Prenatal Yoga

Barbara Anderson´s prenatal yoga class at Body & Soul of Kansas City at 649 East 59th Street was recently abuzz with the news of one student´s dream come true delivery!

"The baby literally dropped out in about 45 minutes," yoga student Janet O´Bannon, 36, happily reports. "I had her at home, before the midwife could make it." Janet and her husband handled the birthing duties with great success, resulting in a healthy baby girl and happy mama. "I was just bracing myself for the pain and it was already over!" she says. Janet credits her prenatal yoga class as a key element for her easy birth. "I would very strongly recommend it to any woman who is pregnant," this attorney says. "No matter what shape you´re in, you´re going to get so many benefits from it."

This particular class targets areas of the body involved in the birth process. "Certain yoga positions are especially comfortable and useful as you get into the later months of pregnancy," Barbara explains. "We teach positions that open and release the pelvis, and reduce pressure on the lower spine. Most expectant mothers experience some lower back pain as the pelvis tilts forward and the weight of the uterus and the baby is thrown forward on the abdominal muscles. When your posture´s out of balance, muscles compensate and act as supporters, contracting and stiffening. You end up carrying unnecessary tension, which leads to fatigue. By correcting the posture, you help lengthen the spine, and the body unwinds."

Yoga also teaches ease in positions such as squatting and kneeling, which allows gravity to assist the baby´s passage through the birth canal. Yoga´s breathing practices help, too, stimulating the release of endorphins, preparing the body´s psychological response to pain in labor. Students learn to relax deeply and accept and yield to what is taking place, rather than fighting it; to focus and become quiet. Mother and the baby are deeply connected; body rhythms and feelings are naturally synchronized to the baby.

"Yoga also helps tiredness, back pain, nausea, anxiety, headaches and other complaints of pregnancy," Barbara says. "It exercises the mind as well as the body, brings about emotional healing, and frees emotional blocks. You feel more in tune with life after a class in yoga. You relax, gain flexibility and strength in a completely gentle, non-impact way. The word yoga means union - and it is a marriage between your inner center and that of the earth itself. You become more grounded, with more energy. You´re more aware of breath, balance, and the body. The postures become a moving meditation."

Eliza Waterman, 32, got into prenatal yoga classes when her yoga enthusiast husband Steven told her it would get her mentally and physically prepared. "It absolutely has been beneficial, she says. "Focused concentration and stress relief will come in handy if I can remember everything!" she says. "Most people think yoga is kind of fluffy as a workout, but as a strength builder, it really is quite efficient. I plan to work out until the very last minute."

Fellow student Alise Dodds, 31, "fell in love with yoga, for increasing flexibility and strength training," she says. "I found it to be a great complement to other exercising I´ve been doing. It´s a mental and physical release that leaves you relaxed, rejuvenated and energized. And my physician wholeheartedly supports it and has seen the benefits."

The prenatal yoga class also serves as a great bonding time for these women. "We shared that experience week to week," Janet says. "I would come home tired after work, but then I went to yoga, and came home feeling great!" Janet´s baby is now seven months old, and Janet is back at yoga class, enjoying the camaraderie and happy to share the story of her super-quick delivery. "It´s nature´s way," she says. "It was all a great experience, and yoga just enhances it."

Written by Linda Rostenberg