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Prenatal yoga: what is it?
Prenatal yoga is a method of preparing for birth. It associates a muscle work all gently (“asanas”, or postures), to the regulation of breathing (pranayama). The goal of prenatal yoga? Allow pregnant women to feel relaxed while helping them relieve minor ailments during pregnancy and maintaining physical activity. For those who suffer from joint and ligament pain, back pain, who have heavy legs, prenatal yoga has many benefits! Practiced regularly, at the rate of one to two sessions per week, it helps to control stress through breathing, to improve circulation or even transit. Childbirth preparation sessions, through prenatal yoga, are reimbursed by social security when they are organized by a midwife or a doctor.
Breathe well with prenatal yoga
Every session usually begins with a few breathing exercises : Try to follow the path of the air entering your lungs, which oxygenates your whole body and escapes through the fullest possible exhalation. At the same time as you become aware of your breath and your body, you are listening to your sensations: heat, gravity … Gradually, you learn to control your breath, your whole body accompanies your breathing movements, without physical effort. On the day of delivery, while waiting for the epidural, this calm and relaxed breathing will ease the pain of contractions, and help the baby to descend and make his way to the open air.
See also Pregnancy Yoga: Lessons from Adeline
Prenatal yoga: easy exercises
No question of turning yourself into a yogi or an acrobat! All movements are easy to reproduce, even with a big belly. You will discover how to stretch your spine, relax, position your pelvis, relieve your heavy legs … very gently. It is then up to you to adapt these postures by being listening to your body, your feelings, your well-being … This bodywork will naturally bring you to concentration.
Certain muscles are particularly strained throughout pregnancy and during childbirth. The midwife or the doctor will teach you to lie down, to turn around and to get up effortlessly and painlessly, but also to discover or recognize your perineum, to feel it, to open it, to close it …
Practice prenatal yoga with the future dad
Dads are welcome to attend prenatal yoga sessions. By doing the same exercises as their partner, they learn to relieve it, to massage it, to reposition their pelvis and to discover techniques to help it push during childbirth. You can extend the benefits of these sessions by exercising at home., 15 to 20 minutes a day, simply by doing your housework, going to the bathroom, sitting at the lunch table, etc. After birth, mothers are often invited to come back as soon as possible with their baby, to learn how to carry it, to put their pelvis back in place, to help their body to eliminate, to drain.
Prepare for your prenatal yoga session
The sessions, which usually take place in groups, last 45 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes. To avoid tiring yourself, choose classes that take place near you. Before you begin : Remember to have a small snack, hydrate yourself and dress in fairly loose pants. Also, bring shoes that are easy to remove and a pair of clean socks that you will only put on for the session. If you have a yoga mat, you can also use it!