3rd Trimester Prenatal Yoga: Garland Pose

Video Transcript

"So now Katie and I are going to show you a version of Malasana or Garland Pose for women who are in their third trimester of pregnancy. So starting from sitting, we're going to go ahead and use this bolster for Katie to sit up on. And go ahead and sit back on to the bolster. From here, you're going to draw your feet wide, knees come wide and the elbows come in between the knees, hands in prayer position. See if you can sit up nice and tall lifting through the chest, through the low back, and from here you can also go ahead and do your Mula Bandha. So using the muscles of the perineum or the muscles that you use to stop urination, imagine an elevator with three levels. So keep breathing, try not to hold the breath, allow the breath to be full and strong and imagine three floors for your katil exercise or your Mula Bandha. And take a breath when you draw the perineum up to the first level, then draw it up to the second floor and take a breath there, then draw it up to the third level, take a nice deep breath there. And through your next three breaths you're going to lower one level at a time all the way back down. And breathe deeply. Use the elbows to open through the knees and the hips, and when you feel complete in the pose, go ahead, exhale, release the arms, draw the knees back together and go ahead and relax back in to a nice soft cross legged pose. And that's your Garland Pose for third trimester."