Yoga - Getting back into the groove/How to modify your yoga practice for pregnancy

I have admittedly slacked BIG TIME in my yoga practice since having Ben.  I can count on one hand the number of times I have stepped on to my mat in the last four (okay, six) months.  I was so, so good about making time all the way through my seventh month of pregnancy, and then when I received the news about my low amniotic fluid, I was forced to take it easy. 

Recently during one of Ben's naps, I got my mat out and did an HOUR of yoga - and it felt SO good.  This was the first practice I have done in a long time that made me realize how important it is for me to make the time for it on a regular basis.  Mentally, I am a different person.  I physically feel so much better, even after just one good class.  Yoga is such a big part of my life, and I know that a regular practice will make me feel more like myself after living in this Ben-fog for several months now.

One of the things that had been holding me back from doing this sooner was the aches and pains I was experiencing post-pregnancy.  Some I can attribute to the car accident I was in right before Ben was born.  My back/SI joint was very sore and for a few weeks it hurt to even walk.  After that subsided, I noticed just how sore my pelvic bones were.  That sounds weird, but I imagine the pain to be mostly from carrying a baby around in my pelvis for 9 months (and 8 bonus days).  I'm sure labor and delivery contributed to that soreness as well.  Also, due to breastfeeding, it was a bit painful to do any chest down poses. 

Now that I am pain-free, I am so happy to be feeling so motivated to get back to a non-modified practice.  In addition to feeling a lot better, I have 4 weddings on my calendar this year - which means it's time to tone up!

During the months when I was doing yoga while pregnant, I had to modify my practice quite a bit.  Very early on, I no longer could do Upward Facing Dog Pose - which is part of a sun salutation that I do frequently throughout my classes.

This pose was causing too much of a stretch in my abdomen, so instead of doing a low push up and pressing up into this pose, I would skip it all together and just press back to Downward Facing Dog.

Due to avoiding this pose for so long, I have noticed that my arms are SO WEAK now.  It is going to take a lot of practice to get back to where I was in terms of strength.  But I will get there!

Rules for Prenatal Yoga

Since I am a BIG advocate for prenatal yoga, (it produces zen babies, ya'll) I thought this might be a good post to discuss some of the necessary modifications for yogi mamas-to-be:

** I am not a doctor, just a yoga instructor - Double check with your doctor before starting up a yoga practice for the first time, especially when pregnant! :)

As my yoga teacher, Catherine Munro says, "Don't cook the baby; Don't squish the baby".  This was her general advice to us before she launched into teaching us the prenatal yoga section of our teacher training.  This was the rule she followed while she was pregnant (and continued to practice until the day she delivered).  But I thought it best to provide a little more detail...

1) Avoid ALL deep/closed twisting poses: Twisting in towards your mid-section is to be avoided completely.  Twisting essentially is telling your body to "eliminate".  While this is great for digestion and to release toxins, it's not such a great thing for fetuses.  Prenatal twisting should be open and gentle and provide more of a stretch to your shoulders and upper back than a crunch into your core.

NO:

YES:

2) No Inversions after your 7th month: In layman's terms - don't go upside down.  Any pose where your pelvis is higher than your head is not safe for pregnancy after the 7th month.  Since in these late months we want to give your baby the signal to go DOWN, flipping upside down into a headstand is giving them the opposite message.

3) No stomach-down poses: Because, duh.  Perfectly okay to do these early in pregnancy when your belly is non-existent.

4) To modify when you have a belly, simply take a wider stance with your feet.  A lot of times we have heel to heel alignment with our feet in standing poses, or feet together.  When you need to make room for your expanding belly, just take your feet to a comfortably wide position, such as hip-width.  This way, when lunging or squatting down, your belly can move between your legs instead of squishing down on your thighs.

5) Back bends: Still okay, but you will not want to go as far back as you normally would.  Which brings me to...

6) Do not overstretch your abdomen: Usually you are at risk of this in a back bend.  For some, they don't feel that pull in the midsection as much as others.  I happened to feel it very early on.  Just be gentle with your belly area.

7) Don't fall on your belly: Avoid poses that make you feel as if you are very off balance.  Use blocks or a wall to steady yourself.  One of the first things I noticed about practicing while pregnant is that my sense of balance was completely off - probably because I was carrying additional weight in front!  Be careful.

8) Don't lie on you back for too long.  Some would say to avoid this all together.  When on your back for an extended period of time, you can cut off blood circulation to you/your baby  I continued to lie on my back for a quick pose, but for savasana I would turn to my left side.

9) Be careful with overstretching: Due to all of the relaxin hormones in your body, your body is likely to be a lot more flexible than you are used to.  This may seem like a dream come true in your yoga practice, but it actually can be very dangerous.  I made the mistake of doing my pregnant yoga photo shoot without warming up enough, and I definitely over stretched myself.  It took a good week and a massage before I felt better.

10) Take a break.  Remember - this is not business-as-usual.  If you are the type that normally feels like you have failed if you need to take a breather while exercising, do everything you can to get rid of that mentality during your yoga practice now.  I'm telling you - the fact that you are doing ANYTHING is a major accomplishment!  Drop down into child's pose (knees wide!) whenever you need to get your breathing under control, or during a pose that you simply need to skip. #NoShame

Here is a list of poses that Yoga Journal advises against for pregnancy.  I don't agree with all of them and continued to do several of them while I was pregnant, but I wanted to include it anyway.  If you are participating in a regular yoga class at a studio, be sure to tell your instructor you are with-child.  They may call out alternate poses to you throughout the class.  OR - attend a prenatal yoga class!  All of the poses are safe there.

Finally - hot yoga: Safe, or not safe?  That seems to be a big debate lately with the hot yoga craze happening.  My doctor told me she would prefer I did not do it, and this is probably the one thing I did not take her advice on.  I continued to teach hot yoga (95-105 degrees) during my first trimester, but I did NOT practice in it.  I simply stood in the back of the room and talked, opening the door to cool off as necessary.  Since the first trimester is such a delicate time and when major things are forming and developing for the baby, I did not want to risk overheating.  During the second and third trimester, I did start participating while teaching and practicing, but only in the 95 degree classes. 

Namaste.