Why Laboring Woman Don’t Need Support

Why Laboring Woman Don’t Need Support

Yes I wrote the correctly and please continue to read, ( this is not an article about pregnancy, that is just the metaphor)
After I had been instructing Ashtanga for sometime I went to Yogaville which is an ashram that was started by Swami Satchidananda in the 70’s and it offered a two week, live in program for prenatal teacher training. During these two weeks I lived at the ashram with my mother who cared for my two year old son and I was pregnant with my second and felt it was the perfect time to take a prenatal course.

When I received my manual there was an article titled, Why Laboring Woman Don’t Need Support, and I was immediately so confused. What? I thought to myself, because all I ever heard is how you will need a midwife or a doctor and maybe a doula and or a support person. This article really got me thinking and has stayed with me for the past 17 years. 

Basically it talked about how woman have been giving birth for centuries and we know naturally what to do. Instincts that we have been born with take over, like how the mother of buddha walked into the woods and held the branches of the sacred Bodhi  Tree and gave birth to the Buddha, alone with no-one else around. 

As a spiritual thinker and practioner I often think about this phrase during my life when I feel alone, and the moments when I am by myself, the moments I feel a longing for support or a longing for someone I can’t see. I come back to this phrase over and over again as a way to remind myself that all the tools I need in this lifetime are hidden deep within me and if I am quiet and alone these tools or instincts are forced to come out. Making us be able to feel our intuition more strongly and feel everything we don’t see.

Larry Schultz discusses this concept with his philosophy Nauliland, which is basically a place in our hearts were true yoga resides and encourages us to sit with our feelings and not be consumed with all the outside influences that cloud our judgement and our mind.

I thought I would share this because I know many of us have moments where we feel alone, lost, searching, looking for answers outside ourself, unsure of what to do and what decisions to make. Be reassured that all the answers you seek reside within. 

Change is the only constant, allow things to change and shift, allow yourself to feel alone and lost, allow yourself to feel confused and unsure, allow yourself to feel pain and hurt but most important give yourself proper time to process your feelings that’s how the healing begins.

I am a believer that God does not give you more than you can handle and YOU can do it, you can get out of the ‘funk” and move into expansion. You must trust yourself and your deepest instincts. All you need is you, beautiful YOU made in the image of perfection. “Only in the calmest of minds, the truth is revealed to us” LS. 

Namaste,

Amber Jean-Marie 

In Loving Memory of Larry Schultz

It’s been 10 years since I sat by my beloved teacher as he took his last breath. I have great reverence for this time in my life and the past 10 years to reflect on all the gifts Larry has given. Larry change lives not just for me but for the thousands of students he touched. Larry had a special and unique relationships with all  of his close students. Larry had the ability to look deep within your soul and tell you exactly what you needed to hear these truths were not always easy and he often “rocked the boat” with many. But that is what we loved about Larry is his ability to keep us all on our twinkle toes! 

Some of my most fond memories were just simply sleeping at Larry’s studios over more than a decade. There is no place I sleep better than at a yoga studio! I can recall all of Larry’s different studios I stayed at. Of course the studio I stayed at the most was it’s Yoga San Francisco where I slept in the loft, I visited it’s Yoga Vancouver which was the first international it’s Yoga and I stayed in what looked like dormitory rooms attached to the main studio.

Larry got to live out his last couple years living his dream surrounded by his students tucked away in beautiful Sonoma County and this soon became my second home, where Larry created his vision of a modern day Ashram. Larry had two different studios in Sonoma county I slept at both. One was in Glen Ellen, which has since burned down by forest fires, it was Van Morrison’s former recording studio, and then I slept at the main house which had different bedrooms as well as two yoga spaces. 

These are the memories that I treasure the most. As you get older you realize how important memories are and also how to cherish each experience. 

The Rocket system was very important to Larry and while he was alive he only granted a few students to offer Rocket teacher training. The Rocket is Larry’s legacy. It is very important to Larry’s close students of how we honor his legacy now in the future. I’ve dedicated my life to the rocket this amazing organic practice that thrives in confusion and at the same time is structured. It has been disheartening to see people that have never met Larry or that are not properly trained lead these specialized trainings. So moving forward I will continue to work on the legacy and ensure the most high quality trainings I can offer as well as mentor others to carry on the Larry Schultz legacy. In the meanwhile all you rocket yogis out there, just keep doing your practice! Everything will sort itself out in time. Thank you all for taking the time to read this and for supporting me and the Rocket legacy! Namaste Amber Jean-Marie