All About Prenatal Yoga

Series Summary

Yoga is a very flexible exercise system which can be adjusted to meet very specific needs, such as those of the ever-changing body of a pregnant woman. Prenatal yoga focuses on poses and workouts that are good for the unborn child as well as the expecting mother. While there are many poses that are not good for pregnant women, there are many that they can utilize to help stay in shape and even help their pregnancy. If you are pregnant it is good to talk to an instructor to decide which poses will be best for you. Your poses will be limited as the pregnancy progresses due to the enlarged belly.

In this series of maternity fitness videos, our experienced yoga instructor shows you how to do poses chosen with the needs of a expecting mother in mind. Several of these poses will address specific problems experienced by pregnant women, such as weak bladders and constipation. Others, such as the neck rolls and side stretches address the discomfort brought on by the increased limitation of movements. This series gives you a variety of prenatal yoga poses to choose from, such as the rock the baby pose, the cat chow pose, the spinal twist and the chair warrior, all chosen with the pregnant woman in mind. Our expert even features an actual expecting mother demonstrating these exercises.

Video Transcript

"In this series of clips, we're going to be exploring prenatal yoga. Prenatal yoga is a wonderful way to stay in shape during your pregnancy. It also helps alleviates some of the changes your body will be going through. One of the wonderful thing you learn to work with your breath. You learn to slow it down, concentrate, which you can use during the labor. A very important part of prenatal yoga is to listen to your body and only do what feels right and comfortable for you. Now although you can do some floor poses on your back up to six months, please the floor poses on the belly, stop with them the first month or two. Another important thing to remember is spinal twist and back bends, only take it about fifty percent of your limit. Props. Props are very helpful in prenatal yoga. You can use bolsters and blankets when you're on the floor to help kind of support your body. Also blankets can be place underneath the hips when you're on a seated position to lift the hips up and allow the knees to fall a little bit more comfortable to the ground. Blocks can be used whenever you need it especially like in a triangular Warrior Poses when you need just a little bit extra support. Chairs. Chairs can be used when sitting on the floor becomes a little bit too uncomfortable and also you can use the wall for wonderful poses, a little few inversion poses. Now when you start any new exercise program, please remember to talk to your doctor. It's especially important during this very special time of your life."