Prenatal

WHAT IT IS

Adapted yoga postures for expectant mothers. It’s designed to help you in all stages of pregnancy, even the getting back in shape part. “When you keep your muscles strong through your term, the muscles will still have the strength and energy to return to normal. If you didn’t work out, your muscles just get weaker and make it harder to get your body back,” says Nicole DeAvilla, RYT and developer of the Prenatal Yoga teacher training program at The Expanding Light Ananda Yoga and Meditation Retreat center in California.

BEST FOR

Safe fitness for the expecting. Speeding up labor, warding off pregnancy aches, pains and swelling. Keeping your core strong during pregnancy counteracts the pull of the baby on your body, which maintains good posture.

WHO'S GOTTA HAVE IT

All those opting for a drug-free delivery. Any pregnant woman who wants an easier (and speedier) labor. “You’ll have an easier time delivering because yoga can strengthen your pelvic floor muscles,” says DeAvilla. “People think keeping things loose makes delivery easy but stronger muscles stretch more easily to make things go faster.”

NEED TO KNOW

Yogic breathing is like Lamaze, part II. The Lamaze breath emphasizes the exhalation, which makes it easy to learn. Yogic breathing deeply engages your diaphragm, helping you relax more.

CHEAT SHEET

Your center of balance is totally different with two of you, so watch out in balancing poses.

FAMOUS FOR

Supermodel mom Cindy Crawford and her post-babies body (see Kundalini, also); radiant mommies-to-be.

RESOURCES

Prenatal Yoga Center in NYC


Prenatal

Have a Better Labor with these 7 Tricks of the Trade

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I have been attending births for almost 4 years and have picked up some “trade secrets” along the way. Here are some ideas to try to help make your labor more comfortable, less painful and (hopefully) shorter.

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I'm trying to get pregnant. What poses should I focus on?

Answered by Deb Flashenberg, Director of The Prenatal Yoga Center.

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Prenatal Yoga with
Angela Kinsey

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Congratulations to Angela, who gave birth to Isabel Ruby on May 3, 2008!

We’d never suggest Angela from The Office do an ounce of yoga—lest she soften that strident, scowling persona. But when Dana Meltzer Zepeda sat down with Angela Martin—37-year old actress Angela Kinsey in real life—she found a woman on the verge of giving birth who says weekly yoga classes help her relax and feel in control throughout her pregnancy.

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