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by Melissa Hurt (Author)
The Postpartum Path of Yoga: A Program for Restoration of Body, Mind, Voice, & Spirit guides the mother towards enhancing her sense of self in light of the physical and emotional stressors of pregnancy, delivery, and motherhood. Melissa Hurt guides her through a yoga-based program in which she studies and enriches herself through breath work, mindful movement, voice and speech practices, meditations, and journal prompts framed by yoga's guidelines for living with integrity. Over sixteen weeks, she restores herself through a balance of mind, stability in movement, strength in voice, and conviction in spirit. Mothers can explore the methods Melissa Hurt shares weekly sequentially or one practice at a time for more time-constrained mothers.
The Postpartum Path of Yoga has four parts:
- Part One, "The Five Conditions You Don't Have to Accept," explains why a mother may feel hopeless despite her beautiful child, why she pees when she sneezes, why she has low back pain, why she may also have pelvic pain, and/or why she has a weak voice and has lost her sense of self.
- Part Two, "A Path to Wholeness," leads mothers through a sixteen-week program designed to rebuild and restore the body, mind, voice, and spirit while specifically targeting the five conditions discussed in Part One. Melissa Hurt teach gentle breath-based, movement-based, embodied voice, and meditation practices appropriate for women new to yoga as well as experienced practitioners. Melissa Hurt launch each phase with a community prompt to inspire where to meet other mothers to build a "tribe" for emotional grounding and support. Each phase is framed with a verse from the Yoga Sutras, or the ancient text of yoga, to remind the reader that the process for spiritual restoration and transformation begins with faith in herself and in her process.
- Part Three, "A Path to Wholeness Beyond the First Year Postpartum," presents an additional three weeks of the program with stronger movement-based practices and more advanced embodied voice explorations.
- Part Four, "Connecting with Others, Loving Yourself," explains ten ethical guidelines for relating to others and oneself with integrity, compassion, and honesty. These observances serve as a guide for deep reflection on how to engage fully with daily life.
Mothers will increase energy and personal clarity due to the range of practices focused on self-study, personal faith in oneself, and creating a wellness discipline they can do in twenty to thirty minutes daily.
