Daniela Knaan
UX/UI Designer at - AdobePregnancy is a journey filled with anticipation, joy, and sometimes, a little bit of uncertainty. As you prepare to welcome your baby into the world, finding ways to stay grounded, calm, and connected to your body can make all the difference. Prenatal yoga offers a powerful way to support your physical and emotional well-being during this transformative time. In this post, we’ll explore a specially designed prenatal yoga flow that not only strengthens your body but also nurtures the mind-body connection essential for a calm and natural birth. Whether you’re new to yoga or an experienced practitioner, this gentle yet empowering sequence will help you embrace your pregnancy journey with confidence and grace.
What Does Natural Birth Mean?
Every vaginal birth is “natural”, but there is a difference between a highly medicated and intervened birth and a birth that happens without any disruption or medical intervention. By saying “natural” people usually mean intervention-free.
Natural birth refers to the process of giving birth with minimal medical intervention, allowing the body to follow its natural rhythms. This approach typically involves avoiding the use of pain relief medications like epidurals, and instead, relying on techniques such as deep breathing, movement, and relaxation to manage labor pain. The goal of natural birth is to support a calm and empowered birthing experience, where you are actively involved and in tune with your body’s natural abilities to bring your baby into the world.
Why Should We Want A “Natural” Birth?
The experience of birthing your baby can be life-changing as either an insanely empowering and beautiful experience or a traumatic event. Either way, both you and your baby will carry the long-term effects of this experience. Of course, the experience could also be somewhere in between and is not always extreme, but you will still perceive and remember it as positive or negative.
Birth experiences are mostly positive when we as the birthing person make informed decisions and actively participate. And this can actually also involve the mother’s carefully evaluated interventions.
Birth experiences become negative when the birthing person is overruled and surprised by decisions and procedures without understanding them properly and without participating in the birthing process.
A complete feeling of disconnection can happen when doctors or midwives give the mother-to-be a feeling of her not being in charge or worse, not understanding her own body and needs. Unfortunately, this is exactly what happens in most hospitals. And that is also when small interventions lead you to a cascade of them, dragging the whole experience out of your hands.
So what you need to do in case you want your experience to be empowered, is to be well-prepared and informed at the hospital or choose a birth center with a more natural approach to birth. Home birth could be an option, too.
The Effects of Birth Trauma on Mom and Baby
Effects on the Mother:
- Emotional and Psychological Impact:
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): Mothers may experience flashbacks, nightmares, and heightened anxiety related to the birth experience.
- Postpartum Depression (PPD): Feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and disconnection from the baby can develop or intensify.
- Anxiety and Panic Disorders: Ongoing anxiety, panic attacks, and a heightened sense of fear or dread can occur.
- Physical Health Issues:
- Chronic Pain: Persistent pain, particularly in areas like the pelvis, back, or where interventions (e.g., episiotomy, C-section) occurred.
- Sexual Dysfunction: Painful intercourse, loss of libido, and discomfort in intimate situations may arise.
- Fatigue: Exhaustion that goes beyond typical postpartum tiredness, often linked to physical or emotional trauma.
- Bonding and Attachment Challenges:
- Difficulty Bonding: A sense of detachment or difficulty forming an emotional connection with the baby.
- Guilt and Shame: Feelings of inadequacy or failure as a mother due to the traumatic birth experience.
- Less success in breastfeeding and less chances of immediate skin-to-skin contact
- Impact on Future Pregnancies:
- Fear of Subsequent Births: Increased anxiety or fear around the prospect of future pregnancies and births, sometimes leading to decisions like elective C-sections or avoiding further pregnancies.
- Increased Medical Interventions: Higher likelihood of opting for interventions in future births due to past trauma.
Effects on the Baby:
- Emotional and Behavioral Effects:
- Increased Irritability: Babies may be more fussy or difficult to soothe, potentially linked to the trauma experienced during birth.
- Sleep Disturbances: Difficulty establishing regular sleep patterns, with frequent waking or trouble sleeping through the night.
- Attachment Issues: Challenges in forming secure attachments with caregivers, potentially leading to long-term emotional and behavioral issues.
- Physical Health Concerns:
- Feeding Difficulties: Challenges with breastfeeding or bottle-feeding, such as trouble latching or sucking, possibly due to birth trauma.
- Developmental Delays: Some babies may experience delays in reaching developmental milestones, although this is not always directly linked to birth trauma.
- Long-Term Impact:
- Increased Risk of Anxiety: Babies exposed to high levels of maternal stress during birth may be more susceptible to anxiety and stress later in life.
- Sensory Processing Issues: Some children may develop sensitivities to touch, sound, or light, which can affect their ability to process sensory information normally.
Practice These Yoga Poses Daily For A Calm Birth
Prenatal yoga gives us all the tools and the perfect mindset to achieve a more positive and calm birth experience! Let`s take a look at a few simple poses to help.
Butterfly Pose
- Sit on your mat with your spine straight and legs extended in front of you.
- Bring the soles of your feet together, allowing your knees to drop out to the sides.
- Hold your feet or ankles with your hands, gently pulling your feet closer to your pelvis.
- Sit tall, lengthening your spine, and relax your shoulders.
- Inhale deeply, and as you exhale, gently press your knees towards the floor, feeling the stretch in your inner thighs.
- Stay here for a few breaths, relaxing into the pose with each exhale
We practice hip opening in this pose, helping our baby to be in a good position for birth, and build flexibility in the pelvic floor and hips, which help during birth.
Pelvic Circles
Sitting cross-legged, place your hands on your knees and rotate your body.
We practice hip opening in this pose, helping our baby to be in a good position for birth, and build flexibility in the pelvic floor and hips, which help during birth.
Childs Pose
- Start on your hands and knees in a tabletop position, with your wrists under your shoulders and knees under your hips.
- Bring your big toes together and gently spread your knees apart.
- Sit back onto your heels, lowering your hips towards your feet.
- Extend your arms forward, reaching your hands out in front of you, or rest them alongside your body with palms facing up.
- Lower your forehead to the mat and relax your neck and shoulders.
- Breathe deeply, allowing your body to soften and release with each exhale.
This pose relaxes the whole body for inner calmness. The gentle stretch relieves the lower back and hips from the constant pressure.
Childs Pose Rockbacks
While in child pose, move forward with an inhale and rock back with the exhale. This stretches and prepares the pelvic floor for birth.
Cat& Cow Pose
From table top pose lower your back down raise your head with an inhale and move in the opposite direction with an exhale. This keeps your spine flexible and helps baby adjust to the perfect birth position.
Forward Fold
Stand with your knees bent and at least hip-width distance, and release your upper body down, tucking your chin slightly in. This pose promotes calmness and grounding.
Goddess Pose
Stand with your feet wide apart and exhale down to a wide squat. This pose is fantastic for building up the strength and stamina you need for birth, and it helps open up the pelvic floor. It is one of the best poses for preparation and also to use in birth to speed labor up.
The Warrior 2 Pose
- Start in a standing position, and step your feet wide apart, about 3-4 feet.
- Turn your right foot out 90 degrees and your left foot slightly inwards.
- Extend your arms out to the sides, parallel to the floor, with palms facing down.
- Bend your right knee directly over your right ankle, keeping the left leg straight and strong.
- Gaze over your right hand, keeping your shoulders relaxed and your spine tall.
- Hold the pose, breathing deeply, and then repeat on the other side.
Another great pose to build the strength and stamina you need so badly for birth! This pose makes you feel your inner strength and self-confidence, allowing you to tap into your innate wisdom and intuition to birth!
Enjoy the flow on YouTube!
Let me know in the comments if you found this helpful, and if you are ready to dive deeper, you can sign up for the full online prenatal program!
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