Yoga During Pregnancy

Yoga is indeed useful for a pregnant woman. It helps a pregnant woman to breathe and relax, which in turn can help her to adjust to all the physical demands of pregnancy, birth, labor and finally, most importantly the motherhood.

The Yoga calms all the three; mind, body and soul. Hence, it provides the relaxation from physical and emotional stress that a pregnant woman is very much in need of. During the entire period of the pregnancy, there are lots of changes in the body viz., hormonal, physical, emotional, structural and social. Yoga helps a pregnant woman to be fit during her all the three trimesters and at end, to deliver the healthy baby without any impediments.

Yoga can be classified according to the stages that pregnant woman is passing through. It could be prenatal, during pregnancy and postnatal. Taking a prenatal Yoga classes will be indeed helpful to a lady who dreams to become pregnant and to deliver a healthy child.

Here are few of the prenatal Yoga those can be beneficial to a pregnant lady to live in harmony during the entire period of pregnancy.

Bridge pose – Setu Bandha Sarvangasana

This Yoga is also known as ‘half wheel’. The type of pose is backbend. In this, a woman should come to lie on the back. She should then bend the knees, bringing the soles and the feet parallel on the mat in a way that they are close to the buttocks.

Then, lift the hips upwards. Interlace the fingers behind the back and then arms are straightened pressing down to the mat. The woman should now roll one shoulder under and then the other one.

Hips are to be lifted higher, and then draw the chest towards the chin. Here, one should not move the chin towards the chest. During entire procedure, be sure that feet stay parallel. Release the hands and bring the upper, middle and then the lower back down to the ground. Rest; by allowing the knees to knock together.

The benefits include strengthening of the spine and expanding the chest. It also improves the spinal flexibility and stimulates the thyroid gland to secret enough and good quality hormones.

The cat-cow stretch

Here, the woman should start on all four limbs. Bring the wrists underneath the shoulders and the knees underneath the hips. The woman should think that spine is a straight line connecting the shoulders to the hips. She should try to visualize the line extending forward through the crown of the head and backwards.

The benefit of doing this Yoga includes the spinal flexibility and the abdominal strength.

The Cobbler’s pose – baddha konasana

This is also known as bound angle pose. The type of pose is seating and by performing this, a woman opens up her hips and groin region. To perform this, one has to be in the ‘staff pose’ or the ‘dandasana’. From this posture, the woman should bend her knees bringing her soles together and letting the knees fall out to the either side.

The woman should then keep the spine long and press the outer edges of the feet firmly.

Precautions to be taken while practicing Yoga during pregnancy

However, Yoga has never harmed anyone practicing it but pregnancy is the period when everything is to be done with caution. The pregnant woman should take care about her diet, lifestyle, exercises and other precautions are to be taken those can harm her and her baby present inside. There are certain precautions for performing Yoga too. Here are they –

If you begin your Yoga classes, tell your health instructor that you are pregnant. You should also inform which trimester you are in.
You should not perform any postures or asanas on your abdomen. It is indeed dangerous and may harm your fetus.
Avoid all the poses that stretch any of your body muscles too much. This may result into tendon or muscle tear. This could be very dangerous especially when you are pregnant.
Anything that deals with abdominal area should be performed very carefully. None of the abdominal muscle should be stretched as it may take you to the risk of having strains, pulls and other injuries. Any light exercise or Yoga can be performed under the strict supervision of Yoga master.
From the second trimester on, when pregnant woman’s center of gravity really starts to shift, she should perform any standing poses with her heel to the wall or using some support. The pregnant woman should avoid losing the balance and having a risk to injure baby and herself.
When the pregnant woman bends forward, she should hinge from the hips, leading with the breastbone and extending the spine from the crown of the head down to the coccyx. This allows more space for her ribs to move and therefore, the breathing is easy during the entire performance.
When the pregnant woman practices twisting poses, she should twist more from the shoulders and back as compared to the waist. She should also avoid putting any kind of pressure on the abdomen and the twisting of the abdomen should strictly be avoided.

Pregnancy and Yoga