THE BENEFITS OF PRENATAL YOGA
Prenatal yoga is more than adjusting postures for the pregnant body, it’s a practice that supports the journey of becoming a mother. Pregnancy is a time of transformation on both physical and spiritual levels. Intuition, perception and sensory clarity are heightened. The skills that are developed in prenatal yoga classes are relevant to all parts of life. As yoga teachers, we can be a resources for information, teach tools for stress relief and support our students in developing inner strength and core values that support a happy and healthy pregnancy and parenthood.
A TIME TO CONNECT
Yoga has many benefits for pregnant women. A yoga class or personal practice allows women to take time to connect with the baby and the changing body. Breathing into the belly truly resonates with prenatal students.
STRENGTH AND FLEXIBILITY
Prenatal classes usually also focus on thigh strength to support the increasing weight of the baby. Poses such as the Tiger, Squats, Chair and Warrior help to create strength in the gluteal muscles, the hips and thighs, as well as increasing confidence and stamina. Kegels, or Mulabanda (as it is called in yoga), help to strengthen the perineum and increase tone and control of relaxing this muscle and the cervix.
PREPARING FOR BIRTH (DECONSTRUCTING OUR NEGATIVE RELATIONSHIP TO PAIN)
Finally, yoga helps expectant mothers to prepare for childbirth by teaching them to consciously relax, and focus on the breath, which is always available as a tool. Yoga teaches women to breathe into stretch or discomfort, to explore the sensations, as opposed to having a fearful and negative relationship to pain (or strong sensation). For example, in Gomukasana (Sense-Controlling pose) we visualize the hips spreading out along the earth and sink into the sensation without clenching the hips or gluteus muscles.
In HypnoBirthing(R) classes, mothers-to-be are encouraged to speak of contractions as surges, and to embrace the phenomenon of labour as the body’s natural way of transitioning the baby into the world. The idea being that if we think labour will be excruciating, we will experience its sensations as pain.
Women often find yoga during pregnancy to heal emotional wounds and past trauma. Through her connection to herself and the healing of her inner child, she can heal several generations.
We offer our Prenatal & Postnatal Teacher Training ONLINE & In-person in California.
Compiled by ASY’s International Facilitators
Thank you to our many teachers, students, the Divine Feminine and Pachamama for your wisdom, guidance and inspiration. To all those who have shaped our lives to bring us to this moment, we offer our gratitude and appreciation. We honor the many teachers that have walked this path before us and the bright souls who will continue to bring forth these ancient healing technologies into the world.
