Prenatal Yoga: Basics and Benefits

Stay fit during pregnancy and prepare your body for childbirth with yoga and meditation.

Prenatal Yoga has become more and more important lately, as due to its incredible benefits a lot of soon-to-be-mommies choose to practice it. This type of yoga can be done not only by experienced practitioners, but also by beginners who want to stay in shape and at the same time to take care of their future babies.

What is Prenatal Yoga?

Prenatal Yoga is a type of yoga especially created for pregnant women. It includes numerous different exercises developed for each of the three trimesters of pregnancy and it also teaches future mothers the dos and don’ts of exercising while being pregnant. In addition, it also offers different exercises for beginners who never practiced yoga before, plus some more complex exercises for those who are already experienced practitioners. Moreover, this discipline can also recommend after-birth exercises.

Prenatal Yoga principles

Prenatal Yoga is based on numerous principles that must necessarily be respected while practicing the exercises included in this discipline. Among them, there are mindfulness, groundation and energy balance. These refer to embracing every moment, connecting to the earth and balancing the night and the day, the effort and the surrender, the yin and the yang.
Other principles are represented by the body, mind and spirit connection, by compassion, non-violence, gratitude and contentment. In addition to these, there are the principles symbolized by the happiness of giving, the mantras, the music and the sounds, plus the limits.

Benefits of Prenatal Yoga

Prenatal Yoga can offer numerous benefits to the women practicing it during the time they are pregnant. This discipline is entirely safe both for the mother and for her baby, and among the benefits that it provides are the improvement of sleep quality, the reduction of anxiety and stress, the increasing of flexibility, strength and endurance of childbirth muscles, the decreasing of nausea, shortness of breath, headaches and lower back pains, plus the decreasing of the risks of getting intrauterine growth restriction, pregnancy induced hypertension and preterm labor.

Another great benefit that practicing this type of yoga can bring is represented by the connections which women can make this way. As pregnant women are usually encouraged to exercise together, they form strong bonds with their exercise partners and continue to be friends even after they give birth. Most of the times, their children end up playing together as well.

Basic Prenatal Yoga poses

Prenatal Yoga teaches the mothers-to-be different poses which they must respect. However, it all starts with learning to breathe properly. Breathing must be done through the nose, deeply and slowly. Grunting and humming are also highly recommended to pregnant women practicing yoga, as these techniques can help them reduce shortness of breath, plus control contractions when their time comes.

It all continues with gentle stretching. Different parts of the body, like the arms or the neck must be fully moved. As far as the postures are concerned, these can start while lying on the ground, standing or sitting. While doing them, the body must be moved gently into poses that are meant to develop balance, strength and flexibility. The using of props such as belts, blankets and cushions is also highly recommended. If they do everything right, at the end of the exercise sessions women can feel relaxed, calm and self-aware.