A flexible pregnancy?

Taking time to stretch, breathe, relax and meditate is the perfect way to create a positive pregnancy for both you and your bub-to-be. The following poses will ease your body through the various changes that each trimester presents.

Many mothers-to-be find yoga improves their circulation and mobility and helps them manage the various ailments and discomforts of pregnancy.

Annette Paysden looked forward to her pregnancy yoga classes each week because they gave her a “complete feeling of wellbeing”, the likes of which nothing else gave her, not even sleep. “There seemed to be a calming effect on not only me but also my baby. I was fortunate to enjoy an easy, healthy pregnancy,” recalls this 30-something Byron Bay mum. “I made a direct connection between my yoga and feeling so well.”

Like Annette, many mothers-to-be find yoga improves their circulation and mobility and helps them manage the various ailments and discomforts of pregnancy. These may include back and hip pain, fatigue, fluid retention, leg cramps, constipation, insomnia, heartburn and varicose veins.

Before your baby is even born, his senses are developing and being stimulated as he moves and stretches in his watery home, attached to you by his life-supporting umbilical cord. He can hear your heartbeat and external sounds, recognising your voice and your partner’s. He can feel the warm amniotic fluid on his skin or the sensation of you massaging your belly. He can distinguish tastes and even sense changes in light through his closed eyelids.

The connection between mother and child is inextricably formed as your body rhythms are naturally synchronised over the nine months. It makes sense, then, that your wellbeing has a direct effect on the healthy development of your baby in-utero.

Yoga teaches you how to breathe more deeply and efficiently, which is one way to positively impact on your physical and mental health throughout your pregnancy. “Through better breathing you will find a deeper sense of relaxation and ‘de-stressing’, which will help both you and your unborn child,” says Brisbane yoga teacher and director of Yoga Baby, Suzanne Swan. The yoga breathwork also has the very tangible physical benefit of ensuring good oxygenation of the blood to nourish both you and your baby.

When I fell pregnant with my own son, as a yoga teacher and long-time yoga practitioner I relished the opportunity to experience the benefits of pre-natal yoga firsthand. Combining my own experiences with those of my many pre-natal students over the past five years, I have compiled this guide for adapting your yoga practice safely and effectively throughout the various phases of pregnancy.

Some golden rules

Yoga is so widely recommended for pregnancy by health professionals that you may be forgiven for thinking that any kind of yoga will do. However, it’s advisable to attend a special pre-natal yoga class if you can. This class will teach you only those poses and practices that will safely enhance your pregnancy. You’ll also have the added benefit of meeting other pregnant women and sharing your experiences.

The dos and don’ts

If you are attending a general yoga class or practising some yoga at home, it’s important to be aware of these safety guidelines.

• Avoid postures and movements that constrict or compress or strain the belly, such as strong twists, full forward-bends or dynamic back-bends.
• Be careful not to over-stretch. During pregnancy, your body is flooded with the hormone relaxin, which loosens the ligaments and joints.
• From around 12 weeks onwards, avoid lying flat on your back for prolonged periods of time. This is due to the risk of compressing the vena cava, the large vein that returns blood to the heart, which may cause faintness and dizziness and ultimately restrict blood flow to your baby.
• Avoid the active inversions such as headstand, shoulder stand and hand stand unless you are very experienced in yoga. However, restful inversions such as viparita korani (legs up the wall), pictured in Figure 7, can be safely practised throughout pregnancy.
• Stay in touch with your intuition and come out of any position that doesn’t feel right or in which you become breathless.
• If you have a history of miscarriage or any complications with your pregnancy, make sure you consult your doctor or midwife before commencing or continuing a yoga program.

Yoga for each trimester

In medical speak, pregnancy is divided into three separate trimesters, of approximately three months each. The first trimester, or early pregnancy, extends from conception to 14 weeks; the second trimester or mid-pregnancy goes up until 28 weeks; and the third trimester or late pregnancy continues until birth at around the 40-week mark. There are specific physiological and hormonal changes in mother and baby that correspond to each trimester and can have a changing effect on your emotions and energy levels.

In the many books you can pick up about pre-natal yoga, the postures are often lumped together as equally appropriate for any time in your pregnancy. Although there are some core classical pre-natal poses (see sidebar 2) that are beneficial for any stage, I would argue that as you journey through the three, often quite distinct trimesters of pregnancy, the yoga postures should be adapted to suit your changing needs.

The classical pre-natal poses

These postures help to open the hips and pelvic outlet, tone the perineum and create space in the uterus.

• Baddha konasana (bound angle pose)
• Upavistha konasana (wide-angle seated pose)
• Prasarita padottanasana (wide-angle standing forward bend)
• Malasana (squat pose) (Avoid this pose if baby is in breech position after 34 weeks or if you suffer hemorrhoids, vulval varicosities or painful varicose veins)

A note on the pelvic floor

Whatever stage of pregnancy you’re at, you can never do too much pelvic floor work! Pelvic floor contractions or kegels involve strengthening the hammock of muscles that connect the genitals and the anus. Toning these deep core muscles helps improve circulation to the pelvic area and will speed up your post-partum recovery. You can incorporate your pelvic floor contractions as you practise your yoga poses, drawing these muscles up towards the uterus as you exhale. For example, in the cat pose, inhale in the neutral spine position (figure 10). Then exhale and tuck the pelvis under, doming the upper back to the ceiling, at the same time engaging your pelvic floor muscles as you draw the weight of your baby towards your spine.

The first trimester

As far as yoga or any exercise is concerned, this is the time when less is best. Your body is adapting to massive hormonal changes as the foetus implants in the wall of the uterus and undergoes rapid formation of its nervous system. There is a one-in-five risk of miscarriage during the first trimester, so rest and minimal exertion are the keys here. More often than not, you’ll be tired and nauseous and will feel like doing very little, anyway. In addition, you may be feeling anxious about the huge changes to come.