Prenatal and Postnatal YOGA

 

The main focus is not on the birth itself. It is on your health and contentment, as your body undergoes the many natural changes associated with pregnancy and birth.

As the baby grows, yoga is used to strengthen, tone, make space, relax. There is specific training of the muscles involved in the birth. Deep breathing and exercises increase their elasticity and allow these muscles to be pre-stretched. You will learn to recognize, isolate and activate different muscles groups, so that you can use them most effectively during the birth. Different birthing positions are explored, so that you can make full use of gravity and be in control of your own process.

The aim is to achieve a gentle birth through yoga practice. All the parts of the body not involved in birthing are trained to remain relaxes. Control is focused, specific and internal. It results from yielding to, and engaging actively with, the contractions.

Among all the methods for easing birth, yoga has the most to offer. This is because yogic breathing connects the action of the voluntary and involuntary muscles in the abdomen. This gives you a control that you could not otherwise obtain. By expanding both you become familiar in advance with the muscles used in birthing. This will give you confidence, especially if you are a first-time mother.

There are other benefits, both in pregnancy and long-term. Your posture during pregnancy is improved and there is a more rapid recovery of good muscle tone after the birth. You will enjoy your baby more because you feel fit and rested. You can expect better gynecological health in later life because you have learned how to look after your body during pregnancy.

In addition to making you more physically comfortable in the months ahead, our yoga for pregnancy classes area often your only forum for meeting other pregnant women. The sense of community and support this fosters is a major benefit of yoga for pregnancy, one that is at least as important as the physical aspect.

The first three months of pregnancy are a time of major changes in your body. Long before any outward manifestation begins to get in the way of doing poses, things feel different on the inside. This is the challenge of first trimester yoga. But this is also the challenge that is at the core of any yoga practice: LISTENING TO YOUR BODY!

The second trimester is the glory days for prenatal yoga. Your morning sickness has probably passed and your belly is growing, but hasn't yet begun to hamper your ability to move freely. This is the time to get into a rhythm of regularly attending our prenatal yoga classes.

As the third trimester progresses, yoga my become more difficult. Your belly becomes a real factor, as do general tiredness and feeling cumbersome. Time to ease up now. All poses that compress the belly should be avoided. Take an increasingly cautious approach as your due date nears, but there is no reason to stop practicing our yoga for pregnancy classes as long as you feel up to it

After you have a baby, you may be eager to resume your yoga practice. Doctors usually recommend six weeks of recovery time for new mothers after a vaginal birth and longer after a cesarean. When you have been given the OK from your doctor and have no significant bleeding, you are ready to do yoga again. Listening to your body and do not push yourself too hard. Ease yourself back with us into your yoga practice on our ultra-gentle postpartum yoga classes.