Yoga is the age-old art of keeping your mind and body healthy and agile. During pregnancy, a woman experiences bodily and emotional discomfort. Prenatal yoga, with its holistic approach, can prove to be very helpful. Women generally experience mood swings, leg cramps, fatigue, and difficulty breathing. Yoga postures and breathing exercises can be beneficial in relaxing both mind and body.
The gentle exercises, specially customized for would-be moms, are a wonderful alternative to the not-so-recommended extensive workouts that are forbidden for pregnant ladies. Yoga exercises burn calories, enhance flexibility, and improve muscular strength—all in all, they cater to the fitness requirements of pregnant mothers.
In This Article
- What Happens During A Typical Prenatal Yoga Session?
- Top 10 Benefits Of Prenatal Yoga
- When Can I Start Prenatal Yoga During Pregnancy?
- Safety Guidelines to Follow For Prenatal Yoga
- Where Can I Do Prenatal Yoga?
- FAQs
What Happens During A Typical Prenatal Yoga Session?
A prenatal yoga session can improve your health and well-being. Typically, a prenatal yoga class would involve the following:
1. Focus on Breathing
Prenatal yoga emphasizes breathing techniques. Hence, you will be asked to breathe in and breathe out. This helps you in various aspects during the pregnancy journey.
2. Soft and Gentle Stretching
The different parts of your body, like the neck, hands, and arms, would be made to move and stretch gently.
3. Posture Practices
You will be asked to move your body in different positions while sitting, standing, and lying. These postures are designed to improve your flexibility, strength, and balance (1).
4. Cooling Down
The last phase of prenatal yoga involves relaxing the muscles, and ligaments and restoring your breathing rhythm. This phase also aims to bring about a state of self-awareness and inner peace.
Top 10 Benefits Of Prenatal Yoga
The yoga exercises and techniques help in calming the perturbed mind and impart a soothing effect. A relaxed mind always favors a healthy pregnancy.
1. Keeps a Check on Your Stress Level
One of the most important benefits of yoga is its role in reducing stress levels (2). The hormonal changes within the body keep women emotionally drained, and they often take the stress. Pregnant women are advised to keep themselves stress-free for the proper and sound development of the baby.
Breathing exercises calm the nervous system and relax the body and the mind. These exercises also increase the oxygen supply to the developing fetus, thus making a healthier baby.
2. Prenatal Yoga Reduces Lower Back Pain
Prenatal yoga is also helpful in reducing backaches and pregnancy-associated nausea. The experts believe that yoga is effective in reducing mothers’ susceptibility to prenatal depression and ensuring their sound sleep.
Some yoga poses stretch and strengthen the muscles and tissues associated with the lower back, hips, and hamstrings (3). A relaxed body aids in proper digestion and helps in developing the immune system.
3. Helps in Developing Stamina and Strength
These exercises strengthen the core muscles of the abdomen and pelvic region. This proves to be very beneficial to pregnant women during the labor process. Moreover, the breathing exercises enhance their stamina, which is an essential requirement for easy labor.
Breathing has a major role to play during the time of labor and prenatal yoga helps you control the tension in the body through breathing exercises, facilitating a smooth delivery.
4. Aids With Digestion
As the baby grows inside, your body’s digestive tract takes a hit, and the organs fight for space. This makes your digestive system lose its regularity and causes indigestion, constipation, bloating, and gas. Yoga exercises in the form of forwarding folds can help regularize digestion to a great extent and enhance the digestive flow.
5. Connect With Your Baby Growing Inside
Most women often tend to neglect their care during pregnancy; yoga exercises can provide you with that much-needed time to look after yourself. In the hustle and bustle of life, yoga calms and relaxes your mind, and you can focus on the little things that are happening inside of you.
Yoga strengthens the mother-baby bond by cutting down on physical fatigue (4). It makes your pregnancy a lifetime experience that is enjoyable and memorable.
6. Prenatal Yoga Prepares You Mentally
Yoga enables you to cope with pregnancy-associated apprehensions and fear. It develops a positive and proactive approach towards labor and creates a favorable mindset. You learn to be comfortable while being uncomfortable, breathing exercises make you feel the tension inside while you inhale and let go of it when you exhale the air.
Valuable qualities such as courage, patience, and determination become more prominent by practicing yoga. You learn to breathe in a relaxing and natural way, controlling the rhythm yourself. This prepares you mentally for childbirth as you develop a sense of confidence and control
7. Prenatal Yoga Helps Increase Chances of Natural Childbirth
The likelihood of having normal childbirth is increased by practicing yoga during pregnancy. The muscles of the abdomen, particularly the lower abdomen and pelvis are toned and strengthened by yogic exercises. Expectant women practicing yoga are less likely to have low birth weight children as compared to those not doing any yoga exercises. Yoga also helps to reduce labor anxiety and improves physical comfort (5).
8. Reduces Pain During Childbirth
The breathing exercises are very helpful in reducing the pain experienced during pregnancy. Because yoga induces conscious breathing, while in labor, you will be able to regulate your heart rate and blood pressure. This will lead to increased control over pain, and delivery will be easier
9. Prenatal Yoga Keeps You Active
Yoga can also help you overcome the lethargy and fatigue commonly seen during pregnancy. ‘Feel happy hormones’ are released in blood circulation that are responsible for generating a feeling of well-being; the result is the development of a feeling of happiness and exuberance in expectant mothers. Practice yoga and stay away from pregnancy-associated blues!
10. Post-Delivery Benefits
Besides the above-listed benefits, yoga also helps you get back to a pre-pregnancy shape. Start your exercise schedule six to seven weeks after delivery. The pelvic floor becomes loose and flaccid; by practicing g regular yoga exercises, you can easily strengthen the pelvic and abdominal regions (6).
When Can I Start Prenatal Yoga During Pregnancy?
The best time to indulge in yoga is during the second trimester if you are doing it for the first time. However, if you are a pro-yoga-doer, you may start it during the first trimester. Addedly, it’s better not to try postures in the first trimester if you are a newbie and don’t know their impacts. Furthermore, you can check with your healthcare provider to understand your current situation and ability to perform yoga to avoid complications.
Safety Guidelines to Follow For Prenatal Yoga
Pregnant women can follow the given guidelines to ensure better health during pregnancy. These include:-
1. Set Your Fitness Goals
Once you get a green signal from your doctor, you are all set to enhance your fitness journey. You can begin with a 30-minute workout routine for 5 days a week. Typically, it’s a realistic goal for most women suggested by fitness experts.
2. Avoid Overdoing
When it comes to yoga and exercising, it’s significant that you listen to your body. Take a break in between your workouts and ensure your comfort. Avoid doing postures that go beyond your limitations and stress your body.
3. Consume a Healthy Diet
Having a balanced diet will replenish your body and provide energy to perform your daily tasks, including yoga. Plus, you can drink fluids to keep yourself hydrated throughout the day (7).
Where Can I Do Prenatal Yoga
Yoga is a simple exercise that you can do at home in your comfort zone. Also, if you prefer to join a yoga class, you can either go to a yoga center or enroll in an online yoga workshop.
With more and more celebrities opting for yoga as the most sought-after means of getting back in shape, prenatal yoga has become very much in vogue. This has amplified awareness among the masses. Therefore, there is an increasing number of expectant moms joining yoga classes.
Depending on the requirement, you can choose your exercise session from a rigorous, moderate, or more meditative type.
Happy Pregnancy!
FAQs
1. What Week Should I Start Prenatal Yoga?
If you have never done yoga before, the second trimester (about week 14) is a good time to start. In the first trimester of pregnancy, you shouldn’t attempt many yoga poses you aren’t accustomed to doing.
2. How Often Should You Do Prenatal Yoga?
It should be sufficient to practice prenatal yoga twice or thrice a week to avoid becoming too sore.
3. Does Prenatal Yoga Help You Lose Weight?
As a new mom trying to shed those baby pounds, yoga is your best bet. If you practice prenatal yoga, you may get your pre-pregnancy figure back in no time.
4. Does Yoga Make Childbirth Easier?
Some yoga positions can also help to strengthen and stretch your pelvic muscles, as well as other core muscles required for vaginal birth. They are also likely to improve your stamina due to the physical and mental discipline required to hold the positions.
References
- The effect of yoga on the delivery and neonatal outcomes in nulliparous pregnant women in Iran: a clinical trial study- [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8091762/]
- The Effect of Yoga on Stress, Anxiety, and Depression in Women – [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5843960/]
- Prenatal Yoga to Relief Back Pain among Pregnant Women – [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/371366273]
- The Effect of Prenatal Yoga on Pregnancy-Related Symptoms: A Pilot Quasi-Experimental Study – [https://karger.com/cmr/article/30/3/195/836078/]
- Effectiveness of antenatal yoga in reducing the intensity of labor pain: A systematic review and meta-analysis – [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10518512/]
- The relative activation of pelvic floor muscles during selected yoga poses – [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S174438812300049X]
- The Effects of Healthy Diet in Pregnancy – [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4064785/]
1 Comment
Brilliant guidance! You are very inspiring, thank you and Namaste.