Are you pregnant and want to continue practicing yoga without endangering your body and baby? Maybe you've never practiced before and would like to take advantage of your pregnancy to start your yoga journey? There are a few things you should know to practice safely.
1. Listen to yourself and your body
Sounds obvious? If you have experienced yoga classes before, you've probably familiar with this advice. It is even more critical while you are pregnant. The mum-to-be will intuitively know what is good and not for her and her baby. During pregnancy, yoga aims to create space and listen to yourself, connect to your inner self, and accept and trust nature's natural process.
2. You should never compress the belly
When you find out you're pregnant, it's better to stop lying on your belly. Avoid all belly-down poses like cobra (bhujangasana), locust (salabhasana), bow
(dhanurasana), sphynx (salamba bhujangasana), crocodile, and superman pose. It would be best to restrain yourself from deep forward folds that compress the belly like a forward fold pose with feet together.
3. You should never strain the abdominal area
Avoid poses that strain the abdominal area. There is a better time to focus on your abdominal muscles and work on your flat belly for a bikini. The rectus abdominal muscles naturally expand during the pregnancy to create room for the uterus and the baby. We will avoid postures that solicit the rectus abdominal muscles too much, like crunches, boat pose, crow pose, and back bend postures like camel pose (ustrasana), full wheel (urdhva dhanurasana), and upward facing dog (urdhva mukha svanasana). They will activate too much the abdominal muscles and exacerbate the separation of the abdominal muscles. Therefore, you should remove them from your practice during your pregnancy to avoid diastasis recti, which is an excessive separation of the abdominal muscles.
4. You should never perform strong twist
It is best to avoid performing postures that include intense twists like a twisted chair or twist in a low lunge. These postures tend to strain the belly. It would be best if you prefer light torsions.
5. You should never jump and avoid or choose safe variations for balancing poses.
During pregnancy, with the growth of the belly, your weight and gravity center change which automatically impact your balance. It would be best if you were careful while performing balancing poses.
6. Be careful to avoid overstretching
During pregnancy, hormonal change is essential to create the physical changes necessary for pregnancy. The body releases a hormone called relaxin, which involves loosening ligaments in the pelvis area to make the baby's delivery easier. But all your ligaments are concerned by the release of this hormone. You will likely be more flexible, which can ultimately lead to overstretching and injuries. Take it easy! Refrain from overstretching!
7. Don't hold inversions for a long time
It would help to avoid strong inversions like a headstand (sirsana), or handstand (adho mukha vrksasana) during pregnancy. It's too risky during this period as you could lose your balance. However, you can continue to practice light Inversions like downward facing dog or legs up the wall.
Also, during pregnancy yoga, make sure that you take a break when needed; your breath is regular and long. Please don't overdo it, you are not supposed to over-sweat.
You can also practice safely with the help of an expert yoga teacher.
Yoga is a beautiful practice to start or continue during pregnancy. The benefits are amazing and much more than whatever other kind of physical exercise.
It can relieve most of the discomfort from the pregnancy, like constipation and back pain; it helps to reduce stress and insomnia to create a bond with the baby to come and boost your mood. Check out some of the benefits in our previous article here.