Returning to yoga postpartum tips! As a new parent, you’ve undergone huge changes both emotionally and physically. Here are some tips to help you ease back into your yoga practice postpartum. ❤️ Be kind to yourself. You’re not going to just going to “pick up” where you left off in your pre-pregnancy yoga practice. It will take time to restrengthen muscles that have over stretched. ❤️Include shoulder opening and neck release poses to counter the stress and strain of holding and feeding a baby. ❤️Mix in posterior chain strengthening poses to help regain strength in your back body since the ab are over stretched. Strong glutes can also help alleviate back pain and support pelvic floor balance! Add thoracic spine rotation to help open your back ribs and alleviate a tight upper back. Opening up your midback will improve breathing which will help with intra abdominal pressure and will also support pelvic health! ❤️Lastly, start slowly and mindfully when reconnecting to abdominal muscles. One of my favorite is “all 4’s with head against wall” In this pose, you keep your head against the wall, keep your spine neutral and have a long, intentional exhale which will engage your transverse abdominals. Drop a ❤️ if you are excited to get back on the mat for some postnatal yoga! For those eager to join a postnatal community, we have online and in studio postnatal yoga classes specifically designed to support the postpartum body. prenatalyogacenter.com/

How to make your pelvis BIGGER for birth! The idea of getting a 7 to 8 pound baby through your pelvis may feel like a daunting task. Fortunately are bodies are really smart and your pelvis was made to move! The pelvis is compromised of the left and right hip bones (the innominate bones), the sacrum and the tailbone. These actually move, not with as much range as your knee or elbow but there are joints that allow for mobility which can make more space for your baby’ journey through your pelvis. There are 3 levels to the pelvis. ✨The pelvic inlet ✨The mid-pelvis ✨The pelvic outlet. All 3 levels can expand in size depending on the movement and positions taken during birth. This can help your baby find more space and ease as they descend and rotate out. In the next YT Short I’ll show you positions you can use during labor to help open each of the 3 levels of the pelvis. Stay tuned!

Your guide to making your pelvis bigger for birth! Part 2 We established in the last reel that your the bones of your pelvis move to allow for more space for baby. Now let’s look at exactly how to open the 3 levels of the pelvis! (This way you can be familiar with these shapes ahead and practice!) ✨The pelvic inlet The top of the pelvis, the inlet, opens when the legs are in external rotation. The legs are turned out, think ballerina stance. Positions like: ❤️Baddha konasana (tailor pose) Circling on a ball with legs turned out Standing with toes turned out and make hip circles Rocking squat ✨The mid-pelvis This is actually the tightest spot of the pelvis since the ischial spines protrude inward. The mid pelvis opens best by creating asymmetrical shapes. Positions like: ❤️ Side lunge ❤️ Upright lunge with foot on a chair or blocks ❤️ Laying on side, rolling towards your belly with a leg lifted on a peanut ball ❤️Side walking up steps ✨The pelvic outlet. The bottom of the pelvis opens with internal rotation of the legs to widen the sit bones and allowing the sacrum and tailbone to swing back. (Nutation of the sacrum) Positions like: ❤️Knees together feet apart ❤️Holding onto someone or something an internally rotating and leaning back ❤️Side lying with lifted leg internally rotated For many, these positions are not second nature. So in our ONLINE and IN PERSON PREnatal yoga classes, we practices these shapes regularly. The more comfortable and familiar you are moving your body into different positions, the more likely you are to use them during labor. This can help your birth flow smoother! Check out our class schedule in our bio! Drop a ❤️ if you are excited to try one of these positions during your birth or if you did use one of these positions for your birth!

❤️Pulsing Dynamic Squats The “dynamic” squats are focused on the posterior chain. Building a strong and supportive butt and hamstrings which can support a strong and healthy pelvic floor, help stabilize and support the lower back and decrease back and hip pain! Dynamic squats are also a wonderful way to include some endurance in the practice. ✨Recently in class, I have been playing with adding a pulse or a longer 2 count pause at the bottom of the squat. Two alignment points to keep in mind: ➡️ When reaching your hips back, try to keep a long spine. We don’t want to tuck the tail or arch the back. ➡️ Keep your neck long. Don’t lift your chin towards the ceiling or tuck it into your chest. Drop a ❤️ if you like this pose! Drop ❤️❤️ if you can’t wait to do it in your next yoga class!

✨How much have you thought about your pelvic floor? Chances are not that much. Your pelvic floor shows up and plays a very important role in your health and well being. Here’s what it does for you: ❤️ Supports your pelvic organs ❤️Controls continence ❤️Plays a role in s€xual function ❤️Modulates intra abdominal pressure ❤️Maintains and balances the alignment of the SI joint ❤️Controls the lumbar and pelvis We recognize how a healthy pelvic floor can impact your life, pregnancy and postpartum which is why we include so much pelvic floor work in our ONLINE & IN PERSON prenatal and postnatal yoga classes! We include poses to help build strength in hips, glutes and adductors and poses to help release and lengthen the pelvic floor muscles. Drop a ❤️ if you appreciate your pelvic floor!

AVOID these 3 BIG mistakes yoga teachers make with pregnant students! (Part one! Check out part two for the corrections!) These mistakes are so common, you probably don’t even realize your are doing them! Cuing “Drop your belly” in cat/cow. The pregnant spin already has exaggerated lordosis (swaying of the lower back) add more curvature here is not helpful. Dumping into the lower back often leads to tension in the shoulders and neck since it’s often instructed to look up as you sway your back. 2. Overly teaching externally rotated poses. This one is not completely the fault of the teacher since so many yoga poses do focus on external rotation. However, when teachers focus on the popular theme of “hip openers” they usually just teach external rotation. Only focusing on external rotation can tighten the piriformis and lead to imbalance in the pelvic floor. 3. Too many forward bends! As I previously mentioned, the pregnant spine tends to sway in the lower back which tilts the pelvis forward and elongates the hamstrings. Many yoga teachers continue to stress forward bends and the need to stretch the hamstrings. During pregnancy, there is already a softening to the ligament and tendons, so continuously doing forward bends may not actually stretch the belly of the muscle but may instead strain the ligaments. There you have it! Three common mistakes yoga teachers make with pregnant students. Fortunately, the teaching team at PYC knows how to avoid these mistakes and what to teach instead!

✨Let’s talk DUE DATES!✨ Let’s unpack this a bit and try to better determine if we should drop the term “due date” and adopt the idea of “due month!” This can give a nice 5 week window from early term at 37 weeks to post term at 42 weeks and take the pressure of a “due date”. Due dates are often calculated using a method called the Naegle’s rule. This method takes the first day of your last period, counting back three months, and then adding seven days. This calculation is assuming that everyone regularly has a 28 day cycle and ovulates on day 14. If someone has a longer cycle, therefore ovulating later, they will likely have a longer gestation period and the given due date may be off. A more accurate way of determine a “due date” is an ultrasound done in early pregnancy. Considering only 4-5% of pregnant individuals go into labor on their due date, it is important to have a conversation about it with your care provider. Discuss expectations for when labor starts, as well as how far past your due date you can go before considering induction. ❤️You can also rely on my favorite three labor questions if you are feeling any pressure for induction or to speed things along. “Am I OK?” “Is Baby OK?” “Can we have more time?” ✨Did you give birth before, after or on your due date? Tell me in the comments below!👇 You will learn about due dates, induction and all the questions to discuss with your care provide in our IN PERSON and ON DEMAND Childbirth Education Class.

✨Here’s a sneaky way to get some strength training into your yoga practice. Try Walking Romanian Deadlifts! In the prenatal and postnatal body, lots of folks lack strength in their glutes, hamstrings and adductors. This results in other muscles compensating, usually the one to pick up the slack is the pelvic floor and psoas. Not to go too down a rabbit hole, but a tight and overly engaged pelvic floor and psoas can disrupt baby’s decent and rotation which is needed for a functional birth. Walking Romanian Deadlifts! Stepping onto your right leg, hinge at your hips and with a flat back graze your fingers tips along your front leg towards the floor. Keeping your hips square and your spine long, lift your back leg in line with your hips ✨If you have SI or SPD, instead of doing the leg lift in the Walking Romanian Deadlifts, keep the back foot grounded as a kick stand. This will help stabilize your pelvis and not add to your pelvic pain. Come up to stand, and step the left leg forward and repeat. It can be fun to slip strengthening poses into a more traditional yoga practice to mx things up and condition a part of the body that is often neglected. I incorporated Walking Romanian Deadlifts in my postnatal yoga class as I was building into Warrior III

"Which position can I labor in?” This was a question a student recently asked me. My answer was, “Whichever position feels good to you!” I went on to say, “Try to listen to how your body and baby need you to move. That may mean swinging your hips as you stand, circling on a birth ball, sitting on a toilet, or laying down to rest with a peanut ball supporting your legs.” There are times when your birth team may suggest positions to help your baby navigate your pelvis. But when you can, turn off your thinking brain and try to let your body’s intuition lead the way. This idea of trusting your body, trusting your baby, and trusting the process is a theme we regularly explore in prenatal yoga class. Working through safe sensation on the mat can increase your confidence and trust. ➡️What was your favorite laboring position?

Very helpful for a 7 months pregnant mama ❤

Thank you!!

How long does it last

Your episode mentioned accompanying videos demonstrating the exercises for DR. Are those accessible somewhere?

😫Midback pain? If so, try this thoracic spinal twist called Parvrita Ardha Uttanasana (revolved half forward fold) It’s so common for both pregnant and postpartum folks to have mid upper back pain due to the changes in their spines and then the weight of holding, wearing and feeding a baby. ✨Here’s how to do it! ❤️ Grab some blocks so you can keep your torso relatively parallel to the floor ❤️ Widen your feet about 2-3 ft apart ❤️ Place your hands on the blocks. ❤️ Instead of just throwing your arm and shoulder in the air, lead with your right ribs and then rotate to the other side and roll your left ribs up towards the ceiling ❤️ Repeat as many times as you like! Getting some release and rotation in your mid upper back can also help you breath better and even help your pelvic floor! Which is why you will see this and other helpful poses in our ONLINE and IN PERSON Prenatal and Postnatal yoga classes! Visit prenatalyogacenter.com to find our class schedule! Drop a ❤️ if your back could use this pose!

➡️Should I do pigeon pose if I have pelvic pain? The short answer is, NO❗️ If you have sacroiliac (ask SI pain) or symphysis pubic dysfunction (SPD) pigeon may cause more harm than good. Yes, it may feel great in the moment since you’re getting a tremendous hip and glute stretch but it is causing more torquing and asymmetry in your pelvis. In pigeon pose one leg is forward and one leg is extended back. This action causes one side of the pelvis to tip more anteriorly while the other side tips more posteriorly which can exacerbate misalignment in sacrum and pubis bone. ✨INSTEAD, try figure 4 or ankle to knee. You’ll get a similar hip and glute stretch while keeping your pelvis neutral. You will likely see figure 4 and ankle to knee in most of our ONLINE and IN PERSON prenatal yoga classes because it is so beneficial in stretching the piriformis and glutes. It’s a class favorite! Visit prenatalyogacenter.com to find our class schedule! Drop a ❤️ if you love figure 4 or ankle to knee too!

✨Labor Tip: Bring Support!✨ I am geek for data! Studies have shown continuous labor support improves outcomes for birthing people and babies, decreases cesarean & instrumental births & increases birth satisfaction! ✨Build your birth team! When recruiting your labor support team, think about who you can feel most open with. Who are you comfortable being vulnerable in front of? Who can hold the space for you without judgement? Those are the special people that should be invited into this private ceremony. Nobody you invite in should be there because you feel obligated to have them there, including hospital staff (You can request not to have student doctors present and limit the amount of extraneous people coming in and out of your room). Distractions will only prohibit you from opening up and doing the job you need to do. ✨Define roles and expectations. Once you have chosen your team, make sure everyone is on board with their role and expectations. What are you looking from each person? Your partner has a different role than a doula. Your care provider will likely not be present a lot and will not be your doula. Your doula is not giving medical advice, that is the role of your care provider. ✨Discuss shared decision making. Have an honest conversations about your desires for your birth and being involved in making decisions as your birth unfolds. Shared decision making can lead to greater satisfaction of your birth experience. I also recommend discussing fears and concerns you may have surrounding your birth. This way, your support circle will be armed with support and comfort should these issues appear. Now that you have some guidelines for how to pick your support group, and how they can assist your labor and birth, you can move forward knowing you are in good and caring hands. This confidence will allow you to focus on you and your baby, rather than on hospital protocols. ➡️Tell me, how did you pick your support team?

✨Prep your pelvis for birth with HIP MOBILITY! Many people think of the pelvis as a fixed bony structure when in fact, the pelvis has joints and movement. Especially during pregnancy with the influx of hormones, the pelvis has a fair amount of mobility. Remember - mobility is different than flexibility! When it comes to birth, we want the sacrum to be fluid and able to have nutation and counternutation to make space for baby as it descends and rotates through the pelvis. Here are some hip mobility exercises that can help prepare your pelvis for birth: Cat/cow and Rocking cat/cow: Stretches the QL (quadratus lumborum) muscles ❤️ Side stretch: Stretches the QL muscle Piriformis stretch: The piriformis attaches to the sacrum, so if it is tight, it can inhibit movement. Rocking squat: Great way to release the tailbone back and move the pelvis 360 breathing: also called, diaphragmatic breathing releases tension in the pelvic floor, opens the back and side ribs, releases the psoas and helps reduce stress. All these things can help your pelvis open for birth. ❤️ Side lunge: Great for opening the mid pelvis and releasing tight adductors Calf stretch and Hamstring stretch: Yes- opening tight calf muscles can help release the sacrum! I often think of the sacrum as a trap door that can open and get out of the way for baby!

Don’t get caught up in the fear, tension, pain cycle! This will only make contractions feel more intense. When you’re fearful, you shift into the fight or flight mode and your body tenses up. This tension can lead to more pain during a contraction because your breath is not as deep and your body is not as relaxed. It’s really a vicious cycle! So how do you break that cycle? Learn and practice coping skills. When you practice coping skills, you raise your threshold of reaction to discomfort and build your confidence that you can get through intense sensations. More confidence and practiced skills = less fear, less tension, and less pain! In prenatal yoga class, we constantly put that idea to the test. We learn different relaxation techniques and coping skills in each class, and then put them to use in different poses that offer safe discomfort. Come try this for yourself so you can feel confident and ready for any birth scenario! Check out our IN PERSON and ONLINE prenatal yoga classes.

What does ice at fundus mean?

😍 Beautiful

MILF🍑👀

🫡🫡🫡🫡

👁️👄👁️ the things i wish i knew. I was high vaulting off and onto the bed 😭

✨Do you feel like your whole yoga practice needs to change now that you’re pregnant? It will in some ways, but you can find wonderful substitutions for many poses! Here are a few easily interchangeable poses that can help you maintain your yoga practice while respecting your changing body and growing baby! ➡️Instead of full plank, do half plank! I always throw a block between the thighs and focus on lengthening the lower back since there is a tendency to overly arch the back here. ➡️Instead of traditional camel pose, try supported camel with a bolster and block. You’re still finding the delicious chest opening quality of the pose, but focusing more on the upper back. ➡️Instead of a traditional cobra pose, try “standing cobra” (well it’s more of a shalabhasana, but we don’t need to be too exact)! This gives you the same back strengthening and chest opening benefits without requiring you to lay on your belly. ➡️Instead of Upward Facing Dog, try “seated updog”. You’ll still get the chest opening without overstretching your belly and arching so much in your lumbar spine. ➡️Lastly, instead of a traditional revolved triangle, try placing your feet mat’s distance apart for a supported rotated triangle. This gives you the room and height you need to accommodate your belly! ✨Come enjoy these poses and MORE in our IN STUDIO & ONLINE prenatal and postnatal yoga classes!

The feeling of warm water on your belly and back during labor can be a life saver! You may find that the water helps alleviate the pain and distracts you from such intense sensation. This is especially helpful if you're experiencing back labor! How exactly does the shower or bath help? The warmth of the water on the birthing person’s body can be very mentally and physically relaxing. The water pressure can help alleviate muscle tension and back pain. The effects of immersion in water may be summarized as the following: bathing provides buoyancy and warmth, both of which often bring immediate pain relief, relaxation, lowering of catecholamines, increased oxytocin, and more rapid active labor progress. (The Labor Progress Handbook by Penny Simkins and Ruth Ancheta) If the laboring person is too tired to stand in the shower, place a stool or a birth ball in the shower or tub. It's important for the partner or doula to monitor the temperature of the water and make sure it's not too hot. Since the bath or shower is so relaxing, I typically do not use this method of pain relief until the birthing person appears to be in active labor because it can slow labor down. However, if the early stage of labor is rather drawn out and the laboring person needs to relax, a bath or shower could be the perfect solution.

✨Has prenatal yoga helped you? Researchers are still trying to prove the effect of yoga on mental health during pregnancy. In a recent meta analysis, researchers set out to examine the effectiveness of prenatal yoga on pain, psychological symptoms, and quality of life. From my own experience as a prenatal yoga teacher for 23 years, I have seen the incredible benefits of prenatal yoga. Student report feeling more comfortable in their pregnant body, less aches and pains, more confident and feeling more prepared for birth. You may be asking, “So, what was the conclusion of the study??” ➡️The study reported, “Some pregnant women have narrated that yoga practice helps them to feel more empowered and to develop better coping strategies to overcome fear of childbirth [37,38]” ➡️”Prenatal yoga-based interventions are considered as safe and harmless [11,12], and seem to be more effective than other physical activities such as walking or standard prenatal exercises” ➡️”Most meta-analyses (93%) underlined the importance of practicing prenatal yoga-based interventions in comparison to different controls interventions to improve mental health during pregnancy, concretely, anxiety, depression, and stress symptoms.” ➡️It was determined that future systematic reviews should improve their methodological quality before drawing firm conclusions on this topic. ….The bottom line is, more research needs to be done. ✨But I would love to hear from you! What was your experience in prenatal yoga? Please share in the comments below! 👇 ✨If you are interested in reading the full study, look up “Prenatal Yoga-Based Interventions May Improve Mental Health during Pregnancy: An Overview of Systematic Reviews with Meta-Analysis”

✨Top Tips & Tools for Birth I am a true believer in being prepared! So to help you feel confident and ready for your upcoming birth, here’s a list of tips and tools you may find helpful. ❤️Squeezing a comb: This technique uses the gate theory of pain management. Simply put - the brain can only receive so many pain receptors. So when squeezing a comb in your palm, that discomfort overrides that of the contractions. ❤️Hot water bottle: Heat increases circulation and decreases muscle spasms and perceived pain. Additionally, heat relaxes tight ligaments! This tension can pull the bottom part of the uterus out of alignment, which can slow labor down. ❤️Birth ball and peanut ball: Most people instinctively start to sway or rock when seated or leaning against a birth ball. This movement helps create a natural rhythm which encourages open and easier breathing. Movement also encourages pelvic mobility which can help move the baby to navigate your pelvis. The peanut ball is also miraculous for helping open the pelvis and giving baby guidance to move through it. The peanut ball offers a lot of flexibility for the part of the pelvis you want to open. You can position your legs in external rotation to open the pelvic inlet, or internal rotation to open the pelvic outlet. This is also a very effective tool for those with an epidural! ❤️Shower or tub: Warm water from a shower or tub can be incredibly relaxing and help relieve pain. ❤️Movement: Movement (especially in a rhythmic fashion) can encourage unrestricted and easy breathing. Moving also helps release muscle tension! ❤️Mantras: Repetition of words can be very calming and hypnotic, which will put your body into a more easeful state. ❤️Doula: A labor support doula is a trained and experienced professional who provides continuous physical, emotional, and informational support to the birthing person before, during, and just after birth; or who provides emotional and practical support during the postpartum period. Pop into one of our ONLINE or IN PERSON prenatal yoga classes to help you feel prepared for your birth! CLASS SCHEDULE below! prenatalyogacenter.com/schedule/

Are you still pushing while you’re breathing baby down? I’m just a little bit confused because I don’t know if you’re only breathing out instead of pushing or are you breathing out as you’re pushing.

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤬🤬🤬🤬😡😡😡😡🤢🤢🤢🤢🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🥸🥸🥸🥸💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩🙈🙈🙈🙈🙈

Hi there, I have reviewed your KZfaq channel and videos in depth and found the video content to be amazing and there is a lot of room to grow. If you allow me I will give you some tips about your videos which will help you a lot to grow your videos 1. Video title, description, thumbnail SEO is not done 2. No use of relevant tags, search ranking keywords 3. Endscreen and card not added 4. No sharing on various social media 5. No SEO score 90+ And all these things are supported by the KZfaq algorithm So if you solve these tasks properly then the views, comments, shares, subscribes will increase day by day. Thank you

Hi mam doctor told me that your pelvic outlet is tight so we have to c section is that truth if someone short pelvic she can't vaginal birth

Margaret Sanger founder of THE NEGRO PROJECT did this to us. -82% of BW are overweight mostly obese -78% unwed mothers -38% of Black pregnancies are terminated Not enough healthy black wombs left. Please research THE NEGRO PROJECT that made us this way.

✨3 tips for an unmedicated birth ❤️Prepare your body: For those who have their sights set on an unmedicated birth, preparing your body and mind is crucial. In prenatal yoga, we purposely explore yoga poses that feel challenging. This helps you gather a wide variety of coping skills and raises your threshold of pain tolerance. We also work to balance your body so your baby can most effectively navigate your pelvis without tension or obstructions. ❤️Gather a supportive team: There may be moments when you hit a crisis of confidence. When that happens, it’s especially important that your team believes in your ability to give birth and can offer the hands on tools to help you through those difficult phases. You also want your team to unbiasedly support your birth choices. ❤️Educate yourself to make informed decisions: Taking a childbirth preparation class and putting in the effort to be well educated about birth, relaxation techniques, interventions, and complications can help you make informed decisions. ➡️SAVE this post and pass it along to someone who needs to see this! Thank you, Holly for your birth pics!

Thanks 👍

What an earth is this?

Think about what? You haven’t shown ANYTHING. You’re just promoting your class without any useful information.

Want a SHORTER labor??? Having personally had a long (42 hr!) labor, AND a quick efficient (4 hr) labor, my vote is to keep labor chugging along. ➡️Here are a few tools to help your birth progress: 🙋‍♀️DOULA! Studies show that having continuous support can decrease the length of labor. 🥜PEANUT BALL! Utilizing a peanut ball during labor can help optimize space in your pelvis and help your baby navigate more easily, which will in turn shorten labor. 🧘🏼‍♀️PRENATAL YOGA! One study out of Thailand showed that people who practice prenatal yoga consistently in the third trimester had a shorter labor compared to those who did not. So grab your mat and get ready to practice! Check out our ONLINE prenatal yoga classes at the link below! prenatalyogacenter.com/workshops-series/

Helpful thank you!!

Are you lying on the painful hip or the other one?

I can’t roll it 😢😢😢it hurts so bad

Have you considered laboring in the bathroom?🛀 We are often relaxed in the bathroom, plus it provides some much needed privacy! Here are some wonderful options for utilizing this space: 🚿Shower or Bath: The feeling of warm water on your belly and back during labor can be a life saver! You may find that the water helps alleviate the pain and distracts you from such intense sensation. This is especially helpful if you're experiencing back labor! How exactly does the shower or bath help? The warmth of the water on the birthing person’s body can be very mentally and physically relaxing. The water pressure can help alleviate muscle tension and back pain. The effects of immersion in water may be summarized as the following: bathing provides buoyancy and warmth, both of which often bring immediate pain relief, relaxation, lowering of catecholamines, increased oxytocin, and more rapid active labor progress. (The Labor Progress Handbook by Penny Simkins and Ruth Ancheta) If the laboring person is too tired to stand in the shower, place a stool or a birth ball in the shower or tub. It's important for the partner or doula to monitor the temperature of the water and make sure it's not too hot. Since the bath or shower is so relaxing, I typically do not use this method of pain relief until the birthing person appears to be in active labor because it can slow labor down. However, if the early stage of labor is rather drawn out and the laboring person needs to relax, a bath or shower could be the perfect solution. 🚽The Toilet: We have trained our pelvic floors to relax on the toilet, and this can be incredibly helpful for labor. When facing forward, you can have your feet on the floor or put your foot on a stool for more opening of the pelvis. You can also try turning around and straddling the toilet. The position offers a gentle leaning forward in a supported squatting position. This can be good for the baby's descent and rotation. I would love to hear if you have tried this or what you think!

😅😊

I left my initial yoga training with a pretty remedial understanding of the pregnant body. Whenever I had a pregnant student in class I was desperately afraid I was going to hurt them. I ended up treating them like they were a delicate being that I was going to damage and break. Once I decided to head down the path of prenatal yoga and completed prenatal yoga teacher training, I had a deeper appreciation for how strong and powerful the pregnant person is. After all, their body is creating a whole new person- that’s like having a super power! As I started to solidify PYC’s methodology, I leaned into the concept that our students are pregnant, not broken. In fact, I look for opportunities for students to safely feel strong sensations. This allows students to explore a variety of coping skills they could use during labor or really any mental or physical discomfort. With this practice in mind, I came up with what I call “The Mock Contraction.” Essentially, it’s a 60 second wall squat. The significance of it being timed (and yes, I really time it!) is that an average contraction is 60 seconds. While contractions don’t present the same sensation as a wall squat, this is a challenging position to hold. It offers prenatal yoga students an opportunity to work with discomfort and find a way through it. To join our ONLINE and in person classes in NYC, click the link below! prenatalyogacenter.com/schedule/

✨Pushing Tips! For some people, the pushing stage is instinctual & feels like the best part of their birth. For others, the experience can be a bit confusing & overwhelming. So here are tips you may find helpful! Alternative birthing positions: The lithotomy (flat-on-back) or “C” position (resting on your tailbone with the body curled in the shape of a C), are the most common birthing positions. Unfortunately the common use of these positions has little to do with their effectiveness, but instead the fact that many care providers see them as the easier way for them to manage the birth. Being on the back reduces space in the pelvic outlet, which makes it a tighter fit for the baby. The sacrum gets pushed into the birth canal and prevents the rectal space from stretching, giving the baby less room to navigate. In this position, the baby has to work against gravity as it heads upwards over the tailbone then under the pubic bone. If these positions work for you and your baby, great! But if not, experiment with other positions (like side lying, all 4’s, semi-squatting or squatting). With the help of your birth team, these positions can be useful even with an epidural. No “purple pushing”: An alternative to valsalva breathing (aka “purple pushing”) is to push on a slow exhale while keeping your face, jaw, and shoulders relaxed. This can help you engage your core muscles and help the uterus work to push your baby out. If you’re like me and need a little bit of a held breath, continue making an effort to keep your eyes, jaw, mouth, and shoulders relaxed. Relax between contractions: Pushing can feel like a lot of effort. So between contractions, do your best to release any unnecessary tension. Try massaging your jaw, releasing your shoulders, or fluttering your lips. In this way, you can approach the next contraction from a more relaxed and ready space! To learn more about our ONLINE prenatal yoga classes, click below! prenatalyogacenter.com/schedule/

✨Birth Tip! 🕶 Dark glasses and headphones 🎧. I call this creating your “cone of silence”. 💡Most hospitals are bright and somewhat noisy with lots of people milling about, especially in the waiting room and triage! This type of setting can be disruptive to the hormonal blueprint of labor. In order for labor to naturally swing into full gear, the birthing person’s production of oxytocin must be undisturbed. Bright lights, noise, and extraneous people can move someone out of their parasympathetic nervous system (which supports the flow of oxytocin), and into their sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight mode). In a state of fight or flight, the brain signals the release of adrenaline and noradrenaline which will diminish the release of oxytocin, ultimately inhibiting labor. So create your own undisturbed space! Pack your Jackie O style glasses and noise cancelling headphones in your hospital bag. To learn about our online prenatal yoga classes, click the link below! prenatalyogacenter.com/schedule/

Recently after class one of a students stayed around to ask a question. She waited until everyone else left and quietly expressed concerns about her flexibility and the ability to birth. I’ve seen her practice for about two months so I understood the limited mobility her hamstrings and hips have and I got where she was coming from. I want to start here with exactly what I told my student, physical flexibility is not needed to have a vaginal birth. There are some great options for birthing positions that don’t require much flexibility at all! Some of these are side lying, kneeling with knees close together and feet apart, a birthing stool, pushing on all 4’s, and standing. After going over the physical positions, I shifted gears to discussing where one really needs flexibility for birth, your mindset. Not being rigid about preconceived visions of birth and being open to working with the twists and turns that are bound to arise is where the real dexterity is necessary. The mental gymnastics of being able to bend and adjust to given circumstances is not just vital for birth but also for a more peaceful parenthood. What are ways you have learned to be mentally flexible? Share in the comments below! 👇

✨I hurt “down there!” What to do??✨ You are not alone! Pelvic pain, specifically SPD (symphysis pubis dysfunction) is very common during pregnancy. This is when the laxity of the ligaments around the pubis symphysis causes pain. Fortunately, there are ways to treat it! Two quick tips to modifying your yoga practice ✨Avoid taking long, wide stances the draw your thigh bones further apart. Simply shortening your stance will help. ✨Avoid single leg poses. Many single leg poses can be done sitting. Discover more at prenatalyogacenter.com/

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Pain knocks me out