Yoga Articles Yoga Asana Benefits

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Some ways in which yoga can benefit you during your pregnancy include:

• Yoga helps to you to keep fit.
• Yoga helps you to burn off calories and keep your weight gain to a minimum during your pregnancy. This makes it much easier to get back to your original shape after your delivery.
  
  
  
• Unlike other forms of exercises, yoga does not impact the joints, a great benefit to pregnant women.
• Yoga teaches you breathing and relaxation techniques. This will help you to cope better with the demands of pregnancy. For example, these techniques can help you to stay calm during labor and help you cope with mood swings.
• Specific yoga poses target different organs and have their own benefits. For example, certain poses increase blood circulation to the uterus and pelvic region.
• Yoga exercises help strengthen the abdominal muscles and loosen the muscles of the pelvic region. This increases flexibility, making it much easier for you to cope with labor pains and the actual delivery.
• Yoga can help lessen fluid retention while the stretching exercises can lessen aches and pains.
• Yoga can improve posture. This can help you with back problems that plague many pregnant women.
• Yoga also calms the mind and body thus helping you sleep better.
• Yoga decreases the risk of premature childbirth and pregnancy induced hypertension.

There are certain precautions that you need to take before you begin with yoga during pregnancy:

• Consult your doctor before commencing a yoga routine. Join a yoga class only if your doctor gives you the green signal.
• If you cannot find a pre-natal yoga class in your area, join a regular class, but be sure to inform your instructor that you are pregnant and which trimester you are in.
• Avoid postures that require you to lie on your back from the second trimester onwards, as they can reduce the flow of blood to the uterus.
• Hormones secreted by your body during pregnancy soften connective tissue enabling your body to stretch and expand more than normal. Avoid poses that require you to stretch your abdominal muscles too much as this would make you gullible to injury.
• From your second trimester onwards, use a chair for support during the standing poses.
• Stop immediately if you feel any kind of pain, discomfort or nausea.
• Certain poses should be avoided. They include backbends, handstands, headstands and the upward bow.

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