The Benefits of Pregnancy Yoga
By Deanne Liew and Claire Whitman
As a woman’s body changes rapidly during pregnancy, practising yoga with care can be incredibly beneficial. The initial news of being an expecting mum is likely to bring on a jumble of experiences and emotions, anything from shock, elation, joy, panic and perhaps even an inkling that you are constantly worrying about worrying! These thoughts are completely normal because, whether it’s the first or fifth pregnancy, news of having a growing a baby inside of your body is BIG. You may notice how your feelings and body are now in the hands of this new dance brought on by your hormones, a dance between you and your new growing baby. Often, it can feel as though you are flowing lightly through it with ease and grace. At other times, it can leave you feeling out of sync, clumsy and physically exhausted.
These 40 weeks we’re given are a true gift from the divine mother. We need this time to come out of a place of shock, to find our feet, to manage conscious shifts, to strengthen and soften our body as it constantly adapts and grows. It is indeed a beautiful opportunity for bonding and grounding, a time to work out what you need to feel nourished and loved.
Why Prenatal Yoga?
What your body is managing during pregnancy and birth is of course phenomenal. The levels of intelligence, instinct, integration, strengthening and softening are breathtaking. Managing all of these shifts physical, emotional, mental and spiritual as your baby develops and grows there are times that can be a great challenge, and doing what’s ‘best’ for baby all the time can be demanding and anxiety can creep in.
This is where prenatal yoga can really help to make a difference. It can build your ability to manage the demands and stresses so that you are always able to find your baseline. To stay grounded and present with the shifts and transitions.
Nowadays, prenatal yoga is popular choice among young mothers as it teaches you to engage more with your own health and wellbeing, as well as with your baby. It’s often advised by doctors, physiotherapists and midwives to women at the beginning of their pregnancy to help prepare them for labour and birth.
From boosting your energy levels to strengthening your birthing muscles, there are many benefits to practicing prenatal yoga. By giving yourself a chance to access your breath combined with gentle movement, you can experience a release, an opportunity to relax and to feel restored.
Movement and Creating Space
Practicing asanas, or yoga postures, on a regular basis helps prepare the body for birth. You don’t even need to visit a yoga studio – with online yoga classes you can do your movement practice in the comfort of your own home.
A prenatal practice is not just for stretching or building stamina for the endurance of birth. It is about evolving and taking care of yourself, so that you and your baby feel nourished through each new trimester together. It is about connecting to our own instincts, so that we can explore and rediscover a need for movement and energy within our bodies.
Accessing our body’s natural strengths and weaknesses helps us to listen, respond and react from a natural and true place. Gaining new perspective can be hugely liberating, and can help us maintain confidence and trust in our instincts. At first, this may seem like a quiet whisper among the loudness of the external. Because we are so engaged and overstimulated in modern life, coming to a place where we are guided by our internal wisdom can be tricky.
Incorporating movement into our pregnancy stimulates the muscles and joints which can have an positive effect on our nervous system, blood pressure, immune system, breath and energy levels. Ultimately, it can help you manage if your body is struggling through a pregnancy and help find the joy in it.
Importance of the Breath
We breathe automatically. You’d think that since you’ve been doing it for so long, you know how to breath…..right?
Conscious breathing takes practice and awareness. We can explore and influence our experience by observing our breath, which affects our biological systems of support and importantly our reactions to the idea of pain and discomfort. This is why breathing techniques are necessary in prenatal classes and birth preparation courses. You can increase the capacity and strength of your lungs and improve the oxygen flow of the body which is much needed as your heart is working overtime - your heart works nine times faster than a non pregnant person. So, even if you are sitting calmly in a neutral and comfortable position the energy the heart is creating in that moment is similar to you imagining you are running on the spot constantly for your entire pregnancy, that’s a lot of effort and energy!
In our modern day lives, we tend to be busy and often forget how to breathe deeply which places puts more pressure on our adrenals to work harder. Life experiences can leave imprints on our breathing, our posture can restrict and limit our breath, as can tightness and tension in the body. We tend to manage on the minimum, missing out on the chances to bring energy and restoration inwards. The good news is that you can remember and re-discover how to breathe deeply through practice, which is where yoga can be hugely beneficial.
It’s important not to obsess about mastering specific techniques for breathing during pregnancy. But with the focus and guidance of an experienced teacher, the breath can become an important anchor or life line for mamas to be. Developing a practice to get to know your natural breath becomes essential for your wellbeing, for relaxing, resting and surrendering to the flow.
Bringing awareness to the breath strengthens the mind-body connection that serves expectant mothers well when experiencing contractions. Maintaining a focus on the breath during labour increases necessary oxygen flow, boosts circulation and activates the organs and muscles.
The uterus is a large muscle that needs plenty of oxygen to function efficiently. With deep breathing, a woman brings oxygen to the uterus and allows it to relax between surges, so that it can contract effectively to deliver your baby into the world. The breath also gives strength and movement to the diaphragm, another major muscle involved during pregnancy and labour.
Deepening the breath keeps the diaphragm muscle working efficiently, pumping all the goodness to the right places. The breath changes the rate and depth of respiration, which in turn affects the quantity and types of peptides released from the brain stem. When magical endorphins are released, our sense of pain decreases and we feel good in ourselves. In other words, our breath can activate natural pain relievers in our bodies, so each surge of a contraction when in labour is managed by you. In fact, this process can release more endorphins than an epidural and make you feel like a superhero!
By observing the breath, we can stay in the moment, connected rather than worry about what will happen or get drawn into panic and tension, this just creates more pain and disconnection. We can begin to notice that nothing is permanent not even contractions. During labour staying with the breath is a beautiful way of staying connected to the birth experience and supports the entire physiological system. Good for mama and good for baby.