Indeed, pregnancy isn’t an easy stage. A lot of techniques, preparations and tips are involved throughout this long process. One must maintain a healthy body to ensure the health of yourself and for your future child. Eating healthy foods, taking prenatal supplements, and having regular exercises are needed.

One of the most popular exercise in today’s world is yoga. Yoga relaxes your body and is easy to do. But can you do yoga while pregnant? Perhaps, yes. A lot of care and precautions are needed by someone when pregnant. Prenatal yoga is a form of yoga which is created and suited for pregnant women. Prenatal yoga also prepares a woman for an easy labor and promoting her child’s health. But further consultation in needed to ensure that yoga during pregnancy is safe for you. Because there are some yoga poses to avoid during pregnancy.

In the first trimester, there is some specific pregnancy yoga poses recommended. Because this stage is the crucial point of pregnancy and it needs a lot of caution to prevent miscarriage or complications. Check these few yoga poses that are safe when pregnant:

 

• Cat Pose

In this kind of pose, you must kneel in a table position with your knees under your hips and arms are beneath your shoulder. Head faces forward and your back must be straight. Exhale, drop head and your tailbone. Then arch your back and exhale further. Next is tighten your buttocks and the abdominal muscles. Do this every evening and/or morning. This is a great way to release the stress and tension in your lower back.

This pose strengthens and relaxes your lower back, improves blood circulation, stretches your muscles along the neck, arms and back, and increases the suppleness along your spines.

 

• Sitting on the floor

These three poses which are recommended ways to sit. This is to reduce the lower back pain, pressure, and even discomfort.

Seated on the floor. This is to help the spine to be straight in any form of seated position. Sit with your back and resting against the wall for support. You can also sit on a folded blanket or in the firm cushion to keep the spine straight.

 

• Knee rocking

It is advisable not to warm-up if you feel any discomfort in the pelvic area and in the hips.

In a cross-legged position, sit in with your leg on the top. If possible, you can lean against the wall to support your back. Then cradle your left leg with your both arms and lift it towards the chest and to your abdomen as long as you’re comfortable.

Keep your back straight and hold your leg as high, and as close to you if possible, without straining. By moving from the hip joint, gently rock your leg as if you’re just rocking a baby. After rocking it for several legs, switch leg position and repeat it with your other leg.

This pose helps alleviate the discomfort in your hip joints which probably caused by the pressure of your growing baby on the joints and nerves in the hip part, thighs and buttocks. It also improves the flexibility in the pelvic, groin area, and in the pelvic.

These just only a few safe yoga poses. Despite these poses, you’ll to avoid these poses: camel, headstands, upward bow, backbends, and balancing poses on leg unless it is supported by a wall or chair.

To further ensure your safety, here are some recommended guidelines needed to be followed:

• Avoid poses which stretches your muscles too much, especially in the abdomen. Because of the pregnancy hormone called relaxin, which causes the uterus to expands then eventually softens the connective tissue, you are more prone to pulls, strains, and other injuries right now.

• If you are already attending a regular yoga class before, make sure to inform your teacher or instructor that you are having a baby and which you’re trimester in.

• Listen to your body. If you feel any discomfort, then STOP. You will need to modify your poses as your body is changing. That’s why you’re in need of a good instructor, to help you modify your yoga to suit the stage of your pregnancy.

• Never go into any asanas poses on the back right  after the first trimester. It can reduce the blood flow to your uterus.

• When you are bending forward, hinge from the hips. Leading it with the breastbone and extending your spine from the crown of your head down to your tailbone. This will allow more space for your ribs to move and which makes easy breathing.

• To avoid losing your balance and risk of injury to your baby and yourself on the second trimester and the center of gravity starts to change, do some standing poses with your heel to the wall or use any chair for further support.

• When doing some twisting poses, to avoid putting some pressure on the abdomen, just twist more from your shoulder and back rather than from your waist. Do only comfortable twist. Deep twists are not advisable during pregnancy for it may put you at a higher risk of injury and complications.

• When bending forward while you’re sitting place a yoga strap or a shower behind your feet then hold its both ends. Bend from your hips then lifts your chest. This will avoid in compressing the abdomen. Placing a rolled-up towel under the buttocks to elevate your body and then open your legs about a hip in width, to give a room for the belly to come in front, is often done if your belly is too big for the particular movement.

• To help relax your muscles in the buttocks, keep the pelvis in a neutral position during a pose by engaging the abdominals and the tailbone down and in. This can help reduce or hopefully reduce the sciatic pain down to your back of the leg, which is a common effect during pregnancy. It can also prevent injury to your connective tissue that is responsible for stabilizing your pelvis area.

Yoga and pregnancy are indeed a perfect combination. Yoga is really safe. Why not try it? But always have in mind, safety must be on top of your priority.