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Practicing Yoga During Pregnancy: Tips to flow through yoga

Take in extra calories
Get the 300 to 500 additional calories a day you need during pregnancy, especially if you're exercising. Make sure to eat well to help nourish and strengthen your body.

Steer clear of dangerous sports
Avoid contact sports, as well as activities that might throw you off-balance, such as horseback riding or biking. Even if you're normally graceful, keep in mind that the increased levels of the hormone relaxin during pregnancy, which relax pelvic joints in preparation for childbirth, loosen all ligaments and joints, making you more susceptible to sprains and injury from falls. See our list of safe sports and those to avoid.

Wear the right clothes
Wear loose-fitting, breathable clothing. Dress in layers so it's easy to peel off a layer or two after you've warmed up (or if you simply feel too hot). Make sure your maternity bra offers enough support, and choose athletic shoes that fit your feet properly and offer good support. If your shoe size has changed because of mild swelling, stash away your pre-pregnancy sneakers and buy a new pair.


Warm up
Warm-ups prepare your muscles and joints for exercise and build your heart rate up slowly. If you skip the warm-up and jump into strenuous activity before your body is ready, you could strain your muscles and ligaments and experience increased post-workout aches and pains.

Drink plenty of water
Drink water before, during, and after exercising. Otherwise, you can become dehydrated, which can cause contractions and raise your body temperature, sometimes to levels that are dangerous for you and your baby. James M. Pivarnik, Ph.D., of Michigan State University, says that while there's no official recommendation for how much water pregnant women should drink while exercising, a good guideline is to drink one cup (8 ounces) before you exercise, one cup for every 20 minutes of exercise, and one cup after you finish your workout. In hot and/or humid weather, you'll need more.

Don't lie flat on your back
Avoid lying flat on your back after the first trimester. This position puts pressure on a major vein called the vena cava, which will diminish blood flow to your brain and uterus, and can make you dizzy, short of breath, or nauseated. Some women are comfortable in this position well into their pregnancies, but this isn't necessarily a good gauge of whether blood flow to the uterus is affected. Placing a pillow under your right hip or buttock will allow you to be almost supine without compressing the vena cava.

Keep moving
Standing motionless for prolonged periods — as when you're lifting weights or doing yoga poses — can decrease blood flow to the uterus and cause blood to pool in your legs, making you dizzy. Keep moving by switching positions or walking in place.

Don't overdo it
Don't exercise to exhaustion. A good rule of thumb: Slow down if you can't comfortably carry on a conversation. In general, the best guideline is to listen to your body. When something hurts, that means something's wrong, so stop. You should feel like you're working your body, not punishing it.

Don't get overheated
Avoid letting yourself get too hot, especially during the first trimester when your baby's major organs are developing. Although there's no proof of a danger to humans, some animal studies suggest that overheating can cause birth defects.

Increased blood flow and a higher metabolic rate mean you'll feel warmer than usual when you're pregnant, and doubly so when you exercise. And since feeling warm is common in pregnancy, you may get overheated much faster than you normally would, even before your belly is big.

Signs of being overheated are largely individual, but pay attention if you're sweating a lot, feel uncomfortably warm, or feel dizzy or short of breath. On hot and/or humid days, skip your workout or exercise indoors in a well-ventilated, air-conditioned room. Wear loose, non-binding clothing and drink plenty of water.

To cool off quickly, stop exercising, take off layers, and change your environment: seek out air conditioning or step into a cool shower. Hydrating is key, too, so drink lots of water.

Get up from the floor slowly
As your belly grows, your center of gravity shifts. That's why it's important to take great care when you change positions. Getting up too quickly can make you dizzy, and may cause you to lose your footing and fall.

Cool down
Heart rate increases during pregnancy and it may take as long as 15 minutes for your heart to return to its resting rate following a workout.

Make it a habit
Make a commitment to work regular exercise into your schedule. Keeping up a routine is easier on your body than periods of inertia interrupted by spurts of activity. According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, you can safely engage in 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise on most, if not all, days of the week as long as you have your healthcare provider's go-ahead.

First Trimester
If you have severe morning sickness, it is advisable to wait for the morning sickness to end (usually by Month 4) before resuming a regular yoga practice. If your morning sickness is not severe and you feel all right practicing, try not to practice on an empty stomach. Drink water during practice to prevent dehydration and uterine contractions. For "light" practice guidelines, use the second trimester recommendations below.

Second Trimester
Room temperature and water: Make sure the room is not too hot. Drink small amounts of water during practice if your throat becomes dry or if you feel nauseated. Don't try to work up a huge sweat while you practice.
Modify flow between poses: No jumping, jump-throughs, jump-backs, or rolling. Step or crawl instead. Eliminate the jumping movements as early as first trimester because your uterus may feel less cushioned from the impact.

Forward bending (standing or seated) in general: When folding forward, keep the chest at least 80-85 degrees from the floor, particularly in poses that place the legs together. Focus on pulling up rather than folding forward. If you prefer, spread the legs at a wider angle but keep the chest lifted.

Poses on the back, generally: To avoid reducing the blood flow to the uterus, do not stay on the back for more than 3 minutes at a time. If you experience difficulty breathing, nausea, or dizziness while doing poses on your back, omit such poses altogether.

Backbends: In upward dog/cobra, keep the belly soft and move into the arch deliberately and slowly, concentrating on keeping the hands flat on the floor and the arms straight. If there is any undue tightness in upward dog/cobra, do not do full backbends. The placement of the placenta and the individual angle of your uterus may influence your ability to do full backbends, so don't worry if you have to give up backbends. If you can do backbends comfortably, work into the arch slowly and do not try to make it perfect or tight. The belly should not feel tight or uncomfortable. Allow the psoas, frontal hip bones, and tops of the thighs to soften. Pay attention to whether your lower back is tightening in the backbends. Due to the increased weight of the belly, the lower back naturally tightens over time to support the front of the body, so avoid inadvertently tightening the lower back during backbending as well. However, even slight backbending will help "pop" the spine and alleviate backaches from the weight gain.

Savasana [final rest]: Lie on your left side in a fetal position to avoid compressing the blood flow to the uterus. Use a rolled towel or mat under your head to make the neck more comfortable. You can also place a rolled blanket or bolster between your legs and hold one between your arms to make your belly more comfortable.

Third Trimester
All of the above guidelines plus the following:

Continue placing the hands in front of the feet in the forward-bending movements, using the fingertips rather than the palms to touch the floor. If the belly becomes so large (e.g., Month 8) that it becomes too difficult to step forward in warmup #2 without straining the hip or front knee, omit warm-up #2 and substitute with warm-up #1 (total 10 ).

For the last 6 weeks of the pregnancy, omit boat and other poses that involve a reclined position (where the knees are higher than the pelvis), which can work against Optimal Fetal Positioning.

Intuition and Baby: If something does not feel right, or if your baby seems to object to a certain pose, do not do the pose. Every pregnancy is different.

Labor and Delivery
Practicing Flow Yoga before and during pregnancy can improve a woman's stamina and confidence during labor and delivery. The progress of a woman's labor is a very individual matter and depends on many variables, including the woman's family history of delivery, the proportionality of the baby's head size to the size of the woman's pelvis, the position of the baby, and the amount of dilation and effacement existing at the onset of labor. Being healthy from yoga practice is likely to facilitate the proper release of the hormones necessary for a normal (vaginal) labor and delivery. The disciplined breathing techniques learned from Flow Yoga may help somewhat with pain management. The conditioning gained from abdominal & pelvic locks may help you push the baby out more efficiently than without such conditioning. If you opt for pain relief, the practice of yoga may still help you sense the contractions sufficiently for you to feel that you are not relying exclusively on external cues to deliver your baby. Whatever happens, be open to the unexpected!

Disclaimer : All information on www.CremoneYoga.com & www.YogaAbove.com is for educational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice. For specific medical advice, diagnoses, and treatment, please consult your doctor. Consult with your physician before beginning any

 

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