Prenatal Yoga: Hips & Inner Legs

This prenatal yoga class is designed to stretch and strengthen the hips and inner legs, providing support for your changing body and preparing you for childbirth. We’ll incorporate gentle movements and deep core work to build stability and resilience, while exploring grounding mindfulness practices to help you stay present and connected.

Suggested Props: bolster/pillow, yoga blocks, chair/couch

Transcript

Hello, Hello, Hello. Welcome to your prenatal yoga class. I'm Melissa. I'll be guiding you through this experience. Let's go ahead and get on our mats. Find a comfortable seat. Maybe that's on a bolster or a block. The spine nice and lifted, Shoulders down and back. Release your jaw, Take a moment to settle in and transition into this space. Maybe hands on baby or hands on lap. Just take a moment to ground. To settle in from movement to stillness. Take three nice cleansing breaths. Inhale through the nose. Open your mouth. Let it go. Again, Inhale deep. Let it go. Last time, All the way up, All the way in. And let it go. Gently open your eyes. Find your way into your Barakonasana or your butterfly or cobbler's pose, Which is sometimes what it's called. So we're making a diamond shape with our legs, With our feet together and our knees wide. For more intensity in the inner thighs, Your heels will come closer to your body. For less intensity, Move your heels away from your body. And then we'll come into a couple of cat-cows. So as you inhale, Puff up your heart, Pull the shoulders down and back. As you exhale, Bring the chest in, Separate the shoulder blades, Press your upper back towards the back wall. Inhale, Puff up your heart. Exhale, Send your chest back. Inhale lift Lengthen. Exhale, Stretch between the vertebrae. Inhale lift. Exhale, Dome the back. One more time. Inhale, Lift. Exhale to cat. And find a nice neutral spine. End. From here. We'll just give ourselves a nice little massage so you can take your thumbs and move them up and down your calves as you massage your calves. Maybe you want to come down and massage your feet, Your arches. Or possibly bringing the fingertips into. . . The inner thighs if you want to massage out the inner thighs if that area is a little sore for you so just Find a little bit. Of self-care here. And then just about. A few breaths. When you're ready or where you feel like you've had enough. Go ahead and come to a seat. Stretch your legs out long and point the toes. Flex the feet. Point the toes. Flex the feet. And then take your right foot, Cross it over your left thigh. So we're making a number four sign. And then begin to bring your left heel. Towards you so we're coming into a seated figure four hands are behind us for support fingertips. Facing towards you or away or whatever's comfortable, Feel free to maybe rock. Your hips side to side or rock your knee and leg side to side get into different areas of the outer glute Shoulders down and back. Lift the heart for four. Three and one, Come back through center, Extend your left leg, So press your heel away from you. Uncross your legs stretch your right leg out And then cross your left. Foot over your um You're right. Thigh, Bend your right knee. Bring your heel towards you to come into a seated figure four. And then maybe shift back and forth. And one side might be tighter than the other. And that's okay. Try not to judge that. Try to just be here. Shoulders down and back. Lift the heart. We're here for four. Three. Two and one come back through center extend the right heel away from you uncross your legs And then bend both knees, Feet flat on the ground. Hands are still behind you. Lift your heart. And windshield wiper your knees back and forth. So with this, Our hips and our sit bones remain. Our sit bones remain grounded and our hips remained square. So this is just kind of working that internal and external rotation of the hips. Which again is going to be really important for labor and birthing. Getting baby prepared to see the world. Do one more each side. Amazing. Go ahead and lie down. Onto one side. Option to bring a block or a bolster with you. So we're lying down on one side, Shoulders and hips left. Feel free to place your head on top of your. . . Hand or on top of a bolster. If you want to lie it down. And then with your legs stacked, Lift your top leg, Flex your toes towards your shins, And then just bring your legs into. . . Small circles. So we're drawing a circle with our heel. Getting into the hips. My t-band utilizing our hand for support. When you're ready, Reverse the circles. Keeping the jaw nice and soft. And then gently release, Bend your top leg and bring it in front of you. So we're almost making like a 90 degree angle with our knee. You can place a pillow or a block underneath you. Flex the bottom foot and extend the bottom leg and then gently begin to lift and lower the bottom leg so we're getting into the inner thigh we're strengthening the inner thigh Right? So. . . We want strength. And mobility. We got to have both. So as we stretch the inner thighs, We're going to strengthen the inner thighs. Let's go for a four. Tool. And one, Gently release your foot to the earth. Remove the block or pillow out from underneath your top leg. Extend your legs and then flip over onto your other side. And I'm just going to. Flip this way so I can face you. And then again, Stretching the legs out nice and long, Maybe releasing the head. Onto a pillow, A bolster, Or your hand, Stretching the legs out long. Begin to extend and flex the top toes towards the shins. And draw little circles with the heels. So we're making little tiny circles with our legs. Nice and controlled. You'll notice we might be a little wibbly wobbly and that's okay and that's just challenging our core a little bit as if we're not already challenged but A little challenge doesn't hurt. Go ahead and reverse your circle. Continue to flex the toes towards the shin. Really point your heel towards. Uh. The side of your mat. Then gently lower the leg. Slide the knee out in front of you, Maybe onto a block or a bolster. So again, We're in that 90 degree or towards 90 degree. If we're not quite there, That's okay. Flex the bottom foot, Extend the bottom leg, And then gently begin to lift and lower. Lift and lower. Exhale, Inhale. Nice strength. Four four. And one, Gently release the bottom leg to the earth. Release the block or bolster that's underneath your top knee. And then find your way to a tabletop. So we stack shoulders on top of wrists. Rest parallel to the top of the mat knees about hips distance apart. And actually, Let's do this let's come standing on our knees so our shoulders are on top of hips on top of knees Step the right leg forward to the outside of your mat. And then bring your hands on the inside. So we're in this wide lunge here. If you have blocks, I suggest that you place blocks underneath your hands to bring the. . . The floor a little bit closer to you. With your right toes out and your right heel in. Begin to shift forward into your low lunge as you inhale. Exhale, Come into a half split. Flex your toes towards your shins. So inhale, Shift forward, Knee faces to the diagonal and out so we have room for belly. Exhale, Send your hips back into a half split. And then begin to flow at your own pace. At your own breath. So moving from your low lunge or your wide lunge into your half split. Shoulders down and back. Continue to breathe and move 4-4. Three Two. And one inhale coming into your low lunge. We'll come into what's called polar bear. So walking your hands or your blocks to the opposite corner. So your right leg is extended out, Or I'm sorry, Your right. Leg is out. We're walking our hands to the opposite corner, So your left side. And feel free, If you need to tuck the bottom shin under, You can. Reach your arms out or maybe plant your elbows to the earth. And just get a nice stretch on the inner thigh here. We're sticking our booty out away from us. And then know that if you do have blocks, You can place your elbows onto the blocks. Moving all the way to the floor is a little a little deep. Take a nice inhale. Stay for your exhale. Take another inhale. Exhale, Begin to rise. Plant your hands to the earth. Begin to rise. And then tuck your right foot back in. We'll do that on the other side. So again, Come to standing on your knees, Shoulders on top of hips, On top of knees. Step your left foot. Front and to the left with your left toes out and your left heel in. Bring your hands on the inside of your foot. And then shift your hips forward. So we're in a nice. Wide lunge here. Take an inhale. Exhale to your half split. Send your hips behind you. Extend through your front leg. Inhale, Shift forward to your wide lunge, Shoulders down and back. Exhale to half splits. Send your hips behind you. Extend through the front leg. And then again, Just take this at your own pace. Again, Just connecting with your breath. Just noticing any sensations in your body without judgment. Right. We're just. Moving. Intuitively here so if you feel like holding Let's continue to breathe and move. 4-4. And one inhale to your wide lunge then exhale to polar bear so again our left leg is out so we're walking our hands to the opposite corner of the mat So to the top right corner, Option to tuck the bottom shin in. And then extend the arms or release the elbows to the earth. Stick your booty behind you. And breathe into the inner thigh. Right, So we did that nice. Um, That nice strength exercise. This is a beautiful complement to just opening up the hips, Opening up the inner thigh. Again, Creating space. For baby to position. Take an inhale. Stay for your exhale. Take an inhale. Exhale, Begin to rise. Plant your hands on the earth. Lift your torso. Come back to your tabletop. Bring your left foot in, Hands plant on the earth. Inhale, Tuck your toes. Exhale to downward facing dog. If you're a little nauseous or you have heartburn, Feel free to just stay in tabletop and then step up to your. . . Mountain pose or your tapasana. And then if you're in downward facing dog, Feel free to pedal out your feet, Maybe just getting some blood flow. In the lower leg. Stretching out your calves. Eventually finding some stillness. And then your choice, If you want to walk your feet to your hands or your hands to your feet or somewhere in between, Keep your legs nice and wide. Bend your knees, Send your hips down, And inhale, Rise, Hands to the sky. Exhale, Hands to heart center. Amazing friends. Let's just do a couple of standing postures. So as you inhale, Reach your hands up high. And my apologies. Feet can be a comfortable distance apart. Sometimes a little wider feels better. Don't put them. All the way together we need little bit more space for our center of gravity. Inhale, Reach your hands up high. As you exhale, Take your right hand, Grab onto your left wrist, Bend up and over. Send your hips to the left. Breathe as we stretch the left side of the body. Release your jaw. Inhale back through center. Exhale to goddess pose. So step your feet out, Toes out, Heels in. Sink down. And cactus your arms and again if you have um sensitive shoulders, Bring your hands at heart center and maybe just shift back and forth. Bumping the hips back and forth. We're here for four. To And one inhale to star. Reach your hands up high. Extend through your legs. Exhale to triangle pose. So tee off your arms, Pivot your right toes. Um towards the right and bump your hips back reach your hands forward and then tick tock your arms to six and twelve gently place your right hand either on a shin on a block but if we're on our shin It's there for support. We're not. Pressing onto it. See if we can root down into our front toe mound so we're not hyperextending our knee. And then really engage the quads here. Scissor your hips. Slight engagement of the core. Take an inhale. As you exhale, Place your left hand on your left hip. And then begin to toe heel your back foot down as you bend through your front knee. So we're coming into side angle or sometimes known as extended side angle. You can keep your left hand on your hip, Reach it up to the sky, Or reach it up overhead, Just depending on what feels supportive for your shoulders. Begin to breathe. Roll the right shoulder down and back, Extend through the heart space. Take an inhale. As you exhale, Scissor your hips, Rise up to warrior two. Continue just as your hips maybe sink up. To a comfortable space. Inhale. Exhale, Release. And slowly walk your feet back to center. Let's do this on the left side. Inhale, Reach your hands up high. Exhale, Grab your right wrist with your left hand and reach up and over for your hot half moon, Your crescent pose. Some people call this. Sending your hips to the right as we really breathe into the right side body, Right? Inhale and rise. Exhale to goddess. So feet nice and wide, Toes out, Heels in. Sink low, Cactus your arms, Or place your hands at heart center. And then this time, Little figure eights. With your hips. That might mean that we're not going into our deepest bend with our knees. But that's okay. When you're ready reverse Your figure eight. Inhale to star pose, Reach your hands up high. Exhale to triangle. Pivot your left toes towards the side of the mat and then open up your arms. Oops, Sorry. Open up your arms, Bump your hips back as you send your hips forward, And then tick-tock your arms to 6 and 12. And I really love using a block here, Placing it on the inside of my shin. It just gives me extra support. Roll the left shoulder down and back, Scissor the hips. Root down into your left toe and then gauge the left. So everything's nice and supported here. Nice deep inhales and exhales. Shine the heart forward. Take an inhale. As you exhale, Right hand to right hip, Toe heel, Your back foot backwards and bend through your front knee for side angle or extended side angle. And again, Your hand can stay on your hip. It can come up to the sky or reach up overhead. Whatever feels supportive for your extended side angle. Broaden across your collarbones. Take an inhale. As you exhale, Warrior two, Scissor the hips and rise up to warrior two, Arms are teed out. Continue to scissor and maybe bend your front knee just a little bit more. Shoulders down and back. And then pull baby up and in for a little bit of core engagement. Inhale. Exhale, Release. Toe heel your feet back through center. Alright, Friends. This is a 30 minute class, So we're. About at time but i wanted to make sure that we did just a little bit of um deep core and pelvic floor because i think that that's really important so Finding a seat and I will. Come to the side here. So our deep core, We're going to pull baby towards us. So pulling our belly button straight back and we're going to hold and breathe. We're not going to hold our breath, But we're going to hold. Baby nice and close engaging our deep core muscles shoulders down and back and we're gonna hold it for one minute let me get my timer set Here we go. Take an inhale. As you exhale, Purse your lips blow through a straw and pull your belly in. Keep breathing as a baby is pulled in. Shoulders down and back. Breathe. Soften through the jaw. Continue to pull a baby in. We're about halfway there. Continue to breathe. Continue to keep the muscles nice and engaged. Deep inhales and exhales. And release. We're going to do that one more time, Except this time we're going to engage our. . . Pelvic floor muscles. So those are the same muscles that you turn on when you're stopping the flow of urine. So those same muscles. As you pull baby up and in, You'll hug the muscles that stop the flow of urine. So your pelvic floor will hold and breathe for one minute. Here we go, Take an inhale. Exhale through pursed lips. Pull baby up and in. Pull the pelvic floor up, Continue to breathe. This one tends to be a little bit trickier because everything's kind of engaged here. And if. Your belly, If you're a little bit later in your pregnancy, You might not necessarily feel the engagement, But know that you're engaged, Right? Your muscles are doing the work. Continue to engage the pelvic floor, Hug your muscles. Pull belly button in towards your spine. Continue to breathe. Shoulders down and back, Jaw nice and release. Almost there. Continue to breathe. Continue to engage. And release. Let's go ahead and. . . Find our baddha konasana or our cobbler's pose one more time And this time. . . Maybe a little bit more supportive, Like a forward fold. So if you have a bolster, You can always place it. On top of your belly, Release your forehead. Kind of hugging the bolster and releasing your forehead down. If you have blocks, You can always stack the blocks. Right. And release your hands or your elbows folded. But as much as you can into a forward fold without. . . Feeling like you're smooshing your tummy. And know that just sitting up straight is already a 90 degree. So just take a moment to breathe and to ground. Release your head, Neck, And shoulders. Again, Coming back to the idea of stillness. Groundedness. And know that you always have the breath. To bring in the grounding. Gently rise. And let's end our practice with. . . Three cleansing breaths. If you want to crisscross applesauce or find a comfortable seat. Spine is nice and lifted. Sit bones are connected to the earth or a pillow or a block. Hands on to baby, On lap or at heart center, Whatever feels the most authentic. Take an inhale. Open your mouth, Let it go. Again inhale deep. Let it go. Last time, All the way up, All the way in. Hold it at the top, 4-4. And one, Let it go. You are strong. You are resilient. You are enough. Thank you so much, Mamas, For taking class with me. And we'll see you next time for your prenatal yoga class.