In this day and age, being overweight is rapidly becoming the rule and not the exception. Modern lifestyle has become quite inactive with the kinds of diets that people are consuming consists of processed and highly fatty foods that contain excessive calories, flavours as well asstabilizers.  Children no longer maintain active lifestyles by involving themselves in various activities and instead spend a good amount of time watching television.

As a discipline, Yoga is intended to strengthen the body, make it more flexible and at the same time improve on the general health of the digestive, hormonal as well as circulatory systems.  Yoga also helps to significantly reduce mental stress, maintain peace and a clear mind. Yoga is also beneficial spiritually as it will enable you become at peace and comfortable with yourself. This will help you become emotionally stable.The mental aspect is usually left out when it comes to weight loss. However, it is quite important and should therefore never be disregarded.  The most common problem for individuals who go through yo-yo dieting is the craving for comfort foods.

As a practice Yoga involves profound and precise breathing. This technique allows for improved oxygen intake. This enables the oxygen to effectively move through the fat cells within the body and help allows oxygen to travel to the fat cells in our body and assist in the entire process. With all these benefits, it is difficult to understand why some people do not perform Yoga. These breathing exercises help the pregnant women for a healthy growth of their baby.

A large number of people tend to believe that Yoga is a passive discipline and is therefore reserved for hippies and not necessarily for them. This is totally far from the truth since Yoga helps to improve the Physical part of the body and psychological health.

Yoga puts into consideration the different factors that contribute to being overweight. Being overweight not only has to do with the physical but also has a lot to do with spiritual reasons. Practicing Yoga on a regular basis will help to relax the body and help to reduce a person’s weight to an ideal range and still good levels of strength, mobility as well as stamina. This practice is effective with people of all ages.

In the year 1969, Kundalini which is a form of active Yoga was first practiced to America and was introduced by Yogi Bhajan. This is a more dynamic type of Yoga and it combines various breathing techniques, meditation as well as movements in order to cover up the fact that a large number of the people living in American are accustomed to view workouts as something that requires sweating.

Yoga can also be used to reduce the urge of snacking in between meals. This is made possible through the use of techniques that help to cut down on the impulses that lead us to crave for snacks in between meals. It is therefore important to note that Yoga is more than a technique used to lose weight but also works to restore the natural balance within our bodies

Yoga is not just a method of losing weight, it is actually a method which restores a natural balance to our body and draws us to our natural disposition.  These exercises are especially beneficial for women in losing weight post delivery.

Yoga has been in practice since times immortal. It has its roots in Indian culture. With the passage of time, various styles and forms of yoga have come up, as per practitioners and changing requirements.  Each style has its own techniques and methods. These variations in techniques often put the beginners in confusion, as to which style to choose and which one not to choose. The to be mothers are quite apprehensive if this is going to help them in their pregnancy or no. No matter what style and form of yoga you are doing, the main aim of all of these is to attain a healthy body, mind and soul.

What is Yoga?

This is the first question that arises in any newcomer’s mind. Many of them have a slight idea, but they have their apprehensions, whether yoga will give them any benefit in the present day scenario or not. They are not sure whether yoga is an exercise or a therapy or something else. Yoga is a combination of all of these. It makes your body exercise and your mind and soul to feel calm and relaxed.

Yoga includes various poses and asanas, which will make a certain area to stretch, which get benefitted by an increased blood flow there which results into energy release in that area. This, further strengthens the body. Yoga is not like other modern exercises done with a fast pace. It is performed slowly with breath control technique that makes your mind also to exercise. This way your mind and body are connected well, and get a fresh energy flow.

Does One Has To Be Religious To Perform Yoga?

World is made up of people of different mind sets. Different people have different approach to things. The same is applicable for yoga too. There are some people who take yoga for spiritual purpose, whereas there are some who would look at it only for physical benefits. No matter what your approach towards yoga is, you will definitely get the benefit that you are aiming at. Those who do yoga for physical benefits, also feel an enhancement in their self confidence and energy, even when they did not have this aim in their mind. The pregnant women feel relief from anxiety and fear, and enjoy good health. Not only this, certain exercises help them during child birth.

How And Where Should I Do Yoga?

There are no specifications regarding the place where yoga can be perform. You can practically do it anywhere you like. If you have taken enough training, you can practice it at home, or you can also join yoga classes if that suits you better.  The best part about yoga is that it allows you to do it at your ease.

I’m Pregnant – Is Yoga For Me?

Yes.  Surely, yoga has a lot of benefits to offer to you in this condition. You will feel a sense of positive energy within you and a relationship between you and the child inside will also develop. You will not only feel physically fit, but mentally relaxed too. Certain positions will help you during delivery time too.

When you start a new thing, you are usually uncertain as to what would it be and how it is going to help you. Yoga is no different, as people are uncertain in the beginning, but as they move ahead, all their doubts and apprehensions get cleared. But, yoga is not something that anyone and everyone can teach you. You should know the right place for that, especially when you are pregnant. Many pregnant women are uncertain as what to expect from a yoga class and how they are going to be benefited. In this article, we will put light on the tips for finding the most suitable yoga class for you.

Tip No 1:  Formulate your goal before choosing a class

There may be different reasons for everyone for joining a yoga class. You should know your aim well before you jump in a class.  Being a pregnant mother, you should be looking at your overall health; physical, mental and spiritual. All these three goals can be achieved through yoga.

Once you have decided your goal, discuss them with your yoga Guru, and he/she would be able to guide you as how to go about to achieve it. The Guru would also be able to tell you if your goal is realistic or not, or if it suits your condition or not.

Tip No 2:  Check the class program before joining

In most of the places, the yoga classes are drop in types. This means that you may join in a class at any time and continue with the rest of the class. In this situation, the teacher will keep the exercises at a level that generally suits everyone. These classes are aimed at giving the exposure of yoga to majority of people.  You should try to look for a class which caters for your specific requirements as a pregnant mother. In such classes, you will realize that you are heading closer towards your goal from week to week.

Tip No 3:  Ensure that the teacher is an expert yoga Guru

There should be no hesitation in finding out about the background and the qualification of the yoga teacher, before you enroll yourself in any class. This is because, there are many such teachers, who have barely learnt yoga and do not have enough knowledge of it. They just call themselves Gurus to make an earning by teaching half learnt techniques. Such teachers may put you in danger, by making you do exercises which are not suitable for your pregnancy or for your health condition.

Tip No 4:  Check out the actual cost for the class

To avoid any disappointment later, it is better to find out the complete fee and the other expenses before joining a class. This is because sometimes there may be hidden charges besides the fee, or other compulsory expenses like buying a particular dress for the class, or your own mat etc.

Whichever class you join, the program should be suitable for your condition. You can do an internet research to find such classes which will give you the best result to make your pre and post delivery experience a memorable one.

The modern life of today has become quite stressful and there is always so many things lined up to be done.  In such a scenario, taking out time for self health, from a tightly packed schedule is very difficult. But, those who manage to do that only know how important and beneficial it is. Yoga, is one such way of getting good physical and mental fitness, that more and more people are practising it and enjoying the benefits. Though yoga benefits people in all ages and conditions, but it is especially helpful during pregnancy. Here are some benefits that one gets from yoga for a healthy pregnancy-

1. Improved  Physical Health

Staying healthy is very important for any human being, and during pregnancy, it becomes all the more important. It is observed that the pregnant women, who practice yoga, stay in good health. The various exercises help their body become more flexible and their ligaments more elastic. This helps them during labour and child birth. Generally, we experiences aches and pains in various parts of our body, which can be relieved with certain stretch exercises. Back ache is a common problem that most of the pregnant moms experience, especially during the last few weeks. But, due to the improvement in posture, both while sitting and standing, this problem is relieved completely.

The health benefits of yoga are visible in a few days of starting it, and they help keep you fit always. Not only your body is toned, your blood circulation is also improved, thus enhancing your body functionality. Digestive system is improved and so is your excretory system, helping your body in absorbing the nutrients more and at the same time detoxifying it. This will make you feel light and fit always.

2. Improved  Mental Health

Yoga aims at achieving total health, which include the mental health also besides the physical one. Breathing is an important part of yoga, which helps you attain complete fitness. Yoga exercises usually start with breathing exercises. You will realize the effect of it by simply learning the art of inhaling and exhaling the correct way.  The deep and controlled breathing relieves all your stresses and makes you feel calm and relaxed, which is the most important aspect for the to be moms. Besides, we also learn self-discipline by learning how to focus on the body and control it.

As we have mentioned above that the breathing exercises improve blood circulation and make you feel relaxed, this in turn, helps a lot during the child birth.

3. Staying Happy

Staying happy during pregnancy is very important for the healthy growth of your baby. In the materialistic world, we often ignore the importance of actual happiness, and sacrifice it for the worldly goals that we have achieved or we plan to achieve. But, yoga is sure to change this attitude, as it aims at complete satisfaction of body and mind. As a person develops a connection with himself through yoga, he starts loving himself and staying content in all situations. Your self confidence will be enhanced and you will handle the social situations in a better way. This would be the most important benefit that Yoga will give to you.

As you may know the pregnancy phase is divided into three trimesters and the yoga poses for pregnant women that can be practiced during each of those three trimesters vary. Prenatal yoga classes are becoming extremely popular these days because women are now realizing about the importance of yoga during pregnancy. Yoga is an ideal way to keep fit during this phase.

One of the popular yoga poses for pregnant women during the second trimester is the Flapping Fish pose, also known as the Matsya Kridasan pose. In order to get into this position, you should lie down on your stomach and interlock your fingers and place them under your head as a support. Now bend your left leg sideways and try to bring the knee of the bent leg as close to your ribs as possible while ensuring that the other leg, i.e. the right leg, stays straight. Now swivel both your arms to the left and rest your left elbow on your left knee. In case you find this to be challenging then just rest your left elbow on the floor and relax for some time before changing sides.

The Flapping fish pose is a great yoga pose for expecting mothers during their second trimesters because it stimulates digestion and gets rid of gastric-related problems such as constipation. It also helps to bring relaxation to the nerves located in your legs. This pose is ideal for the second trimester and not the third because during the third trimester your belly would expand even more.

Another useful pose among the lot of yoga poses for pregnant women during the second trimester is the Thunderbolt pose or the Vajrasan. To do this pose simply kneel on the floor, bringing both the big toes together and while separating the heels. Now lower your buttocks onto the ‘seat’ created by your feet and ensure that the side of your hips is touching the heel of your feet. Now place your hands on your knees with the palms facing down. It is essential to keep the back and head straight during the pose.

This pose, i.e. thunderbolt pose, is great for enhancing your body’s digestive functions and therefore the best time to practice this pose would be right after you have had your meal. During pregnancy, expecting mothers are very prone to hyperacidity and this pose is the solution for this stomach ailment. It can also assist the individual in labor which is practicing it regularly is a must.

A third pose that can be practiced during the third trimester is known as the gracious pose, also known as the Bhadrasan. This pose is almost same like the thunderbolt pose but it requires the knees to be separated and kept as far away from each other as possible. The toes should be touching the floor and the body should not be strained and the benefits ensuing from this pose are the same as the benefits of the thunderbolt pose.

Second semester is the time when most women will have recovered from the nausea and are yet to feel the heaviness of the stomach. Hence the objective during these three months is to provide the baby with as much nutrition as possible which is why most of the yoga asanas are aimed towards improvement of gastric health. A mom to-be who eats well can definitely be assured of having been blessed with a healthy baby.

Yoga for pregnant women is considered to be the most beneficial form of physical activity which is practiced by many women during and after their ordeal of pregnancy. Since it entails stretching of muscles and attaining mastery of breathing and relaxation techniques, the combination of yoga and pregnancy is often chosen over the combination of yoga and exercise as an ideal preparation for birth. Pregnant yoga not only prepares the body for enduring the labor pains but also alleviates the discomfort associated with pregnancy like morning or evening sickness and sciatic pain so that this crucial journey is one of relaxed enjoyment and better health.

Although yoga for pregnant women may enhance the flexibility and the energy levels of the practitioner, there are certain precautions which need to be adhered to for this program to meet its desired objective. The foremost criterion in this regard is that the practitioner should always be alert about her body and the changes taking place in it. It is this sensitivity which would warn the practitioner of any discomfort experienced during the session thus prompting her to stop and then resume only after appropriate modifications to the poses have been decided upon in accordance with the physical changes taking place in one’s body.

While practicing asanas, one must avoid causing the abdomen to compress and also avoid asanas which entail the practitioner to lie on the back or cause the abdominal muscles to stretch too much. This is because lying on the back may cause the blood supply to the uterus to be cut off and unwarranted strain on abdominal muscles may cause damage to the physical health of the baby.

A common precaution which is usually incorporated while practicing yoga for pregnant women is to practice the standing and balancing asanas next to the wall which can be leaned on for support in case of sudden dizziness and loss of balance. Similarly, asanas which require the body to twist should be performed by twisting more from the shoulders and back rather than involving the abdomen.

Breathing forms an essential part of pregnant yoga and should be carried out by lengthening the distance between the breast bone and the pubic bone and keeping the pelvis upright while causing the chest and the front of the thighs to stretch. Pregnancy is the time when one’s muscles are particularly subject to strain and this knowledge in itself should act as a red flag while performing asanas during pregnancy.