Pregnancy Modifications For a Safe and Sublime Yoga Practice

The majority of yoga asanas that you practice will most likely be still safe in your practice during pregnancy. However, there are definitely some “don’ts” and things to avoid for a safe practice to accommodate your growing belly and the baby within. These are some common rules for practicing prenatal yoga.

The Do Not’s

1. Deep Twists
   We want to ensure that baby has plenty of breathing room during our practice. Coming into a deep twist can strain our baby for space and potentially compromise circulation to the uterus.

2. Inversions
   This modification really depends on the mumma. If you have a strong inversion practice before baby and are confident in your ability to go upside down without falling, continue to practice your inversions. There is nothing physiologically that occurs that make inversions problematic and many smaller inversions like downdog or legs up the wall are encouraged. If you do not already practice inversions, now is not the time to start any kind of handstand, headstand or the like.

3. Deep Backbends
   Some mummas practice backbends throughout their pregnancy. However, this is one area to consider backing off of the closer your get to your due date. The growing uterus will tend to pull our lumbar spine into a deeper curve and practicing backbends may exaggerate this bringing your spine into a deep lordosis. This can cause back pain. Many prenatal classes focus on forward folds as a way to relieve tension in the lower back for mumma. Do what feels good for you and proceed with caution.

4. Lying on Your Back
   There is a major blood vessel call the Vena Cava that runs directly behind your growing uterus. When we lie on our backs, our growing uterus has the potential to rest of this vessel cutting off the circulation. If this happens, you may feel dizziness and eventually loss of consciousness. For this reason we do not lie on our backs during yoga for an extended period of time starting in the 2nd trimester. Some mummas (including myself) find great comfort lying on their backs and experience no symptoms. For these mummas, it may be fine, but the general rule is to avoid this position if possible.

5. Ab Work
   Any type of twisting and tightening in the abdominal area may promote splitting of the abs and cause diastasis recti postpartum. Our bellies are growing and that’s a good thing! Doing ab work tightens these muscles running contradictory to our goals. Instead, accept and allow the connective tissue between your abs to stretch and do their thing. There may be room for ab work targeting the transverse abdominals, which is a sheath of deeper muscle that is connected to the sides of our ribcage. But these muscles are often difficult to target and isolate.

6. Over Stretching
   Starting in the first trimester a new hormone called “relaxin” is introduced to our blood stream. Fitting to its name, relaxin helps to relax and soften ligaments, connective tissues and muscles in preparation for a growing uterus and birth. Yogis may rejoice at the new flexy nature of their bodies as they are able to go deeper into familiar postures. However, this can lead to dangerous overstretching and injury. Just be aware of this hormone and take it easy on the deep stretching. Pay close attention to your body and acknowledge that this is not the time to push our bodies to new depths.

7. Intensity
   The general rule of thumb for any exercise during pregnancy states, if you are able to maintain a conversation through your breathing, you are at a good pace. Meaning, we don’t want our heart rate to increase so high that we are gasping for breath. An experienced practitioner is probably already familiar with this concept as we don’t typically want to increase our heart rates beyond this in any practice. Throughout your pregnancy you most certainly will experience changes in energy level. Be mindful of this and adjust your intensity accordingly.

After first, modifying your practice may seem overwhelming. I guarantee you’ll find many of the poses you enjoyed in your regular practice you can take with you to your prenatal practice. After your bump starts really growing, many of these modifications will become intuitive.

Remember in all practice, honor the place you are today and pay attention to the sensations of your body. What is right for you tomorrow or yesterday is not the same today. Now that you have a passenger in your practice, we must focus on what’s best for your body and theirs.