7 Amazing Benefits of Prenatal Yoga

You’re expecting?! Congratulations! You must be – excited, scared, happy, and overwhelmed – all at the same time. It’s difficult to put your finger on just what you’re feeling, isn’t it? The kicks are delightful, but the cramps are debilitating. You might be glowing with enthusiasm one moment and overcome with emotion the next. Nothing quite explains the feeling of having a life growing inside you. You may also experience a fair share of mood swings; courtesy of hormonal changes. This is precisely why yoga can be a godsend for you during pregnancy. 

 

 

From your physical body to your emotional state, prenatal yoga is a key ingredient to a healthy, happy pregnancy.

Prenatal yoga sounds like a healthy practice to adopt during pregnancy – and it is. But what specifically can prenatal yoga do to help you feel great and stay calm during the most important nine months of your life? Read on for seven important ways yoga can make a positive difference in your pregnancy.

Supports Your Changing Body

"Our bodies are always changing," says Jane Austin, a pre- and postnatal yoga teacher based in San Francisco and the founder of prenatal yoga school Mama Tree. But in pregnancy, the body experiences "an accelerated pace of change," she says, and needs help adjusting and compensating. "Prenatal yoga practice is designed to support the changes that happen in a pregnant body," Austin says, by offering women healthy, safe ways to stretch their muscles and strengthen their bodies – their lower bodies in particular – to ease the process of supporting a growing belly.

Prepares for Labor and Delivery

A top priority in Designarche's prenatal yoga classes is teaching women "they can trust that their bodies will open" up to labor and birth. "When we're afraid, we tighten up," she says, and that tightening leads to what she calls a "fear-tension-pain cycle." This can sabotage a woman's efforts to remain present and calm in labor, especially if she hopes to experience childbirth with minimal or no pain medication. Working to connect with yogic methods of deep, mindful breathing can help the body loosen and relax, and help women get to a "mammalian place," Austin says, where they can let their bodies do what they instinctively already know how to do: give birth.

Promotes Connection With Your Baby

Even the act of going to a prenatal yoga class once (or more) each week is a gentle reminder to take the time out of a busy work and home life to care for and bond with your growing baby. As your pregnancy progresses, your body's different responses to yoga poses will be a reminder of other physical changes happening in your body. Certain poses, such as Hero pose, in which you sit back on your heels and then sit up straight to lengthen your spine, can become meaningful if you breathe deeply while in it.

Provides Relief From Common Pregnancy Complaints

Prenatal yoga may be the cure for what ails you if you're suffering from common pregnancy discomforts such as lower back pain, nausea, insomnia, headaches, shortness of breath. By stretching and toning muscles, you can help blood circulate throughout the body in a healthy way. Also, deep breathing can bring much-needed oxygen to your baby and to your own muscles. A 2012 University of Michigan study showed that mindfulness yoga, which combines physical poses with meditation practices, can bring measurable relief to the depression that can accompany the emotional journey of pregnancy. Of course, not all symptoms are guaranteed to disappear altogether, but the multidimensional approach of yoga to both physical and emotional health can help your body take the uncomfortable aspects of pregnancy in stride.

Gives You a Healthier Pregnancy

It's probably not surprising that research has confirmed a healthy mama is more likely to have a healthy baby. In fact, a 2012 study found that women who regularly practiced yoga during pregnancy were less likely to have preterm labor or to deliver a low-birthweight baby.

Encourages You to Make Friends With Like-Minded Mamas

One of the greatest benefits of prenatal yoga may be joining a community with other expectant moms. "The class becomes a pregnancy support group of sorts, where women connect with other women who are making the same choices and lifestyles changes," says Akanksha , a prenatal yoga instructor in Delhi and the creator of Our Yoga program. Sharing the pregnancy journey with new friends can help ease your anxiety about impending motherhood while also easing your back pain and calming your body.

FAQs about Yoga During Pregnancy

With consultation of your doctor, you can start prenatal yoga from your first trimester itself. If your morning sickness allows you to do pregnancy yoga you must start as early as possible.

Precautions for pregnant women while doing Yoga

  • During the advanced stages of pregnancy, avoid yoga asanas that put pressure on the abdomen.
  • For the first trimester of pregnancy, do standing yoga poses. This will help strengthen the legs and enhance circulation. It can even reduce leg cramps.
  • During the second and third trimester, reduce the time spent holding asanas to prevent fatigue. Substitute with breathing exercises and meditation.
  • Avoid practicing yoga from the 10th to the 14th week of pregnancy since these are crucial times.
  • Avoid doing inversion poses.
  • Listen to your body and do as much as you can without undue effort.

Yoga poses to avoid during pregnancy

  • Naukasana (Boat Pose)
  • Chakrasana (Wheel Pose)
  • Ardha Matsyendrasana (Sitting Half Spinal Twist)
  • Bhujangasana (Cobra Pose)
  • Viparita Shalabhasana (Superman Pose)
  • Halasana (Plow Pose)

It is advisable to consult a doctor before taking up any yoga schedule during pregnancy. Learn and practice yoga postures under the supervision of a trained yoga teacher.

Practicing Yoga helps develop the body and mind, yet is not a substitute for medicine. It is essential to learn and practice yoga under the supervision of a trained Yoga teacher. In case of any medical condition, practice yoga only after consulting your doctor and a Yoga teacher.

Pranayama & yoga during pregnancy

Pranayamas release negative emotions like anger and frustration during pregnancy. They also help release stress, thus, keeping the mind calm and composed.

After practicing these yoga moves and pranayamas, follow up with a session of meditation. It will help you relax deeply.

How Yoga for Pregnant Women helps

Yoga provides holistic health benefits for to-be-mothers:

  • Yoga during pregnancy helps keep the body supple. They relieve tension around the cervix by opening up the pelvic region. This prepares to-be-mothers for labor and delivery.
  • Yoga and pranayamas can train you to breathe deeply and relax consciously, helping you face the demands of labor and childbirth.
  • Pregnancy Yoga helps alleviate the effect of common symptoms such as morning sickness, painful leg cramps, swollen ankles, and constipation.
  • Yoga asanas also help pregnant women recover faster post-delivery.

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