Welcome to your prenatal yoga.
I'm Melissa.
I'll be guiding you through this experience.
Let's go ahead and let's get into the breath.
So coming down onto your mat finding a comfortable seat.
Maybe that's on a bolster or a block.
Spine is nice and lifted.
And then maybe just.
Rolling out the neck and the shoulders.
Maybe some stretching,
Get out some wiggles.
And then finally settling into the seat.
Soften or close the eyes.
Hands can be on your lap or maybe placed over baby.
Maybe one hand on heart,
One hand on baby.
Signifying the two beating hearts within.
Release your jaw.
And as you inhale,
Expand through the tummy,
The side ribs,
The chest.
As you exhale release the shoulders,
The chest,
The side body.
Again inhale,
Expanding the belly,
The side body.
The ribs the chest exhale finding some softness continue to breathe at your own pace Just feeling the expansion.
And release of the breath.
Arise and fall.
And just knowing that you can be your own anchor.
Utilizing the breath.
Take about three more breaths.
And then at the end of your third breath,
We'll take a nice deep inhale.
Open your mouth.
Let it go.
Go ahead and gently open your eyes.
And let's find our way onto a child's pose.
There we go.
So if.
If your tummy is a little large for child's pose,
You can always come into puppy pose.
By keeping your hips nice and tall and releasing your head towards the earth.
If your tummy.
.
.
Is okay with it,
Child's pose.
With your knees nice and wide.
And stretching our arms out.
Take a few deep inhales and exhales here.
Lengthening through the spine,
Releasing the hips.
Inhale.
Gently lift your torso.
Walk your hands over to the right side.
Stack your left hand on top of your right and then let your head fall in between your arms.
Deep inhale.
The back sale.
Inhale,
Lift.
Walk your hands over to the left side of the mat,
Stacking your right arm on top of your right hand on top of your left.
Let your head fall in between your arms.
Release your hips.
Deep inhale.
Deep exhale.
Inhale,
Lift your torso.
Exhale,
Come up onto tabletop.
So shoulders stacked on top of wrist,
Wrist parallel to the top of the mat.
And then Just begin to shift yourself back and forth.
And then notice how your hips feel.
We shift back and forth four four Three.
To And one.
This time bring your toes together.
Knees nice and wide.
So as wide as comfortable.
Shift back and forth.
And then notice how your hips feel here.
Maybe a little tight,
Maybe a little release.
4-4 to And one,
Come back to center.
Bring your knees towards each other and then feet wide this time.
Shift back and forth.
Notice your hips.
No judgment.
We're just noticing what these positions feel like.
4-4 Two.
And one,
Come back to a neutral position.
If you have a block,
Place it in between your thighs.
Hug the block in between your thighs.
Take an inhale,
Tuck your toes.
Exhale to downward facing dog.
Send your hips up high as you hug the block in between your thighs.
Inhale,
Begin to lower and hover your knees.
Exhale to downward facing dog.
Send your hips to the sky.
Inhale lower your knees hover them a few inches Exhale to downward facing dog,
Hips to the sky.
One more time.
Inhale,
Lower.
Exhale,
Downward facing dog.
Continue to hug the block in between your thighs and then just wag your tail side to side.
So just kind of.
Releasing.
Inhale lower all the way to your knees.
Exhale,
Release the block.
Place it at the top of your mat.
Option.
To put your hands on top of your blocks.
And let's meet a downward facing dog.
If you have.
Heartburn if you feel nauseous feel free to just stand and meet us standing at the top of the mat we'll meet you there but if you're ready for down dog blocks or no blocks Hands on the mat,
Tuck your toes,
Send your hips up high.
And then soften your knees.
Either walk your feet to your hands or your hands to your feet.
Maybe grab opposite elbows as our feet are nice and wide,
Creating space for the tummy.
Rock side to side.
Release the crown of the head towards the earth so we have some traction in the back of the neck.
4-4.
And one,
Find some stillness,
Inhale.
Exhale,
Release the hands to the block,
To your shins or to the earth.
Bend your knees.
Tuck your tailbone.
Inhale.
Rise up.
Hands to the sky.
Exhale,
Hands to heart center.
We all meet at the top of the mat for a cleansing breath.
Inhale.
Open your mouth.
Let it go.
Let's do that one more time.
Grounding breath.
Inhale.
Open the mouth,
Let it go.
Gently blink your eyes open find a nice um Wide stance.
So feet nice and wide.
Arms out to the side and then pivot your right toes over to the right.
Bend through your front knee.
Left toes are facing straight side or the front corner of your mat,
Just depending on how your hips are feeling.
Scissor your hips,
Bump your hips slightly back.
To create a little bit space,
Shoulders down and back.
And then if that feels funky.
Bring your hips underneath you.
And then bump your hips back.
And then just notice,
Again,
Notice the difference.
And then find a comfortable maybe somewhere in between.
Inhale.
Exhale,
Extended side angle elbow to thigh.
Reach the left hand high or drape your arm up overhead.
Continue to scissor the hips together.
Roll the right shoulder down and back and spiral your heart towards the sky.
Release your jaw.
Exhale to warrior dog.
Release your hands towards the ground.
And Warrior Dog is.
.
.
Your bottom legs are in Warrior II.
So we keep our legs in warrior two.
And the top half of our body is in down dog.
So we're stretching our arms out long,
Releasing our head in between our hands.
So if you don't have blocks,
You can always place your hands onto a sofa or a chair.
Or if you have the flexibility,
You can reach towards the ground.
Let your chin tuck towards your chest.
Find some release,
Continue to scissor your hips.
Deep inhales and exhales.
Inhale.
Exhale,
Wide leg forward fold.
If you have your blocks,
Gently walk your blocks and walk your hands.
To a wide leg forward fold so our toes are facing front.
And then just shimmy your hips back and forth or just rock your hips back and forth.
Let baby kind of hang in the hammock of your tummy.
And this is really nice to take pressure off your lower back.
Give baby space.
To potentially position a little different.
If that's what baby wants and what baby needs.
Now begin to gently find stillness.
Bend your right knee and then reach either your blocks or your hands to the right.
And then you can begin to gently.
.
.
Bend and straighten your right knee.
One more time.
And then gently walking your hands back through center.
Inhale halfway left.
Press down into your feet.
Soften your knees.
Bring your hands to your hips.
Take an inhale,
Press down to rise up.
Exhale to stand.
Nice friends.
Go ahead and if you have blocks or if you're utilizing blocks,
You can place them at the top of your mat or I'm sorry,
The left side of your mat.
So you have them ready available.
Let's take this on the left side.
So pivot your left toes to the left.
Right toes are facing.
The same way as you're looking or the corner of your mat.
Bend through your Left knee.
And then again,
Find that hip.
Bump back.
And then bring your hips forward.
Bump your hips back.
Bring your hips forward.
And we're scissoring our hips together.
We're scissoring our legs towards each other.
So our legs are like actively engaged here.
And then find somewhere,
Somewhere in the middle or somewhere that feels comfortable for you.
Shoulders down and back.
Inhale.
Exhale,
Extended side angle,
Elbow to thigh,
Right hand to the sky,
Or all the way up overhead.
Roll the left shoulder down and back.
We're lifting up and out of the pose.
And then spiral your heart towards the sky.
Soft jaw.
Inhale.
Exhale to warrior dog.
Bring your hands down.
To your blocks,
To a couch cushion,
To a chair.
Feet say the same release walk your hands out as far as you can we really want to stretch out our spine here release your head in between your arms,
Scissor your hips.
And scissor your legs.
So our bottom half is still really working.
We have a nice active stretch here.
Breathe between the space between your shoulder blades.
Take an inhale.
Exhale to wide leg forward fold gently walk your hands Pivot your feet so they're facing the wide edge of the mat.
And if you have blocks,
Have them underneath your shoulders.
And let's just do a couple of windmills.
Inhale right hand to the sky Exhale,
Release.
Inhale left hand to the sky.
Exhale,
Release.
Again,
Inhale,
Right hand.
Exhale,
Really.
Inhale,
Left hand.
Exhale,
Release.
Let's do one more on each side.
Inhale.
And exhale.
Inhale.
And exhale.
Amazing.
Pivot your heels in and your toes out.
Sink down into your malasana squat.
Maybe you want to place a block.
Maybe you want to bring your feet a little bit closer together,
Shoulders down and back.
See if we could find some release and relaxation.
In our inner thighs,
In our pelvic floor,
In our shoulders,
In our jaw.
And this is where my neck.
When I realize how tight my neck is.
So sometimes I get a little pop.
Deep inhales and exhales.
So we're breathing all the way down into the pelvic floor.
When we exhale,
We soften.
Again,
Inhale.
Exhale,
Soften.
Last time.
Inhale all the way down to the pelvic floor.
Exhale and soften.
And then gently place your hands on the earth.
Send your hips to the sky so we're back in your wide leg forward fold.
Inhale,
Hafuela.
Exhale,
Soften your knees.
Press into your feet,
Hands to hips.
Engage your core.
Inhale and rise.
Exhale,
Release.
Toe heel your feet towards each other.
Let's find a nice figure four and let's have a little balance challenge.
Now,
If balance is funky because.
.
.
Let's be real,
It's funky when we're pregnant.
You can always hold on to a wall for this.
Which I actually might do.
So let's take a nice figure four.
So cross your ankle over your thigh and then sit back into your chair.
Then maybe.
Bring your hands into prayer.
See if we flex the right toes towards our shins to keep the glute nice and activated.
Four,
Four.
And one,
Gently stand,
Release your foot.
Try that on the other side.
Cross the left ankle over the thigh.
And then sit your hips back.
Flex the left toes towards the shins.
Spines are nice and long.
Shoulders down and back.
4-4 And one,
Gently rise,
Release your foot.
Shake it out.
Nice job,
Mamas.
Go ahead and find a seat.
So if you want to do crisscross applesauce.
Or sit on a block,
Feel free to do that.
Just gonna grab one sip of water here.
Let's do a couple of pelvic floor exercises.
So what we're going to do.
.
.
Is we'll take an inhale.
And as we exhale,
We'll pull the pelvic floor up and in.
And we'll hold for the count of six.
And then release.
And let's do that.
Let's do that maybe three times.
If you have not engaged these muscles,
Well,
You have engaged these muscles,
But if you're not familiar with what that means to lift your pelvic floor,
It is the muscles that stop the flow of urination.
So if you were imagining you were going to the bathroom,
And then you had to stop midstream.
Those are the muscles that.
.
.
Activate the pelvic floor and so that's what you want to turn on so spine nice and lifted Take an inhale.
Exhale let all of your air out.
Pull the pelvic floor up and in.
We hold for six.
Bye.
Four.
One release and let your pelvic floor totally,
Totally release.
So let's do that again.
Inhale.
Exhale everything out.
Pull belly in.
Pull the pelvic floor up and in.
We hold for six.
Five.
Four.
Three.
To And one,
Let it go.
Let your pelvic floor fully relax and release.
Let's do that one more time.
Inhale fully.
Exhale completely.
Pull the belly in.
Pull the pelvic floor up and in.
4-6.
Five.
Three two And one,
Gently release and then just.
Take a moment to breathe.
So we want the pelvic floor to be nice and strong because it's holding.
Baby,
It's holding our bladder,
It's holding our uterus.
But we also want it to be able to relax and release.
Right if we're having a vaginal birth we want to be able to have that pelvic floor be able to release when it when it needs to and then contract when it needs to.
So practicing both that release.
And building strength with the pelvic floor pulses can help.
Take a nice deep inhale.
Open your mouth,
Let it go.
Amazing.
From here if you're on a block go ahead and um come down onto your booties.
And we'll come into a cow face pose.
Different variations of this.
If you want to We can either come into like full pigeon or some people call this like stacking logs with our shins stacked on top of each other.
Or you can come into a version of cow face pose.
If you want to bring your knees a little bit closer or,
You know,
Have blocks underneath your knees,
Whatever is like the most supportive.
And I know that like we have babies to think about as well.
I think for me today.
.
.
Stacking.
The knees.
Or stacking the shins is what's supportive for me.
You can also just do crisscross applesauce.
And bring some blocks underneath the knees.
And so let's do a little shoulder stretch with this,
And then we'll come into a nice,
Beautiful forward fold to help release the glute again.
So inhale,
Reach your arms out.
As you exhale,
Eagle wrap your.
.
.
Right underneath your left and if eagle wrap is not accessible just give yourself a nice little bear hug If you're in your eagle,
Lift your elbows.
Try to keep your shoulders down and back.
Inhale.
Exhale,
Release,
Unwind.
If you have your blocks or bolster,
Place it in front of you.
And then gently find whatever forward fold feels good for you.
So that might be.
.
.
Just lifting your chest because this technically is like a 90 degree forward fold,
Right?
Or maybe we're just leaning in a little bit closer and know that,
You know,
Baby needs space too.
So if we're normally able to get,
You know,
Our nose to the ground.
And we can't right now because baby.
Need some space.
Just honor that and that's okay.
Shoulders down and back.
Inhale and rise.
Switch out your feet so your left leg is going to be on top.
Maybe grab some supportive blocks.
Inhale,
Open up your arms.
Exhale,
Eagle wrap left arm underneath right or give yourself a bear hug.
If you're an eagle,
Lift your elbows,
Shoulders down and back.
Breathe into the space between your shoulder blades.
Take an inhale.
Exhale,
Unwind.
Inhale,
Lift your heart.
Exhale,
Find whatever variation of a forward fold is supportive for you.
As long as we can release and breathe,
Right?
The breath is the anchor.
Shoulders down and back.
Release your jaw.
Inhale and rise.
Exhale,
Give your legs a little bit of a shake.
Swing your legs to the side.
Slowly lower yourself down onto your side first.
And then if your back is accessible,
Go ahead and do that.
Mamas,
If you are unable to be on your backs right now.
Just find a nice comfortable side position.
If you are on your backs,
Find your happy baby.
And maybe that's bringing your knees into your chest or to the outside.
Of your belly and grabbing onto your shins.
Maybe it's grabbing your ankles or grabbing your feet.
Shifting yourself from side to side.
Take an inhale.
Exhale,
Release.
Slowly find your way into your resting pose so if you are maybe earlier in your first or Before 20 weeks,
You can lie on your back.
If you are a little bit later,
We want to make sure we're lying on our side.
On our bolster.
At an angle and maybe like Queens.
Hose.
And let's just do a couple of rounds of box breath.
So with box breath,
We'll inhale for four.
So I get set up here.
Hold for four.
Exhale for four.
And hold for four.
So I guide you through.
Take an inhale.
Let it go.
Inhale for a one.
Four,
Hold for one.
Four,
Exhale for one.
Four hold for one Four.
Inhale.
Hold at the top.
Exhale.
Hold that at the bottom.
Guide yourself through two rounds.
One more round.
When you've finished Let your breath fall at its natural pace.
Mamas,
If you need a traditional Shavasana,
Please feel free to stay as long as you need.
If you're ready to transition,
Gently roll over onto one side.
Press yourself up into a seat.
Bring your hands maybe at baby and at heart.
And let's close our practice with one nice cleansing breath.
Inhale.
Open your mouth,
Let it go.
You are strong,
You are resilient,
You are enough.
Thank you,
Mamas,
For joining me today.
And we'll see you next time at your prenatal yoga class.
