While indulging in strenuous activities is an absolute NO in the months of pregnancy, keeping your body fit through a doctor-prescribed fitness regime is extremely important. It helps keep bothersome symptoms of pregnancy like pregnancy back pain, fatigue, swelling, bloating and constipation at bay.
Yoga is a meditative form backed by an exercise where certain body positions and breaths are utilized to aid the connection between body and mind. Prenatal yoga emphasizes positions distinctly designed to suit the fitness needs of a pregnant woman’s body.
Benefits of Prenatal Yoga
Like several other kinds of preparation classes for childbirth, prenatal yoga poses to be a multi-layered approach to regular exercise that inspires metal centring, focused breathing and stretching. According to research, prenatal yoga has several benefits, not just for women who are pregnant, but for their babies as well. Moreover, it is also quite safe.
Some of the most amazing benefits of prenatal yoga are:
- Improved quality of sleep
- Decreased lower back pain during pregnancy
- Increased endurance and flexibility of muscles required for childbirth
- Reduced anxiety and stress
- Increased muscle strength
- Reduced headaches, breath shortness, and nausea
Practicing prenatal yoga might also help you come across and bond with many other pregnant women and prepare for your parenthood experience together.
When is The Best Time to Start Practicing Prenatal Yoga?
If you are a novice in the field of practicing yoga, it is best advised that you do not embark on this new physical journey during your first trimester. In fact, it is quite normal for you to not have the desire of getting into any physical activity during the initial trimester. Exhaustion and nausea are never great motivators to drag yourself to an early morning yoga class.
Having said that, yoga is more than a mere physical practice. Thus, there are other forms of practices that you can perform during your first trimester. Practicing pranayama and meditation is indeed great during this period. You can indulge in them irrespective of whether you have or have not practiced yoga earlier. So, if you are looking forward to starting prenatal yoga from the first trimester, to rid yourself of pregnancy hip pain and other symptoms, try some meditation and light breathwork at home. 10 minutes of each are enough to help you get benefits. If you want to shift your yoga practice to a professional studio, it would be best to wait out the first trimester. Your body is already functioning differently to build a human inside. It is well off without any extra burden.
Yoga has amazing benefits on the body. However, during pregnancy, you need to be extra careful and opt for practices that best suit your body then. Avoid difficult poses that press into your belly or cause pain. As you step into this wonderful experience of parenthood, give your body the comfort it needs.