Daniela Knaan
UX/UI Designer at - AdobeYoga during labor?
My pregnant yoginis look at me with their eyes wide open when we do a certain yoga pose and I say: “…and this is a really good one to help dilation happen faster!” Is it possible to do yoga while laboring?
Well yes, it is, and even better, doing it correctly, certain yoga poses can help eliminate a huge part of labor pain and tension, and therefore speed up labor.
Hot showers and yoga were the only two things that kept me going during my first birth. Mentally and physically, yoga made it possible for me to birth without any pain medication. This was very important to me.
What happens to our bodies when we do yoga?
Yoga asana and breathing practices help our body relax deeply.
When our body is relaxed, we help the oxytocin flow, one of the most important hormones that make birth happen, and that is only released when we relax.
So that being said, one of the main challenges to keeping labor going- is to relax.
Second, those yoga poses help the baby descend into the pelvis and get into the right position. And when that happens, our body will make birth proceed the right way.
It`s not only the Yoga Poses
While we always think “yoga” refers to only the poses, the poses themselves are really called asana, and yoga has so much more to offer!
For now, talking about labor and birth, the most important are in fact Asana (the poses), breathing, and mindfulness (visualization and concentration).
It is so important to practice all of those during your pregnancy! You will not be able to use those tools effectively during labor if you are not familiar with and fluent in doing so before.
Breathing
This is not the post to go into the different breathing techniques that are allowed during pregnancy and beneficial in many different ways.
For now, I am only going to describe ways of breathing that help you relax during labor and birth.
1. Deep Breathing
Deep breathing is one of the simplest ways to calm our minds and relax our bodies. Just breathe deeply through your nose into your belly, making it expand, and breathe out slowly.
Concentrate on your breath.
2. Breathe “out” the contraction
When you feel a contraction coming, take a deep breath, and with the contraction breathe out. This works best in combination with a yoga pose like the Warrior 2, lounge or goddess squat.
Mindfulness
One of the most important things I learned through prenatal yoga is to accept contractions as your help, your friend- not as your enemy. This may sound strange because we all have a conception of labor being awfully painful and unbearable. How embrace this kind of pain? But if you understand the simple idea of what a contraction really does, which is birthing your baby, it might get a little easier to adjust to, and let it help you.
Don`t try and block the contractions. They cannot be blocked and it will make everything worse. Work with your body and you will be able to actively birth your baby!
Visualization
Visualization helps you concentrate on what is going on with your body and accept that. A contraction can be visualized as a wave, starting slowly, coming to its highest point, and then brake.
You can also imagine your baby coming a little closer to being born with every contraction.
Yoga Asana
The following yoga poses help shorten the early and active first stage of labor and practicing prenatal yoga frequently has been shown to shorten the whole process of birth.
They can help your cervix dilate faster and lead the baby into the right position, widening the inlet and outlet of the pelvis to the widest diameter to make it easier for your baby to pass.
1. Warrior 2
This pose is a really great one to breathe out labor. Take a deep breath, spread your arms, and go deep into the pose while breathing out.
2. Deep lounge
Like the warrior, this is also a great way to breathe out a contraction and speed up dilation.
3. Goddes Squat/ Deep Squat
Both are excellent for dilation and helping the baby descend into the pelvis!
4. Rotating
Our baby does not come out in a straight way. That`s why rotating is such a good way to “jiggle” our baby into the right position. Not only rotating while standing on a wall is great, sitting on a birth ball also does the work!
5. Tabletop position (Being on all fours)
Being on all fours is not only a good way to labor but also to birth! Be aware to spread your feet, not your knees, to guarantee the widening of the pelvic outlet…
6. Side lying
While lying on your side, lift your upper leg on a large pillow. This pose allows you to rest a little while still laboring actively and helping your baby find their way.
Let your body lead you
And this I am saying because lots of times there is staff around and people expecting all kinds of things from you. Don’t let it distract you. You do your thing. Don`t take notice of the people around you. Your body will lead you to do what has to be done.
Final thoughts
Practicing prenatal yoga frequently, you will get used to all of those poses. This will make it easy for you to take advantage of using them throughout labor.
Don’t let tension take control of you, if it feels difficult in the beginning, that’s totally normal…
Childbirth is amazing. Let your body lead you.
