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Want to make your pregnancy and childbirth a healthy and easier experience? Pregnancy yoga poses can really be helpful.
Be more aware of your bodily changes and feel more connected with your little one by adding pregnancy yoga to your fitness regime. Moreover, it relieves the pregnancy pains, stretches your body, increases flexibility and reduces stress. While I have some useful suggestions here, consult your doctor or prenatal expert to know the safe pregnancy yoga poses you can opt for.
Here are some of the the commonly practiced pregnancy yoga poses and their benefits.
This asana relieves lower back pain, which is often a problem for women during pregnancy.
How to: Kneel on your hands and knees, with your knees wide apart. Align your wrists with your shoulders and knees with your hips. Centre your head in neutral position, gazing downward. Now inhale, gazing up towards the ceiling and dropping your belly towards the mat (cow-pose). Then, exhale rounding your back towards the ceiling, gazing the floor, and drawing your belly towards the spine (cat-pose). Repeat this for 5-10 breaths.
This asana strengthens your muscles in the thighs, hips, and back, and tones the knees and ankle.
How to: Stand with your feet, hip distance apart and arms by your side. Slowly start spreading your feet till they are 3.5 to 4 feet apart. Now, turn your right foot outwards at a 90 degree angle and keep your left foot slightly inward. Raise your arms outward on either side parallel to the floor. Start inhaling, and as you exhale bend your body from the hips, to the right placing your hand on the right shin. Bend till the line of your arms form 90-degrees with the floor and stretch as much as you can. Hold the position for several seconds while breathing in and out.
There are many kinds of side stretches in Yoga, but this one of the simpler ones that helps to stretch your waist, pelvis as well as the hips, all of which can help during delivery.
How to: Sitting in a cross-legged position, place your right palm on the floor near your right hip. Start inhaling while raising your left arm out to the side and up above your head. Then, exhale and bend towards right. Slide your right hand across the floor as you bend and stay bent for 6-8 breaths. Return to upright position as you inhale.
This asana calms the brain, reducing stress and fatigue.
How to: Kneel on the ground, your big toes touching, and with the top of the feet against the floor. Widen your knees hip-width apart while pressing your hips back towards your heels. Slowly bring your chest towards the mat, aligning your body between your legs and rest your forehead on the mat. Lay your arms alongside with palms facing up. Inhale and hold the position for 5-to-10 breaths.
This is a pregnancy yoga pose for all trimesters to perfects your posture, prevent neck strain and headaches.
How to: Spread your feet hip- width apart, toes pointed straight ahead and knees slightly bent. Bring your hands across the chest, palms joined near your heart. Inhale as you stretch your arms out and overhead, while bending back slightly. Exhale and stand upright, returning your hands to the heart-centre. Repeat for 10 full breaths.
Practice these poses to stay fit and relaxed during your pregnancy.
An engineer by profession but a writer at heart, I try to seek happiness through my writing. I am an avid reader, a blogger, and I like to write about books and my reflections on read more...
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Neena was the sole caregiver of Amma and though one would think that Amma was dependent on her, Neena felt otherwise.
Neena inhaled the aroma that emanated from the pan and took a deep breath. The aroma of cumin interspersed with butter transported her back to the modest kitchen in her native village. She could picture her father standing in the kitchen wearing his white crisp kurta as he made delectable concoctions for his only daughter.
Neena grew up in a home where both her parents worked together in tandem to keep the house up and running. She had a blissful childhood in her modest two-room house. The house was small but every nook and cranny gave her memories of a lifetime. Neena’s young heart imagined that her life would follow the same cheerful course. But how wrong she was!
When she was sixteen, the catastrophic clutches of destiny snatched away her parents. They passed away in a road accident and Neena was devastated. Relatives thronged her now gloomy house and soon it was decided that she should be married off.
Women today don’t want to be in a partnership that complicates their lives further. They need an equal partner with whom they can figure out life as a team, playing by each other’s strengths.
We all are familiar with that one annoying aunty who is more interested in our marital status than in the dessert counter at a wedding. But these aunties have somehow become obsolete now. Now they are replaced by men we have in our lives. Friends, family, and even work colleagues. It’s the men who are worried about why we are not saying yes to one among their clans. What is wrong with us? Aren’t we scared of dying alone? Like them?
A recent interaction with a guy friend of mine turned sour when he lectured me about how I would regret not getting married at the right time. He lectured that every event in our lives needs to be completed within a certain timeframe set by society else we are doomed. I wasn’t angry. I was just disappointed to realize that annoying aunties are rapidly doubling in our society. And they don’t just appear at weddings or family functions anymore. They are everywhere. They are the real pandemic.
Let’s examine this a little closer.
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