Prenatal Yoga : Why I tried & My First Impresh

Okay friends, I’m writing again about a ‘future mom’ topic bc that’s what’s surrounding my everyday! If this doesn’t benefit you now it will in the next couple of years 😊 I know I’m only about two thirds through this pregnancy adventure but I am able to recognize that among many changes in life right now, there are two big effects that occur while your bun is in the oven: the physical changes & the mental. I’m not sure just yet which one is more demanding.

Physical: Pregnancy makes you feel like you constantly just ran 5 miles, like you just tried doing the splits in an adult dance class for the first time in 2 years (not speaking from experience), or like you just went horseback riding for 8 hrs straight, lol. The problem is that the only place I have been running is to the restroom, and the only serious stretching I’ve done is reaching down to tie my shoes. I do have to say that I was able to keep up my regular workouts at Orange Theory until 18 weeks and then one day, I just was not able to keep up anymore. I’m not going to lie –for how active I was before, I didn’t know it would be so hard on the bod. *current moms are all thinking “just wait!”* In our birthing class last week, the nurse asked “What do you like about being pregnant?”  My answer was that it has forced me to slow down. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am constantly going, going, going and for the first time it’s OK to take it easy. Let me clarify by saying in NO way do I think pregnancy is an excuse, it is a time to listen to your body, and what your baby is telling you he needs. It took me about 24 weeks to accept this, but I do think it’s okay for us to take this time and turn it down a notch. I hope there are other 1st time ‘busy body’ mamas out there that can relate.

Mental: The responsibility that comes with growing a baby can seriously be a big mind eff, if you let it. The anxiety is real, ppl. One second you are feeling your baby kicking and can’t wait to meet him, the next second you’re wondering how you’re going to be responsible for someone else’s life, forever. One day you’re feeling prepared and the next you’re wondering why your nursery doesn’t look like you’re Pinterest board yet….even though he won’t sleep in there for the first 6 months. I’ve found that it helps me to stay off of google and minimize my time spent on the “What to expect” community posts. While apps can be helpful for referrals on products and such, there are also posts called, “how many weeks are you and how much weight have you gained?” If you see this topic, just click away and never look back. Not something anyone needs to be comparing with others. You’ll see women who are on week 25 and have “lost 20 lbs” –bitch, no you haven’t.

Onto the topic of this post! So, this past Sunday I woke up and my body was sore as hell per usual, and I was definitely needing a mental pick-me-up/social interaction. I was laying in bed debating how I can convince myself to go to the apartment gym and at least get on the elliptical…the struggle! I finally decided it was time to look up prenatal yoga as an alternative. Besides the body pains, I think half the reason I haven’t wanted to hard core workout is because the tight spandex and double layer sports bra wearing is extremely uncomfortable. At yoga you can wear looser, comfier clothing… and honestly if you didn’t want to wear a bra you can prob get away without it. Jk, I wouldn’t do that to anyone. There happened to be a class 2 miles from our house at a studio called Honor Yoga, so I last minute got my ass to class. 

If I were explaining the progression of prenatal yoga (which I am) I would break it up into three parts:

1.) Introductions — We spent the first 10 minutes of the class getting to know each other. All of the moms were asked to introduce themselves, how far along they were, if they were having a boy or girl, etc. If I were in an actual workout class where I was actually trying to burn a serious amount of calories, I probably wouldn’t have patience for this. Before pregnancy I was a bootcamp teacher and took workouts too seriously — if it weren’t high intensity it was a waste of time. Considering we’re newer to the area and I’m always looking for others to connect with, I was super into  and excited about the introductions. Everyone else was between weeks 17-19 (I probably should have started this sooner) and also having their first baby.  What a great way to meet people in my same life sitch and listen to what they are experiencing. We can learn a lot  by simply listening to others.

2.) The practice — To be honest I don’t know many of the formal names for the poses but after the introductions we went into the actual practice of sun salutations, breathing, and stretching in a flow type format. At the beginning there was a lot of sitting in the butterfly and indian style positions (again, not the correct names of these positions) which isn’t super comfortable but they give you Mexican looking blankets and a thing called a bolster to sit on which the tail bone liked 👍🏻 If you can’t tell, comfort is pretty much the theme of my life right now. The practice was definitely not super difficult in a physically demanding way, but there were some poses that did burn in the shoulders and quads, and it was just enough to stretch the important parts.

3.) Savassana — Otherwise known as the last 5-10 minutes of class where you lie on your back and the instructor does a lot of talking. Although, you can’t lie flat on your back while preggo so we built an incline out of the bolster and blocks, which was pretty nifty. In normal yoga classes, I have a hard time relaxing and focusing during this last portion of the class. It felt different this time …she had us put one hand on our heart and one hand on our belly so we could show our gratitude towards ourself and baby. Baby C immediately started moving around (so. cool.) The one thing she said that really resonated with me was, “You and your baby were brought together for a reason. He needs you, and you need him.” Although I am already a big believer in ‘everything happens for a reason’ this was the first time I had thought about me needing the baby. There’s so much pressure to prepare for what we can do for the baby, that I haven’t fully grasped the joy, strength, and life he is going to bring to both Craig and myself. I can’t wait to find out.

Going into the prenatal yoga class, I had a couple of goals, to stretch and feel better physically, and to try and meet some other future moms. What I didn’t expect was the calming, mentally stimulating, aspect of the class. You just feel good after, like you did something beneficial for yourself and baby. Much more beneficial than playing bubble mania on your iPad and eating lemon cookies on repeat–although I would know nothing about that.

The conclusion: I will be going once a week on Sunday’s to continue to reap these benefits and think I will connect with others outside of class. Win, win in my preggo book.

Thanks for all the positive feedback so far on my bloggin’ journey. Comment below and let me know what you think!

Thanks for visiting 💕

Kayla

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