Pre-Natal Yoga

THE BENEFITS OF PRENATAL YOGA

By: Melissa Ann Freed ~ Prenatal YogaFit Instructor ~

As a mother of a very active 6 year old, I feel confident sharing the benefits of Prenatal Yoga. Prenatal Yoga can assist you during your pregnancy, by easing some of the discomforts associated with pregnancy (low back pain, nausea, and fatigue), help ease your mind about the changes taking place in your life and give you the tools to assist you during your labor and delivery. Yoga will also most importantly help you to begin building that special bond that only mother and child can share throughout a lifetime, which perhaps is the greatest gift of Motherhood. The following is a more in depth look at the benefits of Prenatal Yoga.

As a former aerobics instructor (pre-yoga days...) I can tell you that conventional exercises during pregnancy, such as using the treadmill, abdominal strengthening exercises, or vigorous aerobic exercise classes can become uncomfortable or even dangerous as your belly grows and as your center of gravity shifts. A mother-to-be must also be very aware of not overheating her body during pregnancy which can be dangerous to the baby. Another benefit of Yoga exercise is we are constantly checking in with our bodies. This is a wonderful way for mothers-to-be to check in with her body and with her baby and make sure that she is feeling well enough for exercise and also help her become more in-tune physically with the baby as well. When executed properly, yoga poses can conform to your growing belly and changing physiology perfectly.

One hour of intense focus or meditative concentration can help any student of yoga set aside the stresses and concerns of daily life. It’s pretty easy to imagine how these relaxation techniques can assist a mother-to-be and benefit pregnancy. Yoga can help you to relax the mind and get away for an hour from the stress of daily life which can not only benefit during pregnancy but also during the post-partum period which can be very stressful at times to new mothers. It is a wonderful way to re-connect with the one’s self which can be extremely important during this life changing event.

Breathing and meditation training can be an ace up your sleeve during labor and delivery, especially if your goal is to have a drug-free or "natural" delivery. Yoga movements can help to open hips and breathing can also help alter the pain perception during labor and delivery.

One of the biggest complaints I had during my own pregnancy was that I could not find a comfortable sleeping position. Yoga addresses this complaint in many ways. Yoga teaches proper and comfortable positioning using the bolster (or even a few simple pillows from home) and blanket as aides to the growing body. The very positions you learn while practicing can be re-created in your bed which helps promote utmost relaxation and sound sleep. Further, yoga teaches you poses that can help relax the areas in your body which keep you up at night. Last, yoga relaxes your mind through meditative techniques, such as deep breathing and calming the mind which can effectively stop images of strollers, cribs, and other baby accessories and allow you to drift comfortably to sleep.

Another common concern of pregnant women is wondering if their abdominal muscles will ever be strong and look fit again. Unfortunately, it is nearly impossible for your abdominal muscles not to be altered during pregnancy because the muscle wall actually starts to separate down the midline to accommodate the growing baby. The good news is that yoga techniques can train and strengthen the deepest abdominal wall, the transverses abdominus (TA), which maintains strength through pregnancy and the recovery period. The TA is like a mini corset that pulls in the abdomen, while the top layer of abdominal muscles, the rectus abdominus, sometimes forms the visible "six pack" of the abdomen. Yoga and Pilates strengthen the deepest layers of muscles upon which top layers can then be strengthened. The least useful exercise to reduce the "pooch" after pregnancy is sit-ups or crunches. These exercises actually make your belly look bigger by strengthening the top layer of muscles only, and do little to train the TA. It makes the most physiologic sense to strengthen the abdominal wall from deep layers to more superficial layers to most effectively to get back into pre-pregnancy shape.

Last, when a woman practices yoga, she is always on a journey of exploration and of discovering her true self. Practicing yoga while pregnant is an especially gratifying experience; yoga can give a mother time to discover her deep, emotional bond with her baby even before he or she enters into the world. This is a wonderful way to bond with baby before he or she arrives helping to create that beautiful gift of the inseparable bond of mother and child.

Wishing every mother-to-be the beautiful joys of motherhood….Namaste…Melissa Freed

Melissa Ann Freed is a Certified Yoga & Prenatal Yoga Instructor and Owner of Valley Yoga located at Herten’s Karate & Fitness Center in West Paterson, NJ

Valley Yoga features classes in YogaFit style Yoga Flow classes (a fusion of Hatha/Vinyasa/Vini style yoga) and also Prenatal Yoga.
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