Yoga for Pregnant Women !

Most of the pregnant women today are multi-tasking personalities who undergo a lot of physical stress and mental strain all of which finally culminates into a long and arduous process of childbirth causing a severe erosion of one’s strength and stamina. Under such circumstances, the practice of yoga for pregnant women not only leads to the discovery of personal pleasures of life through spirituality but also helps to undergo the associated strain with calmness and confidence.

Being a traditional form of exercise, yoga for pregnant women reduces the mental stress and physical agony associated with childbirth by helping the expecting mother to discover and build up her inherent strength and stamina gradually over a period of the entire pregnancy. Some of the yogic postures which should be performed on a daily basis as a part of the program of yoga for pregnant women are yoga ana, Varian, padmasana, sukhasana and shavasana. These are basic asanas which entail the minimum of stretching and form a part of beginner’s yoga for pregnant women since they are meant for being performed during the first 2-3 months. Regular practice of these asanas not only tend to relax the body but also prevent the stomach muscles from getting stretched thus protecting the baby from suffering any kind of physical damage.

The pranayama which fits well your pregnancy is the regular practice of breathing exercises in form of mild kapalabhatti, anulom-vilom and bhramari pranayama. While kapalabhatti is practiced through fast breathing, anulom and vilom are performed by inhaling through one nostril and exhaling through the other and the repeating the process vice versa. Bhramari pranayama entails deep inhalation and exhalation by making a buzzing sound resembling the flight of the beetle from whom this asana gets its name.

Likewise, there are particular yogasanas which are performed at the onset of labor in order to assist in the delivery process. In fact, research has shown that during the first stage of labor women who perform standing yogic asanas and remain mobile in the process are the ones who generally experience the least pain during delivery and need not be injected with epidural anesthesia as well.

The yogasana which is widely recommended as well as performed for easy delivery is the shavasana or the corpse pose in which the practitioner needs to lie on the back with arms and legs stretched out, eyes closed and focus playing on all parts of the body. Practicing this asana during delivery promotes a sense of expansiveness and complete relaxation and instills within the practitioner the feeling of peace and calmness.