Pregnancy Diary

Ensuring a healthy baby is every woman’s dream and yoga helps you do just that. It is a wonderful way to put time aside for yourself and your baby.

Smooth pregnancy and a natural childbirth are just some of the benefits of yoga. But more importantly, yoga does wonders on the physical and mental development of the foetus.
Yoga has 5 vital tools for pregnancy:
1. Yoga Exercises – These gently work on the reproductive organs and pelvis to ensure a smooth pregnancy and a relatively easy childbirth. At the subtle level, these ensure optimum supply of blood and nutrients to the developing foetus.
2. Deep Relaxation – Yoga Nidra (Yogic sleep) is particularly effective during pregnancy for physical and mental relaxation as well as for childbirth preparation.
3. Mudras and Bandhas – The psycho-physical stimulation of these gestures and locks have powerful effects on a woman’s reproductive organs.
4. Breathing or Pranayama – These powerful techniques ensure the abundant supply of oxygenand a better life force for you and your child. These methods work on your fitness during pregnancy.
5. Meditation – As a therapeutic tool, meditation will help you resolve the deepest of neuroses, fears and conflicts, which are so common during pregnancy. Meditation brings with it anincredible awareness which helps you connect with your child in a way that is impossible to explain.

To get the phenomenal benefits of yoga on your pregnancy, practice these easy routines regularly. Not only will you be on your way to a delightful pregnancy but you will give your child an opportunity for best development. Although most gentle types of yoga are appropriate during pregnancy, there are a few things to avoid in order to make your pregnancy yoga experience safe and enjoyable, so take good care of yourself and the baby.

The appropriate adaptations to your yoga practice will become more numerous as your baby grows during different trimesters:

First Time Yogas: how to start？

1. Deciding that you want to start doing yoga is the first step.
2. Choose a Yoga type. For most beginners, basic styles, a hatha or vinyasaclass will be most appropriate, depending on whether you want a slow or fast-paced class.
3. Find a Class. Check newspapers or wellness magazines for listings or search online for “yoga” and the name of your town. Many gyms also offer yoga classes; this is a good place to start if you already belong to a gym.
4. Find Out What to Bring. Most studios have yoga mats that can be rented. So you don’t need to bring much on the first day. In a typical yoga class, the students place their mats facing the front of the room in a loose grid. It’s best not to line up your mat exactly with the one next to it because you and your neighbor will need some space in certain poses. Do some gentle stretching before starting class.
5. Dos and Don’ts:
Don’t:
have a big meal right before class. Try eating lightly a few hours before class starts.
drink water during class, but have some before and after.
wear shoes or socks during class.

Dos:
• review yoga etiquette so you feel very comfortable entering an unfamiliar situation.
• tell the teacher it’s your first class (you probably won’t be the only one).
• ask the teacher for help if you need it.
• look around and follow what other student are doing, especially if the teacher does not demonstrate every pose. However, keep in mind that you may be looking at more advanced students, so do not compare yourself to them.
• familiarize yourself with some beginners’ yoga poses before you take your first class.
• come back in a few days for your next class!

Poses pregnancy women should avoid

General Cautions: An over stretched ligament is a serious injury that will not easily heal, so try to avoid going further into poses than you are accustomed. Especially aware of your knees.

Avoid jumping

Avoid deep backbends like Full Wheel pose. Instead: Bridge Pose – Setu Bandha Sarvangasana or Supported Bridge Pose with a block under thesacrum.

Lying on the belly should be avoided as soon as you start to show, such as Cobra
Avoid lying on the back for long periods, your doctor even encouraging you to sleep on your side.

Inversions: a risk of falling over to the wall, or avoid inversions if you don’t feel comfortable doing them. Instead: Practice Legs up the Wall Pose – Viparita Karani.

Raising your body’s core temperature is not recommended during pregnancy, Hot Yoga should not be practiced, neither.

make sure to consult with your prenatal healthcare provider before starting any exercise regime

The Third Trimester Prenatal Yoga

It is time to give yourself the leeway to ease up now, whether you were able to practice yoga with some vigor in the second trimester. All poses that compress the belly should now be avoided, take an increasingly cautious approach as your due date nears. Just make sure your teacher knows your situation and makes sure you take it easy — this is no time to overdo it. Yoga will help you prepare mentally for the birth of your baby by teaching you to listen to your body and be in the moment without anticipation.

Recommended Poses: Hip openers like Pigeon,Warrior II, Triangle, Ardha Chandrasana, Baddha Konasana, and Knee to Ankle will help create the flexibility that will make giving birth easier, focus on the breath, using long inhales through the nose and exhales through the mouth.
Prenatal Adaptations practiced in the third trimester: At around 36 weeks, you are advised to decrease the number of inversions that may alter his or her position in a negative way. But if your baby is breech, doing Legs Up the Wall and Bridge Pose, in which case these poses can help her to turn. The number of Downward Dogs should also decrease too, since Down Dog is a mild inversion, substituting hands and knees pose.

Any pose that becomes uncomfortable should also be stopped. Squats continue to be appropriate to the end of pregnancy, unless you are at risk for preterm labor. Try to avoid going further into poses than you are accustomed because an over stretched ligament is a serious injury that will not easily heal. Be especially aware of your knees.

You may continue to take your regular classes as long as you feel comfortable doing so, but make sure to let the teacher know you are pregnant and don’t feel obligated to practice at your pre-pregnancy intensity. Make sure to look at the Trimester Guidelines to find out what poses to avoid.

Home Practitioners:

If you are a home practitioner, study the Trimester Guidelines to make sure you understand which poses to avoid. Begin to do Prenatal Sun Salutations and incorporate these prenatal recommended poses.

Prenatal Sun Salutation Sequence

1. Start by standing in Tadasana, but take the feet as wide as the mat. Inhale. Bring the arms up through the heart center toward the ceiling coming into Urdhva Hastasana- Raised Hands Pose that bring your arms out to the side and up. Press the palms together, keep the arms straight and take the gaze up toward your thumbs. Slide the shoulder blades down the back. Maintain your alignment.

2. Exhale. Bend the knees as you come down to Camper’s Pose, keeping the feet wide and parallel.

3. Inhale. Bring the palms flat inside the feet, and step the right leg back to a lunge.

4．Exhale. Step the left foot back to Downward Facing Dog.

5．Inhale. Come forward to a Plank position.
6．Exhale. Drop the knees to the floor, and bend the elbows straight back as in Chaturanga Dandasana. Inhale. Straighten the arms, bringing the torso back up. Exhale. Come back to Downward Facing Dog. If this pose is too much, skip it and come straight from Plank back to Down Dog.

7．Inhale. Bring the right foot forward to the outside of the right foot coming into a Lunge.

8．Exhale. Step the left foot to the outside of the left hand coming into Camper’s Pose.

9．Inhale. Straighten the legs bringing the hands up through the heart center toward the ceiling as you come into Urdhva Hastasana.

Recommended Poses for Prenatal Yoga

Bridge Pose – Setu Bandha Sarvangasana：A gentle backbend such as bridge pose is suitable for pregnancy. Strengthens the spine, opens the chest, improves spinal flexibility, stimulates the thyroid.

Instructions:
1. Come to lie on the back.
2. Bend the knees, bringing the soles of the feet parallel on the mat close to the buttocks.
3. Lift the hips up towards the ceiling.
4. Interlace the fingers behind your back and straighten the arms, pressing them down into the mat.
5. Roll one shoulder under and then the other.
6. Lift the hips higher.
7. Draw the chest toward the chin, but do not move the chin toward the chest.
8. Make sure the feet stay parallel.
9. Release the hands and bring the upper, middle, and then lower back down.
10. Rest, allowing the knees to knock together

Bridge Pose – Supported Variation: Allows the spine to open while being gently supported. Can help relieve back pain.

Instructions:

1. Lie on your back with the knees bent and the soles of your feet flat on the floor. Have a yoga block handy.
2. You should be able to barely touch the backs of your heels with your fingertips when the arms are lying on the floor.
3. The feet should be parallel and stay that way through the duration of the pose.
4. Press down into the soles of the feet as you lift the hips off the floor.
5. Slide your yoga block under your back directly under the sacrum. Let your sacrum rest on the block. Let the arms rest alongside the body.
6. This should be a comfortable resting position. You may wish to stay here several minutes.
7. To come out, press down into your feet and lift the hips again. Remove the block and gently lower your back to the floor.

Cat – Cow Stretch: Increases spinal flexibility and abdominal strength. Can help prevent back pain.

1. begin on all fours, bringing the wrists underneath the shoulders as well as the knees underneath the hips.
2. Think of the spine as a straight line connecting the shoulders to the hips. Try visualizing the line extending forward through the crown of the head and backwards through the tail bone.
3. Keep the neck the natural extension of the spine.

Cow Pose

1. Curl the toes under.
2. Drop the belly.
3. Take the gaze up toward the ceiling.
4. Let the movement in the spine start from the tailbone, so that that neck is the last part to move.
On the next exhale:
1. Release the tops of the feet to the floor.
2. Round the spine.
3. Drop the head.
4. Take the gaze to the navel.
5. Repeat the Cat – Cow Stretch on each inhale and exhale, matching the movement to your own breath.
6. Continue for 5-10 breaths, moving the whole spine. After your final exhale, come back to a neutral spine.

Cobbler’s Pose – Baddha Konasana: Opens the hips and groin

Instructions:

1. bend the knees bringing the soles of the feet together and letting the knees fall out to either side.
2. Keep the spine long.
3. Press the outer edges of the feet together strongly.

Extended Triangle Pose – Utthita Trikonasana: Strengthen the legs, stretches the groins, hamstrings, hips, opens the chest and shoulders. Can help relieve back pain.

Instructions:

1. From Warrior II, straighten your front leg (the left leg in this case).
2. Begin the reach the left arm forward, drawing the left thigh upwards and tucking the hip at you come forward.
3. Drop the left hand down onto your shin or ankle, or if you are more open, onto the floor inside or outside the left foot. Do whichever one feels most comfortable.
4. The right shoulder stacks on top of the left one as you open the chest reaching the right fingertips upwards while keeping the right shoulder rooted in the socket.
5. Take your gaze up toward the right fingertips.
6. Draw the left thigh muscle upwards, deepening the left hip crease.
7. Stack the right hip on top of the left.
8. Repeat on the right side

Goddess Pose – Supta Baddha Konasana: Opens the groin

1. From Cobbler’s Pose – Baddha Konasana, lean backward, bringing your elbows to the floor.
2. Lower the back all the way to the floor.
3. Stay here several minutes. To come out, roll over to your side and sit up, using your hands to support you.
Half Moon Pose – Ardha Chandrasana: Strengthen the ankles and thighs, improves balance

Instructions:

1. From Trikonasana, soften the right knee and bring the left hand to your hip.
2. Bring the right hand to the floor about a foot in front of the right foot with the fingertips on the floor.
3. Begin to straighten the right leg while simultaneously kicking up the left leg.
4. Open the hips, stacking the left hip on top of the right hip.
5. Bring the left leg straight and parallel to the floor, flexing the left foot with the toes facing forward.
6. When you feel balanced on the right leg, reach the left arm up toward the ceiling, opening the chest and making a straight line with the right and left arms.
7. Finally, bring the gaze up toward the left fingertips
8. Repeat on the left side

After Pregnancy

Doctors generally propose six weeks of recovery time for new mothers following a vaginal delivery and longer following a cesarean. When you have been given the OK out of your doctor and have no considerable bleeding, you are prepared to perform yoga exercise again.

Postpartum Yoga

Ease yourself back into your yoga practice, keeping in mind that getting back into shape will take some time. It’s important not to get caught up in thinking “I used to do x, y, and z pose.” You will have to work with the body you have now, not the one you had nine months ago.

If you are breastfeeding, you may perhaps be unpleasant lying in your stomach in poses that squash your chest like knees, chest, and chin. You can constantlyrequest the instructor for one more pose or go powder your nose.

When you have a newborn, you are attached at the hip, or at the breast if you are nursing. Then Mom and baby classes can be wonderful too. These classes are usually geared to accommodate babies aged six weeks to crawling. In most mom and baby yoga classes, moms location a yoga blanket, usually covered using a blanket from house just in case of spit-up or other spills, on the top of their yoga mat, and carry a few of small toys.

The wonderful thing about a mom and baby class is the fact that you are totally free of charge to choose up your baby and feed her, rock her, change her diaper, or walk her throughout the room if she cries. Conscientious instructors will also typically maintain the baby for you to make certain that you can get a little yoga in.

Hopefully a little touch of a workout. Some courses are really gentle and/or focus a lot on actively playing little video games with the babies (such as singing Wheels around the Bus). But dedicated yoga studios tend to offer more workout and less playtime. You will also get out of the home to a nonstressful atmosphere in which you will meet other new mothers. The value of the should not be underestimated. Plus, it’s by no means as well early to begin your kids performing yoga!