The Blessings of Prenatal Yoga

Whether you are a seasoned practitioner or have never practiced a posture in your life, yoga can impart a deep sense of tranquility and comfort through the ebbs and flows of your pregnancy. Yoga strengthens, refines, and stabilizes your body, breath, and mind. Moreover, prenatal yoga can help you soften and yield to the monumental process that is happening within. This acquiescence can cultivate an overarching feeling that your pregnancy is evolving the way Mother Nature intends.

Each trimester brings different gifts and challenges to each woman. One of the blessings of yoga is learning how to tune in and bring awareness to the changing states of your body, breath, and mind. By creating time and space to reflect on where you are and where you would like to be, you can set intentions for bringing yourself back into balance.

My personal yoga practices shifted throughout the course of my pregnancies. When I was pregnant with my son, the first trimester nausea prevented me from practicing almost any asanas (yoga postures). I focused solely on pranayama (breathing practices) and meditation to balance my emotions and get through that uncomfortable time. As the nausea subsided in the second trimester, yoga helped strengthen my back, and pranayama

helped me settle down at night so I could relax deeply and sleep soundly. My third trimester practices were invigorating so I could keep my energy strong and create a sense of lightness in my expanding body. I used this time to refine pranayama, which allowed me to go deeper in meditation and feel more prepared and peaceful approaching birth.

The primary purpose of prenatal yoga is to support a pregnant woman’s whole being. Many often think of yoga as an attempt to get into complex postures. Moving beyond this limited idea of yoga can help you see that the function of postures and practices—how they affect your body, breath, and mind—is more important than their appearance. A complete practice of yoga includes:

• movement

• breathing exercises

• meditation

• possibly chanting or sound exercises

• adopting universal ideas for a harmonious life based on the underlying philosophy of yoga

Blessings on your prenatal yoga journey,

Margo

This is an excerpt from my new release: Yoga Mama Yoga Baby, Ayurveda and Yoga for a Healthy Pregnancy and Birth.

Margo Shapiro Bachman, MA, is a mother of two, a nationally certified Ayurvedic practitioner and an RYT500 registered yoga teacher. She is the author of Yoga Mama Yoga Baby, Ayurveda and Yoga for a Healthy Pregnancy and Birth, and Yoga Mama Yoga Baby, Guided Practices for Every Stage of Pregnancy and Birth. Margo has studied and practiced yoga, meditation and Western herbal medicine for over 20 years, and received more than a decade of extensive Ayurvedic training. Her private practice and teaching focus on in women's and children's health.  See www.margoshapirobachman.com