Yoga in first trimester

[Strawberrythief87]

Hey
I'm probably being paranoid and silly but if anyone could give me advice that would be great. I'm 11wks tomorrow.
I looked up pregnancy yoga classes in my area and they all run from 13 weeks onwards, then I noticed all the videos on youtube are people much further along. Is this because in first trimester I should be avoiding yoga in general? I know I would need to do modifications but are they just seen as too much hassle for instructors in first trimester?
I've been getting a lot of upper back and shoulder pains, previously I used to do quite a bit of yoga at home to tackle this but my general routine involved a lot of deep twists which I'd read that you should avoid in general throughout pregnancy but is there anything I can do in first trimester (apart from just cat/cow) to loosen out my back?

If you’re fairly experienced then you can practise quite safely. The main principles are no inversions and no closed twists.

Garudasana (Eagle pose) is really good for releasing tension between the shoulder blades.

I've been told no pregnancy yoga before 14 weeks :)

I think pregnancy yoga from second trimester is probably a liability thing in that they don't want to be blamed for anything. You're really not going to hurt the baby by doing yoga.
Personally I find pregnancy yoga monumentally dull and not enough of a physical or mental challenge so I'm doing a normal vinyasa class with a few modifications. No closed twists and no head stands etc. I'm 26 weeks but would imagine the 1st tri mods are similar.

Gentle yoga should be fine in 1st tri. You're already 11 weeks, so I wouldn't stress about 2 weeks. The reason most people in pregnancy yoga tend to be further on is because it's when you're further on that you need it because you're uncomfortable and trying to avoid being in pain. At 11 weeks, you probably still feel pretty good. I don't think you need to worry about doing any of the usual pregnancy yoga moves at this point as they'll all be pretty gentle. I'm 37 weeks and take a yoga class weekly and we do plenty of twists, hip circles, cat/cow, modified downward dog (using a chair, you can probably do it as normal though as you don't have a bump), various back and hip stretches, back bends, etc.

Agree with girl - with my teacher's support I attended my normal iyengar practice from BFP to week 38 with only minor modifications (as mentioned above, no closed twists or inversions). As the pregnancy progresses and your joints become affected by relaxin you need to be careful not to overextend, and you must be vey careful if you have any pelvic pain as some asanas can exacerbate it.

Pregnancy yoga classes will only take you from second tri for liability reasons.

Thanks for the advice guys. I think the problem I've been having is not having a class to find out more about the modifications. I used to have a great one but then the teacher had to move away and I didn't find such a good teacher after that.
But that all helps, I'll do some gentle bits at home then when they'll let me into a pregnancy class I'll do that so I can get the guidance. I don't really fancy showing up at a new class and asking about modifications straight off then only being around for a few weeks

I've signed up for a class starting Monday (I'm 14 weeks today) - all the classes I looked into said you could do yoga at any stage if your pregnancy without any problems but generally they recommend it from 14 weeks purely because most women don't have any energy / feel rubbish in the first trimester so they recommend from 14 weeks when most women are starting to get a bit of energy back, which has definitely been true for me. So I'd say if you're lucky enough to feel up to doing yoga make the most of it and go for it as long as you stick to what you feel comfortable with!

I'm almost 10 weeks and have been doing yoga throughout, I felt fine doing it. I did read recommendations that said don't do yoga in your first trimester but i think that is being overly cautious on the part of the teacher, if you have done yoga pre-pregnancy you should be fine.

My midwife suggested I don't do abdominal work but as the baby is deep in the pelvis general yoga should be fine.

They do say to be careful with Twists and I think lying on your back later in pregnancy. I am personally going to get a yoga teacher to give me a private lesson and come up with a couple of comfortable yoga flow that I can practice daily in my 2nd then 3rd trimester.