Daniela Knaan
UX/UI Designer at - AdobeEstablishing a consistent prenatal yoga routine is essential for maximizing pregnancy’s physical and mental benefits. Prenatal yoga helps improve flexibility, strength, and balance while reducing stress and promoting relaxation. Creating a dedicated routine ensures that you and your baby reap the full rewards of these gentle yet effective exercises. In this post, I’ll guide you through setting up the perfect prenatal yoga routine at home, tailored to support you throughout your pregnancy journey.
Create Your Space
Practicing yoga in a safe and calming environment is crucial for your experience! Make sure your space is free from clutter and clean… If you have bigger kids have them take away their stuff (sometimes I would feel like I can`t breathe in the midst of the chaos).
You might enjoy sitting by a window, or outside altogether. Or you can make yourself cozy with some candles or calming lights. Nice music finishes the job- for many, this is really what makes the difference.
Allow Yourself To Arrive
Once you sit on your mat, make yourself comfortable in a cross-legged pose, best to sit on a cushion or block to create more space for your baby and make it easier for you to sit straight and upright. It is very important to be well-aligned while you breathe, for breath and energy to flow freely through your body… But totally unnecessary to make this hard for yourself. So just elevating yourself by sitting on a cushion or block solves the problem!
Start with conscious and slow breathing, concentrate on your body, and fully arrive and be present with yourself and your baby.
Gentle Warm-Up
Warm-up is essential to prevent injuries, and has huge benefits in itself!
Gentle rotation of your neck, shoulders, wrists, pelvis, and ankles promotes better circulation throughout your whole body, may reduce stiffness and swelling, and helps maintain strength and flexibility in all your joints. Simple yet effective!
The Main Poses
The main poses would be kneeling poses like
- Table-Top Pose
- Child`s pose
- Cat& Cow Pose
or standing poses for example
- Downward Facing Dog
- Mountain Pose
- Tree Pose
- Triangle Pose
- Warrior Pose
Those are only part of hundreds of poses and variations that all work on physical and mental strength, balance, stamina, connection, and much more…Practicing them over and over ultimately will make you feel better in so many ways- both mentally and physically!
Cooling Down & Savasana
At last gentle stretching can be used to cool down before breathing and final savasana.
There are a variety of breathing techniques- I teach them in depth in my prenatal yoga& birth preparation program. For now, let`s concentrate on slow and conscious breathing. Inhale through your nose, exhale through your nose or mouth- Inhale while your belly expands, exhale tuck your navel in.
At first, try to make your exhale longer than your inhale- our body gets rid of so many toxins and unwanted stuff through our breath…
After a few minutes, you can go on to having equal inhale and exhale to create a state of equilibrium- balance in your breath and mind.
Finally, for savasana, lay down on your side with props to make you comfortable, and relaxed.
Enjoy The Video!
Try this yoga flow explaining exactly how you can do basic yoga routines at home – easy to remember and moderate!
