Pregnancy is a special time for both the expecting mother and her unborn infant. Prenatal yoga is ideal for helping you to connect with your breath and your baby while accepting and embracing the constant changes that are happening to your body.
The benefits are huge but include…
Reduce stress and anxiety
Being pregnant means you are at your most powerful – growing a baby inside your belly is no small task. But you’re also at your most vulnerable. Pregnancy yoga will teach you life long skills to help reduce your stress levels and anxiety resulting in better sleep and a more calm and confident pregnancy.
Take time for YOU
We spend so much time on everyone and everything else. Work, home life, partner, catching up with friends and family before the new arrival, decorating the nursery and buying everything that tiny little new person will need – this can all leave you feeling depleted and overwhelmed. Take time to focus on YOU. You are carrying a precious little life inside you and you DESERVE this special time. It goes without saying that your baby will benefit from a calm and happy mummy.
Relieve aches & pains
Your body is doing an amazing job – conceiving and growing a baby. Did you know that when you get pregnant every single cell in your body changes? WOW! I mean no wonder you’re feeling tired, emotional, achey and swollen, Sometimes all you need is to move those achey body parts and they start to feel better. Pregnancy yoga can be extremely effective at reducing or eliminating altogether those pregnancy ailments making you feel better immediately, but also giving you tools that you can use at home to keep them at bay throughout your pregnancy.
Strengthen the body
Being fit and healthy during pregnancy is crucial. It’s proven that the fitter and healthier you are before you give birth, the more easily you’ll deal with the challenges once your baby arrives. In the pregnancy yoga class we look at ways to safely strengthen the legs and glutes which can ward off backache. Strong legs are also useful in labour so you can actively move around and get into some awesome birthing positions.
Prepare the body and mind for birth
Labour is a marathon not a sprint. And you wouldn’t enter a long distance race without some serious preparation first! Pregnancy yoga can help prepare your body and your mind so that when the big day comes you feel physically and mentally ready. The breathing exercises we learn will help keep you calm and relaxed during labour.
Connect and bond with your baby
Sometimes during pregnancy we are so busy planning, preparing, working that it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that there is a tiny baby in your tummy! Take time in the yoga class to visualise your baby, feel your baby and begin to develop a bond with your baby.
Make room inside your body for YOU
As your baby grows all of your organs get squished leaving very little room for you inside your own body. The yoga will create a bit of space, allowing you to circulate fresh oxygenated blood around every organ and also give you a bit of space to breathe.
Give you more energy
The class can also help to relieve fatigue and provide renewed energy, which is great for those days where you feel low on energy,
Learn breathing for labour & birth
You’ll be encouraged to focus on breathing slowly and deeply in order to promote relaxation and to help reduce stress. The more you practice these breathing exercises during pregnancy, the more like second nature it will be for you when the big moment arrives – you’re more likely to be able to keep calm, breathe deeply and steadily and your surges (contractions) much more manageable.
Meet like minded mamas-to-be
You can practically guarantee that other pregnant yogis are feeling similar to you. My pregnancy yoga class gives you the opportunity to meet other mamas-to-be and share experiences.
“I had a very lovely calm labour, a lot of which I believe was down to attending your yoga classes over the last months. It was a hugely positive experience for me, and I was able to birth my boy with only gas and air, no tearing or stitches, and it set me up well for the challenges of caring for an early baby.”
Where & When
Regular pregnancy yoga classes each week, plus look out for the occasional workshops.
Sundays 12:30-1:30pm
Blooming Bamboo, Seaham
£9
Book online at Blooming Bamboo Wellness Centre
Wednesdays 5:15-6:20pm
Body Reflexions, Houghton
£9
Book online at Body Reflexions