Yoga practice for Pregnancy

Yoga Fit magazine's Oct. 07 edition had an article called "Listening: Your Practice for Pregnancy." The entire article is available online so you can see the suggested postures or asanas.

The content of the article focused on how to be mentally during your yoga practice and how to listen more to your body through different methods, which is invaluable, pregnant or not. Photos of postures specifically for pregnant women accompany the article - the whole reason I purchased the magazine - but of course I didn't try it until this morning. :)

Since it was kind of short (estimated 15 minutes), I integrated it with another yoga sequence I found online for women in their second trimester - I wrote about it on Dec. 7.

Beginning in flapping fish pose from the yoga sequence was comfortable to rest in and prepare for the practice. Then I moved into thunderbolt or hero's pose and gracious pose. Following this I did the cat/cow (or dog) stretch, recommended in both practices, and afterwards did the squat flow in the Yoga Fit article. After that I did all the standing postures in the online sequence and practiced the remaining postures from Yoga Fit beginning with pigeon and ending in savasana with props.

The way the Yoga Fit article suggested being in savasana felt really good, by the way. I've been having a hard time completely releasing into corpse pose or savasana since having to do it on my left side due to not being able to lie flat on my back during pregnancy. However, the article suggested using a block/pillow or a bolster underneath your head and back to prop you up. It was very comfortable and much easier to melt into my mat and really let go.

To make this a more complete practice, I would add some sun salutations after cat/cow to warm the body up more - pigeon pose was a little harder to get into than normal. I also added some seated postures towards the end like head-to-knee pose or janu sirsasana and cobbler's pose. Plus I also did happy baby (to make my baby a happy baby!) and an easy spinal twist on my back.

Try it out and tell me what you think. Hopefully you can follow my madness - otherwise just follow the two sequences as separate flows.