Welcoming Prenatal Yoga Practice

These practices are blossoming out of the need to keep everyone safe during the COVID19 outbreak. I am honored to offer the gift of connecting through yoga and meditation with mamas. My guided prenatal yoga practice is an offering to support a mother's journey inward, welcoming themselves back into their bodies and nurture the vessel that is home to baby. I hope mothers find this time as a sacred space to connect with themselves and with the baby. Please ensure a doctor's consent to practice.

Transcript

Hey mama,

Thanks for choosing a time that feels best of service for you to practice yoga together.

Now take your time to find a comfortable and supportive way to practice on your mat.

Feel free to use any props like blankets,

Bolsters,

Pillows,

Or blocks to support your practice today.

Let's begin.

Start by taking a comfortable seat.

Finding any props that you'd like to use to support your seat.

And you're welcome to close your eyes or keep them open,

Whichever feels best for balance and safest for you.

And I'll invite you just to bring palms to belly and to baby,

Just taking time to connect,

Time to welcome yourself and baby into this practice.

And maybe taking a few breaths here.

So breathing in through your nose,

Letting it go through your mouth,

Doing that again,

Breathing in through your nose,

Letting it go through your mouth,

Breathing in through your nose.

And once again,

Letting it go out through your mouth.

And seeing what's comfortable here,

Just sitting with the breath,

Noting that as the body changes that the breath might change or the feelings that come along with the breath might change.

So try not to attach to them.

We're just bringing a gentle awareness into the breath with a sense of kindness and a sense of curiosity.

Even as you hear sounds around you,

If any,

Just notice.

You might even note it in your mind,

Sounds,

Or as thoughts come in your mind,

Just note them,

Thoughts.

Right now,

Our job is to practice and to be present.

And let's start with some gentle movement just by bringing your palms to your knees and starting to move the body in a circle.

So on your inhale,

Just moving forward.

On an exhale,

Leaning back,

Maybe holding onto the knees a little bit firmer with your palms,

Rounding forward,

Inhale,

Exhale,

Rounding back.

So just moving in one direction in the circle.

And then go ahead and try going the opposite way.

Inhale inhaling as you come forward,

Exhaling as you move back.

One more time,

Breathing in forward and breathing out backwards.

And start to gently come back to a nice tall,

Neutral spine,

Finding a bit of stillness.

And notice,

If any,

As you bring your palms back to your baby,

As you sit still here,

Do you notice any movement in the body?

And just coming back to that mantra,

If you do notice,

And even if you don't notice movement now,

The mantra of welcome home.

You might be saying it to yourself,

Coming back into your body,

Or you might be offering it to baby as well.

Now,

If it's comfortable,

I'll invite you to come onto your knees,

If not already.

And sitting back on the heels,

If that feels comfortable.

If that doesn't feel comfortable,

Put a pillow or block underneath your bottom or seat so that you can sit down,

But not put the weight directly back on your feet.

If there's any pulling in the knees,

You can either stand up on your knees completely or just sit back cross-legged,

Whichever feels best.

Really the most important part is that you are doing what's going to best serve your body.

And let's take the arms,

Reach them up and around the sky.

Take a breath in,

Exhale out,

Then go ahead and drop the right palm down by the hip and take your left palm up and over your ear.

So it's reaching over to the right.

And maybe gently softening that right shoulder if it's crept up by your ear.

This doesn't have to be a deep side bend.

It can just be a little reach.

Just feeling that left side of the body start to open and breathe into it.

Inhale,

Come back through center,

Reach the palms up and exhale your left palm down.

Right palm comes up and over.

So just changing sides.

And notice that left shoulder,

If you can let it hang down or relax away from that left ear.

See if you can feel anything on the right side.

A sense of opening.

And then on an inhale,

Bring the left palm and right palm back up to sky and interlace the fingers right at the base of the skull.

So elbows are nice and wide as if you were doing a sit up,

Which we won't.

And gently taking the chin up towards the sky,

Suppressing the palms into the back of your head and the head right back into your palms,

Creating this nice sense of support and a little bit of tension.

Breathing in through your nose,

Maybe sighing out through your mouth.

And doing that again,

Breathing in through your nose.

Exhale sigh up through your mouth.

Okay.

Now go ahead and release the palms and bring them right on top of each shoulder.

So it's like you have wings,

The elbows are still wide,

It's a little awkward.

And just gently start to turn the heart,

So we're twisting from the heart space over to the right.

So not a deep twist.

And take a breath here,

Breathing in,

Letting it go.

And then come back through center,

Take a breath in.

And exhale,

Twist from the heart center and open to the left.

Take a breath here,

Letting it go.

And doing this a few times at your own pace.

Just moving with your breath.

On the exhale,

Twisting open.

On an inhale,

Coming back through center and changing sides.

And you can stay a while in the twist,

Taking a few breaths there.

Doesn't have to be one breath,

One movement.

Just opening up through the heart space.

Go ahead and do this one more time on each side.

And come back through center.

Release the palms back up towards the ceiling.

And gently standing up all the way on the knees,

If not already.

Reaching the palms up towards the sky.

And just bringing the hands down on the low back or on the hips,

Whichever feels supportive.

And just gently start to tilt the heart forward.

So we're not putting any pressure in the low back or extra pressure in the low back.

We're just gently opening up through the heart space and maybe pressing the hips a bit forward.

Your chin can stay tucked in towards your heart or you can gently lift the chin up towards the ceiling.

And from here,

We're going to come in Child's Pose.

So start to lengthen out the spine once again.

And then coming onto hands and knees into Tabletop.

Opening the knees as wide as they need and tilt the hips back towards the heels.

Let the head weight hang.

And so if this feels comfortable without anything,

You can stay as you are.

Or if you have a pillow or a bolster and you'd like to rest underneath your body,

Either lengthwise or underneath your forehead or your arms,

Feel free to do so.

We'll stay here for a few breaths.

So settling in and tuning into what am I noticing in my body?

And if at any point throughout the yoga practice,

You just want a space to pause,

Child's Pose might be that space or just that seated pose that we began in.

If at any point a pose doesn't feel like it's best serving your body,

Find that safe space to reconnect with the breath.

Reconnect with the body.

Reconnect with baby.

And gently coming back up into Tabletop.

So hands and knees all forth as wide as you need your knees to be to support yourself.

And pressing into your palms.

So shoulders are a little bit rounded.

Keep the head nice and long.

Chin looking down.

And just start to sway your hips maybe side to side.

Maybe move the hips forward or back.

Maybe you start to engage the sides a little bit,

Pressing the ribs open to one side and changing sides.

Make sure you find your breath.

There doesn't necessarily have to be a rhythm with your breath here.

But knowing that you're breathing and feeling the breath as you move the body as part of this practice.

Being intentional with the breath.

Coming back to a nice neutral spine in Tabletop.

Notice if you can allow your belly to drop a bit and then inhale,

Lift the heart,

Press through the palms.

So we're in Cow.

And then exhale,

Press through the palms once again to round the spine.

Chin hangs.

Gently and baby hug in just a bit.

And letting the belly drop.

Inhale,

Lift the heart.

Exhale rounding the spine.

Inhale lift.

Exhaling rounding the spine.

One more time,

Inhale lift.

Exhale round the spine.

And coming back to Table and find that Child's Pose once again.

Melting the heart down,

Hips to heels,

Head weight rest down or hangs.

Using any props you need to snuggle in to support your body.

And as you stretch here,

Bringing that connection back to the breath.

Back into the body.

Using the mantra,

If it feels of service to say welcome home.

And gently come on up to Table.

And we'll meet in Downward Facing Dog.

So tucking the toes,

Lifting the hips and knees off the mat.

Allow the head weight to hang.

Fingers wide spread.

Maybe just bending into the knees one at a time.

Make sure you're breathing.

And gently walk the feet forward.

So as many steps and as wide as the feet go,

Take them up to your hands.

And then gently sink the hips down.

So we're in a low squat.

So it's like Frog Pose.

Palms can be down for balance or on blocks.

You can even bring a block underneath you to sit right down on or a couple blocks.

Feet might be flat or you might be on the balls of your feet.

If you're feeling balance,

You can bring the palms to heart center.

Knowing that this is one of those postures that might change often throughout the journey of pregnancy.

Palms will shift.

Hips will shift.

The width we can get our feet might shift.

Using this as a time just to notice.

And if not already,

Place your left palm down on the mat and then take your right palm up to sky.

So again,

We're not doing a big twist,

Just a little twist opening through the heart center to the right.

And then taking that right hand down,

Waving the left hand up,

Inhale.

Exhale with the left palm down.

And we'll come into a wide legged forward fold at the front of your mat.

So just lifting the hips.

And then bring blocks right underneath your palms if you have them or even if you don't have blocks,

You might grab the back of a chair to rest palms down on for a forward fold.

And slowly starting to roll your way up into standing.

So finding Mountain Pose,

Feet at a distance that feels supportive for the hips.

Roll the shoulders up by the ears and down the back.

Fingers widespread hanging down by your hips.

And so just a note about forward folds.

You really want to create space in every posture that we do for our body and for baby.

So as a forward fold comes,

We really want to have a lengthened spine,

Which those blocks would offer by moving them a bit forward from us or the back of a chair to rest our arms down on just to create length and space in our torso.

And so as you stand in Mountain Pose,

Notice here if you can pick up your toes off the mat.

And then gently try and place one toe at a time down back on the mat.

Gently lift up the heels,

Maybe one at a time,

So maybe lift your right heel,

Setting it down,

Lift your left heel,

Setting it down.

And then move from side to side,

So moving over to your right,

Shifting the weight,

Shifting the weight over to your left.

And just finding a space that feels comfortable and natural,

Maybe bouncing the knees a couple times if they're locked,

Finding a way that feels natural and comfortable to stand.

Let's inhale,

Reach the arms up and around the sky,

Find length there.

Then once again,

Interlacing the palms right at the base of the skull,

So elbows are nice and wide.

Feel your feet rooted down for balance and then gently maybe turning the heart up,

Maybe the chin turns up.

Breathing into this.

Unwind the palms,

Reach them back up towards the ceiling,

Then go ahead and take the left arm or left wrist in your right hand.

Take a breath in and exhale,

Lean over to your right.

Take a breath in,

Back through center,

Reaching up,

Unwind,

Catching the right wrist,

Inhale and exhale,

Lean over to the left.

Inhale back up through center.

Reach the palms up,

Then bringing the palms right at the top of each shoulder.

So elbows are nice and wide once again.

And just take a twist open to the right and back through center.

Inhale,

Exhale over to the left.

Inhale back through center.

One more time,

Exhale open to the right.

Inhale back through center.

Inhale over to the left.

Inhale back through center.

Reach the palms back up towards the sky.

Exhale palms touch heart center.

Bring the palms back to belly,

Back to baby.

And then slide the palms right on the hips or the small of the low back.

Your palms might be resting on the low back with fingers towards the ceiling or fingers down towards the floor.

Whichever feels best on the wrists and the hands.

And gently pressing the hips forward.

So no forcing,

Just allowing the hips to move forward.

And then opening up through the heart.

So again,

Keeping low back nice and long.

And breathing into the heart,

The chest.

Maybe feeling the elbows kind of hug back as if you were pressing and reaching them together,

Even though they might be very far apart.

Maybe another breath in.

Letting it go.

Inhale reach the palms back up towards the sky.

Exhale we'll find a forward fold to find your version that creates space,

Even if it's a really big bend in the knees.

And keeping the palms on the shins.

So you have a nice long flat back in whatever forward fold you find yourself in.

And gently let the palms come down.

We'll step back into downward facing dog.

So one modification might be to come into table first,

Setting your knees down.

And then lifting hips as you tuck your toes and knees lift.

Take a breath.

And we'll take our right foot in between our palms.

So might take a couple steps or hops.

Once that right foot is in between the palms,

Go ahead and lower down on the back left knee.

Untuck those toes.

And bring your palms both on the inside of that right foot.

So we're in this supported crescent lunge.

And rather than reaching our heart down,

We'll keep our palms right on the mat or if you have blocks,

Bring blocks right underneath your hands to hold onto.

And let your hips sink down.

And try and see if you can keep that right knee in line with that right ankle.

So we don't want our right knee way over reaching past our right toes.

We want to keep a 90 degree angle in that knee.

Gently lifting the heart,

Rolling the shoulders down and away from the ears,

Allowing that back left leg to just release down on the mat.

And as much space as baby and belly need,

You might adjust that right foot out a bit wider.

If you found yourself too much into it,

Just back your hands up a little bit.

See if you can soften into this,

Noticing the hips.

And we'll gently come back into downward facing dog.

So maybe coming in the table first,

Sliding that right foot back,

Hands and knees,

Tucking the toes,

Lifting the hips,

Head weight hangs.

On an exhale,

Take the left foot forward.

Once the left foot is in between the palms,

Go ahead and drop down on the right knee,

Untuck the right toes,

And then bring the left hand on the inside of the left foot.

So you might move the left foot out of it wider.

If that feels nice,

You might bring a block or two blocks underneath your hands to rest down on,

Leaving the heart open and lifted,

If you can.

Softening into the hips and allowing that left knee to stay in line with that left ankle.

Taking some breaths here at your own pace.

And let's just meet up in tabletop from here.

So sliding that left knee back to meet the right.

And from table,

Sinking back,

Child's pose,

Hips meet heels,

Head weight rests down or hangs down.

Taking a full nourishing breath in through your nose and really let it sigh out.

Maybe doing that again if that felt nice.

Go ahead and inhale back up tabletop.

Find your way into one more downward facing dog,

Tucking your toes,

Lifting your hips.

As you come forward,

Gently tapping the knees down and find your way back into a comfortable seated posture.

And then once you find your sit bones on your mat,

Bring the soles of your feet together.

So knees are wide apart.

It's like seated butterfly or bhata konasana.

And wrapping your hands around your feet or maybe just your index finger and middle finger around your big toes.

Allow your shoulders to roll down and away from the ears.

So shoulder blades hug together and creating length in your spine by lifting your heart.

Take some breaths here and just allow the weight of the legs to be felt.

No need to hold any tension there.

Just allow the hips to be happy.

Go ahead and bring the palms directly behind your sit bones right onto the mat and then draw your feet back down the mat.

So knees are now together and gently let your knees sway side to side.

So it's like windshield wipers with your legs and knees.

And allowing the knees to come back up towards the sky.

Feet are planted.

Gently start to lift the hips.

So we're going into reverse table.

Lift the hips up off the mat.

In stays tucked in towards the chest.

Palms are pressing into the mat.

Taking a breath.

Exhale out through your mouth.

One more breath in.

On your exhale gently releasing the hips back to the mat and slowly setting up for a comfortable way to find rest in Shavasana.

Whether that means on your sides or on your backs with a nice support underneath your back to create a nice angle to keep the spine around 45 degree angle.

Keep all the blood moving in the body.

And once you've found your way into a spot to nestle into,

Take a breath in through your nose.

Using this time to come back to that mantra of welcoming ourselves back home into our body scanning through the body and just noticing what's alive for me,

What's present for me right now.

So allowing yourself to notice any sensation that's present in the feet.

And maybe there isn't any.

Just try wiggling your feet.

Letting the feet be heavy,

Laying the legs be heavy.

However you're lying down or sitting.

Drawing the attention next to the hips.

Notice if you're unintentionally holding some tension there that you can soften and relax.

Sometimes we're holding muscles that we're not even aware of it until we really tune in.

Lying attention right into belly and to baby.

And you might even use that mantra here of welcoming baby once again into the practice,

Into your life and into this world.

Drawing the attention up into the heart space.

Maybe just feeling the breath kind of opening the heart space.

Wiggling through the shoulders on an exhale.

Letting the head be supported however it lies or sits upon the body.

And noticing any muscles in the face.

Whether it's the jaw,

The eyebrows,

Muscles around the eyes,

Muscles in the cheeks.

And see if you can soften them for a moment.

And notice what it would feel like to gently bring a half smile to the face.

Watching what arises with a half smile.

And taking as much time as you need here in Savasana.

You're welcome to pause the recording and stay here.

And when you're ready,

Just start to bring some gentle movement back into the body.

And taking as much time as you need to sit back up if you were lying down.

And once you find a comfortable way to sit,

Bringing palms back to heart center.

Bringing a breath in through our nose.

Exhale let it go through the mouth.

Welcoming yourself and baby home once again.

From my heart to yours.

Namaste.

Thanks so much for practicing with me.

Reviews

Thank you so much for this beautiful prenatal class. It was exactly what I needed at 32 weeks. I am grateful. Namaste.

Beautiful practice to help stretch out my body at 30 weeks

I’m 40 weeks tomorrow. This is exactly what I needed. Thank you!

Beautiful offering, brought me peace and connection to my growing baby. Thank you