Yoga During Pregnancy: Everything You Should Know

You want to stay in shape during pregnancy and do what is best for you and your kid. Prenatal yoga¹ is an excellent way to accomplish both. Yoga provides a much-needed opportunity to settle down and connect with your baby and your body as it evolves in our fast-paced world. Whether you are new to yoga or a seasoned practitioner², you may reap the numerous advantages of yoga while pregnant.

What Can Prenatal Yoga Do for You?

When you’re pregnant, it might seem like an alien has taken over your body. As your body performs its wonderful task, everything you thought you knew about yourself is thrown out the window. Uncontrollable change might cause you to feel alienated from your sense of self. It’s commonly claimed in yoga that your body changes every time you go onto the mat. You focus on accepting that change is unavoidable.

This is especially true during pregnancy. Yoga allows you to reconnect with your body and accept its path. Although there hasn’t been much scientific study on yoga during pregnancy, it’s generally thought to be safe and beneficial for most pregnant moms and their babies.

Consult your healthcare provider before beginning yoga if your pregnancy is deemed high-risk or if you are experiencing other challenges. Even if you have no specific worries, your yoga practice should adapt as your child grows.

Throughout pregnancy, your body produces a hormone³ called relaxin, which helps make room for your developing baby and prepares it for birth.  Relaxin may make you feel more flexible than usual, but don’t overstretch; joints and ligaments may also become unstable during this time. The most dangerous thing for a pregnant yogi is to fall. Therefore, pay attention to the balance position, especially when your stomach starts to protrude. To reduce the chance of fainting, avoid any pranayama that might make you dizzy. Hot yoga should also be avoided as it has been shown to increase core body temperature.

In the First Trimester

Because the size of your belly isn’t a concern in the first trimester, posture alterations are limited. It’s critical to develop the practice of listening to your body. You may be exhausted and queasy, so give yourself permission to rest if this is the case.

Most women who are already taking yoga courses can continue with their usual schedules, while it is a good idea to inform your teacher about your pregnancy. If this is your first time practicing yoga, start with a prenatal class, and the hCG calculator⁴ will help you make sense of your hCG levels at home during early pregnancy and keep track of how they are progressing by week.

Human chorionic gonadotropin, or hCG, is a hormone produced by your body during pregnancy. Indeed, the presence of hCG in your blood or urine is one of the first symptoms of pregnancy, which is why many individuals are curious about normal hCG levels. The HCG calculator from last period can help you with your pregnancy.

If You Are a Beginner in Yoga

Many women who have never done yoga before discover that it is an excellent form of exercise during and after their pregnancy. When seeking a class, aim for one’s designated “prenatal yoga” since their instructors will be able to guide you best. If you must attend a normal class, inform the instructor that you are pregnant. Some women can only do prenatal yoga during the third trimester. If this is your scenario, you will still benefit from the programs, but the earlier you begin, the better.

1. Rong, Liu, Li-Jing Dai, and Yan-Qiong Ouyang. “The effectiveness of prenatal yoga on delivery outcomes: A meta-analysis.” Complementary therapies in clinical practice 39 (2020): 101157. ↩︎
2. Upadhyay, Preeti, et al. “Perceived stress, resilience, and wellbeing in seasoned isha yoga practitioners compared to matched controls during the COVID-19 pandemic.” Frontiers in public health 10 (2022). ↩︎
3. Smith, Matthew R., et al. “Darolutamide and survival in metastatic, hormone-sensitive prostate cancer.” New England Journal of Medicine 386.12 (2022): 1132-1142. ↩︎
4. Li, Shihui, Dian Li, and Yanmin Ma. “A mathematical model to predict the probability of a successful pregnancy.” Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Research 48.7 (2022): 1632-1640. ↩︎

Last Updated on February 12, 2024 by Suchi

Author

Icy Health Editorial Team