Yoga in the 1st Trimester
Yoga in early pregnancy – is it safe?
Generally if I have a new enquiry from a women (that I don’t know) who is pregnant I suggest she waits until 14 weeks. And then joins the specifically designed pregnancy yoga classes.
There are so many benefits to pregnancy yoga that you may wonder why she shouldn’t attend any earlier?
According to the NHS a pregnant woman should stay active, continuing the exercise she is used to. Exceptions being sports that may cause falls or kicks directly to the pelvis such as kickboxing and judo as well as scuba diving as baby has no protection against decompression. It may not be the best time to start learning a new exercise either – except specifically pregnancy related.
Basically there is no reason not to start practising prenatal yoga.
We don’t do anything that can in any way harm the foetus or mother. We modify for a pregnant body. A trained pregnancy yoga teacher has been educated in prenatal physiology and anatomy. They know the common issues that can arise during pregnancy. And how to adjust or modify.
So why wait until 2nd trimester?
Well, there are common issues such as morning/all day sickness, getting used to being pregnant, tiredness etc. But the main reason is that the yoga teacher is uncomfortable with it. Perhaps due to studio policy, their professional insurance and that if anything were to happen would the student blame the yoga class?
The fact is that 1 in 5 pregnancies miscarry. It is thought to be mainly due to abnormal chromosomes in the baby. Although we don’t know for sure. The risk is greatly reduced after 12 weeks. So even if a woman was to miscarry it wouldn’t be due to the yoga class – but no one wants her to associate her new exercise with that experience.
And that is the reason why most yoga teachers suggest waiting until 12/14 weeks.
What if you are used to your yoga practise – or indeed a yoga teacher yourself?
In the beginning of the blog I mentioned that this was about a “new enquiry from a women (that I don’t know)”. If one of my regular students finds out she is pregnant, it’s a healthy uncomplicated pregnancy, I welcome her to continue her regular classes.
I always recommend going to prenatal yoga as she will get ideas on how to easily modify her regular classes. Because she does need to modify. It is important that her teacher is a trained pregnancy yoga teacher and understands prenatal physiology: how the blood volume increases, the hormones such as relaxin and progesterone changes and of course her bump. The yoga teacher needs to feel confident in offering suggestions and to modify the student’s practise with her changing body and sharing that information with the student.
Being pregnant is a different journey than the usual yoga practise. There will be many changes to her practise. Certainly she will take it a bit “easier” – not go as deep as before and stop practising some poses substituting them with the pregnancy, labour and birth preparation asana. All with the support of a qualified yoga teacher. Have a look at this post too regarding yoga in pregnancy.
You can absolutely enjoy your yoga: from conception until birth (yes, even while birthing your baby).
Pregnancy yoga classes: timetable here and online here
Want to train as a pregnancy yoga teacher with me? Have a look here for my next training