2a – Pain-Free Pregnancy
10 Benefits of Yoga during Pregnancy
Practicing a gentle type of yoga with an instructor trained in prenatal yoga and relaxation has multiple benefits when you are pregnant. Start as soon as you know you are pregnant and commit to practice regularly. A minimum of once a week with the instructor and then 1 or 2 of your favorite poses everyday is best so that it becomes automatic for you… Your posture, the way you breathe and the body awareness in general change very quickly when you pay attention…
Prenatal Yoga:
- Brings awareness of the physical changes in the body week after week.
- Gives room for your baby to develop, increases physical comfort.
- Loosens the pelvis, helps orient baby in the best position for birth.
- Builds-up stamina (may help slow down your heartbeat).
- Increases breathing capacity, may help lower blood pressure.
- Prevents or eliminates leg cramps & backache.
- Increases awareness of your emotions and desires concerning labor and birth.
- Allows you to connect with your baby more deeply.
- Improved sleeping pattern and quality of sleep
- Often provides shorter, easier labor & more comfortable birth
Easing Backache in Pregnancy
Many of my clients complain of mild to severe backache at almost any time during their pregnancy…Unless they take my prenatal yoga class! So here is a few tips from my 25+ years of experience as a prenatal yoga instructor and 10+ years as a certified doula.
Nadine demonstrate the pelvic tilt
1) MOVING YOUR HIPS WHEN SITTING & STANDING
As my husband, Randall Winter advanced instructor in Ortho-Bionomy®, always says: “The human body is meant to move constantly“. Unfortunately in our society we have forgotten this old truth. At time of pregnancy, we are reminded many old truths and common sense! So first and foremost remember to MOVE your body. I don’t mean go to the gym everyday (although if you do, good for you!), what I mean is during your working day, keep your hips in movement… One way is to walk as much and as often as you can, take the stairs rather than the elevator, and perhaps, get one of those fitness balls that you can sit on (I have used them as a doula for 12 years, at the time I started they were called “birthing balls”). They come in 3 sizes; make sure your feet are flat on the floor when you are sitting on it with knees at a 90 degree angle for your safety. If you sit for long periods of time, like at the computer, you can sit on the ball and keep rocking gently back and forth, side-to-side or rolling your hips in a circle. Small motion is good, you can be discreet if you are at the office but it will mobilize your hips and tone all the muscles of your mid-section.
Natural Back Arch and how it affects your baby
2) USE THE PELVIC TILT as often as you think of it
What is a pelvic tilt? It is the motion you would do to bring your baby closer to your spine. It may be hard for you to find at first; one way to “learn” it is to get on your knees, put your left foot forward (knee in a 90 degree angle), left hand on your knee, roll your hips as if to bring your tail bone more under and until you feel the muscles in your right thigh tightened (they become as hard as a rock). Notice how it may also feel like bringing your baby closer to your spine. Another way I sometimes explain it in the yoga class is if you imagine your pelvis as being the first cradle of your baby, like a bucket filled with water… if you let your pelvis (your hips) roll backwards (as in arching your back more), the bucket/pelvis tilts forward and the water/baby falls out. Keep thinking of keeping the water in the bucket/your baby “closer to your spine” (closer to you). This is especially important when you find yourself standing for a long period of time like in
Hands & Knees Yoga Stretch on the Out-breath
line at the grocery store or the post office.
3) HANDS & KNEES STRETCH, 5 minutes everyday is all you need
That one is so easy to demonstrate and so long to describe in words that I prefer put it on a video post. Click here to watch it.
As you adjust your posture when sitting and when standing, you will prevent the “pull” that your baby’s weight creates on your back muscles otherwise and help prevent much discomfort by the end of the day. Randall last words on this topic are: ” This is good practice for everyone; you don’t need to be pregnant to benefit. Many digestive problems could be avoided if you make it a habit of gently moving your pelvis, especially during your long sitting periods”. And moms and teachers, please, let your kids “fidget” on his/her chair, they are “listening” to their bodies and keep moving for health!
