Yoga During Pregnancy - Helpful Tips for Pregnant Women

Yoga offers many benefits for the pregnant woman. Yoga can help a pregnant woman get through their pregnancy with minimal discomfort. It also helps in the different stages of pregnancy as well as the post-delivery stages. Posture is also improved by yoga and this can help ease back problems, which are common for a pregnant woman. Yoga also continues to have benefits after pregnancy, too. Postnatal yoga, which can be started about six weeks after the birth, strengthens abdominal muscles and your pelvic floor. It also helps you to get back to your pre-pregnancy shape faster.

Since pregnant woman often becomes hyper aware of all the changes their bodies are going through during the different stages of their pregnancy. Yoga brings an overall awareness to your body through focused breathing exercises, meditation and poses or "asanas". Yoga exercises allows a pregnant woman to adapt to the changes in herself more gracefully and to feel proud and a sense of appreciation for their bodies.

Some of the mental benefits and physical benefits to practicing yoga during pregnancy are:

1) increased flexibility
2) increase in strength
3) better circulation
4) balance
5) relaxation
6) focus

Here are some tips for a pregnant woman following a yoga routine:

1. General yoga exercises are recommended for a pregnant woman in the first 2 months.

2. 'Pranayama' or breathing exercises should be done twice a day so that there is complete expulsion of carbon dioxide that will give way for fresh intake of oxygen. In Pranayama, you first close one nostril and strongly exhale from the other for about half a minute. Then close the open nostril, exhale from the other for 30 seconds and inhale from the same for the same amount of time. Repeat this for about 5 mins.

3. Some yoga poses help a pregnant woman deal with the symptoms of pregnancy, ensuring smoother and easier delivery, and faster recovery after childbirth. A pregnant woman should pay attention not to over stretch the body - the ligaments around the joints become loose and soft during pregnancy.

4. When carrying out standing poses with your heels to the wall or use a chair for support to avoid losing your balance and risking injury to both the pregnant woman and her baby.

5. Deep relaxation is crucial to give rest to the body and mind, and you will benefit more from a good sleep.

The Yoga Poses for a pregnant woman are gentle ways of keeping her body active and supple and minimize the common symptoms like morning sickness and constipation.

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