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To begin, find a comfortable posture for meditation (seated on a cushion or blanket, in a chair, or against a wall).

Jnana (or Gyan) Mudra

Place your hands on your knees in Jnana Mudra (index and thumb touching), with palms facing up to open your awareness or palms facing down to calm the mind. Scan your body and relax any tension. Let your spine extend from the base of the pelvis. Draw your chin slightly down toward the chest and let the back of your neck elongate.

Become aware of your breath. As you inhale, draw your awareness from the base of the pelvis to the center of the chest. As you exhale, concentrate on the sensations that you feel in your chest. Stay with those sensations and allow your awareness to deepen. As you continue to inhale, breathe into your heart.

Now begin to imagine there is a beautiful fire in your heart center. As thoughts arise, especially those that do not serve you about things in your life, relationships or pregnancy, offer these to the flames of your heart.

Anjali Mudra

Remembering that fire has the ability to transform, begin to watch your thoughts, situations or struggles melt away until the only thing you witness are beautiful flames. This will begin to leave space in your life for new manifestations that will serve you better.

You may choose to stay with this visualization or you may focus on the sensation of an expanding heart. Dwell inside your heart, feeling the qualities of unconditional love emerge.

When you are ready, bring your hands together in Anjali Mudra (Salutation Seal) at your heart center and complete your meditation with a moment of gratitude to integrate the energy of your meditation into your life. You can bring your awareness to your heart anytime throughout the day.

-From Collective Yogic Sources

Benefits: Strengthen the legs and arms, opens the chest and shoulders, tones the abdomen. Warrior Pose can teach you how to act with wisdom, courage, and unwavering focus.

To Begin: Standing in Tadasana with an exhalation, step your feet wider than your hip (3 1/2 - 4 feet apart). Raise your arms parallel to the floor and reach them actively out to the sides, shoulder blades wide, palms down.

Lift and spread the front toes wide gently placing them onto the earth.
Turning your right foot in slightly to the right and your left foot out to the left 90 degrees, align the left heel with the right heel. Firm your thighs and turn your left thigh outward so that the center of the left knee cap is in line with the center of the left ankle.

As you exhale, bend your left knee over the left ankle, so that the shin is perpendicular to the floor. If possible, bring the left thigh parallel to the floor. Anchor this movement of the left knee by strengthening the right leg and pressing the outer right heel firmly to the floor.

Extend the arms away from the space between the shoulder blades and parallel to the floor. Keep the sides of the torso equally long and the shoulders directly over the pelvis. Press the tailbone slightly toward the pubis. Turn the head to the left and look out over the fingers.

Remain in the pose for 5 complete breaths. Keep the mind and body relaxed.
Close the eyes if you would like, and visualize yourself as a strong Birthing Warrior!
Inhale to come up. Reverse the feet and repeat for the same length of time to the left.

Libby's Birth Story by Susan Somers-Willett
Born on November 26, 2007

A week had passed. Our baby's due date had come and gone, and although I continued to go to yoga and take daily walks, I was growing more impatient and uncomfortable each day. On Sunday, November 25th, my husband and I had finished dinner and taken an evening walk during which I had some mild cramping (similar to what I had experienced for the last two weeks). Around 9 PM, I noticed that the cramps were coming with some regularity. So he decided to start keeping track of them, recording them in the same notebook which my father had used to record my mother's contractions on the day I was born.

We soon realized that my contractions were increasing in frequency and intensity. The contractions were coming at about 15 minutes apart initially, but within an hour they were coming 5 minutes apart. I decided to pack some last-minute items in my hospital bag and get our dog's things together for the pet sitter. By 11:30 PM, the contractions started to get quite painful and I needed to use my breathing techniques to get through them. By 12:30, the contractions were about 2-3 minutes apart, the pain had really kicked in, and it was time to go to the hospital. I gripped the door handle and moaned the whole way there!

Click here to read the full story.

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