The first time being
pregnant for any mother brings up a lot of worries and hesitations especially
in today’s social media extravaganza! What you can and cannot eat, how you
should feel, the baby apps, all the things that can cause birth defects or
miscarriages, to say the least; but the best thing my OB could have ever told
me in those earlier months was that "Pregnancy is not a disease,
so live your life." Now of course there are obvious things that
do need to be given up, but I wasn't going to stop teaching yoga and
I was not going to stop seeing my chiropractic and acupuncture patients. Now that I have reached 35 weeks I can
look back a talk about the ups and downs of living my life during
pregnancy.
The first few weeks of
pregnancy it seems like you are on top of the world. You are reading
everything about it on the internet and you analyze everything you feel or
do. I had no issues teaching my hot yoga class the first few weeks.
I had a lot of people questioning my teaching it, and even many telling me that
it couldn't be good for me to do it. I had been teaching it for 2 years
and the room only got up to 86 degrees. We
do have intervals between our poses so my heart rate would go up but not for
extended periods of time. I still had a lot of energy while teaching and
did not feel limited with the positions. It was not until week 8 or 9
weeks when I noticed decreased energy and also a shortness of breath
during teaching. I listened to my body and would hold poses longer
without as many intervals, and if I felt like I needed a break I would
always go into Childs Pose. During this time I also noticed I was
extremely tired if I practiced yoga more than 2 or three times a
week. Luckily I had two other teachers that helped with classes, so once
again I listened to my body.
Once I hit around
12 weeks, my energy level increased and I no longer was as short
of breath during yoga. I could teach a higher intensity class with ease again, and was also able to practice at least 4
or 5 times a week. The problem during this stage of pregnancy was
planking for me.
Planking caused a sharp deep pain in my right round ligament
area. I didn't know if this was just something I was over analyzing or if
it was too much internal
pressure. Either way I again listened to my body and put my knees down when I
planked. I continued to ease up on my planking the whole second
trimester.
Now into the third
trimester and still having energy I decided to add some normal planking
in. I no longer had the round ligament pain but I was weaker from
the weight gain. I knew it was important to have strong pelvic floor
muscles for delivery, so I continued doing the proper planking practices
while listening to my body when I needed to put a knee down or go
into Childs Pose. Teaching Yoga with a growing belly also gives its
limitations physically. I no longer can keep those feet just a
few inches apart during Chair Pose or Forward Bend. They are
now wider so there is room for the belly. I do not
practice head stands or any twist poses, but still teach them in
class. Also I do not lay flat on my stomach but tell my yogis to.
I practice all the stomach poses with them just as much I can do
on my hands and knees.
As a teacher who still wants to grow with my personal yoga practice it is somewhat frustrating with the weight gain and positional limitations, especially when I practice along a Kino MacGregor video who puts me to shame when I am zero months pregnant. During these times I feel frustrated and somewhat of a beached whale, I remind myself of the bigger picture. I had many goals of only gaining 20 pounds throughout the pregnancy, and even with constant workouts and eating healthy that number is long gone. My legs are thicker, my butt is bigger and my arms are Hulk Hogan-ish. Yet I have never felt more amazing, have had very minimal back pain, sleep very well and I have been living a normal life.
With the
end just a short distance away I will practice more specific poses
that help with hip opening, making the
delivery processes smoother. If the delivery doesn't go
by my Yoga Birthing Method Notes, Acupuncture for quick delivery
notes, or chiropractic techniques to open the hips notes, I know I am
in great hands with my OB.
Benefits of Exercise while being Pregnant
·
reduce low back pain
·
improve blood circulation
·
reduce water retention
·
strengthen the pelvic muscles
There are also some specific poses or asanas that are believed to:
·
relieve digestion problems such as nausea, constipation and gas
·
help you manage blood pressure
·
help you overcome fatigue
·
help you cope with labour pain or
experience less pain.
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