Pregnancy- a gift to Motherhood
The moment you get confirmed with your pregnancy, your journey to motherhood gets started. Before this, you were a woman but with your child into existence, the mother in you is born. I congratulate you all expecting mothers to begin this journey which I lived a few years ago and share those ups and downs while you are pregnant. Let’s cherish this journey with strength and comfort of prenatal yoga.
Changes associated with Pregnancy
Pregnancy in its early stage comes with a list of changes in a woman’s body. Its time when your pregnancy hormones (hCG, estrogen and progesterone) level starts to rise and make you feel like never before. Those days were crazy. Have you become more sensitive to smell these days, nausea or vomiting tendency, temperature changes, breast tenderness, a sense of fatigue? Moreover, the need to use the restroom every now and then has been most scary in my case.
Gain strength with prenatal yoga
The journey to motherhood should be unique to every woman. If you are strong from within both physically and mentally, it is easier to get through. You must make yourself prepared for the ups and downs of pregnancy. Involve yourself in practices that will give you the strength to fight back in those tough times and help you come out undisturbed and happy as you were before. And prenatal yoga is one of the best ways to achieve this.
What is Prenatal Yoga?
Pregnancy comes with changes like never before. You are altered in shape and size. Apart from that, the changes going on in the body due to hormonal activities incorporate a feeling of distress and uneasiness every now and then. Likewise, your frequent mood swings make you often feel as if your body has been taken over by someone else. But this is the time to alarm yourself, practice relaxation techniques with prenatal yoga and asanas to give strength to you and your baby.
With prenatal yoga, you focus on improving your resilience throughout and even after your pregnancy. Now, let’s focus on when and how, to begin with, prenatal yoga once you get pregnant.
When is the right time to start prenatal yoga?
You can start with the prenatal yoga practices from the first trimester itself but if you are doing yoga for the first time, you can start once you enter your second trimester or immediately after 14 weeks from your start date. If you start in the first trimester, you need less of postural changes because your baby bump has still not started to grow. Do not stress out yourself to do it essentially if you feel exhausted or nauseated in the first trimester. Besides that, if you are new you may take the help of a prenatal yoga class.
Prenatal yoga for second trimester
This is the best time you can start with if not till now because the feeling of tiredness, nausea or vomiting, and morning sickness is no more persistent for most expecting mothers. Likewise, it was in my case as well. I was pretty new to yoga, so I started with some of the very basic and easy to do postures.
Prenatal Yoga for third trimester
In the third trimester, your belly may be a problem in doing the prenatal yoga practice so you can emphasize breathing, improve stamina for childbirth, gain strength and stamina, try some stretching moves which will help you get ready for the labor days.
Is it safe to do prenatal yoga once you are pregnant?
Yoga makes you calm down when you are stressed out handling the changes in your body both physically and emotionally. Prenatal yoga is safe during pregnancy if you have a no complication pregnancy. You can also seek advice from your doctor regarding prenatal yoga practice and start immediately after you get clearance.
How to start if you are new to Yoga
If you are new to prenatal yoga, you should prefer joining a yoga class under the supervision of a trained yoga teacher. But If you are a regular self-care or at-home yoga practitioner then you can also continue at home with some easy yoga poses. You should not continue any of those advanced moves that you practiced earlier if any
Listen to your body, stop when you need
While doing your yoga practice often at times your body will alarm you to stop. Do not ignore your body signals. You might even feel dizzy or feeling whirled while practicing some poses. Stop immediately if ever this happens to you. All expectant moms have their own journey to childbirth. Some may have it fine while others may experience the worst symptoms. You have to identify yours and follow the safety considerations doing prenatal yoga practice either in a class or at home.
Why are Prenatal Yoga Classes Preferable for expectant moms?
There are many factors why we should prefer yoga classes as an expectant mom. You may be a first-time yoga practitioner therefore you should start under a trainer so that you keep yourself and your baby safe. Apart from that, you get a chance to communicate with other would-be moms and share your feelings of excitement and curiosity. Moreover, prenatal yoga classes help you prepare for childbirth and strengthen the pelvic floor for those days.
Most important benefits of prenatal yoga
- Helps maintain flexibility and activeness in your body.
- Reduces tiredness and fatigue.
- Prenatal stress and anxiety can be controlled.
- The process of childbirth is made easy by doing this practice.
- Emphasis on breathing and relaxation techniques prepares you to deal with the process of delivery.
The best and easy yoga poses focus mainly on strengthening, activeness, flexibility, stress, and anxiety relief factors. Apart from that the pregnancy yoga poses emphasize mainly on issues such as back pain, relieving belly weight, and overall relief when you feel heavy with the burden of pregnancy at times.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I want to say that prenatal yoga can be started in any trimester of your pregnancy keeping in mind all the safety considerations before you start. As an expectant mom, you need to listen and understand what your body requires. With prenatal yoga, you help your body breathe and relax, meanwhile, you prepare yourself for the process of childbirth as well. Make your journey to motherhood special as all the changes are temporary but the memories you frame till the time your child arrives in this world will be unforgettable.
Please like, share, and comment if you like this article. You can also share your experiences as an expectant mom in the past or even if you are expecting right now.
