Donate Clean Birth Kits. $5 Saves 2 Lives.

Hi out there to anyone who follows BurmaYoga.  I have started a new non-profit.  Check out www.cleanbirth.org to provide moms in Laos with Clean Birth Kits.

Why are Clean Birth Kits needed?

This year approximately 1 million women and infants will die of infection after birth. For every woman who dies 30 more suffer a debilitating illness or permanent disability. Many of these deaths are preventable by providing education about clean birthing practices and Clean Birth Kits, which promote and enable clean birth.

In Laos, where Cleanbirth.org is focused, 80% of births occur at home and only 20% have a skilled attendant present.  Maternal and infant mortality rates are among the highest in the world.  Cleanbirth.org is providing clean birth kits and training to a non-profit in the remote Salavan Province in southern Laos in the hopes of giving moms and babies a fighting chance at life.

Do Clean Birth Kits prevent maternal/infant deaths?

The WHO and United Nations have recommended CBKs for decades. According to Blencowe et al (reference) “A systematic review identified 30 studies showing that clean birth practices can substantially reduce neonatal mortality and morbidity from infection-related causes, including tetanus.”

Clean Birth Kits are designed to provide birth attendants and/or expecting moms with the tools they need to ensure a clean birthing environment.

What is in a Clean Birth Kit?

The Kits ensure the WHO’s “6 Cleans”: clean hands, clean perineum, clean delivery surface, clean cord cutting implement, clean cord tying, and clean cord care.

Each kit is sterile and composed of hospital grade supplies, including:

• Padded blood absorbing sheet for comfort and easy clean up
• Medicated soap to prepare a safe birth environment
• Sterile surgical blade with steel handle for cutting the umbilical cord
• Cord clips for precision and to help prevent infection
• Biodegradable bag
• Pictorial instructions

Click www.cleanbirth.org to learn more about clean birth kits and other topics related to birth in the developing world.

Yoga for Refugees Stateside

Cool!  Yoga is being used with refugees being settled in the US.:  http://sonoranchronicle.com/2010/07/14/how-yoga-helps-refugees/

Very interesting… I have just found CT’s refugee agency site. Wonder if they’d be interested in a little relaxation for their clients…

Giggling and Patience during Yoga

So there is a whole giggling thing that is common among the female staff here. One visiting medical student says that they do it when they get nervous – sometimes in front of parents whose kids are dying.

Last night, a doctor and a few nurses were giggling their butts off during class. It’s fine-ish during the postures. I laugh along to a certain extent. I want my classes to be joyful and sometimes the poses are funny. But, not going to lie to you, it bugs me during shavasana.

While having drinks with a PT from Austria, I vented a bit. She had been in the class and totally noticed, said it’s the norm. I don’t want to be annoyed by it. I can’t stand holier-than-thou yoga teachers that make you feel like you are in church. I expect a certain amount of disruption.

I think what gets me is that some people are relaxed, eyes closed, breathing and others are disturbing them, laughing away.  In their defense, this is all new to them. I think more than anything it shows that I need to be more patient – as I was in Mae Sot when cell phones ringing, laughter and staff leaving the room were the rule not the exception.

My expectations are too high and my patience is too low. I’m tired. I’m learning alot (as I have been doing every day for 11 months) but pushing myself to do it.

Today’s lecture on stress management through yoga to the staff doctors was great. About say 15 of the 25 docs in the room followed along as I showed them in-chair postures, breathing exercises. I lost a few during the guided visualization but most rebounded for the short progressive muscle relaxation.

I didn’t get too much feedback but the ‘thanks’ seemed sincere. A couple stayed after to ask about specific postures for pain.

It was a great experience. I learned alot about what I am doing and what I would like to do, while preparing for it.

And there was very little giggling.

Yoga at the Peace Cafe Siem Reap Cambodia

Just a little shout out to the Peace Café. It was a great place for kids…swings, toys, sandpit.   Now it’s a great place for me.

I’m taking Yoga 3 mornings and Pilates 2 mornings a week while I am here. I am really enjoying both. The Yoga teacher is very nice, from the Netherlands and teaches Hatha/Ashtanga style.  Its the perfect style for me and a huge, welcome departure from Iyengar.

I’ve got the time, too much time, so I am putting it toward learning from other teachers, getting stronger and hopefully a bit more centered.

Volunteering at Angkor Children’s Hospital

I am volunteering at Angkor Children’s Hospital in Siem Reap.  The hospital, which provides free treatment for Khmer kids, has excellent facilities, especially compared to the Mae Tao Clinic.  New buildings, ventilators, a proper OR, etc…  The hospital is even equipped for heart surgeries, which are done by visiting teams from the West or Japan.

Like at Mae Tao, families come from far away and many stay on mats in the waiting area for days.  There is a kitchen area for families to cook their food – and placards posted throughout the hospital that diagram a nutritious diet.  Malnutrition is a big problem. The other day, I saw a little girl in the Emergency area that looked like those starving kids in Africa.  Skin and bones.  So incredibly sad.  The kids are brought in by desperate parents with a host of issues from TB complications to Dengue Fever shock to serious burns and many other life-threatening ailments.

For my part,  I teach one yoga class to kids with AIDs who are out-patients visiting the hospital for a follow-up.  Yesterday’s class was about 20 kids and moms.  All of them look substantially healthier than the children inside the hospital.  They all stare at me wide-eyed and follow along very conscientiously.  My impromptu translators, staffers who speak little English themselves, make the women laugh and I laugh along.  It just feels really right to be sitting on the floor again, Asian faces staring at me with a mix of amusement and curiosity, sharing the moment.  I’m not saving their kids or changing their worlds, but I am connecting to people who are scared, overwhelmed and exhausted by the hand that life has dealt them.  It’s enough for me.

I am also teaching ‘Yoga for Stress Management’ to hospital staffers (nurses, doctors, aides).  The hospital staff has to grapple with the stress of treating sick kids, working with desperate parents, and dealing with frequent, sometimes needless, death.  The director of Medical Education wants to address this stress and yoga is a good fit.  I am exposing the staff to postures, breathing, visualization and guided relaxation.  Some will continue, others will not.  But they are enjoying the benefits for the moment and hopefully will incorporate some techniques into their lives.

Yoga Therapy The Children’s Hospital CO

Very cool.  Yoga is used as mental health therapy at this children’s hospital, affiliated with the Univ Colorado Denver.

…yoga has proven to be an effective form of therapy in our modern world, which is why yoga therapy is an integral part of theCreative Arts Therapy Program at Children’s. A growing body of research supports yoga therapy as a means for decreasing anxiety, stress and depression, while increasing positive coping, self-induced feelings of relaxation, and powers of concentration and attention.

Yoga for Special Needs Kids

Great article!  So exciting to see how yoga can help this population.

…Sonia Sumar, a Chicago woman who offered certification in a yoga program for special-needs children. Sumar had developed the course during the early 1970s, after practicing yoga with her child, who has Down syndrome. Amazed at the difference yoga made in her daughter’s development, Sumar conducted research, started to teach other children with special needs and wrote the book, “Yoga for the Special Child.”

The concept made perfect sense to [Elissa] Karl [MSPT], a longtime yoga devotee. Soon after earning her certification last summer, she began working with Alexander Roeder [who has Down Syndrome].

“He had a lot of difficulties concentrating,” Karl says. “But in the past few months, he has been able to focus and finish sessions without getting lost, and he is able to follow instruction better. I am amazed at his increased attention span.”

The Benefits

In addition to teaching focus, concentration and relaxation techniques, yoga encourages physical activity through stretching and balancing. According to Sumar’s statistics, special-needs children who take yoga are able to sit up, crawl and walk months earlier than their non-yoga-practicing counterparts.