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Preparing for Birth with Yoga
Yoga has many benefits in pregnancy and birth. Apart from the health benefits, the increased energy and vitality, yoga also helps you to focus on your pregnancy in a deeper way. Being in tune with your physical and emotional self will bring you more in harmony with yourself and your baby. Yoga exercises the mind as well as the body, which can bring about emotional healing. Yoga is also an ideal exercise to prepare you for birth. Your body instinctively knows what to do to birth your baby but if you are fearful or are inhibited in any way this could prevent you from using your instincts during labour and birth.
The processes of birth are involuntary. They happen without your conscious control. Simply doing nothing allows your body to relax, to produce hormones called endorphins, which are natural relaxants and pain relievers. These hormones help to bring about the change of consciousness needed as the birth draws closer. Your “thinking mind” quietens and your primitive brain takes over.
During pregnancy, endorphin secretion increases in preparation for birth. This can be enhanced by yoga and breathing practice, which stimulates the release of endorphins, thus preparing your body’s physiological responses to pain in labour.
The key to managing your labour is to surrender to it. Relax, trust your body, let go of your mind and let your instincts take over. With this attitude you can look forward to it. Let it be a wonderful joyful experience. A journey of unexpected events you take with your baby together.
Yoga is wonderful preparation for this. It teaches you to make space between your thoughts, to simply do nothing else apart from focus on what you are feeling in your body, to surrender, let go and accept the power of birth.
To find out more about YogaBirth classes and to find a teacher near you visit our recommended services page or visit www.yogabirth.co.uk
Pelvic Floor Exercises:
The pelvic floor muscles form a broad sling between your legs from the pubic bone in front to the base of your spine at the back. They help to hold your bladder, uterus and bowel in place. These muscles also give you control over when you empty your bladder or move your bowels. Being pregnant can place large amounts of stress on your pelvic floor and its muscles. By being aware of your pelvic floor and strengthening it during pregnancy, you can better support the weight of your growing baby, work with your body to give birth and regain your tone and strength in this important area after the birth. The exercises will help you gain good muscle control, which may reduce stress incontinence (i.e. leaking slightly from the bladder when you laugh, sneeze or cough), improve your sense of well being and can even help increase both partner’s enjoyment of lovemaking (i.e. increased sensitivity during sex and stronger orgasms).
If you're pregnant, or planning to get pregnant, you can start doing pelvic floor exercises straight away, in fact the earlier the better.
You can feel your pelvic floor muscles if you try to stop the flow of urine when you go to the toilet. To strengthen your pelvic floor muscles, sit comfortably and squeeze the muscles tightly 10-15 times in a row. However, don't hold your breath, or tighten your stomach, buttock or thigh muscles at the same time. When you get used to it, you can try holding each squeeze for a few seconds. Aim to do sets of these exercises everyday, perhaps linking them into activities such as washing up, sitting in the car, watching TV etc.
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