This post appeared in Carolina Salt magazine in Ginger’s column, The Balanced Life, September/October 2013 issue. Why Every Child Can Benefit from Yoga “Mom!” I heard my middle son call out to me from the basement of my parent’s home in central North Carolina, where I was visiting with my family for a weekend this summer. I…
What is a Birth Playlist? Designer Music for Mom Music is very important in my family. I come from a family of musicians, and my husband and I are both musicians. We even play gigs together, in lieu of “date nights,” on a regular basis. So for me, laboring without music was unthinkable. I had…
Back Pain? What to Do, What to Avoid Do you have back pain? First, I am so sorry – and I hope you are feeling better soon. But don’t feel alone, more than 84% of Americans will at some point experience back pain. Second, here’s the latest evidence on what to do and what to…
Best Care Practices for Low Back Pain Despite established clinical guidelines supporting the early use of physical therapy in best care practices for the management of low back pain, physical therapy referral remains unchanged since 1990. The PT referral rate from a recent 11 year study at Beth Israel Hospital was a low 20%.1 What was startling…
Yoga is one of the top 10 CAM modalities used in the US today, according to the 2009 Health Status Report, “Costs of complementary and alternative (CAM) medicine and frequency of visits to CAM practitioners in the US.” $6 billion alone was spent on yoga and yoga related products in 2008, while the number of…
This week’s blog post is an excerpt from my interview with the Mothers’ Centers Voices Spotlight Series. Read the full interview here. A big thanks goes to the National Association of Mothers Centers for all their hard work in raising awareness about mothers rights in America. We inadvertently become researchers of life and motherhood when we study our own as…
There is one thing all expectant mothers have in common: Each and every one wants the healthiest start for her unborn baby. If you are pregnant, you can speak up for your child now, before he or she is born. You will not think twice of defending your child against bullies on the playground or…
Today’s post is written by journalist and yoga columnist, Virginia Cunningham. Why You Should Do Yoga With Your Kids When most people think of yoga classes, they often think of adults working to build flexibility and strength, while decompressing from a stressful, busy life; however, children’s yoga classes are becoming more and more common, and…
Medical doctor Sarah Buckley discusses the Five Myths of Childbirth. Dr. Buckley discusses myths that surround nutrition, hormonal shifts, fatigue, when to stop working during pregnancy, fear of labor and pain during labor, and the birth experience. I discovered the amazing Dr. Sarah Buckley about midway during my pregnancy with my first son Michael. I poured through more than…
Episiotomy Scar Pain? Perineal Massage May Help Episiotomy rates continue to decline in the US today, but prior to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologist’s,  episiotomies were common practice.  ACOG’s statement included this admission, “The best available data do not support the liberal or routine use of episiotomy.  Nonetheless, there is a place for…
Yoga Is Powerful Medicine for Health Care Providers More than yoga can deliver alone, a medical professional is able to evaluate, diagnose, and prescribe yoga as medicine. Licensed medical professionals, for this reason, are ideally suited to deliver yoga as medicine. The PYT Certification Program merges yoga with evidence-based practice in medicine and rehabilitation. The PYT program…
Medical Minimalism Using Yoga (Part Two) In Part One of this blog post, I shared my story of the “aha” moment that led me to use yoga as medicine.The benefits of yoga as a proven medical therapy are numerous and growing. Yoga is my minimalist medicine. I have been using it on myself and my patients for the better…