Pregnancy Yoga?

[EL332]

What are people's experiences?

I'm thinking of trying out a class tomorrow evening locally but I'm not sure what to expect...

I loved it in first preg, haven't had time to do much in second. Have you done yoga before? It's similar but avoiding poses that use stomach muscles. The one I did always featured a wee chat about an aspect of labour or prep for it which I liked. And the relaxation at the end is awesome...

Really didn’t like it, personally.

My class was all about thinking about “the life growing within” etc- when I actually just wanted to focus on me and stop feeling anxious from too much focus on the life within! Plus I think it opened up my pelvis and baby lay a bit deeper, because I felt very reduced kicks for about a week afterwards (was only about 22 weeks gone, so not a cause for concern but obviously played on my mind at the time).

Glad I was open minded and tried it, but didn’t go back.

@Smellyjo @Goostacean thank you for both your responses, nice to have different feedback 👍🏼🙂

Do it. The breathing exercises really helped me when I had some contractions with DD (before they stopped and I had a CS but never mind)

I'm 39 weeks and have been doing pregnancy yoga since about 18 weeks, and have really enjoyed it, especially as the pregnancy has gone on. I've often been astonished at how much better I feel afterwards - I think sometimes you don't know how tense you are until you've stretched! It's also been really nice both doing something calming for me every week and chatting to other pregnant women at various stages. And I agree that the relaxation is lovely - and, as it turned out, good preparation for the hypnobirthing classes I also did.

I do think it depends a lot on your teacher - unlike a pp, ours never does much 'life within' stuff - it all feels quite pragmatic and sensible, without much 'wonder of pregnancy' stuff, which suits me well. We have had a substitute teacher a couple of times who is much more 'woo' and I don't think I'd have enjoyed it nearly as much if she'd been our teacher the whole time. But I'd definitely recommend at least giving it a go - and unless you hate it, stick it out for a couple of classes before making your mind up as I found it took me a few to really get into it.

I hated it. I think I probably could have tried harder to get into it but I just found it a bit boring and tame. Second pregnancy I did a pilates/vinyasa fusion class that wasn't pregnancy specific and did modifications and I found that much better as I felt like I was actually getting a decent workout.

I think it probably does depend how fit you were prior to pregnancy - it had been about 8 years since I'd done 'real' yoga before I got pregnant, so although it was pretty unchallenging at 18 weeks I was finding pregnancy yoga more than enough by the time I hit the third trimester! I agree it's not really a work out though - I feel pleasantly stretched at the end of it, but I don't break a sweat - and if you regularly did gym classes beforehand then I'd say it's something to do as well as your workouts not instead of them.

Oh- forgot to say, I did Zumba instead 😂 But definitely try it! I think next time around the “woo” stuff might be nice as I’m more relaxed about pregnancy having had DC1. But during the first pregnancy, it wasn’t for me- I just found it all a bit disturbing. Do report back on how you get on! :)

Be really cautious with yourself. I blame pregnancy yoga for triggering SPD in my second pregnancy. My first pregnancy I had no such problems, and was part of a super-conservative class that largely did not much at all! It was lovely though for making friends with other women going through pregnancy at the same time.

For my next pregnancy, I'd moved far away and joined a new class. I actually posted on here at the time concerned that my new class was much more vigorous than my hyper-cautious previous one. I should have listened to my own instincts - I went to one more class after that, did a gentle warrior pose which teacher 1 had always warned against. This was at lunchtime, by the time I finished work that evening, I was unable to walk with the pain. And it remained throughout my pregnancy (another 15 weeks or so) and I still suffer hip problems as a result.

Pregnancy makes your joints way more flexibly so it's incredibly easy to overdo it and injure yourself. So while my first class was very low-intensity to the point of boring, it's then only type of class I'd even consider in pregnancy. Avoid any poses with a wide stance and be super cautious.