Pregnancy question

Yoga Discussion Structural Yoga Therapy
#1

I have a pregnancy question for you - A student of mine who is 9 wks into her 3rd pregnancy had a few questions I would like your advice on - her previous pregnancies were normal - she is very lean and has always been physically active & fit - she has practiced yoga elsewhere for a few years - her concern is that with this pregnancy she has no energy, is constantly nauseous and feels terribly FAT (so early) - she says she feels so uncomfortable with her body (actually feels out of her body) - hasn’t exercised at all with these feelings - she wanted poses to help with the nausea - My feeling was to have her stay in touch with her breath - she was part of my group yoga class the other evening - I tried to gear the class to poses she could do - we did a lot of 3 part breath - slow mountain breaths leading up to vigorous breaths with squats - warrior 1 - (the rest of the class did an easy camel (w/chairs) - while she did easy lying down twists - we completed the class with fwd bends and a long Shavasana - - she said she felt wonderful after - I felt it was attributed to the breath (slow breaths) - I also suggested that she try walking daily (slowly) taking in her surroundings - she said that is hard for her to do - since she was so used to a fast paced schedule - What would you suggest she do for these symptoms?

Thanks K

#2

K - It sounds like you gave some good advice to her. For nausea I would definitely recommend she continue to do the wave breath breathing down on inhales until she can connect to here pelvic diaphragm and begin to move it upward on exhalations and downward on inhalations. Activating this muscle group can help or relax her and to promote better cranial sacral rhythm in her nervous system. This should be done with all asanas and even during walking though it will necessarily need to be a slow contemplative walk to achieve this result. The main poses to recommend would be gentle twists in sitting positions and mild backbends even camel or cobra to discharge the tensions around the thoracic diaphragm. Also give her the Yoni Mudra (hands in down facing triangle on abdomen) during relaxation for balancing energy in the vata lower abdominal region.