Benefits of Yoga While Pregnant
Time and time again, healthcare providers emphasize the importance of staying active during pregnancy. Gone are the days when you would be told to rest exclusively and to stay confined to your bed (unless of course you are instructed to do so by your care team in a special circumstance.) Instead, it’s encouraged that you stay active by doing light-moderate exercise or yoga!
Benefits of Prenatal Yoga
Here are some reasons why you should incorporate yoga into your prenatal routine:
- It Helps Lower Your Blood Pressure
High blood pressure is a common problem some women face during pregnancy. Yoga helps regulate your blood pressure by keeping it within healthy limits.
- Helps You Relax
Pregnancy can be stressful, especially for first-time mothers! Yoga helps you relax and alleviates the symptoms of anxiety and depression by giving you a healthy outlet for all that negative energy.
- Helps Keep That Pregnancy Weight Gain In Check
Gaining too much weight during pregnancy is not good for you. Yoga is a great way to get active and burn those calories from pregnancy cravings!
- Strengthens Your Muscles
Being fit and healthy can help you along your journey to a safe and smooth labor. Yoga is a great way to strengthen those pelvic muscles to help you during labor.
3 Yoga Poses You Can Try
- Cat/Cow Pose
Get on all fours, breathe in while you bend your head downwards and stretch your spine, then breathe out as you look up and stretch your abdomen. This is a great pose for back pain relief.
- Downward Facing Dog
Stand up tall and inhale as you raise your arms up. Then exhale slowly as you bend down and move forward at the same time so that your knees stay above the ground and you’re supported with your arms extended. Hold the pose for 2-3 breaths and then stand back up slowly.
You can do this against a wall if you need a little more support.
- Bound Angle Pose
Sit with your back straight, bring both your feet together in front of you, fold your knees outward so your feet are touching, and then hold your feet together and take a few deep breaths. You can try massaging your calves if you want to improve circulation.
Yoga At Willow Birth Center
If we’ve convinced you to try it out, we offer pre and postnatal yoga classes here at Willow Birth Center AZ. Classes will be taught by our yoga instructor, Nikki Brewer of Ha Yoga Tempe who has experience teaching yoga for five years, and we are honored to have her offer classes via Zoom to our clients.
To learn more, you can check our calendar for dates and schedules or call us with any questions that you might have.