Prenatal yoga has many benefits women. Remember to make sure that you have your health practitioners approval for doing yoga.
If you already have a yoga practice, this is not the time to advance and improve your practice but to maintain an existing one.
Benefits of Yoga during pregnancy
1. Increases energy level
2. During pregnancy breathing is restricted. Yoga brings more thoracic cage mobilization and more oxygen for baby and mother
3. May reduce nausea and morning sickness
4. It can stimulate appetite and may even reduces the tendency for constipation associated with pregnancy
5. Improves hip flexibility and makes childbirth easier
6. Strengthens pelvic floor
7. Strengthens back
8. May relieve edema in later months
9. Tones body after delivery
10. Improves balance.
11. Helps mother connect to the changes in her body.
Cautions during practice
During pregnancy a hormone called Relaxin is released in the body to help relax the uterus and it increases flexibility but also makes women vulnerable to injuries due to overstretching. So, be careful and do not over stretch. Avoid going further in a pose than what you are accustomed to.
Never do vigorous abdominal techniques like agnisar, bhastrika, kapalbhati, uddiyana bandha and nauli.
Avoid poses that require more than momentary lying on back as it can cut blood supply to the fetus.
Never do inverted poses, prone poses and poses that require clenching of abdominal area. Do forward bends with legs apart. Don’t do deep back bends and twists. Avoid any pose that does not feel right. One should always err on the side of caution. Avoid poses that reduce the distance between sternum and pubic bone.
Thanks for watching!
Ms. Poonam Gupta