My Top Tips for Pre-Natal Yogis

Pre-natal yoga is a wonderful way to support your body and mind during pregnancy, but it's important to remember that every pregnancy is unique and your body is going through many changes throughout.

This article is not a replacement for medical advice, these are simply suggestions from courses I have completed in pre-natal yoga and experience I have gained teaching classes for pregnant attendees. Please ensure you have received approval from your healthcare provider before attending class, and always listen to your body — if something doesn’t feel right, you know your body best.

I hope some of these tips help you on your pre-natal journey & I’m honoured to support you during this special time.

Tip 1: Keep it flowing

In many styles of yoga we hold poses in a static position for a sustained amount of time which might feel absolutely fine in a pregnant persons body in earlier trimesters. However, as the baby starts to grow and the pelvis is required to support a little more weight, static holds can start to feel more uncomfortable in comparison to earlier stages of pregnancy, especially if you are experiencing symptoms of pelvic girdle pain. For this reason, in pre-natal yoga classes you might notice that there are more fluid movements integrated into each posture. For example; circling the arms in your lunges, rotating the knee in circles in table top, or bending and lengthening the legs in standing postures such as warrior 2 (virabhadrasana II). These flow cues might not be guaranteed in a general public class, so if you find yourself feeling uncomfortable in the longer holds, feel free to bring some of your own intuitive movement into it so you can enjoy the posture a little more - us teachers understand so don’t worry about going a little off-piste!

Tip 2: A relaxed pelvic floor is best!

A common misconception is often that we need to have a super strong pelvic floor during pregnancy, getting in those squeezing lifts on our walk or sat at our office chair, which isn’t untrue but there’s definitely a little more to it than this. Yes, for sure we should be strengthening our pelvic floor, but overdoing it might be as problematic as under-doing it. You see, if mum experiences a vaginal birth, the baby needs space to get out of the birth canal which is helped by having a flexible and relaxed pelvic floor. If the pelvic floor has been overworked, there might be more muscular tension and resistance making it trickier for baby to pass through. So, yes do your pelvic floor exercises, which you naturally will be doing a lot of in a yoga class anyway, but don’t labour over them too much. Relaxation techniques such as meditation and breath work can be a great way to relax the pelvic floor.

Try this: right now, wherever you are, start to close your eyes, take a deep breath and think about relaxing your jaw… see if you can feel your pelvic floor release just like that…

Tip 3: Working with the breath

It’s the most powerful tool after all, and the one thing we always have access to. Breath control is at the forefront of our yoga practice which makes for amazing preparation for pregnant mums preparing for labour. Not only are breath work techniques used as a way of quite literally breathing the baby out during labour, they are also a natural pain manager and can help to aid relaxation throughout the entire course of pregnancy. Naturally pregnancy can bring up so many different feelings and emotions for every mother, all experiences are so different, and having a quick and accessible practice tool such as a breathing technique can quickly promote relaxation and simply put your mind at rest. With these mindfulness practices creates presence, the perfect pause to take a moment to connect with yourself and with baby before they arrive earth side.

Try Golden Thread Breath: get comfortable seated or lying down and place one hand on your heart and one on your belly, take 3 slow deep inhales and exhales to set yourself up, then when you’re ready with every exhale imagine a long golden thread unwinding out ahead of you as the breath leaves your body, see if you can make this visualisation of the thread longer and longer with every breath out.

Tip 4: Core work, what can you do?

There’s often a lot of confusion around what abdominal work is safe to do during pregnancy and ultimately, it is a little confusing as there are so many physiological changes happening in the body all at the same time, so let me break it down for you…

There are 3 muscle groups that make up the core muscles: the transverse abdominals (which sit the deepest), the rectus abdominals (these sit at the front and are often known as the six pack muscles) and the obliques (these wrap around the waist into the back). During pregnancy the rectus abdominals and ligaments at the front of the belly separate to make space for the growing baby which is why you’ll be advised during pregnancy not to do crunching exercises such as sit ups as there isn’t any support in place to do so and can cause muscular and tissue damage down the line. Instead of crunching exercises, you can bring some core activation into your movement practice by hugging the belly in a seated position or table top as this uses those deeper seated muscles, the transverse abdominals. You’ll also be happy to know that your obliques are still very much in place so side core focussed work is advised as it helps to maintain a strong trunk throughout pregnancy. Exercises like modified side plank, or from table top tapping your knee to your outer elbow would be a great way of doing this.

Instead of: stepping your foot in between your hands from a down dog, step your foot to the outside of the hand to use your obliques over your rectus abdominals. This is also a helpful modification as baby starts to get bigger and bump gets in the way!

For post-natal yogis, make sure to check in with your doctor before bringing any crunching exercises back into your practice to ensure that the rectus abdominals and tissues are knitting back together nicely.

Tip 5: Props, props, and more props

Allll the props! These are here to help support you and your practice for your adapting body so make sure you have a lovely big bolster or several cushions with you in your classes and as many blocks as you need, especially in the later months of pregnancy. If you’re starting to feel like movements are feeling more restricted a bolster is a great way of bringing the ground to you. For example, sat in a malasana yogi squat or even in a cross legged seat, just pop the bolster or pile of cushions underneath your sit bones for extra comfort. Equally if you’re experiencing symptoms of carpal tunnel in the wrists, slide the bolster under the hands in postures such as table top and support yourself using your forearms instead. If you have enough bolsters you can even create yourself an inclined bolster throne for your savasana for ultimate relaxation. Beyond week 28, start to move your savasana to your side with a cushion between the legs as lying on the back can become more uncomfortable with the additional baby weight. This also helps to avoid compression of any major blood vessels caused by back lying postures. Whilst you’re here, light a candle, dim the lights, pop an incense on if you can still handle the smell and grab someone in your household you give you a relaxing head rub!

I hope these suggestions help to support your on-going yoga practice, or movement practice in general throughout your pregnancy but most importantly nourish connection to yourself and baby during this special time. I want to leave you with one last suggestion and that’s this beautiful book I read during my pre-natal yoga training: The Heart In The Womb, Amali Lokugamage. I hope you enjoy! x