What Are The Effects Of Yoga For My Unborn Babe?
“To be pregnant is to be vitally alive, thoroughly woman, and distressingly inhabited. Soul and spirit are stretched – along with body – making pregnancy a time of transition, growth, and profound beginnings.”
– Anne Christian Buchanan
Carrying life inside of you is a beautiful, terrifying adventure — I know. You are not just bearing your own life, but the life of another inside of you, and an unmistakable bond is formed in the unseen. You feel excitement, you feel fear, and honestly your hormones are just flying all over the place.
Having a baby changes your life forever. Elizabeth Stone says, “Making the decision to have a baby is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.”
It can be overwhelming, especially if this is your first babe... You begin to join or search endless forums and how-to groups as you learn to support your way through the change that is happening in your body, and to make sure that your baby stays protected, safe, and healthy — having no complications.
Set aside those feelings for a moment to learn how you can care for both you and your babe with the relaxation and strengthening that yoga offers.
A Study of Yoga During Pregnancy
You may already know the basic benefits of Prenatal Yoga, but through a deeper study that was done among expecting mothers in India, it was found that those who practised yoga on a daily basis experienced the following:
Reduced early or preterm labour
Healthy fetal growth and less isolated intrauterine growth retardation (a condition that slows a baby’s growth)
Less pregnancy induced hypertension or high blood pressure
...compared to another group of women who were only asked to walk 30 minutes a day.
In this study, there were no complications found in the women who practised yoga. A more recent study shows that women who started practising yoga early on in their pregnancy experienced improved sleep and were of better mental health.
What Your Baby Experiences
The most wonderful thing for me is knowing that through pregnancy yoga, you are not just caring for yourself, but are taking the time to intentionally connect with the growing seed inside of you. With so many things going on, expecting mothers need this space for slowing down and serenity; where they can become more aware of what is happening in and around them.
But have you ever been curious about what your baby is experiencing while you are practising? Here are a few things you may not have known about how Pregnancy Yoga affects the little one inside of you:
Through meditation and gentle poses your baby’s attachment and psychological stability are strengthened
With regular practise you experience the benefits of better digestion, sleep, and relaxation, and a calm mammy encourages a calm baby
Daily practise encourages healthy birth weight for babies
Regular practise keeps health complications away for the both of you
Safety First
Are you ready for you and your babe to experience all this and more? Before you immediately hop on to a mat, keep in mind that it is highly recommended for you to first consult with your observing physician to be sure that you do not have any pre-existing conditions that would discourage any personal practise.
More than anything, from the bottom of my heart, I celebrate with you. Never lose the joy for this wonderful season you are in.