According to yoga Trainer Rupal Sidhpura Faria in her interview with Women Fitness “Every pregnancy is different from the other. There’s no two poses that could be the same in case of complications.” She further adds” But under a registered Yoga practitioner without any complications the common most and beneficial is the Baddha Konasana, Wide Legged Forward fold and Child’s pose would be a few of many many asanas that pregnant women can do.”
Pregnancy is the most powerful transformation you go through in your life as a woman! Your body is rapidly changing, hormone levels are increasing, and emotions fluctuate dramatically. Yoga can help you stay present and accept these remarkable changes with awareness, patience, and respect.
3 Yoga Asanas for Pregnant Women
Baddha Konasana (Bound Angle Pose)
This pose helps open up the hips and stretch the muscles of the groin, two areas that can become tight throughout pregnancy. It’s also a very grounding pose that can centre you if you’re feeling a little scattered.
To Perform:
- From Easy Cross-Legged, take the soles of the feet together, drawing them as close to the body as you can comfortably manage, while being respectful to your body.
- Hands can be on the ankles, feet, or lower legs, or next to the hips to help create more length in the spine.
- Press down evenly through both sit-bones, feeling the connection with the ground beneath you and the length in the spine all the way up to the crown. You can also lean forward a little, which may increase the intensity in the groin and hips, but leave plenty of space for your belly (no squishing baby!).
- Stay for 5 breaths, or more if that feels intuitively good. When ready, slowly come out of the pose.
Prasarita Padottanasana (Wide Legged Forward fold)
This is a great pose for relieving low back pain, stretching the backs of the legs, and widening the pelvic region. Place hands on a block or support to keep the spine stretched forward and make space for the baby.
To Perform:
- Stand upright in Mountain (Tadasana) with feet hip-distance apart.
- Step your feet apart about 3 feet with the outer sides of your feet parallel to each other (might seem a bit pigeon-toed).
- Distribute your weight evenly throughout your feet. Lift and firm your kneecaps and thighs and gently press your thighs back.
- Move your tailbone down and in.
- Gently lift your abdomen and sternum while taking your shoulders away from your ears.
- Put your hands on your hips, thumbs point toward the spine, elbows point back, broaden across your chest.
- Bend forward stretching your sternum away from your firmed thighs, place your hands on blocks on the floor under your shoulders.
- Take your shoulders back toward your hips.
- Hold the pose for 30-60 seconds or longer if you feel comfortable. If you tire or lose focus come out earlier.
- To come out, return your hands to your hips, elbows point toward the ceiling and lift with your chest while lengthening your torso.
- Step your feet back to hip-distance and stand upright in Mountain.
Balasana (Child pose)
When in child’s pose, focus on relaxing the face and breathing deeply into the spine.
To Perform:
- Kneel on the floor. Touch your big toes together and sit on your heels, then separate your knees about as wide as your hips.
- Exhale and lay your torso down between your thighs. Broaden your sacrum across the back of your pelvis and narrow your hip points toward the navel, so that they nestle down onto the inner thighs. Lengthen your tailbone away from the back of the pelvis while you lift the base of your skull away from the back of your neck.
- Lay your hands on the floor alongside your torso, palms up, and release the fronts of your shoulders toward the floor. Feel how the weight of the front shoulders pulls the shoulder blades wide across your back.
- Balasana is a resting pose. Stay anywhere from 30 seconds to a few minutes. Beginners can also use Balasana to get a taste of a deep forward bend, where the torso rests on the thighs. Stay in the pose from 1 to 3 minutes.
- To come up, first lengthen the front torso, and then with an inhalation lift from the tailbone as it presses down and into the pelvis.
As your belly grows, keep your big toes together and spread your knees apart to create space. Likewise, if it’s more comfortable to sit up high, rather than bringing your bum to your ankles, go for it. Just remember to rest your forehead and to breath deeply into your back.
Try these three yoga asanas for pregnant women at home. Do not push.
Check out Celebrity Trainer Rupal Sidhpura Faria’s interview on Women Fitness at https://www.womenfitness.org/rupal-sidhpura-faria/.