Using Yoga to support your pregnancy
Pregnancy, what a journey. It can be beautiful, challenging, mentally, emotionally and physically intense. All in all, one crazy ride! Here is a trimester by trimester account of how you can use yoga (amongst other things!) to support your body and look after your mental health during pregnancy. Each pregnancy experience is very different, this is just what helped me during my 9 months of pregnancy.
First Trimester - REST
I felt great for the first 5 weeks of my pregnancy. Excited to share the news with everyone, nervous about what pregnancy journey would be like and symptom-less until….the nausea hit me like a bloody sledgehammer.
I’m talking THE WORST I’ve ever felt. A combination of a RAGING hangover, food poisoning and jet lag all wrapped up into one. I think I vommed at least once a day (often more!) for 2 months straight . Glamourous.
As someone who has always enjoyed moving and keeping busy, being forced to do nothing and lie still in a dark room was tough.
What helped?
Breathwork - deep slow breaths helped alleviate the nausea
Peppermint Oil - I spent hours huffing the doterra peppermint oil.
Embracing the days when you feel slightly less awful- these can be few and far between. Don’t waste them!
Some women feel fab all through their first trimester which is fantastic and I genuinely love hearing when it is the case. Do not feel bad/ashamed/guilty because you didn’t feel nauseous etc - every pregnancy is different.
Equally, it is ok to fricken hate your first trimester when you feel like crap. I really struggled to view the nausea in any sort of positive light. It was tough. You do get through it though.
Pregnancy in general, but specifically your first trimester is a a time to slow down and honour all of the amazing changes taking place in your body and your brain. You are making a human - rest, dial down your usual workouts if you feel tired, and eat whatever you can stomach.
Second Trimester - MOVE
Oh beautiful second trimester, how I missed you once you were gone.
The nausea clears, your energy levels pick up and your baby bump isn’t too big yet.
Make the most of this time and just enjoy being able to do all the things. This is the time when we have the most mums in our prenatal yoga classes. It makes sense, the nausea has gone, you are full of beans (energy), and you aren’t yet spending 40% of your day running to the loo for a wee.
What helped?
Yoga, Pilates, walking (any movement really!): Keep your body moving! We (mums to be!) need to be physically and mentally strong and fit for labour, birth and looking after a newborn. The key is to modify any movement discipline safely for pregnancy.
Attend classes taught by teachers who are qualified in prenatal practises. Even if it means you pick up the pregnancy modifications and take those with you into regular classes. Not every movement is safe in pregnancy (PLANKS), so please take the time to research what is safe.
Stabilising work. Particularly exercises to strengthen your glutes and back muscles.
Relaxin is one of the pregnancy hormones in the body. It serves a very important function of softening your connective tissues to allow the pelvis to move/open so that baby can pass through the birth canal. Unfortunately it affects every joint in the body, so that our mobility increases (before you get excited about increased flexibility ITS NOT A GOOD THING IN THIS CASE). This decreased control over the movement at your joints means increased clumsiness, affected balance and can mean pain.
Third Trimester - MINDSET
Then comes the third trimester when that baby bump really starts to pop.
You are no longer capable of walking without waddling, it feels like you have a bowling ball in your pelvis when baby drops down and ‘engages’, and you’re still out of breath! 😂 After a flight of stairs I was huffing and puffing like a 20 pack a day smoker.
By month 9, almost every mama to be is well over being pregnant.
What helped?
The best thing you can work on now is your mindset and learn to cope and stay centered when things don’t go your way. Practising acceptance of what is, and not resisting your reality will go a long way to helping you get through labour and birth. Things sometimes just do not go to plan.
Things that help: Meditation, slow steady breath and any movement that helps you feel a little more comfortable and helps to position that baby head down (forward leaning positions all the way!
Nearly 9 months cooked!