Throughout pregnancy your body and your mind will undergo immense changes. Yoga is one of the best ways of managing the additional demands put upon your body, of easing discomfort and of coping with the ups and downs of your emotional state. Knowing that you have yoga at your disposal to alleviate the symptoms of pregnancy-related ailments will feel incredibly empowering.
I send healing energy and light to the places where l feel discomfort.
I notice how my body feels without judging or becoming fixed on any uncomfortable sensations.
I realize that uncomfortable feelings are temporary and will pass over time.
I accept and welcome the changes in my body that each stage of pregnancy brings.
Pregnancy should be about being in a state of health, and not about suffering. The notion of a woman eating for two and becoming increasingly immobile and awkward as her baby grows has become outdated. This does not mean you should put yourself under pressure to be a “supermum” and place unrealistic demands on yourself. It is important to find the right balance of activity and rest and to nourish yourself without over-indulging. Yoga brings equilibrium in both mind and body. The postures recommended in this chapter not only help to relieve pregnancy-related symptoms, but they also work on the brain to balance your emotional state.
Yoga can help you to accept and interpret the changes that you are going through. Respecting your body, eating wisely and practising yoga during your pregnancy all help to build awareness so you will notice when you are out of balance and can take remedial action. As you move with awareness of the breath, you keep prana or energy flowing freely in the channels (nadis) of your body, restoring equilibrium and even helping to prevent common ailments from developing in the first place. Many women who regularly do yoga sail through their pregnancy without any problems.
During the first three months (first trimester) the most common symptoms you may experience are fatigue and morning sickness. Many women have heightened emotions and greater sensitivity at all levels – for example, the sense of smell is enhanced and you may experience food cravings. The most common craving is for carbohydrates such as bread, cereals and pasta, rather than meat, fish or eggs, which are more likely to contain harmful bacteria. This is nature’s way of protecting your baby at a crucial stage of development. Carbohydrates contain a lot of calories and therefore provide much-needed energy as your baby’s spine, brain and organs develop.
Physically challenging yoga postures are not advisable until after your first scan (usually at 12–14 weeks) on account of the huge changes that are taking place and because the risk of miscarriage is higher until this time. So go easy during this period and take a rest when your body needs it.
Apart from visible changes, such as your breasts and your bump getting bigger, there are many invisible changes going on inside you. For example, your oestrogen levels rise dramatically, your ovaries enlarge, you produce more blood, and your output of the hormone relaxin increases to help soften all your ligaments ready for birth. This is one reason why during pregnancy you have to take care not to overstretch. Always listen to your body and do what feels right for you.
The exercises in this chapter can help with the most common pregnancy ailments, but are not intended as a substitute for medical advice. If you have any serious pregnancy-related issues, make sure you consult your doctor first.
You may also want to consider seeing an alternative health practitioner, such as a massage therapist, chiropractor, physiotherapist, acupuncturist, homeopath, osteopath or nutritionist, all of whom may be able to alleviate certain aches and pains. Don’t suffer discomfort or wait for it to go away by itself. Go and see a professional if you are at all concerned.
Birth Story …
“The only thing that made me depressed during my pregnancy was the knowledge that Tara’s yoga class would have to come to an end when I gave birth! I really couldn’t recommend it more. It had the brilliant balance of being dynamic as well as deeply relaxing and contemplative. It definitely helped me with the earlier signs of sciatica and I left each class feeling physically and mentally strengthened.” Laura
The health of your spine is crucial to your overall health as it holds all the pathways of energy to the rest of your body. Many women experience some form of backache during their pregnancy, but beginning yoga at an early stage will reduce the chance of developing it.
Exercises like this one can release tension in your spine if your back is aching as a result of carrying extra weight from your baby in the front of your body.
1 Bring your feet onto the floor in front of you with your knees bent. Place your hands on your knees or shins and, as you inhale, draw your shoulders back and press against your shins to lift up and extend taller through your spine.
2 As you exhale, drop your chin toward the chest and round through your back and shoulders, releasing tension.
3 Keep synchronizing your breath with your movement – inhaling, feeling your lungs expanding; exhaling, sinking back through the pelvis and softening. Do this at your own pace for 5–10 rounds.
This exercise really helps to strengthen your lower back and will improve your balance. It is a good one to do after Cat and Swooping Cat (see pages 48–9), which assists flexibility and blood flow to the spine.
1 Kneel on all fours with your knees directly under your hips.
2 As you inhale, extend your right arm in front and your left leg behind, no higher than your hip. PAUSE 
Keep your gaze down. Check that your hips are in line, that your supporting arm is firm and that you are not locking your elbow or hyper-extending.
3 Exhale, lower to all fours, and on the inhale lift your opposite arm and leg. Feel strong and stable as you move with each breath.
4 Inhale, stretching through your back, lengthening from your fingers through to your toes. If you feel any discomfort in your lower back, extend the leg back but do not lift it off the floor.
You may experience breathlessness as your uterus grows and pushes against the diaphragm and other internal organs. It can also be caused by a high level of progesterone, which tells the brain to lower carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the blood. This results in faster and deeper breathing to exhale more CO2. Breathlessness can be a symptom of iron deficiency (especially when coupled with fatigue). Always check your symptoms with a doctor. The exercises in Chapters 1 and 2 are also helpful.
This exercise opens up the chest, improving lung capacity. It can loosen tight shoulders and improve posture, which also assists breathing.
Sit tall, bring your fingertips to your shoulders and make five big elbow circles in each direction. Keep your shoulders down and relaxed.
Pregnancy sickness is generally believed to be caused by an increase in hormones passing through the liver. It is usually helped by eating small snacks to keep levels of blood sugar balanced. Vitamin B6 is also thought to be effective as it supports liver metabolism. Ginger is another option for relieving nausea, and many women find acupuncture helpful. For most women, the sickness subsides by 12–16 weeks, but unfortunately a small percentage of women feel sick throughout pregnancy.
This simple breathing exercise is a great way to relieve both breathlessness (see opposite) and nausea. Notice over time if your breathing becomes easier.
Sitting comfortably on the floor, with your legs crossed (or supported by cushions), and your hands resting on your baby, start to slow down and lengthen your breath. Close your eyes. As you inhale through your nose, count 4 in your mind: 1, 2, 3, 4, and then exhale: 1, 2, 3, 4. Keep your eyes closed and repeat. If 4 counts aren’t possible, see if you can build up gradually. If you want to lengthen your breath further, add 1–2 more counts. Count slowly. Try not to force the breath – keep it smooth, fluid and consistent.
If your baby is in a breech presentation, there are a number of strategies you can use to help it find the optimal position for birthing. You can try your best, but don’t feel dejected if your baby doesn’t oblige – it may just be more comfortable in the position it has chosen! If your baby hasn’t turned by 37 weeks, it is less likely to do so because of its size. However, there have been stories of babies turning at the last minute on the way to the operating theatre for a caesarean!
• Acupuncture and moxibustion have a high success rate (over 70 percent in many studies) in helping to turn breech babies.
• Shining a torch and playing music – This may sound like an “old wives’ tale”, but some of my students have found it works! Shine a torch near the base of your abdomen and your baby will notice the light and may start to move toward it. You can also try playing music, placing the speaker near the base of your abdomen in order to tempt your baby to move in this direction.
• Frozen peas – Placing a bag of frozen peas at the top of your abdomen may encourage your baby to move away from the cold and therefore help it to turn!
• Crawling on all fours – This allows the weight of the baby to move out of the pelvis and into the front of the body, thereby giving your baby more room to move and turn. You can do this whenever you have time or feel like scrubbing the kitchen floor!
• External cephalic version (ECV) – You could ask your doctor about an ECV, a procedure involving gently manipulating your abdomen to turn your baby.
• Visualization – You could also try visualizing your baby in the optimal position (head down with its back facing forward, chin tucked into its chest, preparing for its exit into the world).
As well as the strategies discussed opposite, there are various yoga positions that can help to persuade your baby to assume the optimal foetal position.
Move onto your hands and knees and rest your forehead on your forearms. Keep your knees hip-width apart and raise your hips high. Breathe deeply and relax in this position for 5–20 minutes – you can relax here in quiet contemplation or listen to music or a visualization CD.
This pose is another good way to reposition a breech baby.
Lie with your feet on the floor and rest your hips on cushions. This tips your baby out of the pelvis, allowing it more room to move.
Normally associated with people whose jobs involve repetitive hand movements, such as keyboard operators or factory machinists, carpal tunnel syndrome is also common during pregnancy. This is because fluid retention builds up pressure on the median nerve in the wrist. This nerve supplies feeling and movement to the hand and when restricted can cause numbness, tingling and in some cases intense pain. The symptoms generally subside after childbirth as fluid levels return to normal. During pregnancy there are various ways of relieving the discomfort, such as wearing a wrist splint or practising the following exercise.
This exercise can help to improve circulation to the wrists and hands, and will also strengthen your arms.
1 Inhaling, bring your arms to the front with wrists straight and knuckles down.
2 Exhaling, rotate your arms up, with your wrists bent and knuckles up.
3 Inhaling, open your arms out to your sides to shoulder height.
4 Exhaling, bend your elbows, and bring your fists past your upper ribs.
5 Straighten your arms and extend them behind you.
6 Bring your arms out in front of you again and repeat this sequence 10–20 times, moving with the breath. Notice how concentrating on your breathing helps you to stay focused as your arms get tired and you want to give up. This is a good point to remember for labour!
Groin pain is fairly common in pregnancy and can be severe. It is often caused by the hormone relaxin softening the ligaments, tendons and muscles that support the joints, and it usually occurs any time from the middle of pregnancy onward.
Symphysis pubis dysfunction (SPD) is a condition caused by the relaxing of the ligaments supporting the symphysis pubis joint in order to facilitate birth.
If the ligaments are too loose, the joint becomes unstable and it will probably feel painful to part your legs or to make asymmetrical movements. A related condition is when the gap in the pubic joint widens too much (diastasis symphysis pubis).
Strengthening the lower back and pelvic floor muscles will help to support the groin and pubic area. Take smaller steps when walking, keeping your feet parallel, and try to avoid breaststroke if swimming – just flutter or kick your legs up and down instead. In your yoga practice, avoid any wide-legged yoga poses such as Warrior, Baddha Konasana, Horse and seated or standing Wide-legged Forward Bends.
Placing a pillow between your knees whenever you lie down (see page 85) can help to alleviate groin pain and SPD. The pillow will act as a support for the joints around your pelvis and hips, and take away pressure. Practising the following exercises can help to prevent groin pain and SPD, and reduce symptoms if they have already developed.
This pose can help to ease groin pain as it draws the muscles and ligaments back in, rather than stretching and opening them. It may also be helpful for sciatica (see page 106), as it releases the hips. With practice your balance should improve and your legs will strengthen. (In addition, the upper body element of the posture relieves tension in the shoulders and upper back, which may be particularly helpful if you spend a lot of time sitting at a desk operating a keyboard.)
1 From a standing position with arms by your sides, bend your knees slightly.
2 Lift your right knee high and wrap your right leg over the left, trying to bring your toes behind your left calf (don’t worry if you don’t manage to wrap the toes all the way round). Cross your arms and check your balance.
• If you find it difficult to get your balance, you can rest one hand on a wall for support or have your back supported by leaning against a wall.
3 If you feel stable, wrap your right arm over your left, bringing your palms together in line with your nose, and sink a little deeper by bending your supporting leg. Feel the strength in your lower body growing.
• If you find this difficult, you can simply bring your hands into prayer pose (or hold the wall, if you are leaning against one for support).
4 Breathe deeply into this posture, enjoying the feeling of release across your upper back, creating space between your shoulder blades.
5 Stay for 5 breaths, then come out of the pose by pressing your standing foot into the floor to straighten your leg and releasing the intertwined arms and wrapped legs.
6 Now change sides, wrapping your left leg over the right leg and your left arm over the right arm. Stay for 5 breaths, then gently release as before.
This pose gets its name because your body comes into a shape that resembles the face of a cow, symbolizing a combination of strength and docility. Avoid if you have varicose veins or swollen ankles.
1 Cross your left leg over your right with your knees stacked and feet in line with one another. Sit on the floor with your feet equidistant from your hips if possible. (If you wish, you can sit on blocks or cushions or just cross your legs.) Raise your left arm, pressing your elbow down, and walk your fingers down your back.
2 Bend your right arm (palm facing away) and see whether you can meet your fingers behind your back. PAUSE Hold the stretch for 5 breaths if possible, breathing deeply into the upper body, bringing the elbows toward the midline, and keeping the head and neck in line. You should feel a strong stretch across your chest, shoulders and triceps (the muscle at the back of the upper arm).
• You can use a strap if your fingers don’t touch – take a strap or a belt in your top hand and use it to climb your hands closer toward each other.
3 Change the cross of your legs and repeat on the other side.
Heartburn can occur during pregnancy because the muscles of the oesophagus and stomach soften, slowing down digestion and relaxing the valve at the base of the oesophagus. This allows the contents of the stomach to flow back up the oesophagus more easily. As your baby grows bigger the uterus presses against the stomach, making heartburn even more likely.
Yoga helps you to maintain good posture and creates more space in the torso, thereby improving digestive health. Other remedies for heartburn include avoiding large meals, and eating little and often instead. Try not to drink too much liquid with your meals as this dilutes the digestive enzymes. You could also try taking digestive enzyme supplements with your meals.
This posture and the wall stretches in Chapter 2 (see page 40) are effective in creating more space for you and your baby, and are particularly beneficial if you are sitting down all day or suffer from indigestion or heartburn.
1 Start in a kneeling position.
2 Place your hands behind you, with fingertips facing forward.
3 Lean back into your hands, lifting your hips away from your heels, opening up through your chest. PAUSE Hold this position for 3–5 breaths.
4 If you can, release your head back, and allow your chest to open and expand. Breathe into this space with some deep breaths. If you find your head is crunching into your shoulders, keep looking forward.
5 Keep breathing deeply and imagine a thread lifting your sternum up to the sky. Feel your chest expand and release, opening and letting go. As you inhale look forward and, exhaling, release the hips back down. Push into your hands to come back to upright kneeling position.
Sciatica can show itself by a shooting pain down the middle of the leg or pain in the centre of the buttocks. In pregnancy it can be caused by the uterus putting pressure on the sciatic nerve. Gentle stretching often helps this condition.
This pose can be practised every day to relieve sciatic pain. It is also great as a general stretch for the muscles round your hips, helping to release emotional and physical tension, which is stored in this area.
1 Place your hands on the floor underneath your shoulders and bring your right knee forward. Try to move your foot farther forward without straining and without rolling onto one side of your hips. Extend your back leg directly behind you with your knee resting on the floor and your toes feeling relaxed.
2 If you are flexible, go forward onto your elbows. PAUSE Breathe deeply into this strong stretch – you should not feel any pain in your knee.
3 Come slowly back up onto all fours and change sides. PAUSE With your mind’s eye breathe into your hips and every time you exhale, let go.
Swollen ankles and feet are very common during pregnancy. Your body retains fluid to supply your need for extra blood and to replenish amniotic fluid. Varicose veins may also occur as the expanding uterus puts pressure on the pelvic veins, making it harder for blood to return to the heart from the legs. With more blood circulating and the effect of progesterone relaxing the blood vessels, these may bulge. Avoid sitting, standing or kneeling for long periods. Support socks or tights may be helpful. Many women also find acupuncture helps.
Pregnant women are prone to leg cramps, which can be a sign of low potassium levels. Try drinking coconut water or eating bananas to boost your intake of this important mineral. Stretches like this one can also help.
Come onto all fours and stretch one leg back, pressing into the toes and pushing back through the heel. Keep your head looking toward your hands, and your arms straight (without locking the elbows), and breathe here for 3–5 breaths. Push down through your hands as you push through your heel. Breathe deeply for 5–10 breaths. Now change legs and repeat.
Many women find that their arches collapse during pregnancy – practising these heel raises will help to avoid developing flat feet, as well as strengthening the ankles, which improves balance. Resting your feet against the wall can relieve swollen ankles and feet and varicose veins in the legs.
HEEL RAISES AGAINST THE WALL
Stand facing a wall, about 1½ft (40cm) away. Place your palms against the wall, inhale and lift your heels; then exhale and lower them. Raise and lower your heels as many times as feels comfortable, aiming for 5–10 repetitions.
FEET AGAINST THE WALL
If you suffer from varicose veins, simply lying with your feet up against the wall, with bent knees (see above) or legs straight (see page 79), will improve blood flow away from your legs, as well as reducing swelling. Rest on cushions if this is more comfortable.
Foot circling relieves fluid retention and helps to pump blood back up the legs cleansing the lymphatic system.
1 Stretch your legs in front of you, with feet hip-width apart. Place your hands behind you, with fingers facing you, to keep your back as straight as possible. Circle both feet inward, rotating your ankles. Make 5 big circles.
2 Now change the direction of the circles. Try not to hunch your back as you need to create more space for you and your growing baby.
3 Flex and point your feet alternately and really feel the extension from your heel through to the end of your toes. You should feel a good stretch through your calves. To increase the stretch, lift the heel off the floor as you flex the foot.
4 Now move your feet from side to side keeping your legs loose.
