Written by Colby Osipko, Certified Yoga Instructor, The Yoga Room
Pregnancy is a strange but beautiful thing: your body is changing; Your mind is changing. Your home changes your whole life changes. With all of these changes, it can be frustrating at times to discover that even your exercise routine has to evolve.
Your workout routine doesn’t have to change for the worse. In fact, pregnancy can be a great time to step back from an intense exercise regimen and instead incorporate a new exercise into your life; It not only relieves pregnancy symptoms like dreaded morning sickness, sciatic pain, and lower back discomfort, but it also prepares your body, mind, and spirit for the birth process itself. Prenatal yoga is this practice.
Unfortunately, there is some kind of taboo associated with prenatal yoga. This may be because exercise and movement, in general, have not necessarily been recommended for long-term pregnant women. However, research on exercise during pregnancy continues to develop. Many midwives, gynecologists, and doctors actually recommend regular exercise for pregnant women nowadays, although it’s worth noting that the types and amount of exercise recommended vary from individual to individual and each pregnancy.
If your midwife, gynecologist or doctor advises you to incorporate regular exercise into your weekly schedule – which is often the case for a complication-free pregnancy – it may be worth attending a prenatal yoga class or two to see if the practice is a good fit.
As you may already know, yoga is a practice that traditionally consists of a series of postures (asanas), breathing (pranayama), and meditation, and all of these aspects are still present in prenatal yoga practice. In addition, many prenatal yoga classes place great emphasis on fantasizing and relaxation as they help expecting individuals prepare for childbirth.
There are, of course, some limitations when it comes to practicing prenatal yoga: It is usually advised against back and abdominal twists; Abdominal pressure is reduced or completely avoided; Many standing positions must be adapted to take advantage of a wider posture to accommodate a changing body. It is probably best not to think of these as limitations. Rather, they are loving gestures that are made to better suit pregnant individuals and the life that grows within them.
Colby, the expectant mother herself, will be giving her first series of prenatal yoga classes at Creston’s yoga room beginning in mid-October (exact dates have not yet been determined). Until then, you can find her Evening Teaching Yin every Tuesday from 7 to 8 p.m. TGIF Flow every Friday from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
If you are interested in learning more about Kohlbey’s current offerings, feel free to contact her directly via email at kohlbey.ozipko@alumni.ubc.ca.
The yoga room is located at 1204 Northwest Blvd. in Creston. For more information on class offerings at The Yoga Room, visit www.theyogaroomcreston.com.
ColumnChriston Valley
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