Sri Harita takes a deep breath as she settles down on a slightly elevated mat on the floor and slowly bends sideways to ease into the yoga pose. After a couple of seconds, she gets back into her meditative posture and focuses on her breathing exercises. A first time expectant mother in her second trimester, Harita adopted yoga in her life decades ago and is one of the many women in the city who are eager to practice the modified version of this ancient exercise technique for prenatal mothers. “While I have been a regular yoga practitioner, it isn’t easy to be as much self motivated during pregnancy, a phase which tends to make one easily tired and sloppy. Yoga gives you a kick when you are practising in a group,” says the young entrepreneur, who runs a premium washing and dry cleaning service along with her cousin in the city. She was one of the women in the city’s first demo class on prenatal yoga at Starlite Wellness Centre, which is starting regular weekly classes from this Saturday. Toting colourful yoga mats and wearing snappy outfits that show off beautiful baby bumps and healthy pregnant bodies, a group of women took the first classes at the centre.
The awareness for prenatal yoga is growing in the city with many pregnant women seeking out yoga teachers for expert guidance. For a long time, however, there were no dedicated classes or workshops for prenatal yoga in the city. To address this issue, Anjali Dange, the founder of the wellness centre in association with yoga trainer Mahua Deb have started prenatal yoga classes every Saturday.
With several celebrity figures like Lara Dutta, Shilpa Shetty and Kareena Kapoor endorsing yoga during pre and post pregnancy phase, it has helped to spread the word on the benefits of prenatal yoga that include better sleep, improved blood circulation, lower stress, and easier labour and delivery.
Women who are regular with yoga require minor modifications to their routine during pregnancy months. Positions and exercises practiced across the three trimesters of pregnancy differ with every phase. The prenatal yoga postures are carefully adapted for expectant mothers to make it smoother and relaxing for them. “It is tailored to help women in all stages of pregnancy, and also helps those who want to get back in shape after giving birth. Yoga and breathing exercises help expectant mothers to cope with the whole intense experience of birthing,” explains Mahua.
The first trimester being the toughest phases of pregnancy, experts focus more on breathing exercises to relax the mind. “From the second trimester onwards, the focus is more on building the strength and stamina to tide over challenges of pregnancy changes. Pelvic floor exercises and hip opening exercises go a long way in facing the time of labour,” she says. According gynaecologists, breathing exercises are particularly helpful in pregnancy. “Women have shallow breathing during pregnancy and especially during labour pain, they tend to take short breaths which makes the process more difficult. Yoga and breathing exercises help in increasing the lung capacity which is not only helpful during labour but is also good for the baby. This apart, squatting postures in yoga asanas help in increasing pelvic joint flexibility and also aids in opening of the pelvic joint,” says gynaecologist and obstetrician Dr Rajini Gavini of Lazarus Hospital.
A majority of pregnant women endure back-aches throughout the nine months. Asanas like the bharat vajrasan (spinal twist) and marjari asana (cat stretch) are known to help strengthen the back. “Pregnancy brings about a curvature in the spinal cord, which is why back strengthening exercises are of immense help in tackling this,” says Dr Sunita Prathi, an anaesthesiologist and a mother of two.
It isn’t just about yoga; it is also about doing it under expert supervision and favourable environment. “This is one of the reasons we insist on taking just eight to 10 women per batch for our classes so that it easier to focus on every individual. But a clearance from the doctor is important to start ,” says Mahua. One of the tips she gives is to maintain a gap of 45 minutes between the last meal and the yoga session.
Nutrition tips
Think for two but don’t eat for two - make sure snacks are nutrient-dense and lower in calories, for example, sprouts chaat, millet based crackers
To reduce heart burn, eat less and more often
Avoid trigger foods such as greasy fries or samosas and spicy curries
Take fruit smoothies with yogurt, warm soups and barley or ragi buttermilk between your meals
Eat a spoon of peanut butter before bed to ward off the feeling of nausea the next morning
(Courtesy: Anjali Dange, consultant nutritionist and founder of Starlite Wellness Centre)
