Changes during pregnancy that effect exercise
Finding ways to stay active can be challenging when you’re pregnant. This isn’t just because you feel heavier and need more rest. The changes in your body affect your ability to exercise. Prenatal yoga is a great way to keep moving, breathing, and staying connected to your changing body.
When a woman is pregnant, her heart beats faster, her blood volume increases, a hormone called relaxin causes ligament laxity, and her balance eventually suffers. The change in hormones doesn’t help either. These developments affect every pregnant person’s ability to exercise, no matter how active they may have been before.
While there are a handful of activities that help pregnant women keep moving and feel better, prenatal yoga is one of the best. Not only will it ensure you’re staying healthy, but it can also help prepare your body for labor and so much more.
There are many benefits to practicing prenatal yoga.
Improves sleep
One thing that can seem impossible during pregnancy is finding the ability to relax and rest. Prenatal yoga is one way to encourage your body to wind down and improve sleep quality.
Lowers pain levels
Prenatal yoga helps tone the muscles in your body. According to Parents, building and maintaining this will help minimize the aches and pains that come with pregnancy. This will also help your body heal after delivery regardless of whether you have a c-section or vaginal delivery.
Helps with labor
That’s right! Prenatal yoga can help ease the process of labor. Part of this comes from the decrease in stress and anxiety that yoga provides. These feelings are normal, especially during childbirth, so having a practice like prenatal yoga under your belt can help control these emotions when the time comes.
There is a range of breathing techniques taught to expecting parents before labor. Yoga is a calming practice that teaches breath regulation and mindful breathing. There is a clear connection here. If you spend the next few months practicing prenatal yoga, you will learn about breathing and how to control it during intense times like labor.
The labor benefits that result from prenatal yoga go beyond that. According to Mayo Clinic, prenatal yoga increases the strength and flexibility of the muscles used in childbirth. Practicing prenatal yoga will improve the endurance of these much-needed muscles.
Promotes the health of your baby
Studies have found a link between yoga and reducing the risk of pregnancy complications. Not only that, but prenatal yoga can help you connect with your baby. As you become more in tune with your body and the life growing within, the connection you have with your baby will grow. Through prenatal yoga, you will receive moments to focus on the baby, which is a true gift.
If you are considering taking up prenatal yoga, be sure to seek instruction from an educated instructor and tell them about your pregnancy. This will help ensure any unique needs you have are met. When done right, the many benefits of practicing prenatal yoga will help as you navigate your pregnancy journey.
Sometimes people assume that because I am a personal trainer, yoga, pilates, meditation and barre instructor I am just inherently in good shape, eat healthfully and live life mindfully at all times. It would be wonderful if by teaching others to live healthfully I absorbed the benefits of a good diet, exercise and meditation routine by osmosis. But the truth is that I am just a person like anybody else, and I argue with myself about going to the gym, waking up early to meditate and whether or not to order dessert.
While I often dig deeper and try to read the studies behind whatever the latest trend may be, much of my research comes from easily accessible and fun to read sources such as the 
When my alarm wakes me up at 5:30 am for 30 minutes of Pilate’s stability exercises before my day starts, I think of all the other people in gyms, or on yoga mats throughout the city who got up well before the break of dawn to do something good for themselves. I admit that it was a shock to me when I first learned that people went to the gym at 5 am in this crazy city that never sleeps. But I have since then come to feel inspired by it. On the other side, plenty of my clients and students are not morning people and they share stories about getting home late, and doing their exercises at midnight before falling asleep. My clients and students have taught me that there is always time to prioritize you’re health and that the impacts of making changes in your life does result in real, tangible and lasting changes. Seeing those changes occur in the people who trust and follow my guidance has in turn inspired me to live what I teach every day.
While health and wellness may not be your profession, I think that there is a lot that could be recreated by simply reading and sharing information, surrounding yourself with people who are trying to live a meaningful, joyful, and healthy lifestyle, and asking yourself to be the change you want to see.
