Pre Natal Yoga - The Importance of Listening to Your Body

As with many things during pregnancy, listening to your body and what it is telling you when you are doing yoga is important. Pre natal yoga can be a great way to stay healthy and flexible while you are pregnant but you need to make sure that you are doing it the right way.

Even as early as the first trimester, your body may not be about to do all of the yoga poses that it used to do. Even though your body may not look very different during the first trimester, it certainly feels different. From the very beginning of pregnancy, your body starts to undergo major changes. Listen to what those changes are telling you when you do pre natal yoga. Your body always knows when you are doing too much, all you need to do is listen to it. This is even more important while you are pregnant.

As you move into the second trimester of your pregnancy, your body begins to show more outward signs of pregnancy. At this stage of pregnancy you may feel more energy and you may get the urge to overdo it in your pre natal yoga practice. At this stage it is important to keep in mind that you need to be careful and tune into what your body can realistically handle. At this stage, you will probably need to begin modifying yoga poses to fit your new body size.

Doing pre natal yoga can get to be the most challenging during your third trimester of pregnancy. By this time, your body has changed dramatically and what your body can do starts to get much more limited. The ways in which your body can bend and move is very limited by the time you reach your third trimester of pregnancy. It may feel like you can hardly do any yoga poses. The flexibility that pre natal yoga can offer is still important so try to stick with your yoga practice. Understanding and accepting your limitations at this stage in your pregnancy and being gentle with yourself is important. Listen to what your body is telling you about what it can and cannot do at this stage. What your body is telling you may feel very limiting but try to focus on what you can still do rather than what you cannot.

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The Importance of Yin Yoga

Don't let the name fool you. Yin yoga by name may appear to be a less strenuous form of yoga, and in comparison to styles such as ashtanga or bikram yoga, it is. But nevertheless, it is very challenging in its own way. This does not require the muscular endurance that ashtanga and bikram, rather it requires being able to hold certain positions for at least 3-5 minutes at a time. Some may hold positions for up to 20 minutes. Sounds easy, but it is far more challenging than it seems.

What is Yin Yoga?

If you were to think of the more "power" styles of yoga, such as ashtanga, as "yang" yoga, the term "yin" yoga makes perfect sense for what it concentrates on. Yang yoga's primary focus is muscle lengthening and muscle contraction. The emphasis is on the muscle itself. Yin yoga focuses on working the connective tissues, such as the ligaments and tendons. More specifically, the ligaments and tendons of the pelvis, hip and lower back area are worked.

Why Should You Practice Yin Yoga?

During a yang practice, or even regular exercise such as jogging or resistance training, we are engaging our muscles in repetitive movements. This repetition breaks the muscle fibers down in order to build back up. This scenario is ideal for toning the muscles to give them definition. However, this is just part of the puzzle. Making sure the tissues that connect the muscle to the bone are healthy and malleable is extremely important.

These positions help to ensure the connective tissues are properly aligned. In addition, this strengthens the joints by creating space that allow for better and safer range of motion. This reduces the risk of potential injury that exercises focusing on muscular contraction can cause. When the joints have accumulated tension, the risk for injury is high if it is not addressed. Yin yoga can pay a huge part in releasing joint tension and opening the body.

When Should You Practice Yin Yoga?

Ideally, the greatest benefits of Yin yoga are reaped when the muscles are not warm. The perfect time would be just upon waking. The reason being is that warm muscles will take the impact of the stretching away from the connective tissues, which is what you want to be working. You may also incorporate a Yin yoga session right before a regular exercise session or before a Yang yoga session. For women, the time of menses is also a great time to incorporate a Yin yoga session, as it is said to help conserve necessary energies.

Incorporating a yoga practice in which the focus is on strengthening and opening the joints and connective tissues is very important in reducing the risk of injury. It is also important to ensure bone health as our bodies age. Most exercise programs focus on working the muscles, but making sure the other tissues are worked simultaneously ensures you get a well-balanced, highly beneficial work out. This balance will keep our bodies healthy for years to come.

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