Prenatal Yoga

A woman's body is biologically created for certain specific functions. She has to undergo the four stages of life--childhood, adolescence, middle age, and old age. In each of these four stages, she undergoes physiological changes and has to face problems and internal conflicts. This affects her physical and physiological organs as well as her mind, and much of her energy is lost in coming to terms with life during the periods of change.

Motherhood is a woman's ordained duty. This is not merely a physical state, but a divine state. In giving birth, new responsibilities begin for her, and she has to prove herself. Motherhood adorns her with the sacred qualities of love, sacrifice, faith, tolerance, good will, and hard work. This is her highest religion, her svadharma.

These qualities are ingrained deep into her nature. They can make her feel somewhat servile when she is overwhelmed by the burdens of life, because she is not able to free herself from the plethora of duties that nature thrusts upon her. The endless straggle of being a woman and a mother, being tied to her work and her duty, trains her to face the world and its dualities with equanimity.

A woman has to pay a high price physically and psychologically in her multiple roles. The stabilization of physical and mental states is achieved by asanas and pranayama. Her salvation lies in practicing them.

Yoga is especially well suited for women, who although they have family responsibilities, can perform this Yogic asanas in the privacy and comfort of their own home.

This is an excerpt from the book Iyengar Yoga for Motherhood, Safe Practice for Expectant and New Mothers, by Geeta S. Iyengar et al. that I really like. It was a book recommended to me by my previous yoga instructor to help me continue my yoga home practice safely throughout my pregnancy, and it has been a wonderful tool. It is a very new book (2010), and I am glad it came out before I was pregnant because there is really nothing else like it for Iyengar Yoga. I like this excerpt because not only is it empowering, but it reminds why I enjoy yoga so much and why its so important for me to practice regularly. Yoga has helped me to feel stronger, more flexible, and have a more confident posture. It has also helped me to be more thoughtful before I react to different situations, and to find peace with myself when I am emotionally overwhelmed.

I have been struggling with finding a good time to conduct my home practice. I want to do it in the morning, but I was having morning sickness pretty bad before breakfast and the couple of times I tried I ended up vomiting later on. Fortunately, my morning sickness has become more bearable recently, and I think I will try again perhaps with a couple of crackers and a little tea before I start.

Last week I started my prenatal yoga session at Portland Yoga Studio with Pamela. I have had two classes, and I really love it. There are about 10 women in the class, all at different stages of pregnancy. There are 3 who are about the same stage as me, which is exciting because we will be able to experience pregnancy together. The rest of the women are weeks 20-25, and it is fun to see how much their bodies have changed and to hear their experience. I am really looking forward to getting to know some of the women throughout our classes, and perhaps eventually make friends so that I have other mothers to hang out with. I don't really know anyone my age who is pregnant or has kids, so I am going to start making an effort to be more social and meet people so I won't be lonely at home and my baby can make friends too. So far I am doing okay at talking to people, hopefully it will get easier for me. Everyone seems really nice though. I am very happy I am taking the class. Pamela does a great job at letting us do a huge variety of poses still and knows great ways of adjusting them so that they are safe for us and our bulging bellies. I love that I am still allowed to do headstands, shoulder stands and even half moon pose. I am excited at all the benefits yoga brings to me and am hoping that it will make my eventual child birthing experience less painful and more enjoyable. I also hope that it will help spring my body back into shape post child birth. Overall, I am very happy with my prenantal yoga experience so far.