To give up on pregnancy yoga after first attempt

[room32]

I'm 31 weeks pregnant, used to be reasonably fit, but due to side effects of IVF, and then terrible morning sickness for first 26 weeks of pregnancy, it's over 6 months since I did any exercise. I know 31 weeks isn't the ideal time to start but I've had Tara Lee's DVD staring at me for quite some time now and I thought yoga would be useful for coping with childbirth/pelvic floor recovery. So did the 40 minutes restorative practice this morning, I was so tired afterwards I could hardly think straight and slept for half of the afternoon! I can feel the aches in my muscles too, sure I will feel it tomorrow. I'm taken aback as I've been feeling ok the past couple of weeks energy-wise and didn't think it was that demanding while I was doing it! Was I mad to even consider this, will it get any easier or should I accept it's too late to start and give up?

I am not pregnant, but I do yoga on a Saturday morning. I am good for nothing afterwards and have now finally accepted that I will need to go to sleep straight away (and ideally not do much for most of the afternoon). I used to go in the evening, so although I was tired afterwards I didn't really notice as I was going to bed soon anyway.

In summary: yoga is surprisingly tiring - perhaps you should do it in the evening and then just go straight to bed.

I've done yoga on and off both before pregnancy and during (I'm currently 24 weeks). I think perhaps starting with 40 mins was where you maybe went wrong. I have been using a tara lee pregnancy yoga video (presumably the same one you have?) and it is split into short sections, about 10 mins, each focusing on a different area (hips, shoulders/neck, relaxation, etc). Maybe try just doing one of the sections a day (or one in the morning, one in the evening) and see how you feel?

I'd recommend trying to get to a class OP if you can. I went from 16 - 33 weeks and it was great. Really gentle moves, lovely atmosphere, meditation at the end (where we all went to sleep).

40 mins ! No wonder !!! Start small

I do short and gentle and I am not preggers

I will Never do a class again as they are too much and too competitive

Slow down and don’t give up but short and sweet !

With my second pregnancy I went to NCT yoga which was wonderful and very manageable. But with my third I went to a different pregnancy yoga class. It was absolutely exhausting and took me a week to recover. So I never went back.
I highly recommend the NCT class. It also made my birth experience so much better.

Don’t give up! You were probably just feeling tired that day. Try again and see how you feel. It will be helpful to do it now until you give birth and definitely not too late to start!