Yoga or pilates - will they actually help you in labour

[pollingfold]

Heard lots of right on people say that yoga and pilates are great for pregnant women and that t helps to control breathing in labour. I had crappy labour and got very scared of the pain - felt out of control and when had the urge to push couldn't control it leads to massive ripping and snipping.

I wanted to see if anyone had experience of labour using yoga techniques and whether you found it benefical.

Also have not done any exercise for 2 years and wondered if it was safe to start these new activities from 4 months pregnant?

Also does it help post birth - strength and recovery wise?

Ooh, Serenequeen, think I may have damaged myself last preg and this one doing legs-apart stretches in yoga. Thought it was sciatica. A pain down inside bum cheek whereby could hardly use leg. is that to do with SPD?
Will avoid having legs open for now (snigger snigger )

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Could be, I think you can get SPD round there. THINK. Yes, of course you're right SQ, I should stop being so damn obsessed

Can I add a voice of dissent Admittedly I had quite mild SPD in comparison to some, but I would recommend just listening to your body and your own intuition. I found some of the "not recommended for SPD" yoga exercises actually eased the pain and gave me a more fluid movement range for days afterwards, whereas some of the supposedly okay for SPD exercises really were uncomfortable and I avoided them.

I'd say, as with any exercise, take it easy, the movements are more effective performed slowly anyway and it gives you more time to listen to feedback from your body.

Hi Pollingfold,
I've been following this book all my pregnancy, keep vowing to do more hours and as this is my first can't say if it helped yet, but I love the connection it gives me to my little person and i've used the breathing to ground myself a few times when out and about in city life. I did classes too for the first 10wks and live in hope that it wont all vanish from my mind when the time comes Good luck

Anyway the book is Yoga for pregnancy by Freedman & Hall 0706376676

Well, in my experience (teaching Pregnancy Yoga for the past 4 years) it IS possible to use Yoga techniques to positively influence your birthing experience - actually that's the experience of my students, not me LOL

But the bad news is that you have to WORK at it - practising outside class to get better at the techniques. For birth itself it's largely the breathing techniques that will do you good - who needs Warrior posture in the middle of a 1 min contraction??!

Re SPD, yes you CAN do YOGA but not necessarily do many of the POSTURES. Yoga is NOT the postures people, there's so much more to it. So even if you're in a wheelchair from SPD (that's real SPD, not just pubic pain) a good Yoga therapist can adapt practices that will help you. But you need to find a good, committed and knowledgeable teacher, not your average Jolene who runs a class once a week.

For my money, the Birthlight approach to pregnancy Yoga is the best... MHO only...