Yoga for pregnant women is useful: it gives strength to the body and peace to the spirit. Asanas allow you to avoid gaining excess weight, reduce back pain, and toxic symptoms. But with any other activity from playing online slots Philippines to building a house you should create your plan first. Keep reading to understand how yoga helps you during pregnancy.

Benefits of Yoga During Pregnancy

Yoga classes help reduce the risk of stretch marks. Perinatal exercise:

• Improve metabolism.
• Normalize digestive processes.
• Tone peristalsis, which helps to prevent constipation.

“Upside-down” asanas are recommended for expectant mothers suffering from swelling, cramps and numbness of the extremities. Such postures relieve excessive tension in the lower extremities and increase vascular tone.

When practicing yoga for expectant mothers, emphasis is placed on breathing exercises, which helps to relax and relieve anxiety. Controlled breathing helps to cope with strong anxiety and is useful for preventing fetal hypoxia.

Yoga for pregnant women gives elasticity back to the muscles, strengthens them and frees them from constraining tension. Tendons and joints are also involved, so movements become free. Training the muscles of the pelvic floor and perineum will make labor easier.

Preferred Pregnancy Yoga

Kundalini yoga clears the mind and keeps the body toned. Great for beginners because it requires no preparatory practices or mastery of specialized skills. During the class you can independently decide which techniques to choose. The effect can be felt almost immediately. The method is interesting because of its accessibility and quick results.

Prana yoga develops breathing, emotional control and self-control, which is very useful during labor.

Aqua yoga in pregnancy prepares you for the birth itself. During the workouts, a pregnant woman learns to feel her body and own it. The basic muscle groups are effectively worked through without an excessive load. During workouts stress and fatigue disappear, the body relaxes and tones up. In the aquatic environment, the risk of injury is zero.

Aqua training is a group exercise that allows pregnant women to communicate, exchange experiences, and share impressions.

The basis of Iyengar yoga is the use of supports during asana practice. This allows pregnant women to do the exercises without any fears.

Yoga on a ball is a method suitable for absolutely everyone, it has no restrictions on age and body weight. Conducting regular exercises on a fitness ball increases flexibility and relaxes you. 

General Recommendations

Before you do yoga, be sure to ask your doctor for a consultation. Classes should be carried out systematically, irregular training can lead to the deterioration of the woman in labor – haphazard exercise in this situation will be stressful.

Observe the following rules while doing asanas:

• Inhale and exhale through the nostrils, deeply and calmly.
• Do not overexert yourself.
• Do not train with an overfilled bladder.
• Avoid sudden movements and jumps.

The interval between meals and exercises should be at least one and a half hours. It is not recommended to strain the stomach. All asanas should be performed calmly, smoothly and cautiously. It is better to train under the supervision of an experienced trainer and in a group, where you can talk and find support.

Yoga Practice in Early Pregnancy

In the first trimester, lying asanas are necessary for the body to rest and adapt to a new state. And sitting postures help to overcome nausea and digestion.

For the prevention of problems due to the growing load on the spinal column, knees and feet, gymnastics for the joints are recommended:

• For the chest. Take a comfortable sitting or standing position. Rotate your shoulders, first in one direction and then the other.
• For the lumbar spine. While standing, inhale and simultaneously tighten the coccyx and sacrum. As you exhale, relax the muscles.
• To maintain the anatomical shape of the feet, which are deformed due to the growth of body weight. Work the feet by rotating them in a standing or sitting position, resting on one foot, counterclockwise and backward.

Do all the exercises ten times each. It is useful to visualize during the workout, tuning in positively to the whole process of carrying and labor.

Asanas in the Second Trimester

It is allowed to increase the time in the postures and train more actively. At this stage, you can do mula bandha with crotch contraction. If you combine asana with cat pose, you can do mula bandha without straining the abdominal muscles. Asana will strengthen the muscles of the pelvic floor and improve blood circulation.

What other poses will benefit you at this stage:

For “heavy” legs, inverted asanas are great.

• If you have heartburn, you should do more seated exercises with the chest open and elevated.
• The lumbar spine can benefit from the half-body pose with raising the body on exhalation.

From the 20th week Savasana, the pose of complete relaxation, is done only on the left side, to avoid squeezing the inferior vena cava that runs along the right side. This helps to avoid nutrient deprivation by the fetus and possible oxygen starvation.

Yoga in the Third Trimester

Due to the increase in the volume of the abdomen, the available asanas become less, which is compensated by increasing the time of walks in parks and squares. It is realistic to leave light dynamic and breathing workouts. Standing asanas can be done by those who feel good, but only next to the wall, so that there is good support.

In the third trimester, it is not recommended to gain more weight than necessary. To prevent this, walks in the fresh air and consciously eating a fractional meal are well suited.