If you are pregnant, then chances are you will be in your third week of home isolation. So how, are you feeling? Hopefully, you can use this time to plan for your new family member as well as take the opportunities to relax as much as possible.
We know that pregnancy can often be an emotional and physical rollercoaster anyway. But, now you can’t distract yourself with many of the things you usually love to do, it’s bound to be even harder.
So, here at Go Yoga Harrogate, we are introducing a new programme of online pregnancy yoga classes that you can join in from home. We recommend our yoga sessions for women in their second or third trimester of pregnancy.
If you are thinking about joining us, then here are a few ways in which a regular yoga practice could benefit you throughout your pregnancy.
Sleep better
At the end of each pregnancy yoga class, we like to finish with a lovely guided meditation to relax your muscles and restore your resting heart rate and breath. You might be encouraged to pay attention to sensations in your body, visualise yourself in certain scenarios or repeat a mantra to bring inner calm. If you have been having trouble sleeping during the recent weeks, then these techniques could be replicated before bed or if you wake in the night to help you clear your mind and drift off back to sleep.
Keep important muscle groups toned
During your yoga lesson, your yoga teacher will guide you on how to gently move and stretch different areas of your body, such as your legs, neck and arms, through their full range of motion. Whether standing, sitting or lying on the ground, these gentle yoga postures will help you to develop strength, flexibility and balance. Yoga poses like lunges and gentle squats, can help to build and maintain muscle tone during pregnancy, especially the pelvic floor, hip and core muscles. This should also help to minimise aches and pains over the last few months, as well as get your body in better shape for once you have given birth.
Learn some good breathing exercises for labour
During your yoga lessons, you'll be encouraged to focus on breathing in and out deeply through your nose. Our prenatal yoga breathing techniques might help you to manage your contractions during labour and give you something to focus on during times of anxiety or stress. If you do decide to use some breathing techniques during your labour they will help you stay calm and breathe steadily through your contractions and may even mean you need less pain-relief during your baby’s birth.
Catch up with other pregnant ladies
Being pregnant during this isolation period means that you will be missing out on valuable opportunities to meet up and socialise with other pregnant women who will be experiencing many of the same feelings and symptoms as you. Even though our current yoga classes are all online, you will still be able to see and practice with other like-minded ladies, and we always add a bit of time at the end of the session if you want to stay on and chat together for a while. Plus, one isolation is over, and your baby is born, you will have a new set of girls to meet in the yoga studio and practice baby yoga with!
Caroline will be hosting a pregnancy yoga session on Friday 17th April at 11.30 am. Sign up for the class here or via the Go Yoga App.