The Benefits
Good Reasons For Taking Yoga Classes After Giving Birth
(Mom And Baby Classes)
Just as pregnancy is a time of transition, so is the postnatal period. If you’ve had your first baby you’ll be adjusting to your new role as a mother. Your body will also be going through many changes after the hard work of labor and delivery. The postpartum period is usually considered to be from right after birth until eight weeks, and it is during this time that the greatest physical changes take place. It usually takes much longer than eight weeks for a woman to begin to feel like her normal self physically after giving birth.. Even if you didn’t discover yoga during pregnancy, the postnatal period is a wonderful time to start yoga as you adjust to the many physical and emotional changes going on in your life.
The time to resume or start a yoga practice after birth varies, so it is important to listen to your body and know what is right for you. Even the easiest, smoothest labor uses lots of energy, so in the beginning choose rest and relaxation over exertion until you feel your energy starting to increase. Women should have medical approval before starting yoga after a caesarean birth. But even after a vaginal birth it is wise to start slowly, using yoga as a way to nurture and energize yourself at this time when you are giving out so much to your new baby. Gentle movement and stretching will often give you needed energy as it improves circulation and helps promote healing.
During pregnancy your body was opening up as it made room for your growing baby and prepared for giving birth. The postures for prenatal yoga encouraged this opening and widening of the pelvic joints, and now, with postnatal yoga we choose postures to gently help the body close while building up strength and maintaining flexibility. Yoga postures work deeply to not only strengthen core muscles affected by pregnancy and giving birth, but also massage and help realign the inner body.
Most women feel concern about the loss of tone in the abdominal muscles, but care must be taken to gradually strengthen them without overstraining the lower back muscles which are often sensitive and vulnerable after pregnancy. Many women also experience strain and soreness in their neck and shoulders from the daily activities of caring for a baby. So it’s good to keep these muscles stretched and toned.
Most women find it difficult to find time to exercise with a new baby. Many yoga stretches can be done while holding your baby, and some can even be done while nursing. Moving and relaxing together during yoga is a great way to bond and have fun with your baby while working on toning your muscles. And babies also enjoy gentle massage and stretching of their bodies. Yoga stretches for baby will gently encourage the spine to unfold from the fetal position along with opening up joints. Baby yoga will help your baby stay flexible as the muscles grow stronger. Babies are very attuned to their mother’s breathing patterns, so practicing deep relaxation together is very calming and healing for both of you.
The Mom & Baby Yoga classes that I teach include postnatal yoga postures for
the mothers along with some massage and stretching for the babies. The structure of the class varies each week to meet the needs of the moms and babies in attendance. Some weeks, the moms need lots of shoulder and upper back stretches, while other weeks the focus may be more on strengthening the abdominals and lower back. Moms take breaks as needed to feed and comfort their babies, and we include the babies in some of the postures. The babies seem to enjoy watching their moms moving in the yoga stretches and also watching the other babies. We also spend some time each class on massage and yoga stretches for the babies. Class ends with a relaxation time for both mom and baby.
My hope is that the class is fun for both mom and baby, and that both leave feeling energized and relaxed.