Best Place?for Pre-baby Bliss

“Give your baby a wonderful little ride,” a soft, jovial voice says to me and a roomful of expectant moms as we lean on all fours, gently rocking our protruding bellies in a rhythmic, circular motion. Soft Indian music is playing, and sunshine is sweetly beaming through a skylight on the ceiling. I’m at Golden Bridge Yoga, in the heart of pandemonious Hollywood, but I feel like I’m in some secluded paradise, just me and my not-quite-ready-to-see-the-world-yet little one, moving joyfully in the moment. Being pregnant can be hard, so when I heard prenatal yoga could be a great physical and spiritual release, I had to try it. But as with everything else concerning my forthcoming child, I wanted the best. After several mamas I know recommended Gurmukh at Golden Bridge (located across the street from ArcLight theaters), I did some reading and realized that this woman is not only a bona fide yoga star, she’s considered a savior to thousands of mothers who just didn’t feel right with their bodies while pregnant, many of whom are celebrities. Cindy Crawford wrote the foreword for Gurmukh’s uplifting pregnancy book, Beautiful, Bountiful, Blissful. And while many expectant gals say her prenatal Kundalini yoga classes put them on the path to having their child all natural — at home with a midwife instead of at a hospital — the atmosphere in these classes was not one of judgment, as I feared (I am not exactly the earth-mother type, and I’m pretty sure the epidural will be my best friend), but one of encouragement, enjoyment and, yes, real exercise. Getting in tune with your body is important, regardless of how you plan to give birth. It’s not all downward dogs and forward lunges either. In this class, women sing, dance and celebrate the life growing inside of them, rejoicing in their enlarged state with an enlarged heart and soul . . . hemorrhoids and stretch marks be damned.

Golden Bridge Yoga 6322 De Longpre Ave., Hollywood, (323) 936-4172

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