibility becomes a liability. The sacroiliac (SI) joint ligaments become lax and the hip joint is destabilized, lacking shock absorbing forces needed to protect joint function. Many famous yoga teachers and long time practitioners are getting hip and knee replacements as a result of over-stretching the SI joint as practiced in straight leg seated and standing forward bends.

Babies know best.

Watch a toddler move and bend over. When they lean over to pick up a toy, they move from core center, hips back, with knees bent and butt and leg muscles working. This is why all babies have cute butts.

Bend your knees, not your spine!

When we lean forward from sitting or standing without bending our knees, we are asking the spine to stretch in ways it is not designed. Any back doctor will tell you to always bend your knees when leaning over. Why does yoga get a hall pass to ignore this basic anatomical rule to bend the knees?

Protect your spine and lower back curves in yoga: Keep your knees deeply bent in all seated and standing forward bends, and stay out of all yoga poses that create a C shape in the spinal column.

Align, don't contort.

Before and After YogAlign Practice

In order for yoga to evolve and be safe for all, we must use critical thinking, discernment, awareness and simple bio-mechanical common sense.

I always remind my students to practice naturally aligned posture as the most important asana. If an asana does not support your spine in good posture, it is quite possibly working to pull your body out of alignment, and what is the benefit of doing it?

Three simple tests to determine whether a pose serves the human design:

1. It should allow the spine to maintain its natural curves.
2. It should not restrict the ability to do deep, rib-cage breathing.
3. It should have a real-life correlation to functional joint movement.

Yogis need to take off the avidyas (blinders) and consider the long-range effects of yoga poses on the human body. Is the pose or position going to lead to a favorable outcome adding value to our lives and supporting the ancient wisdom of the yoga sutras?

Benefits of The 5 Tibetan Rites

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Perfect 5 Tibetans Workout

Five Tibetan Rites

http://www.howtogrowyounger.com/p/tror.html You CAN Grow Younger - Do the Five Tibetan Rites!

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Grow Young Guide Ellen Wood demonstrates the RIGHT way to practice the Five Tibetan Rites. The Tibetan Rites of Rejuvenation are exercises developed about 2500 years ago by lamas in Tibet. They were kept secret in monasteries for centuries because they were considered to be a path to higher consciousness, ONLY for the initiated. The Tibetan Rites, also called The Five Tibetans, were introduced to the Western world by author Peter Kelder and first published in 1939. Kelder had met a retired British army colonel in southern California in the 1930s who told him stories of his travels and the discovery of the Tibetan Rites of Rejuvenation. The author published The Eye of Revelation based on his conversations with the colonel. Kelder makes it clear that these are not physical fitness exercises. The Five Tibetans affect the body, mind and emotions and activate key energy centers in the body. These seven energy centers are similar to the seven chakras many of us are familiar with, but not exactly the same. There are two in the head, one at the base of the throat, one in the right side at the waist, one in the sexual center and one in each knee. The whole purpose for doing the Tibetan Rites is to get those seven energy centers, or vortexes, all spinning at the same rate of speed – the rate for a robust 25-year-old. That's how they work to make us grow younger. I first learned about the Tibetan Rites in 2004 and I have been practicing the Five Tibetans daily since then. Recently I discovered a new edition of Kelder’sThe Eye of Revelation, edited by W.J. Watt and published in 2008 in hardback and 2009 in paperback. This book, based on a recently discovered manuscript of Kelder’s from the 1940s, gives additional detail and information on the correct way to do the exercises and their benefits. One of the details is that they should be performed VERY SLOWLY. What a difference that makes! I had easily worked up to 21 of each of the rites doing them the old way but when I slowed down, I had to cut back to just six a day of each and my muscles were sore! Now I'm back up to 21 of each and no soreness. I plan to produce an instructional DVD on how to properly practice the Tibetans. Watch for more information on this in my blog, and please do not attempt these exercises unless you first get a doctor's permission. Rights to Kelder's book were purchased in the 1970s by Harbor Press, publisher of a revised version titled Ancient Secrets of the Fountain of Youth. In 1999 Doubleday published Ancient Secrets of the Fountain of Youth: Book 2, which provides a great deal of useful information along with photos illustrating the exercises, and has a foreword by Bernie Siegel, MD. The newer book edited by J.W. Watt is much more detailed and thorough in its instructions on how to do the Five Tibetans. I highly recommend both books.

5 Tibetan Rites - The RIGHT Way, Anti-Aging Tip from Ellen Wood, author ...

Meditation's Healing Power

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-12841/why-its-time-for-everyone-to-recognize-meditations-healing-power.html

It’s hard to believe some still question whether meditation can have a positive effect on mind and body. A very selective research review recently raised the question, leading to headlines (such as one in The Wall Street Journal) that said the benefits are limited.

As a physician and scientist, I’ve been researching effects of meditation on health for 30 years, and have found it has compelling benefits. Over the past year, I’ve been invited by doctors in medical schools and major health centers on four continents to instruct them on the scientific basis of mind-body medicine andmeditation in prevention and treatment of disease, especially cardiovascular disease.

Research on Transcendental Meditation, for example, has found reduced blood pressure, stress and insulin resistance (useful for preventing diabetes), slowing of biological aging, and even a 48% reduction in the rates of heart attack, stroke, and death. I would consider those to be benefits. And so does the American Heart Association, which last year released a statement saying that decades of research indicates TM lowers blood pressure, and may be considered by clinicians as a treatment for high BP.

Research on meditation has shown a wide range of psychological benefits. For example, a 2012 review of 163 studies that was published by the American Psychological Association concluded that the Transcendental Meditation technique had relatively strong effects in reducing anxiety, negative emotions, trait anxiety, and neuroticism, while aiding learning, memory, and self-realization. Mindfulness meditation showed effects in reducing negative personality traits and stress, and in improving attention and mindfulness. The review concluded, “The effects found in the current analyses show that meditation affects people in important ways.”

Why, then, did the recent review published in a specialty journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA Internal Medicine) conclude there were limited benefits, with mindfulness meditation showing only moderate or low evidence for specific stress-related conditions such as anxiety?

That review was narrowly focused on research on meditation for certain types of psychological stress, so objective benefits such as reduced blood pressure and heart disease were outside its scope. In addition, that review only looked at studies in which the subjects had been diagnosed with a medical or psychiatric conditions. The authors excluded studies of otherwise normal individuals with anxiety or stress, as well as any study that wasn’t on adults.

These limited selection criteria resulted in the omission of many rigorous studies, which, when taken as a whole, show that at least some forms of meditation are beneficial for reducing stress and anxiety. A 2013 meta-analysis (a type of rigorous review) of 16 controlled studies among 1295 participants (10 of which matched the JAMA Internal Medicine criteria for active controls) found that the Transcendental Meditation technique significantly reduced anxiety, the most common form of stress. And the greater the starting level of anxiety in the test subjects, the greater the reduction with meditation.

In a commentary that accompanied the article published by the AMA, Allan Goroll, MD, states, “The modest benefit found in the study by Goyal et al begs the question of why, in the absence of strong scientifically vetted evidence, meditation in particular and complementary measures in general have become so popular, especially among the influential and well educated.”

I can answer that. Complementary and alternative approaches (now called integrative medicine) have indeed been shown in rigorous scientific studies to have some major effects on mind and body health. But, equally important, people who use natural approaches are taking a more active role in their health. This is called self-empowerment. This is what medical professionals should desire for their patients and themselves. This is the grail. We want people to adopt healthier behaviors and outlooks and attitudes, to take more responsibility, to use their own inner healing abilities. The US Centers for Disease Control and Preventionestimates that the majority of chronic diseases could be prevented by healthy behaviors. That is, by people managing their own stress and lifestyle.

In addition, think for a moment about acupuncture. There’s been extensive research on its effectiveness in treating pain. Some of that research shows it to be better than a placebo; much of it shows it to be about the same as a placebo. But most of the research shows that it’s better than no treatment. It's astounding that people can reduce their own pain, yet medical journals are typically gripped by the fact that it’s often no better than a placebo.

Finally, people meditate because it can fundamentally change their self-perceptions and sense of suffering. And, yes, research also supports this. In studies on long-term and even short-term practitioners of Transcendental Meditation, subjects report the experience of a deep level of unity and wholeness in their awareness. This gives them a profound experience of peace, connectedness, and relief from stress. EEG and brain imaging research confirmsthat meditators’ brains actually function differently than those who haven’t learned the technique.

So to Dr. Goroll and all those who wonder why anyone would meditate, my observation, based on decades of published peer-reviewed scientific research, is that at least certain forms of meditation may greatly contribute to a healthy, balanced mind and body. To ignore the evidence is ignoring the scientific basis of medicine.

As can be seen in the presentations on meditation at the recent world economic summit in Davos, Switzerland and the cover story in the February 2 issue of TIMEmagazine, the benefits of meditation are coming to be widely accepted by health professionals, business leaders, and the media. It’s now time for the medical profession to catch up and provide this information to those who depend on them for the most advanced knowledge and technologies for mind and body health.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com

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Dr. Robert Schneider Dr. Schneider is an internationally renowned physician-scientist-educator in the field of mind-body medicine. For the past 25 years he has directed a federally-funded research center on integrative medicine. He is author of more than 100 peer-reviewed publications in medical journals and the popular book, TOTAL HEART HEALTH (Basic Health Publications,…

Start Meditating

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-20276/a-mini-guide-for-anyone-who-wants-to-start-meditating.html

The popularity of meditation is a wonderful thing. What could be better than a more peaceful and mindful planet!? But there's also a lot of confusion going around about how to practice. In response to some of the most common questions I'm asked about meditation, I've created this list of tips for anyone looking to get started. 

1. Make it a formal practice.

We hear a lot about living more mindfully, and it’s true that we benefit from bringing more awareness to our daily activities but if you want to experience the real benefits of meditation, then you’ll also need to set aside a specific time to practice in stillness every single day.

2. Start with the breath.

The breath is the intersection point for the mind and body. Breathing deeply and fully slows the heart rate, activates the parasympathetic nervous system and invites your mind to relax.

Give yourself a few minutes to transition from what you were doing before closing your eyes. If you’re finding it difficult to sit down and meditate, start slowing things down 15 minutes before you begin. Become aware of your breath, body and mind. The breath is also a wonderful anchor or focus point for your meditation practice.

3. Find a teacher.

Meditation is ultimately a very personal journey but it’s incredibly helpful to have the guidance of a teacher, especially when you’re starting out. Read a book (or two) on meditation and research teachers and courses in your area.

4. Think of meditation as "becoming aware" rather than "turning off the mind."

We often hear that the purpose of meditation is to "quiet the mind," but it’s perhaps better understood as a way of entering into the quiet that is already resides there. Similarly, beginner meditators often think that the goal of meditation is to focus without become distracted. A more useful goal of the practice is actually becoming aware of when your mind has drifted, or aim to be able to redirect your attention back to your point of focus without criticizing yourself.

5. Do not expect your mind to be quiet.

One of the biggest (and most unhelpful) meditation myths is that when you meditate, you should try to stop all of your thoughts. This one is simply not true, according to traditional texts of meditation and even modern science.

The goal of meditation is not to stop all thinking, but to change your relationship to your thoughts so that you’re not so caught up in them and swept away by them. We now have myriad studies that demonstrate the healing power of meditation — that people are less affected by negative and unhelpful thinking — but it’s never been the case that thinking actually stops.

If you begin meditation with the aim of stopping all thoughts, then you’re going to be very disappointed. You’re also going to have a pretty unpleasant time in doing so and you’ll likely give up.

6. Be comfortable.

The most important rule as it relates to posture is to be comfortable. Don’t punish yourself with an unpleasant posture that simply doesn’t work for your body. Mind and body are intertwined. If your body is well-balanced, your mind will also be in balance.

7. Rest your attention effortlessly.

While it takes effort to create the time and space to meditate, your practice should be completely effortless. Let go of trying and striving and allow whatever is happening to do so with the least resistance. By gently resting your attention on your breath or mantra, your brain and mind will naturally drop into the more expansive state of meditative awareness.

8. Smile.

A gentle smile will enhance your practice, a furrowed brow will not. Turn up the corners of your mouth and smooth out your brow. If you find yourself drifting off or focusing too sternly on your meditation, gently loosen your neck and shoulders, reset your posture and smile once again.

9. Start small.

When you’re starting out, even just a few minutes can feel like an incredibly long time. Meditation is not an endurance test, set a reasonable time frame for you and diligently follow it. It’s also important to banish all-or-nothing thinking — if you’d like to meditate for 20 minutes, but you only have 10 minutes available, then dive in and enjoy those 10 minutes to their fullest. Don’t avoid your practice altogether because you don’t have the "ideal" time frame or environment.

10. Be realistic in your expectations.

Meditation is a technique for training the mind, and this skill is developed over a lifetime. Sure, there are some immediate benefits to be found, but some take longer than others. If expectations are too high, then you may well feel disappointed and demotivated, causing you to give up. So just take one day at a time and focus on building a slow and steady practice.

Prenatal Yoga

An 11-Pose Prenatal Yoga Sequence For A Blissful Birth

There are so many benefits to practicing yoga as an expectant and new mama — from improved circulation and firming of the skin, to strengthening of the muscles and connective tissue, to stimulating lymphatic flow.

As a doula and a prenatal yoga teacher, I recommend a regular practice of three days per week. Yoga is not just about asanas; it’s about softening, a dance of effort and surrender, and deep listening to your body. We are holding the intention for a healthy, vibrant pregnancy.

In labor, yoga can help connect you with your breath, move the labor along with more ease and awareness, teach you to be more in tune with your body, and help you harness the power of your voice. We often chant in prenatal classes as an opportunity to become familiar with your inner “Om.”

Try this Mama Glow Yoga prenatal sequence to lead you to a smooth and blissful birth:

“Shakti’s Seat” or Bound Angle Pose (Baddha Konasana)

This pose provides a great stretch for groin muscles, helps to strengthen and tone the muscles used for labor, increasing flexibility of knees and inner thighs and keeps the spine in alignment.

Sit comfortably on a mat, cushion or blanket with your spine tall and draw your shoulders down the back. Bring the soles of the feet together and allow the knees to fall to either side. Interlace fingers around feet, cradling the toes.

Ground yourself in this pose with the affirmation: “I am grounded, relaxed, and open, like a lotus blossom.” Hold the pose for 5 breaths.

Cat and Cow (Marjaryasana + Bitilasana)

These poses stretch the lower spine, hips, back and core muscles. They also open the chest and lungs allowing for easier breathing, and may also improve posture and promote a healthy flexible spine.

Move to your hands and knees in a tabletop position. Stack your shoulders over your wrists and spread the palm of each hand wide onto your mat with your hands shoulder-distance apart. Keep the neck as a natural extension of the spine, and bring your gaze to the floor. 

Inhale and curl your toes under, lifting your tailbone and chest toward the ceiling while dropping your belly toward the floor. Let the scooping movement in the spine initiate from the tailbone. On the exhale, release the tops of the feet to the floor, rounding through the spine and drawing the navel in, stretching through the tops of the shoulders.

Repeat for 10 cycles, letting your breath govern the movement.

Downward-Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana)

This pose strengthens arms; improves hip flexibility; tones the outer hips; stretches the hamstrings, calves, and thighs; and stimulates the liver and kidneys.

From Cat/Cow, spread your palms and press your hands firmly into the mat. Send your hips up and back until you in an inverted V-shape. Lower your heels toward the floor as much as you can. Square the hips and face toes toward the floor, and lift your navel in toward your spine.

When you’re further along in your pregnancy, use blocks to modify, bringing the floor closer to you.

Hold for 3 breaths.

Downward-Dog Pliés

This movement combines the most basic yoga pose with the most fundamental ballet pose — the plié. It tones the inner and outer thighs and stretches the hamstrings and calves, while also working the muscles of the back and upper arms, shoulders and wrists.

From Downward Dog, turn your heels together and let your toes turn out into a V-shape. Squeeze your thighs together as your legs are straight and firm. On the exhale, bend your knees and squat into a frog position. 

Pause on the inhale, and on the next exhale straighten your legs. Do this for 10 counts letting your breath lead.

Child’s Pose (Balasana)

This gentle stretch calms the brain, helping to relieve stress and fatigue, relieves back and neck pain, and stretches hips, thighs and ankles.

From Downward Dog, bend your knees and kneel down to your mat and touch your big toes together, press your hips back toward your heels, separate your knees to hips-width and lay your torso down onto the floor or a bolster.

Rest your forehead on the mat, with your arms alongside your body and your palms facing upward. Breathe deeply into the back body for 5-to-10 breaths.

Standing Cat-Cow

This series encourages spinal articulation and strengthens the muscles along your back and thighs, helping to support your ever-changing prenatal body. It also releases tension in the lumbar.

Stand in Mountain Pose with your feet hips-width apart on your mat and have two blocks handy. For an optional boost, you can place one block between the feet to make sure that they remain parallel, and take the other block and place it between your thighs and squeeze.

Take a deep inhale and raise your arms perpendicular to the floor, palms facing each other, and as you exhale, bend your knees parallel with the floor and send your hips back like you are sitting into a chair. This is called “Awkward Chair Pose.”

Tuck the tailbone slightly toward the floor and as you bend your knees, take the thighs more parallel and feel your torso leaning slightly forward above your thighs. Arms continue to reach overhead, unless you have high blood pressure, in which case the hands can stay on your hips or parallel to the floor.

Stay in the pose for about 20 seconds, and then come out of it with an exhalation — rounding the spine with hands on your knees and relaxing your head toward your chest.

On an inhale, bend your knees to send your belly forward and reach your right arm up. On the exhale, round your spine and take that arm down, relax your neck, and gaze at your belly. On the next inhale, send your belly forward with knees still bent and reach your left arm up.

Repeat 10 times.

Goddess Squats (Utkata Konasana)

This series gets your legs in shape for the final stretch of labor — the pushing phase, or breathing your baby down. Your hips will be ready to deliver by opening the pelvic girdle, strengthening the thighs, opening the chest and strengthening the arms.

Take the legs wide with knees slightly turned out. Inhale the arms up overhead and exhale, bending the knees, bringing youe thighs parallel with the floor. Open the arms out to either side with palms facing forward in Abhaya mudra — no fear. Inhale back up again and repeat up to 20 times.

Warrior II (Virabhadrasana II)

This pose cultivates mental and physical stamina, stretching the legs and ankles, groin, chest, ribs and shoulders. It relieves low back pain and sciatica as well. It is important not to sway the lower back, which is common as the belly grows bigger and the uterus pushes forward. This pose is beneficial during pregnancy because it really gives a sense of warrior strength and confidence.

Start with your feet parallel, hip-distance apart. Step your left foot back behind you at least one leg’s distance and turn your left foot out at a 60-degree angle. Extend your arms to the side away from your body on an inhale, bringing them parallel to the floor. Feel your chest open from your collarbone all the way up to your fingertips.

As you exhale, bend your front knee and firm up your thighs. Bring the front knee directly over the ankle and be sure that thigh is parallel to the floor. The back leg is active, stretching from the inner thigh to the pinky toe of your back foot. Drop your tailbone and draw that thigh muscle up.

Breathe all the way into your belly and as you exhale, straighten your front leg, keeping your arms extended (drop them by your side if you need a break). To switch sides, turn your front toes in and your back toes out, so you are reversing the position of the feet. Repeat with the left leg forward this time. To finish the pose, exhale and straighten your front leg. Step your back foot up to meet with the front with your hands on your hips.

Sacred Triangle Pose (Trikonasana)

The triangle is used to represent water, earth and universal fertility. This pose will increase your stamina, improve flexibility of the torso, strengthen the ankles, feet and legs, while elongating the spine and opening the hips.

Start with legs together, feet turned out to a 45-degrees and heels touching. Then slide the left leg back behind you, and bend the right knee deeply. Make sure you turn those right toes forward, parallel with the length of your mat.

Inhale and stretch the arms out from the shoulders into a T-position, with palms facing down. Press the hips forward, hinge at the hip crease and reach the front fingertips straight ahead. Rest the bottom hand on the shin or a yoga block, and raise your top arm toward the ceiling, gazing at your top thumb. Feel the chest open in expansion.

Hold for 3 breaths and connect with the divine using the affirmation: “I am a powerful, creative force with sacred purpose.” Repeat on the other side.

Dove Series/Pigeon Pose (Eka Pada Rajakapotasana)

This pose stretches the hip flexors, outer hips and groin. There is nothing more elegant than a mom-to-be in this posture.

From Downward Dog, step the right foot forward and place it just inside your left hand. Tip your knee to the right, until it touches the floor — your shinbone should be almost parallel with the front of your mat.

Extend your chest forward, while supporting yourself on your fingertips. Try a few rounds of spinal flexion — waves of the spine — for 4 counts. You may also use a blanket or blocks underneath your hip to prop yourself up with a little support in this pose.

Hold this pose for a minimum of 5 breaths. Once you are finished, tuck the back toes under, press the hands into the floor and step back to Downward Dog. Repeat on the other side.

Supported Bridge Pose (Setu Bandha Sarvangasana)

The anatomical focus of this pose is the uterus. Supported Bridge also stretches the chest, neck, and spine and allows a gentle backbend. The abdominal organs, lungs and thyroid are stimulated, and digestion is improved.

You’ll also notice a reduction in anxiety, fatigue, backache, headache and insomnia. This pose calms the mind and helps alleviate stress and mild depression, making it great for postpartum moms as well.

Lie on your back, bending the knees and pressing the soles of the feet into the floor. Bring the feet parallel and hip-distance apart. Lift your hips and slide the yoga block directly under your sacrum, resting the arms alongside you. Stay here for a few minutes, breathing deeply.

To come down, lift the hips and slide the block out from underneath you. Lie on your back and draw your knees in to happy baby position, then roll over to your left side and rest with props.

Gallery Credit: Anders Krusberg for mindbodygreen

article by  Latham Thomas

Latham Thomas, (HHC, RYT, RPYT) is a maternity lifestyle maven, yogi, wellness and birth coach, on the vanguard of transforming the maternal and women's wellness movement. Latham is the founder of Mama Glow, a holistic lifestyle hub for women along the birth continuum. A graduate of Columbia University