Don’t Do These Prenatal Poses To Stay Safe and Secure During Pregnancy

You can do yoga throughout your life, even while you’re pregnant. Practising prenatal yoga is safe, but it’s best if you’ll do it with the guidance of a certified personal trainer.

Your yoga instructor can design prenatal yoga poses and flow suited to your condition. While it’s okay for pregnant women to do a prenatal yoga practice, it is better if you will do prenatal yoga postures safe for a pregnant woman and the growing baby inside.

Moreover, you have to get your doctor’s approval before signing up for the best prenatal yoga classes in Singapore.

This article aims to help expectant mothers to keep fit and healthy and avoid pregnancy complications. I will let you into the best prenatal yoga poses, aka pregnancy yoga poses, you can do in your first trimester, second trimester, or third trimester.

If you want to learn more about the pregnancy yoga poses that can help ease your yoga journey, read on.

Prenatal Yoga Poses to Avoid When Regularly Practicing Prenatal Yoga

Prenatal yoga has many advantages, but you must go to proper yoga classes handled by a professional yoga instructor to experience such.

Many studies about prenatal yoga found that regular practice can help improve a woman’s health during pregnancy. It can also boost fetal health, labour, and delivery.

Moreso, prenatal yoga can strengthen the mind-body connection. It can also make a woman’s core stringer, boost mood, and reduce common problems during pregnancy: back pains.

Your yoga teacher can tweak certain yoga poses to make them suitable for a prenatal yoga session. But to have a safe pregnancy, choose yoga classes with experts in prenatal yoga.

Here are the yoga poses to avoid for moms-to-be in the early stages to the later plight of their pregnancy. You can still gain the many benefits of a yoga class for pregnant women by doing the practice right.

Take a look at the following yoga poses to avoid for pregnant women:

Backbends

• Full Wheel Pose (Chakrasana)

This yoga pose puts too much strain on the abdominal cavity and spine. This can be especially harmful during your third trimester.

Abdominal Prenatal Yoga Postures

• Revolved Side Angle Pose (Parivrtta Parsvakonasana)

It’s a yoga pose that compresses a person’s abdominal cavity. It’s not a safe yoga pose for an expectant mother because it involves spine-twisting movements.

• Crow Pose (Kakasana)

This inverted yoga pose can put you at risk of falling. It can throw you off the centre of gravity, and you might lose your balance during the yoga practice.

• Plow Pose (Halasana)

The pose made the list of the yoga poses to avoid in a prenatal yoga class because the movements involved compress the uterus and abdominal cavity.

• Shoulder Stand Pose (Sarvangasana)

This is another entry on the yoga poses to avoid when practising yoga while pregnant for increasing the risk of the abdominal muscles and uterus getting compressed while doing the movements.

• Boat Pose

It strains your belly and puts pressure on your pelvic floor muscles.

Prenatal Yoga Breathing Techniques

• Kapalabhati

It pertains to any breathwork exercise done when practising yoga.

It involves breathing exercises that can harm pregnant women, such as forceful or fast breathing in and out and breath retention. Understand that your diaphragm is higher than usual while pregnant.

Kapalabhati can take away the oxygen required by the fetus inside and your whole system. It is better if you will perform diaphragmatic breathing and make it slow.

Full Inversions

• Handstand Pose (Adho Mukha Vrksasana) & Headstand Pose (Sirsasana)

These yoga poses can increase your risk of falling, so it’s best to avoid doing them in your first trimester up to the last.

• Feathered Peacock Pose (Pincha Mayurasana)

Avoid this yoga posture starting from your first trimester. It exaggerates your spine’s lumbar lordosis, which might result in aggravated pain in your lower back.

Deep or Closed Twists

• Ardha Matsyendrasana or Half Lord of the Fishes

This is among the many twisting yoga poses not suitable during pregnancy. This pose in particular stresses the fetus since it requires the compression of your uterus as you twist your abs.

Remember to avoid all twisting poses in your third trimester. If you want to do them in your first trimester or second trimester, ensure that you perform the twisting movements gently.

Belly Down or Prone Poses

• Bow Pose (Dhanurasana)

It’s best to avoid this yoga posture after your first trimester. The movements required will cause too much strain on your abdomen.

• Forward Fold Pose (Paschimottanasana)

While you can still do this yoga posture in your first trimester, avoid it when your tummy gets bigger.

When it happens, you will find it quite difficult to perform any forward bends, including a seated forward bend.

But it depends; your trainer can tweak the movements by putting a wider space between your left leg and right leg.

• Cobra Pose (Bhujangasana)

You can no longer do this yoga posture after your first trimester because it strains your belly.

• Plank Pose (Phalakasana)

The pose strains your abdominal and pelvic floor muscles.

Jumping Transitions

You cannot do these transitions in your first trimester as the movements might disturb the growth of life inside of you. So avoid them when performing sun salutations.

Aside from the poses, you must also avoid hot yoga while pregnant. This yoga practice is done in a heated room, which might feel uncomfortable or might reduce your airflow.

It’s best to wait until you’ve given birth before trying a hot yoga practice.

Yoga Poses Safe to Do in Prenatal Yoga Practice

Despite the many yoga poses you can’t do while pregnant, you can do many other poses that can help decrease stiffness, improve your range of motion, and make your body stronger.

Here are the safe yoga poses you can safely perform in your prenatal yoga classes:

• Legs-Up-the-Wall (Viparita Karani)

This pose is specifically helpful in alleviating swelling in your feet and ankles.

• Side Corpse Pose (Parsva Savasana)

The movements of this yoga posture have relaxing effects.

• Reclined Goddess Pose (Supta Baddha Konasana)

Do this pose by the latter part of your pregnancy to help you doze off faster.

• Happy Baby Pose (Ananda Balasana)

The position prepares you for labour as it opens up your hips.

• Garland Pose (Malansana)

This is a great pose that helps in opening your pelvis and inner thighs.

• Cobbler’s Pose (Baddha Konasana)

Aside from stretching your inner thighs, the movements also open your hips gently.

• Warrior II (Virabhadrasana II)

It opens the hips and does a good exercise in strengthening your shoulders, core, and legs.

• Side Plank Pose (Vasisthasana)

It strengthens the obliques, and this yoga posture is good for stretching.

• Gate Pose (Parighasana)

It creates more room in your abdomen for the baby as it stretches your abdominal cavity and obliques.

• Bird Dog (Parsva Balasana)

It exercises your glutes and core, especially during the first and second phases of the pregnancy.

• Child’s Pose (Balasana)

It’s a good yoga posture for the shoulders and back and is an excellent hip opener.

• Cat-Cow Pose (Marjaryasana-Bitilasana)

It reduces neck stiffness and low back pain as it is a good exercise in extending your spine.

• Cow Pose (Bitilasana)

It helps tone your abdominal muscles and guides the baby to a safe position for delivery.

• Cat Pose (Marjaryasana)

This yoga position warms up your hips, back, and shoulders and can be done safely during the first two trimesters of the pregnancy.

More Tips

Listen to your body when doing prenatal yoga. This way, you will know when your body wants to maximize keeping your leg straight, legs extended, or your knees slightly bent.

It’s best to do gentle stretching in the beginning.

Feel all your body parts during the practice, including your upper body, lower body, belly, and more. You may feel like you can do certain poses with ease, like tree pose, pigeon pose, or bridge pose.

Once you have gotten into the groove, you can do what other pregnant women do, such as attending normal yoga classes. Just make sure you always use a yoga mat to keep your footing strong and follow your yoga instructor.

Final Thoughts

Remember that every day will be different when you’re pregnant. Your body produces hormones that change your mood, affect your blood pressure and blood flow, and cause morning sickness.

If you want to practice yoga in a well-equipped yoga studio in Singapore, try Sweatbox Yoga. We have experts in the industry that can teach you about the core exercises that can help make pregnancy easier.