Contents:
- Medical Video: Yoga Poses : Yoga for Sciatica Relief
- 1. Easy Pose (Sukhasana)
- 2. Child Pose (Balasana)
- 3. Butterfly Pose (Baddha Konasana)
- 4. Wide Angle Seated Forward Bend (Upavistha Konasana)
- 5. Cresent Lunge (Anjeneyasana)
- 6. Half Pigeon Pose (Ardha Kapotasana)
- 7. Squat Pose (Malasana)
- 8. Happy Baby Pose (Ananda Balasana)
Medical Video: Yoga Poses : Yoga for Sciatica Relief
When you have two bodies, hormonal changes occur from the beginning of pregnancy that often make you feel nauseous, dizzy, and your body feels tired. Often you feel pain in your joints, such as pain in your pelvic area. This is caused by a hormone called relaxin. This hormone is responsible for flexing / relaxing the muscles, joints, and ligaments in your body, with the aim of ensuring your body is ready to give birth.
Even though your body will automatically be helped by various hormones to prepare for the birth process, it will be better if you practice regularly to stretch your pelvic area throughout pregnancy. Here are 8 of my favorite poses that I usually practice throughout my pregnancy to help train my pelvis to be more flexible and strong in preparing for a normal birth.
1. Easy Pose (Sukhasana)
As the name suggests, easy pose it could be a position hip opening the easiest to train, and can be done at any time. Even though it looks easy, not everyone can do it, especially for men who often have stiffer muscles. You can do this pose every time you start a yoga practice accompanied by breathing exercises to harmonize your mind and body, and you can do it again before ending your Yoga practice.
Benefits:
This position exercises the pelvic muscles more openly, the backbone (spine) lengthening, opening the chest area, and when accompanied by breathing exercises will increase focus, balance, calmness which is good for relieving fatigue and anxiety or worry that is often felt during pregnancy and ahead of the baby's birth process.
2. Child Pose (Balasana)
This position is a long-awaited position every time you practice in a yoga class, because this position is very good for a short break between dynamic yoga exercises. Especially when you are pregnant, it seems like you want the entire class to be only child pose only
Benefits:
This position is good for opening the pelvic area and inner thighs and stretching the little bones (sacrum). Practicing this position can help you let go of tension or stress and help calm the mind and increase calm and readiness before the birth of your baby. When you practice this position, ask your partner to help massage the back and waist area to help relax the body as a whole.
3. Butterfly Pose (Baddha Konasana)
This position is the position I practice most often during pregnancy because it is very good for opening the pelvic area and at the same time can help me relax my body and mind.
Benefits:
This position is good for opening the inner pelvic and thigh area, increasing oxygen intake on the placenta, helping to direct your baby down to the pelvic area to prepare you and your baby for the birth process, helping to relax all parts of the body, and helping the opening process when contractions occur.
4. Wide Angle Seated Forward Bend (Upavistha Konasana)
Practicing this position is very good for your pregnancy, especially if you begin to feel a heavy burden from the abdominal area which then causes back pain.
Benefits:
This position is very good for opening the pelvis and cranial bones (sacrum), relieve tension in the spine, lower waist, and inner thighs. At the same time, this position also helps increase oxygen intake in the placenta.
5. Cresent Lunge (Anjeneyasana)
Throughout pregnancy, often you feel a loss of energy, or you like yoga practice that is dynamic but your body is unable to do it because many pregnancy factors play a role. You can try doing it cresent lunge regularly because this position is sufficient powerful and challenging to do when pregnant.
Benefits:
This position is good for opening the pelvis and preparing the pelvis for the birth of the baby, helping to direct the baby into your pelvic area, providing space for your baby to do an internal rotation position, and assisting opening when performed when contractions occur.
6. Half Pigeon Pose (Ardha Kapotasana)
One of the things that often occurs in general when pregnant is rheumatic pain in the pelvic area which is often known as sciatica, where you feel pain radiating from the lower back to the thighs, calves, heels and soles of the feet both on one side and both sides of the foot. I also experienced this during pregnancy into the final trimester and position half pigeon pose very helpful for reducing and even relieving pain or cramps if done regularly.
Benefits:
Besides being useful for reducing or eliminating pain due to it sciatica as I explained before, this position is good for opening the pelvis, and preparing the pelvis for the birth of your baby. This position also helps direct the baby into your pelvic area, provides space for your baby to carry out an internal rotation position, and helps opening if done when contractions occur.
7. Squat Pose (Malasana)
Squat position or squat is well positioned to be trained throughout pregnancy because it is very effective in helping the pelvic area to open. This position can also be used as a birthing position if your doctor allows it, because with this position, gravity will help your baby to be born more easily.
Benefits:
Very useful to reduce or eliminate tension in the spine, shoulders and neck, increase oxygen intake in the placenta, open the pelvic area and cranial bones (sacrum), reduces back pain, helps reduce fatigue, helps opening when done during contractions
8. Happy Baby Pose (Ananda Balasana)
As the name suggests, practicing this position feels like it can make the heart happy because there are elements playful when doing it. If you are already in the last trimester of pregnancy and feel uncomfortable lying on your back, avoid these poses or use a blanket or thin cushion to support the waist and to be more comfortable when practicing this position.
Benefits:
This position can relieve nausea or dizziness from hormones during pregnancy when you lie down with your head touching the mattress / floor, help stretch the pelvic muscles and eliminate cramps in the uterine area, and make you more relaxed because you stretch all parts of your body comfortably.
* Dian Sonnerstedt is a professional yoga instructor who actively teaches various types of yoga from Hatha, Vinyasa, Yin, and Prenatal Yoga to private classes, offices and at the Ubud Yoga Center, Bali. Dian is currently registered with YogaAlliance.org and can be contacted directly through her Instagram account, @diansonnerstedt.
READ ALSO:
- 5 Tips for Staying Yoga during Fasting
- Guidelines for Prenatal Yoga Exercises at Home: 14 Standing Poses (Standing Poses)
- 7 Benefits of Prenatal Yoga for Pregnant Women
