Yoga can be very beneficial during pregnancy for several reasons. In addition to the “general” (in the absence of a better word…) benefits I talked about earlier here, here’s a few pregnancy specific points that are interesting:
- An asana practise can be very grounding both physically and emotionally: It can literally improve balance as the centre of gravity of the body shifts during pregnancy. It also offers hightened mental balance during time when emotions can run on the surface more than before.
- Yoga develops and increases body awareness and acceptance during and through the pregnancy and labour. You can learn techniques to ease discomfort during pregnancy and labour, how to promote optimal featal position and helps to create a connection with the baby.
- We cannot talk about any type of yoga without mentioning the breath: Just as breath is incorporated to every asana, it is also an integral tool of childbirth. Pranayama practises learned during pregnancy yoga can be also utilised during contractions, labour and birth.
- Yoga offers a moment of relaxation and self-nurture, especially important during pregnancy. Yoga poses modified for pregnancy effectively relieve tension in neck, shoulders, upper and lower back, chest and hips.
- A group pregnancy class promotes general wellbeing and health but also offer a bonding experience with others in the same stage of life: this can be a real community building experience
If you are pregnant, this got you interested AND you are in the Larnaca area in Cyprus I would love to hear from you! I am currently in training to obtain the Birthlight organisation’s perinatal yoga teacher diploma, in addition to my 200 hour yoga teacher credentials. Together with my yoga teacher colleague and a coursemate Ikonia we will be starting Birthlight perinatal classes in 2017 that is fast coming up! The classes will be held at the Evi Suri Russian Ballet School in Larnaca. The exact times will be confirmed once we have an idea how many people are interested. Any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch, we will be happy to answer!
Photo from Yoga with Ikonia FB page.
Featured image by Brian Tomlinson
1 Comment
Yoga Classes in Winter 2017 – On The Same Time Zone
January 13, 2017 at 17:42[…] Ikonia and I are also still looking for pregnant ladies (13 weeks and over) interested in pregnancy yoga in Larnaca so we can put a small group together. You can read more about the benefits of yoga during pregnancy here. […]