The yoga postures includes gentle ways of keeping your body active and supple the common pregnancy symptoms like morning sickness and constipation. It can also help in ensuring easier labor and smooth delivery by relieving tension around the cervix and birth canal and by opening the pelvis.
Yoga provides physical and emotional stress relief, the body requires all through pregnancy. Doing Pregnancy Yoga is also a wonderful way to meet other mothers-to-be and go aboard this journey together.
What Happens During a Typical Prenatal Yoga Session?
A Typical Prenatal Yoga Session May Involve:
1. Breathing: You’ll be encouraged to focus on breathing in and out slowly and deeply through the nose. You may also practice different breathing techniques and making deep sounds, such as humming or grunting. Prenatal yoga breathing techniques may help you reduce or manage shortness of breath during pregnancy and work through contractions during labor.
2. Gentle Stretching: You’ll be encouraged to gently move different areas of your body, such as your neck and arms, through their full range of motion.
3. Postures: While standing, sitting or lying on the ground, you’ll gently move your body into different positions aimed at developing your strength, flexibility and balance. Props — such as blankets, cushions and belts — may be used to provide support and comfort. You’ll also continue to focus on your breathing.
4. Cool Down and Relaxation: At the end of each prenatal yoga class, you’ll relax your muscles and restore your resting heart rate and breathing rhythm. You may be encouraged to listen to your own breathing, pay close attention to sensations, thoughts and emotions, or repeat a mantra or word to bring about a state of self-awareness and inner calm. As with any exercise, you need to take certain general precautions when you’re pregnant. You may want to skip any movements that require you to lie flat on your back for longer than a few minutes, especially after the first trimester.
Few Precautions Called for are:
1. Those participating in regular yoga classes, not specifically geared to pregnant women, should make sure to inform the tutor of your pregnancy. Also tell the instructor just which trimester they’re in.
2. Avoid all Yoga poses that involve lying on your back after the first trimester. This could decrease blood supply to your uterus.
3. Avoid those Yoga poses which stretch your muscles too much, especially your abdominals
4. From the second trimester onwards when your center of gravity really starts to shift. So when doing any standing poses, do them with your heel to the wall. Alternately, make use of a chair for support.
5. Avoid “Bikram” or “Hot” Yoga. This is because, just being out in an overheated room overheating can endanger the health of your growing fetus, according to proven research.
6. Always maintain your pelvis in a neutral position when doing Yoga poses. for this you will have to engage your abdominals and slightly tuck your tailbone below and within. This will help relax the muscles of your buttocks and your hip flexors. This, in turn, will help reduce or prevent sciatic pain in your leg.
7. When doing twisting poses, twist more from your shoulders and back and less from your waist. This is done to avoid putting undue pressure on your abdomen. Twist only as much as you comfortable but deep twists are usually not advisable.
8. Listen to your body carefully and should you feel any discomfort, you must stop immediately. Also, you might have to alter some poses as your body develops. A good Yoga tutor is will teach you to customize your benefits of yoga to suit your needs.