Pregnancy yoga- does it really help??

[brightstar1974]

Hi, am 29 weeks pregnant with first baby and considering pregnancy yoga. I already swim and go to the gym for gentle training. I am also going to use a natal hypnotherapy cd to really help with breathing, relaxation and the whole mental side of things.

My question is, how useful would the pregnancy yoga really be? Especially in terms of its physical effects, as I think the relaxation and breathing part should be taken care of by the hypnotherapy?

What has your experience been? I have never done much yoga, but understand that pregnancy yoga is fine for beginners given it's gentleness etc.

Thanks!

I did shiva rea's pregnancy yoga which I loved. I did the DVD every morning and it made mr feel strong, relaxed, toned... Wish I'd had the chance to do it wen pg with dd2 but it was harder to find the time

I strongly recommend it

I don't think yoga classes for pregnancy are that good. They are very slow and more for relaxing than moving - that's why I preferred the yoga dvd

I do preg yoga class and certainly dont find it too slow. After the class I feel really rubbish and exhausted but the morning after I certainly feel the benefits. There is alot of emphasis on relaxation but to be honest after an hour of stretching its very welcome. I agree that from the outside they can appear easy and slow, but you have to remember that even something like a pressup is so much harder when your boobs weigh several tons each. I would also recommend pilates - another class that appears easy...but if you do it properly its very beneficial to the birthing muscles. See if you can do a class on trial?

Hi.

I am 35 weeks and have been attending yoga once a week for about 7 weeks. I highly recommend it.

I am also swimming once a week and listening to the hypnotherapy CD once a day as well.

The benefits I get from yoga are:

• meet lovely people who are mostly 'my type of people' - pro home birth/ natural birth etc

• stretch out back which I think really helps with all little niggles that have started to creep in

• practise different breathes and positions for labour itself - I think it will be easier to use these when the time comes as I have done them once a week for a month or so

• I always feel really relaxed and calm after the class - its great to have a few hours just to me.

• We have a little session at the start where we either talk about something baby related, like the pros and cons of real nappies or someone comes back with their baby and the story of their birth. Its really interesting to have a different perspective

Most positions can be changed slightly to make them harder or easier as you see fit. Don't forget though that things that are easy now won't be so easy in a month or so as you get bigger and bigger!

As you can see, I really enjoy the classes. I think its probably worth trying a class and see what you think.

Hi, I'm 23 weeks pregnant, and have been doing antenatal yoga for about a month. Before starting I was just beginning to suffer leg cramps in the night, and back ache. I found that the cramps have stopped completely since doing yoga, and my back pain has eased, although about halfway through the week it begins to come back so I do some of the yoga exercises and that seems to help. I don't know if it's specifically the yoga, or if it's just exercise in general but it's really helped me! I haven't done any form of proper exercise in years prior to my pregnancy, so wanted something that I would find beneficial but not too strenuous. Xx

I did pregnancy yoga when pg with DD & will be doing it again this time round.

I was going to the gym alot during my last pregnancy, and think I started the pg classes too early as I did find them very easy & a bit boring. But, as my of progressed and I found it harder to do other exercises, I enjoyed the pg yoga more & more.
We used to have a little chat before the class each week about what was happening to our bodies & the teacher would then ensure she incorporated moves into the class to help peoples specific aches & pains!
We also practiced moves to do during labour which I think would have been really good, but I never got to try out as DD made a surprise appearance 6wks early & I had to lie down so they could monitor her.

So, I would recommend it, but see if you can go for a taster class & as it sounds like you are fairly active anyway, think of it more as relaxation than exercise!

I did it and found it really good but I think it might have been a lot to do with the fact the instructor was also a midwife. I would highly recommend it though and have done so to all my friends.

I did preganancy yoga with my last & current (due in 5 weeks). I found it extremly useful & used many of the the breathing exercises & positions in birth. I have also met some lovely people there. I do agree with Bessie - its more relaxing then exercise.

Hi, i am 15.5 week pregnant and have been doing regular yoga 4-5 times per week + pregnancy DVDs 2-3 times per week. I did yoga 4-5 times per week pre-pregnancy. Yoga has amazing benefits imho. Having said this, I would not recommend starting yoga at 29 weeks if you have not done it before. If you go for it, then definitely go to a class, rather than doing DVDs as you are not familiar with asanas, alignment and breathing, and last thing you need at this delicate stage is hurting yourself... I have tried a few pregnancy yoga classes and personally found them ineffective / targeted to women with very weak initial fitness levels. I also observed that instructors did not correct women's alignment and did not teach them how to breath / connect (which to me defeats the objective of doing yoga)... If you are quite fit from swimming / pilates, I'd say you continue with this routine and learn a few useful breathing techniques. Also, hip openers would be quite good for you in birth preparation. You can find most of these online (very simple and effective excercises).

I did pregnancy yoga I guess there are loads of different styles/approaches. Mine focussed on balancing the body, stretching out the back, birth positions and preparing positive thoughts for birth. I feel relaxed and less achey after every session, one lady even managed to turn her breech baby after a few sessions with some special movements taught by the instructor.

I bought the Nicole Croft Buddhabellies dvd after some recommendations on here, and I'm very happy with it.

It has three levels for beginner, intermediate and advanced. The advanced is an hour long and is just enough of a challenge for me at the moment. There is no irritating new agey music, just her speaking. Some people have said they don't like her voice but I found it fairly normal.

I have practiced yoga before so I can't really say if it would benefit someone completely new to yoga, but as lilly13 said, it probably helps if you are familiar with the classic postures, or try a class first if you are further along in pregnancy. She goes quite slowly in my DVD which is good.

At £14.99 it's a lot cheaper than a series of classes, and as I prefer to work out at home, it suits me. I did see it secondhand on ebay for about £1 (sadly I missed the end of the auction though!) but it could be worth trying to get any yoga DVD you decide to go for that way too.

As for the benefits - relaxation, good posture, flexibility, breathing techniques and good suggestions for postures and breathing for early labour are the main ones I think!

I'm attending a pregnancy yoga class at the moment and LOVE it, mainly because I'm meeting lots of lovely women who live in my neighbourhood.

It isn't much of a workout but the stretches feel great and it gives me 90 minutes each week where I can relax, stop thinking about work and think about my baby.

Thanks, loads of good feedback here. I think the labour positions sound especially useful, plus meeting other mums to be is really nice too. Think I will have a trial class and see how it goes :)