Yoga and Your Baby

by Heather Long | More from this Blogger

28 Jan 2006 06:04 PM

Pregnancy is a difficult time to focus on fitness exercises. You're uncomfortable; your body is growing and changing. Your hormones rage and there never seems to be enough energy for everything. Yoga is a form of exercise that is ideal for pregnancy and offers pregnant women a strong core, healthy mental space and emotional succor during a period of time that can be very trying.

Yoga provides more than three vital elements for pregnant women. The results of using yoga during pregnancy include a smooth pregnancy and childbirth. Yoga also does wonders for the child growing within. There is documented evidence that women who continue their fitness programs and maintain their fitness during the pregnancy produce children with leaner muscle mass, not underweight, but providing them with a foundation to build on as they grow and develop.

The elements yoga provides for pregnant women include exercises that gently work the pelvis and reproductive organs, helping to provide a smooth pregnancy and natural childbirth. The deep breathing exercises provide an abundance of oxygen and the deep relaxation is effective especially when preparing for the actual birthing process.

Yoga is about flexibility, core strength and health of mind as well as body. There are numerous classes in pre-natal yoga as well as tapes, CDs and DVDs available. Yoga provides strong postures and exercises that vary widely in application and style. There are exercises that are ideal for each different trimester.

Yoga can help relieve fluid retention and cramping in the last trimester. It can help strengthen and massage the abdomen, stimulating not only appetite but also influencing where the baby is lying. You can raise your personal levels of energy and slow down your metabolism, reducing the effects of stress. Your nausea, morning sickness and mood swings can be reduced or even eliminated through yoga breathing exercises.

Essentially, yoga is the ideal prescription for the fit pregnancy. The impact to joints is low. It can be performed at home or in a class. The styles vary so there is something that will appeal to everyone. Yoga can continue to help mother and baby after delivery by restoring firmness to the abdominal area and relieving upper back tension. Post-natal yoga practitioners have also found that breast soreness is greatly reduced whether they are breast-feeding or not.

It's important if you elect to check out yoga as a pre-natal or post-natal exercise that you get some expert help to get you off on the right foot. Check out books and other expert materials to provide guidance in the types of activities that are recommended for each trimester. Discover all the ways you and your baby can enjoy yoga together before and after birth.

Come back later when I discuss the book Yoga for You and Your Child: The Step-By-Step Guide to Enjoying Yoga with Children of All Ages.

Learn more about Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago.

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