Relaxing during pregnancy is very important for releasing tension and recharging your batteries. If you feel lethargic, energetically blocked or stressed, you need to know how to switch off your thinking mind and relax into your body. Restorative yoga exercises replenish energy from the inside out. The combination of controlled breathing and a recuperative pose can unblock the channels of energy within your body and reduce stress hormone levels. This has a positive effect on your growing baby and creates a calm state of mind that will help you during labour – and beyond.
I feel confident and relaxed.
I rest and nurture myself to build my energy levels.
I have reserves of energy that l can draw on during my labour.
I can let go of anxieties and fears and trust that my body knows what to do.
I have support from people around me.
I send healing energy and vitality to my baby.
Calm and restful awareness is the most natural human state, but our busy modern lives tend to make us forget this and we become disconnected from our true selves. Rediscovering inner peace while you are pregnant can feel like coming home. Not only do you have a personal sanctuary within, you are also providing a safe place for your baby to grow – practising specific relaxation and restorative poses for the mind and body will have a deeply peaceful effect on you both, bringing you closer to your natural state of intuition, in which you can hear and trust your inner voice. Pregnancy is not just a journey toward the birth of your child but is also a rite of passage into motherhood.
During pregnancy many of us carry a multitude of emotions and some of these may be fearful or anticipatory. This is normal, particularly for first-time mothers. Quietening your mind and letting it achieve a state of relaxation has a similar effect on your body, and vice versa. In other words, practising restorative poses and relaxing your body also calm your mind.
When you are practising yoga it is important to realize that different poses have different energetic effects. Some are stimulating and others make you feel more relaxed according to how you feel on any given day. This also applies to the seasons and the time of day. As you become more in tune with your body you understand which yoga practice – whether a single posture or a sequence, a meditation or a specific breathing exercise – will bring you back into balance.
Learning to breathe deeply when facing stressful situations or feeling anxious can help you to dissolve physical and emotional tension. By practising Savasana (see pages 84–5) and Child’s Pose (see pages 80–81) throughout pregnancy, your body will instinctively enter a state of relaxation when you come into these poses in labour.
And remember … learn how to nap! This skill will be invaluable in the early months with a newborn.
Birth Story …
“The most profound effect of restorative yoga was that it enabled me to embrace without fear the prospect of giving birth. Through yoga I learned to listen to my body and trust its capabilities. My first labour was scheduled to be a home birth, but as the labour dragged on and my cervix wouldn’t fully dilate, eventually I transferred to hospital and my son was delivered by forceps. But I never felt that the birthing experience was ‘taken away’ from me. Throughout I was able to stay present – at each juncture accepting what was or wasn’t happening – and make the necessary choices to deliver my baby safely. Three years later when I had my daughter it was completely different. Again I planned for a home birth, but this time things moved on a lot more quickly and consequently the experience was much more intense. What saw me through was a complete focus on the breath and on the present moment. The few instances when it nearly felt overwhelming – when my response could have turned into panic – my mind took me beyond thoughts of ‘How long will this go on? What if I can’t take it any longer?’ In those moments, completely committing to coming back to the breath, to riding the surges or contractions one at a time, was what saw me through. My daughter was born at home in our bed and it was amazing to experience this completely natural yet miraculous event. I relied on the physical strength as well as the strength of mind, the focus, that I had built up during my yoga practice.” Tanja
Relaxation is as important as the active poses we have explored in previous chapters. This is a time for you to let go completely, allowing the benefits of your yoga practice to integrate with your mind, your body and your baby. Learning how to relax is a great mental preparation for labour, helping you to utilize the pauses between contractions to replenish and restore your energy. Finding a comfortable position in late pregnancy is not always easy, but the following selection of seated and lying positions should be helpful.
This is good to do if you are under 25 weeks pregnant (providing you still feel OK to lie on your back) and have tired legs or swollen feet, ankles or legs.
Lie on your back with cushions or a folded blanket for support under your lower back and under your head, and rest with your legs bent on a chair or a sofa. Remain here for as long as you like.
In late pregnancy, you will increasingly feel the need to sit down to relieve the burden of the extra weight you are carrying. We have already looked at the right and wrong way to sit for yoga practice (see page 34), but you will also benefit from finding the correct position when you are just relaxing.
CORRECT
Make sure you sit up tall using a cushion behind your back and under your feet, if required.
INCORRECT
Try to resist the temptation to lean back into a sofa or an armchair. If you slouch, it puts pressure on the back and may also encourage your baby to move into a posterior position. This is something you want to avoid, if possible.
Nagging physical discomfort, such as an aching back, can distract the mind and get in the way of relaxation. Bending and stretching using a reasonably high-backed chair or sofa for support is a great way to gently relieve pressure on the back. Sitting “the wrong way round” on a chair is another position that takes weight off the lower spine.
LEANING ON A CHAIR
Find a sturdy chair (or a sofa). If the chair is likely to move, place it next to a wall. Stand with your feet parallel to it – about 3½ft (1m) away – and reach your arms out, resting your hands on top of the chair or sofa back. Try not to collapse into your lower back – keep it as straight as possible. Breathe deeply as you feel your spine lengthening, anchoring down through your heels and moving your hips back. Use this position whenever you feel tightness or pressure in your back. This is a good alternative to Downward Dog (see Salute to the Sun, pages 64–9) if you are in the last few weeks of your pregnancy.
RESTING ON A CHAIR
This is a great position for relaxing or chatting to friends, as it releases pressure from your lower spine and allows your pelvis to tilt, taking the weight of the baby off your spine and encouraging it into the optimal foetal position. Find a chair with no arms, turn it around and sit with one leg on each side, resting one hand lightly on the other arm.
This pose gently relaxes the hamstrings. Tight hamstrings can pull the pelvis and cause back pain.
Lying on your back (if you are under 25 weeks pregnant), using cushions for support, can be a wonderfully relaxing pose in its own right. You can lie with your legs straight and your feet against the wall. Feel the stretch in your hamstrings. Come out of the pose after a few minutes (earlier if you feel any discomfort) by bending your knees toward you, keeping them wide, and rolling onto one side before you sit up.
This is a wonderful restorative pose that is useful for replenishing your energy and releasing tension in between contractions during labour. You can use it whenever you need to rest during pregnancy or if you feel dizzy when you are practising any of the exercises. As this pose is designed for relaxation, it is particularly important that you feel comfortable in it. Use the suggested modifications, if necessary, to make it work for you.
1 On all fours bring your knees wide apart, big toes touching, and sit back on your heels if possible.
• If your sit bones don’t reach your heels, place a pillow there (see below).
• If you have groin pain, keep your knees closer together and stay upright closing your eyes.
2 Extend your arms forward to lengthen your spine.
• If you prefer to keep your head up, cup your chin in your hands (see opposite).
• If you are not comfortable on the floor or your bump is big, you can raise your arms on cushions and make a pillow with your hands, turning your head to one side (see opposite).
3 Soften your face, relax your jaw and breathe deeply (releasing the jaw is linked to softening the cervix). Think about breathing into your back and let go. Focus on your breath, and whenever your mind wanders bring your attention back to your breathing.
This powerful meditation celebrates motherhood and the creation of new life. It ends with an affirmation giving the meaning of namaste, a Sanskrit word used throughout the Indian sub-continent as a salutation and usually accompanied by a prayer gesture that represents the divine spark within each of us.
1 Sit cross-legged and rest your hands on your baby in yoni mudra. Your fingers point down toward your pelvis and the tips of the thumbs touch, as do the index fingers, making a womb shape.
2 Focus on the rise and fall of your baby being massaged with each breath. Breathe deeply and start to bring your awareness deeper inside your body. Visualize your baby safe and sound in your womb. PAUSE 
See yourself as a beautiful, powerful woman, a creator of life, a spiritual being. Feel honoured that you are able to nurture this new life within you. Marvel at the power that you have been given. Celebrate your body growing new life; be awed at your blooming fuller form; see yourself as a source of creation at its most inspiring … You are part of an incredible, unique process in which, miraculously, your body knows exactly what to do. You are a Goddess … Tune into how this feels and what it means to you. You are staying centred and grounded as you progress through each stage of this wonderful and exciting journey into motherhood. Take this amazing opportunity that you are fortunate to have and build your sense of inner power … you, too, are a miracle of creation. Allow yourself to be a light shining for others. Be all that you can be. Feel courageous and empowered. Honour the Goddess within you. Feel gratitude for what you are experiencing. Your life will change forever once you welcome your baby into the world and hold it in your arms. You feel more love for this precious being, this sacred gift, than you ever thought possible.
3 Start to come back to the sensation of your breath moving in your abdomen. Rub your hands together in front of your heart until they feel warm. Place one hand on top of the other over your heart. Feel the warmth from your hands and imagine it radiating throughout your body, sealing the energy and intention from this meditation deep within you. Now, placing one hand on your baby, and keeping the other hand on your heart, connect with your baby, sending it joy, courage, love and strength.
4 Finally, bow your chin toward your heart. If you wish, turn your hands upward, pressing your palms and fingers together in front of your chest in the namaste gesture. Give thanks as you honour the life growing within you: “I honour the place where the entire universe resides. I honour the feeling of truth, love, light and peace. I honour the feeling where, if you are in that place in you and I am in that place in me, there is only one of us.” Namaste
As already mentioned, it is advisable to avoid lying on your back in the last months of pregnancy as this can put pressure on your spine and may restrict blood flow, making you feel dizzy and nauseous. If you are in your last trimester, or feel uncomfortable on your back, lie on your left side instead – this encourages your baby into the optimum position for birth and assists your heart and blood flow. Placing a cushion (or cushions) either under your right leg or between both legs will take pressure off your pelvis. Cushions underneath your knees will release your lower back, and for comfort you can place a cushion under your head, too (see Variations A and B, opposite). Close your eyes and rest here, enjoying the feeling of being supported.
1 Relax … let go. Soften your eyes and all the little muscles around your eyes, release your jaw, relax the root of your tongue and let it rest on the roof of your mouth. Release the base of your skull, soften across your forehead and top of your head, soften your neck and relax your throat, your centre of creativity, change and expression, which is heightened during pregnancy. Release your shoulders away from your ears and visualize sending any stress and tension down your arms and out through your fingers. Soften the front of your body, relax your chest and release deep into your abdomen, sending this sense of peace to your growing baby. Relax the back of your body, releasing your upper back, softening the middle of your back and relaxing the lower back all the way down to your sacrum. Release your pelvis, softening your hips and buttocks and relax all the way down through your legs to your feet and toes. Imagine that your body is melting into the floor and see if you can let go even more now. Gently bring your awareness to your breathing, clearing your mind of any thoughts for the last minute or so. PAUSE Remain here with your mind free of thought for a minute or longer. Any time a thought arises, gently bring your focus back to your breath.
2 Now imagine a golden light spreading from your navel in all directions, bringing energy to every single cell, every muscle and every organ of your body. With each breath, this golden light becomes stronger and stronger, permeating through your whole body, healing any areas that need healing. See the golden light circling and enveloping your baby with protection, sending energy to your baby for its growth and development. Imagine that this light is connecting your heart to your baby’s heart and send love to your baby. PAUSE Thank yourself for taking the time out to do your yoga, remembering that by nurturing yourself you are also nurturing your baby.
3 Stay here for as long as you want – you may find that you fall asleep. To come out of this relaxation, make sure that you come up slowly, taking time to sit and tune in to any sensations within your body and your mind.
