The Many Benefits of Prenatal Yoga

By Atma K. Khalsa

Prenatal Yoga helps women feel more comfortable during pregnancy.  Additionally it helps strengthen pelvic floor muscles, which assist in the birthing process.  In the first three months of pregnancy, or the first trimester, it’s possible that the slightest smell will turn a woman’s stomach leaving her unable to perform her daily tasks.  If it is not morning sickness, then possible fatigue can slow her down.  Typically as she moves into her second and third trimester, she will have more energy to practice Prenatal Yoga and will benefit from stretching to allow more room for the baby within the expanding uterus.  Below are a few of the many benefits, which help to optimize comfort and support mom through pregnancy: 

• Side stretches help open the oblique muscles, ease discomfort and maximize the space availability that mommy and baby share.
• Stretching the low back with pelvic lifts, forward bends or spinal twists can help minimize low back discomfort.
• To help avoid night-time leg cramps, leg stretches can release calf muscle tightness and increase circulation through the legs.  Increased circulation in the legs can also help avoid varicosity.  Potassium intake can also help reduce leg cramps.  Bananas and raisins are high in potassium.  Another excellent exercise to help with leg circulation is walking.  Health practitioners should be consulted for the recommended amount of walking. 
• Inner thigh stretches help release tension from the adductors (the large muscles of the inner thighs).  Releasing the tension of the inner thighs just before bed helps improve sleeping comfort.
• Squatting yoga exercises help open the pelvis and tone the pelvic floor muscles.  In Prenatal Yoga, Kegal exercises (perineum squeezes) developed by Dr. Kegal are also incorporated to condition the pelvic floor muscles. 
• Hip Rolls can be use in rhythmic, soothing motions during labor to help reduce pain and assist the baby’s journey through the pelvis.
•   Shoulder stretches, neck release yoga and walking with better alignment helps the upper body to relax and encourages deeper breathing for enhanced vitality.
• Proper alignment helps open the lungs and avoids the waddling syndrome, which tends to compress the spine.  Walking toe to heel, so not to compress the low spine, by landing on the heel first is helpful.  Walking with attention to a lengthened spine, shoulders back, belly lifted and head high promotes grace in movement similar to that of a queen or princess.  This is fitting considering the job of being a mother is an extremely important one.
• Breathing exercises increase awareness and help a woman relax while preparing her mind/body for her birthing experience.  Breathing long deep breaths can be practiced during labor.  Positive mental affirmations connected to the breath while in labor, will help replace distractive, limited or fearful thoughts.  An internal thought on the inhale might be, “I am courageous, strong and ready.”  On the exhale, a mental sound might be, “The birth of my baby will go smoothly.”  These affirmations will strengthen her mind and promote her confidence while birthing her baby.

All in all Prenatal Yoga can contribute to a more comfortable, calmer child birthing experience.  Attending classes with other moms can help promote a sense of community in nurturing and supporting each other through pregnancy and birth.