Sacred Whisper Toronto

Pre-Natal Yoga

PRANAYAMA   ASANA   MEDITATION

 

When a woman commits to a yoga practise, she gifts herself with time and an opportunity to listen inwardly.  This time and space allows her to her to deepen her connection with the changes she is going through and with her self and her baby.  This creates an opening for a relationship based on balance, clarity and inner stability.   

Krishnamacharya believed that Yoga was more important to women than men, because it enhanced their health in pregnancy and in giving birth to a healthy child.  The word Yoga comes from the Sanskrit word yuj, meaning to join, to unite.   It means “arriving at a place we have not been before".  In pregnancy, women have the opportunity to experience this in its most true and pure form. 

On a physical level yoga:

• Helps to dissolve fatigue, and boost energy levels.
• Increases endurance, muscle tone and strength
• Promotes circulation and elimination
• Beneficial for posture and alignment
• Helps to balance hormones which can reduce systems like morning sickness and allows for better nutritional absorption
• Breathing techniques and improved nervous system calms the mind and allows for better focus, endurance and pain management

There is a particular type of yoga that I would like to mention because tit is where my roots in Pre-Natal Yoga and Meditation are.   Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa, a kundalini practitioner of over 20 years has developed a Pre-Natal Kundalini Yoga and Meditation system called The Khalsa Way.   Kundalini Yoga is the Yoga of Awareness and in Pre-Natal Kundalini Yoga and Meditation classes, a mother is led to the awareness that she truly knows within herself exactly how to bring her baby forth.  She has time for contemplation and exercises that give her strength and clarity and with the idea that the only thing that stands between her and her knowingness is fear, doubt and social, historical conditioning.  The Khalsa Way integrates thousands of years of technology with the latest and most innovative birthing techniques. The effect is an improvement in physical stature, stamina and a heightened mental capacity that can benefit women choosing to birth at home, a birth center or in the hospital.  www.goldenbridgeyoga.com

"The essence of a women is beautiful, bountiful, and blissful.  This pregnancy is a gift to free you in the largest sense by revealing your true nature.  The teaching of Kundalini Yoga is that a woman comes to know, and love herself, radiance shines through to the outside, and we call her beautiful. As she grows to be compassionate, not only of others but to herself, we call her bountiful.  Finally, as she comes to experience the vastness of who she is and what she is capable, we call her blissfull." Gurmuhk Kaur Khalsa, Bountiful, Beautiful, Blissful.

One of the most exciting benefits of the practise of yoga is breath awareness.   A good thing to connect with before labor!  Breath is an intrinsic aspect of prana, which is our principle life force.  Prana controls the quality of our life and longevity.   It is the breath of the soul, a bridge between body and mind.  Conscious breathing practises can nourish our spirit and heal even our most spiritual and emotional wounds.  Pranayama encompasses a variety of practices, all of them designed to re-establish the flow of breath and harmony with the rhythms of the universe.  See alternate-nostril breathing exercise.

“She who has control over her breath also has control over her mind.”  From the Chanandogya Upanisha

Yoga and Meditation requires a commitment to the present moment.  Each moment is an opportunity to breath, listen and move into balance.  This enhances mindfulness of the body’s limits and personal responsibility for maintaining comfort. When we are in a yogic state, we are in a state of receptivity from which we can make lasting changes.  In this state of receptivity we can also become in tune from a highly intuitive place.  Our innate knowingness is awakened.  The trust in the birth process is in alignment with the truth that every person on this earth is the manifestation of eons of successful birthing.  The ancient healing art that originated in India is a doorway to self-understanding and a vehicle to unify the mind, body and spirit in the sacred heartbeat of center.  This unification is beyond words; it is the essence that creates the foundation to our core and the path to center.

 

Always a good idea to have music, mantra and chanting on board for your yoga practise and birth!

Snatam Kaur http://youtu.be/XCrl1dKyMB8
Jai Uttal http://youtu.be/Fw8NiEV6qmA
Deval Premal http://youtu.be/ez-slRvBskU

Pre-cautions

• Avoid breath of fire, abdominal strengtheners, jumping.
• Inversions are o.k. if they are already part of your practise.  When breathing becomes heavy they should be stopped.
• A woman in the state of advanced pregnancy is the best judge.  She can assess that certain asanas are not possible due to heaviness in the pelvis and abdomen and consequently the heart.
• Do not hold your breath.
• Watch your blood pressure.
• Drink lots of water

Resources and books:

Bountiful, Beautiful, Blissful.  Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa
Inner Beauty, Inner Light.  Frederick Leboyer
Health, Healing and Beyond. Yoga and the Living Tradition of Krishnamacharya.  T.K.V Desikachar