Prenatal yoga can be highly therapeutic in many ways for you as a pregnant woman, even if you have never been into yoga before and have little experience with it. Prenatal yoga classes have helped tens of thousands of mothers-to-be physically, mentally, and emotionally. In fact, it has also helped women during their labor.
One of the most therapeutic aspects of prenatal yoga is simply getting together regularly with other pregnant women who can intimately understand your circumstances and feelings. It's very good for women to be social during pregnancy since they can tend to turn inwards and feel too "whale like" or something like that to get out as much as they should.
Plus, even the most sympathetic and understanding man is still a man. It's good for the pregnant woman to get away from her husband and join together in healthy activity with other women. (Although it's alright if the yoga instructor is a man!)
How does prenatal yoga help a pregnant woman?
1. Increasing both flexibility and strength. Yoga stretches not just muscles and ligaments but the very tissues of the whole body, allowing enhanced oxygen flow. Greater flexibility and better oxygen flow yield greater strength and stamina physically and mentally. This asana yoga practice also reduces inflammation in the wrists and ankles, something which pregnant women are especially vulnerable to. This is also good for the developing baby.
2. Reductions in lower back pain and sciatica. Yoga causes you to become intimately aware of correct body alignment. As a pregnant women, you then become able to carry your belly and yourself in an integrated manner so that the highly vulnerable region of the lower back does not have to bear so much of a weight burden.
3. The cervical and thoracic regions of your spine get relief. Pregnant women often have a hard time being able to sleep soundly, as it's hard for them to find a comfortable position for themselves. This leads to undue pressure being placed upon the aforementioned regions of the spine. There are yoga poses designed to give you greater fluidity in the spine via the stretching of the Para spinal muscles.
4. By consistently practicing squatting asana, which is a position in prenatal yoga, you tone your pelvic floor muscles and increase your ability to hold a squatting position. These areas of increased strength help greatly when the labor actually comes.
5. The forward folds and gentle rotations of these yoga practices help you with your digestion as a pregnant woman. As your baby grows, he pushes your internal organs around and this often causes pregnant women to have extra pressure on their stomachs and intestines (meaning you're not alone!).
6. The power of visualization and mental imagery is learned in prenatal yoga, and this helps greatly with the labor process.
When the time for labor comes, the pregnant woman should know how to vocalize without fear or repression. Since "Om" is considered to be the sound of birth in Sanskrit, learning to vocalize this sound deeply and with discipline helps you give birth with less trepidation and suffering.
Hopefully you can now see the many benefits of getting involved in prenatal yoga as a pregnant woman and why it's so important. Best of luck to you and your new child!
