Prenatal yoga sounds like a healthy practice to adopt during pregnancy, and it is. But what specifically can prenatal yoga do to help you feel good and stay calm during the most important nine months of your life? Read on to learn seven important ways yoga can make a positive difference throughout your pregnancy.
Support the change of your body
During pregnancy your body experiences an accelerated rate of change and needs help to adapt and compensate. The prenatal yoga practice is designed to support the changes that occur in a pregnant body by offering women healthy and safe ways to stretch their muscles and strengthen their bodies to facilitate the process of supporting a growing belly.
Tones important muscle groups
Prenatal yoga "especially tones the pelvic floor, hip, and core abdominal muscles for the birth process," says Liz Owen , co-author of Yoga for a Healthy Lower Back: A Practical Guide to Build Strength and Relieve Pain. pain. Developing and maintaining muscle tone during pregnancy, with yoga poses like lunges and gentle backbends, can help minimize the aches and pains of those nine months, and is key to returning your body to a toned condition postpartum. says Owen.
Strengthen the connection with your baby
Attending one (or more) prenatal yoga class a week is a friendly reminder to take the time to care for and bond with your growing baby. As your pregnancy progresses, the body's different responses to yoga postures will be a warning of other physical changes happening in your body. Poses like the "hero" pose, where you sit back on your heels and then sit up straight to lengthen your spine, can be meaningful if you breathe deeply while you're in it.
Preparation for labor and delivery
One of the main things to take into account during pregnancy is the process that precedes childbirth. As it is a process in which a woman's body opens to give birth to her baby, it generates a cycle of "fear-tension-pain" and can sabotage her efforts to remain present and calm during that stage. Working to connect with yogic methods of conscious breathing can help the body loosen up and help women get to a “mammal place,” where they can let their bodies do what they instinctively already know how to do: give birth. .
Increase your circle of friends
One of the biggest benefits of prenatal yoga can be joining a community with other moms-to-be. "The class becomes a kind of pregnancy support group, where women connect with other women who are making the same decisions and changing their lifestyle," says Karen Prior , creator of the Mamaste Yoga program. Sharing the pregnancy journey with new friends can help ease your anxiety about impending motherhood, while easing back pain and helping to calm your body.
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