New Announcement: 1st Yoga to Remember Class on November 16, 2013!

2013 Walk News, Forever Footprints Events, Forever Footprints News, OC Walk to Remember

Jump up out of bed and join us for the 1st Yoga to Remember class on November 16th!   If you cannot make this session, you’ll have another opportunity to take the Yoga to Remember class every third Saturday, of each month. This is a wonderful opportunity for all levels, even if it will be your first time doing yoga. Rachel’s passion lies in helping women and couples overcome suffering. Rachel’s approach is holistic in nature and addresses the mind/body connection. She is whole heartedly committed to helping women work through and guide them doing their own grief and pain journey. Rachel also had a stillbirth. Her deep understanding and compassion for grieving mothers combined with her training in education equip her with the necessary tools to help other women heal from such a potentially debilitating experience in a therapeutic setting. She is currently offering psychotherapy under the supervision of Laura Navarro Pickens, LCSW, in Newport Beach, CA. Rachel is a Yoga Alliance registered Yoga Instructor with over 10 years of teach experience. Rachel also provides yoga, mindfulness, and meditation in corporate, individual, and group settings.

“At 27 weeks, my baby boy, Dylan was born still. My heart was broken and my world turned upside down. Yoga played a significant role in the healing of my loss along with my PTSD symptoms.  My automatic response was to detach from my body like so many other grieving mommas do, but I knew that the ‘Only way out is through’. Over time, I once again learned to find joy and peace in the stillness and silence within. It is my intention to help other grieving mothers do the same.”

-Rachel Gray Safyurtlu, M.A

How Yoga Can Help Heal After The Loss of a Baby

The principles learned in yoga such as: deep breathing, one pointed concentration, and mindful alertness to name only a few, can help a grieving mother move forward in her grief. The tools cultivated from a yoga practice can help life feel more bearable. The yogini (yoga practitioner/feminine) learns to breathe through the difficult emotions with a deep inner knowing that they will pass. As time continues, new emotions arrive including guilt perhaps when she isn’t thinking of her precious baby or shame when she finds a smile on her face that feels incongruent because of the fact that her baby is dead. There might be moments of anger toward other mothers  who never have to know the pain of losing a baby. Waves of isolation can sweep in at unexpected moments like when the wrong words come from supporting and loving mouths.

Yoga teaches her how to ride the stormy waves of grief. She might disconnect from her body as a result of the trauma of her loss. Yoga can help connect with her highest self and reintegrate and reconnect with her body in a gentle way that involves relaxation, calming the nervous system, and an attitude of compassion to oneself.

With a safe environment and an experienced yoga teacher, she can safely explore her grief and befriend her body using specific techniques and postures. She learns to make space for her grief and emotions, to treat herself with loving kindness, and flow withe all the difficult challenges that life presents. Her grief never goes away. With time it just changes and she learns to carry it with her like a warrior momma. Eventually, the grieving mother can look back at all she survived and create a new life in which she can thrive. Yoga can be an amazing source of healing for the grieving mother.

To see more of Rachel’s work, visit The Project Lotus