Prenatal Yoga 101
So, you’re finally pregnant.
The excitement has started to sink in, but along with it may have come something you weren’t quite expecting: anxiety.
Suddenly, there is so much to think about. What can you eat? What can’t you eat? Can you exercise? Can you lift things? Can you lie on your back? Can you still do your favourite yoga poses? What if you accidentally do something that harms your baby?
If you’ve never been pregnant before, it can feel completely overwhelming.
One minute you’re living your normal life and the next, it seems as though there is a huge list of things you’re not supposed to do. You may even reach a point where you feel like the safest option is to stop doing everything altogether.
Then, perhaps you make it through those first few weeks of nausea, exhaustion and simply trying to get your head around the fact that you are actually growing a baby. Your energy starts to come back, you feel more like yourself and you want to move your body again.
But then comes the question:
“What exercise is actually safe during pregnancy?”
And if yoga is something you’re interested in, you may be wondering whether you can start yoga for the very first time while pregnant.
The good news is that, for many healthy pregnancies, prenatal yoga can be a safe and beneficial form of movement throughout pregnancy, provided your healthcare professional has not advised you to restrict exercise and your practice is appropriately adapted as your pregnancy progresses.
And perhaps most importantly, you do not have to have been doing yoga for years before becoming pregnant to benefit from prenatal yoga.
Is yoga safe during pregnancy?
For most people with an uncomplicated pregnancy, staying active during pregnancy is encouraged, and yoga can be one way of maintaining strength, mobility, fitness and body awareness as your body changes.
However, pregnancy is not the time to push through pain, ignore warning signs or treat an advanced yoga practice as a challenge to conquer.
Your body is changing rapidly, sometimes from one week to the next, and your yoga practice needs to change with it.
This is where prenatal yoga comes in.
Prenatal yoga is not simply “normal yoga but easier”. It is a practice that takes the physical changes of pregnancy into consideration and adapts poses, transitions, breathing techniques and the use of props accordingly.
It can also be an opportunity to prepare your body and mind for birth, develop strength and stamina, work on mobility, connect with your pelvic floor and learn breathing and relaxation techniques that may be useful during labour.
If you are completely new to yoga, pregnancy can actually be a wonderful time to discover it.
You may have heard the advice that you shouldn’t start anything new during pregnancy, but this is where it is important to distinguish between starting a new activity that is inappropriate for pregnancy and beginning an appropriately adapted form of exercise such as prenatal yoga.
That said, every pregnancy is different. If you have a medical or pregnancy-related condition, complications, pain or have been advised to limit physical activity, speak to your midwife, obstetrician or other healthcare professional before beginning a prenatal yoga programme.
Prenatal Yoga in the First Trimester
The first trimester can feel like a strange combination of excitement, exhaustion and uncertainty.
You may be dealing with nausea, extreme tiredness, sore breasts, headaches and a whole host of symptoms while simultaneously trying to process the fact that you are pregnant.
So if the idea of a big, energetic yoga practice sounds completely unappealing, listen to that feeling.
You do not need to force yourself to exercise simply because you feel like you “should”.
During the first trimester, your yoga practice can be much more about maintaining connection with your body, breathing, relaxation and gentle movement.
There are plenty of pregnancy-appropriate yoga practices that can be incorporated during these early weeks, including restorative poses, breathing exercises, meditation, visualisation and Yoga Nidra.
It is also worth remembering that yoga is much more than the physical poses, or asanas.
This is something I think gets forgotten when we talk about yoga during pregnancy.
Meditation, pranayama or breathwork, visualisation, relaxation and Yoga Nidra can all form part of a prenatal yoga practice and can be particularly valuable when your mind is busy worrying about everything that could possibly go wrong.
If you are looking for somewhere to begin, start with my first trimester wellness plan and build your movement around how you are actually feeling.
Prenatal Yoga in Second Trimester
For many women, the second trimester brings a welcome shift.
The nausea may start to ease, your energy may return and you may finally feel a little more like yourself again.
Of course, this isn’t true for everyone. Some women continue to experience nausea and fatigue well into the second trimester, so there is no requirement to suddenly become much more active just because you have reached week 14.
But if your energy is returning, the second trimester can be a fantastic time to explore more of what prenatal yoga has to offer.
As your pregnancy progresses, your practice can incorporate more strengthening and dynamic movement while still being adapted to your changing body.
Prenatal yoga during the second trimester can help you work on:
- Strength and muscular endurance
- Mobility and flexibility
- Balance and stability
- Fitness and stamina
- Pelvic floor awareness
- Breathing techniques
- Relaxation and nervous system regulation
- Preparation for birth
- Confidence in your changing body
- Movement for common pregnancy discomforts
This doesn’t mean you need to spend an hour sweating through an intense yoga flow every day.
A good prenatal yoga practice should give you options.
Some days you might want something energising and strengthening. Other days you may need mobility, stretching or a more restorative practice.
The important thing is learning how to work with your changing body rather than against it.
Prenatal Yoga in Third Trimester
By the third trimester, there is no hiding the fact that your body is doing something pretty extraordinary.
Your bump is growing, your centre of gravity is changing and everyday movements can suddenly feel very different.
Your yoga practice naturally changes too.
Third trimester prenatal yoga can still include strengthening poses, but the emphasis often shifts towards maintaining functional strength, mobility, comfort, relaxation and preparing for birth.
Props can become your best friend.
Blocks, bolsters, blankets, chairs and other supports can help you adapt familiar poses and find positions that feel comfortable as your belly grows.
This is also a wonderful time to bring more birth preparation into your prenatal yoga practice.
Yoga can give you an opportunity to explore breathing techniques, movement, relaxation, pelvic mobility and different positions that may be useful during labour.
Instead, prenatal yoga can help you develop tools that you can draw upon when you need them: movement, breath, awareness, strength, relaxation and confidence.
Prenatal Yoga Is About More Than Being “Safe”
Safety is obviously incredibly important during pregnancy.
But I don’t want pregnancy yoga to become so focused on what you can’t do that you forget what your body can do.
Pregnancy is not an illness.
For many women, pregnancy is a time when movement can continue to play an important role in physical and mental wellbeing.
Your body is changing, but that doesn’t mean you need to stop challenging it altogether.
You can build strength, maintain fitness, work on stamina, improve mobility, learn how to connect with your pelvic floor, practise breathing techniques, prepare for birth and You can move in ways that make your changing body feel supported and capable.
And you can discover that you are capable of much more than you perhaps thought.
This is one of the reasons I love prenatal yoga so much.
It isn’t about wrapping yourself in cotton wool for nine months and being terrified of movement.
It is about understanding that your body is changing and learning how to move with those changes.
Do I Need to Have Done Yoga Before Pregnancy?
No.
If you have never done yoga before, you can still explore pregnancy-specific yoga, provided you have been cleared for physical activity and the practice is designed appropriately for pregnancy.
In fact, prenatal yoga can be a particularly accessible way to start moving because the focus is not on achieving complicated poses or keeping up with an advanced class.
You are learning how to move your body, build strength, breathe, relax and become more aware of what feels good for you.
You simply need a willingness to meet your body where it is today.
If there is one thing I would love you to take away from this article, it is that there isn’t one perfect way to do yoga during pregnancy.
Your practice at 10 weeks may look completely different from your practice at 20 weeks, which may look completely different again at 35 weeks. And honestly, it should look different at those points in your pregnancy. This is a sign that you’re following your body needs and using prenatal yoga to adapt and change with you.
Even within the same trimester, your energy, symptoms, comfort levels and needs can change from day to day.
Some days you might want a stronger practice. Some days you might need restorative yoga. Some days you might want to focus on mobility and relieving tension. Other days you may simply want to lie down, breathe and give your nervous system a chance to settle.
Learning to respond to those changes is one of the most valuable things yoga can teach you.
So, Is Yoga Safe During Pregnancy?
For many women with healthy, uncomplicated pregnancies, prenatal yoga can be a safe and valuable way to stay active throughout pregnancy, when the practice is appropriately adapted and you have no medical reason to avoid exercise.
But the goal isn’t simply to stay “safe”.
The goal is to help you feel strong, capable, supported and confident in your changing body.
Pregnancy comes with enough rules, restrictions and things to worry about without turning movement into another source of anxiety.
You don’t need to be frightened of your body.
You don’t need to stop moving because you’re pregnant.
And you don’t need to have been practising yoga for years to begin.
You can start where you are, adapt as your pregnancy progresses and learn to listen to what your body is telling you.
Because prenatal yoga isn’t about forcing your pregnant body to fit into your old yoga practice.
It’s about creating a practice that fits the body you have today.
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