Top 3 pregnancy yoga poses
3 pregnancy yoga poses, how and when to do them to keep you active in pregnancy.
Pregnancy yoga is a great way to keep your body moving and regulate your nervous system throughout all trimesters in pregnancy. Guidance on movement in pregnancy is always evolving as more and more research is being done. The guidance from the UK Chief Medical Officer now is that movement is key to a healthy pregnancy for both your mind, body and baby. The infographic which you can find here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/physical-activity-guidelines-pregnancy-and-after-childbirth suggests that you listen to your body when deciding how to move in pregnancy. For many continuing with the exercise that they did before pregnancy is good. Some women who suffer with fatigue or sickness in their first trimester may not be able to move at all OR choose a gentler alternative.
For me yoga was my go to. Especially in my first and third trimesters for each of my two pregnancies. The slower pace of Hatha Yoga (my first love) allows you to build body awareness, strength and stamina in the standing poses whilst bringing deep relaxation in the floor base poses. There is an added bonus that yoga poses support hip mobility which helps with foetal positioning and may ease lower back pain, hip and pelvic girdle pain in pregnancy.
So which poses are safe to practice and which poses are not safe when practicing yoga whilst pregnant?
Sitting pregnancy yoga pose
Lateral flexion
This pose is fabulous if you have pain in the sides of your abdominals. During pregnancy (Particularly your first your abdomen has to stretch considerably and it can cause a very odd sensation in each side of the body.) This pose allows the side body to lengthen using your breath inhaling and exhaling to create space in the rib cage both to the front to the side and the back of the body. You can play with the positioning of the top shoulder slightly forward or slightly set back to see which gives you the nicest sensation.
Kneeling Pregnancy yoga pose
For me a low lunge was really key to bringing strength and stability. My top tips are to press the whole of the front foot into the ground and imagine you are pulling the heel towards the back knee. That activates your hamstrings and your inner thigh muscle which are SUPER important to avoid pelvic girdle pain and support the opening of your pelvic out let during birth)
Standing Pregnancy yoga pose
I want to start here with the fact that I blooming love ALL warrior poses they are great! Physically good for external rotation (helpful for foetal positing in pregnancy and supporting babies initial transition into the pelvic inlet during early labour) This humble warrior though is magic it allows you to create LENGTH in the back of the glute muscles while strengthening them at the same time. For that reason this pose helped me when suffering with pelvic girdle pain (SPD or PGP)
If you want to delve deeper into the world of pregnancy yoga and gain access to birth prep workshops and specific birth preparation yoga flows click here to discover my Move to Birth Pregnancy yoga online course. https://www.wellnesswithchloerose.com/home-page
So there you have it three poses suitable to practice in pregnancy yoga. What should you not do… If you are new to yoga you need to start slowly, you will probably stop doing a chaturanga where you press the whole of your body down into the floor (like a press up) around 12/20 weeks. (I didn’t do it at all in my first trimester as it just felt wrong) there is controversy in the yoga world about down down dog too. If you are pregnant you are more likely to experience light headed spells and dizziness so dropping the head below the heart might not be the best idea. That said down dog or certainly a variation of the pose is being taught in antenatal classes world wide to support the labour process. Particularly if baby seems to be “stuck.” Now there is a whole other blog pose about birth positions that will be written one day but for now my advice with down dog is listen to your body and your baby. If it feels good do it for a breath and place the knees back down then try again maybe for little longer. Personally I didn’t do dow dog UNTIL my third trimester. And from then on it became a daily practice for my pregnancy yoga because it felt GREAT.
Which nicely leads me to my final imparting of knowledge. The NUMBER ONE benefit of yoga in pregnancy is the mindfulness, body awareness and connection to your bump and your baby. This my beautiful mama is THE GAME CHANGER. In pregnancy your body boosts hormones that champion introspection, connection, love. If you take the time to honour those characteristics it really can be transformational not only for pregnancy and birth but for your motherhood journey.
Stay tuned for more blogs and yogic wisdom coming your way in emails and blog posts and if you don’t already please do give me a follow @mamawellnesswithchloe.
The resource from the active pregnancy foundation find your active also provides some helpful guidelines about different pregnancy safe exercise options.
https://www.activepregnancyfoundation.org/findyouractive
