Labour Prep Prenatal Yoga

Join Sarah for a 16-minute labour prep yoga practice. Those in any trimester are welcome to join, as well as anyone not pregnant; however, this is very much geared towards those in the third trimester and close to the end of pregnancy. Find some props such as blocks and bolsters if you have any (thick books or rolled-up blankets can be a good substitute). We start seated and move into some positions on hands and knees, flow up to standing, and then end in a supported squat. Refer to some of my other videos for even more support during pregnancy. Please note: Always consult with your healthcare provider before beginning any new exercise routine during pregnancy.

Transcript

Hello, My name is Sarah and I'll be. Guiding you through a labor prep prenatal yoga practice. I've got a few on inside a timer already. They're all great for all trimesters, Especially the hip opener one is great for labor prep. You just have to move, Add different props as the belly increases to get in the way. But we'll do a quick practice here and you'll see how I move. I'm 36 weeks in. Getting real close to the labor portal, So. Bear with me as my words and my brain. Uh, Try to work. Best as they can. So we'll start in a comfortable seat. I like to use blocks. Or whatever you have pillows to help support the the knees to keep the hips supported. I like to set up a bolster, Again if you have a block, Cushions, Whatever works. Works for you. We'll find a nice long spine. You can have hands comfortably on the knees if you prefer. On the belly in a mudra if you know some mudras. And just close down the eyes. Take a nice deep breath in through your nose. Out through your mouth. And then bring the breath in through your nose, Out through your nose. Invite the breath fully into your belly, Massaging your baby and all your organs. One more breath here, Nice and full and long, Bigger than before, In your nose, Out your nose. Good. Then you keep your eyes closed or gently soft and open. That's fine. We'll inhale the arms up above the head. Nice big stretch. We'll exhale, Bring the hands to one side, A little stretch into the side body. Inhale here. Making space in your ribs. Exhale and inhale, We'll come back through center. Nice big stretch. Place your hand on the other side. Exhale. And into those ribs, Into that side body. Making space for baby. And your lungs. And inhale back through center. Good, Little twist, Inhale the arms up. You're going to go towards your right, So we just let the arms fall wherever they may. It's not big at this point, Especially when you get into the third trimester. We're not forcing, We're not pushing. Just a little rotation. Inhale here. Exhale, Inhale the arms back up through center. Nice long spine and then exhale to the other side. Again, No forcing no pushing just allowing. Maybe turning that head over the back shoulder. Inhale here. Exhale, Let it go. Come back through center. Inhale, Arms up. One more time. Exhale, Let them come down through prayer and heart center. Bring a smile to your face. And then we'll begin. So come off of our props. You can bring them to the top of your mat. So they're handy in case you need them. We'll come to hands and knees here. So placing your wrists right underneath your shoulders, Knees right underneath your hips. Inhale to arch. Little. Looking up. Exhale to round as much as you like. Moving with your breath, Inhaling to look up. And exhaling to round. Good, One more like that. And then gently find some intuitive movements. Maybe going side to side, Maybe doing some circles. The spirals. Whatever feels good in your body. And then we'll come and do a little inversion. So bring your forearms. To the floor. My belly's getting bigger so I have to open my knees a little bit for this and let your chest drop towards the floor, You can drop your forehead on the mat. Letting the weight of the baby fall away from your pelvis. Few nice deep breaths here. And any time you need to breathe out your mouth. In prenatal yoga, I totally encourage when you get into labor, You will definitely be breathing deeper. In and out of your mouth and you'll need to drink lots and lots of water. Because it gets dry. So breathe one more nice deep breath here. Good. Use your hands to push yourself back up. To hands and knees, Bring the knees back underneath your hips if they move. And find a nice strong plank sort of position. So push the floor away. Shoulder blades down the back, Hug your hip bones together. We're going to send the right toes. Back on the mat so getting a nice little calf stretch here. Good, Inhale. Exhale. I'm going to grab one of my blocks and bring it underneath my shoulder. I'm going to tilt my Feet out. Drop my right foot on the ground and come into a little side plank here. So I'm hugging my hip bones together. My top arm is reaching towards the sky. Feeling my strength here. And then I'm gonna actually rotate my. Um. . . Left knee to about 45 degrees. I'm going to use that strong core to stand myself up. And then I'm going to. . . Rotate my right toes so they're flat on the ground again. Put my hands on my hips. To that knee a few times. So exhale, We can bend, Squeeze the pelvic floor up. And in here. So a lot of what we want to do in our labor prep. Is really to open up the hips. So a lot of hip openers, Asymmetrical hip poses. And a lot of inversions just to allow a different configuration for the baby to fall into maybe a more optimal position. Sigh. Good. Let's do one more bend. Then we'll gently come back into our hands and knees position. From here. I'm actually going to rotate. My toes out, So leave my knees where they are. I'm gonna sit my hips back a little bit. And then I'm going to move forward again. And then you can rotate your toes together, Put your knees wide. And sit the hips back a little bit. So put the knees underneath the hips, Rotate the toes out. Keep the hips back a little bit. Again, This is just changing the shape of our pelvis a little, Allowing baby to be in some different configurations. Tanzanese is really one of the best things you can do. In labor prep, In labor and while pushing or delivering. Super, Super good. One more time, We'll just open the knees a little bit. So I'm gonna set up to do that little side plank. Hips thing on the other side, You can stay where you are, But I'll do it so that I can face you. So. We will find our nice strong core again. So pushing the hands. Into the mat, Shoulder blades down the back. Hug the hip bones together. Please, The core. And then send your left leg back, Stretching to that toe. Feeling the strength. Good, Then I'm going to grab that block, Place it under my shoulder, I'm going to rotate the right Toes open, Rotate the left foot to be on the ground. Place my hand on the block, And come into my nice strong side plank. Hip bones are hugging together. Squeezing my pelvic floor up. Squeezing my ribs in. Good, Then I'll turn that right foot to about 45 degrees, Use my strong core to lift myself up. Please put your hands on my hip. My left foot is turned out so my toes are flat on the ground. And then I'll come and do a little. Side lunges here. So again, Opening up my pelvis. Just changing the shape of my hips a little bit. Breathing nice deep breaths into the belly. Go as slow or as fast as you need. If you need to put extra cushioning under your knees, That's great. Hmm. Lovely. All right, We'll find our way back into our hands and knees. I'm gonna put the block. Side. And here I'm going to tuck the toes under. Lift my hips up. Stretching into a quick downward facing dog. So all we're looking for here is a nice long spine. Again, It's an inversion so baby can find a different configuration. In the body. Maybe allow it to find a more optimal. Position in your pelvis. You can stay longer if it feels comfortable. Some people don't really like this in pregnancy and that's okay, So we'll block the feet and the outside edges of the mat up to the hands. I like to put my elbows on my knees. At the back of my head be heavy, Maybe sway a little bit. It's kind of nice. And then bend the knees, Keep the head and tail heavy, Roll up through the spine, Coming to standing. For just a few moments. So we're gonna do some more asymmetrical hip things. I invite you to place a block, Or if you don't have a block, Maybe a stack of books. Underneath one foot. So we're going to have a nice wide Legged stance. Come into it however gracefully as you can. And we'll inhale the arms up. Above the head, We're going to exhale, Bend the elbows, Bend the knees, Everything nice and wide. Goddess pose. Inhale everything up. Exhale, Bend and squeeze. Inhale. So it's fairly simple. But again, My hips are just a little asymmetrical, Especially with the blocks. Inhaling out. Exhale just offers a different different shape. Different option for the baby. Inhale. Exhale, Let's stay down this time. Put the hands on your hips, Squeeze the glutes, Squeeze the thighs, Squeeze the pelvic floor. Feel that strength you need nice long nice strong legs when you're in labor. Prepping for the marathon. So we need those legs strong so we can walk around, We can do squats, We can do all the things when we're getting ready for the baby to come out. So, Stretch. Gently. Gracefully come off the block. And then we'll switch the block to the other foot. Nice wide stance again. There we go. Inhaling the arms up. Exhale, Squeeze everything, Bend nice and wide. Goddess pose, Inhaling. And exhaling. Inhaling. And exhale, Squeeze. Good. Again, Everything in prenatal yoga is an offering. To only do what feels good in your body. Say maybe you have pubic sympathies and it feels really uncomfortable to have your legs so wide. You can skip this part. Don't do it. We don't want anything to increase any pain. Comfort is one thing, But pain is another. Put your hands on your hips, We'll stay low. Squeeze the glutes, The thighs, Pelvic floor. Nice deep breath. Exhale, And then we'll gently, Gracefully come out of this. Okay. So you can put the block. Where it will be underneath your pelvis. Feet nice and wide, Toes turning out. We'll come down into a gentle yogi squat. Sometimes I put my feet out a little bit. Sometimes I actually sit right against the wall, Which can be really nice. So again, Prepping for labor, Opening the hips is good. Sometimes doing the squat without the support, So using your actual muscles is really helpful. Especially if you think you might want to berth on a squatting position, It's really cool to berth. In a squatting position, You can catch your own baby. Grab it with your hands. A lot of hospitals have squat bars you can hold. Um You could also do it with your partner sitting behind you. Or a support person. So they can kind of hold you, Especially when your legs are so tired at the end. Lots of options. There's birthing stools that can sometimes get you nice and low. Again, Your pelvis is just real open at this point. Really nice. Just inhale here. And exhale. Thank you so much for joining me for this. Labor prep. Prenatal yoga practice. Come back to it every day if it feels good. Or follow the principles I shared and follow along with other videos doing. Asymmetrical hip thing. The hip openers. And inversion. Thank you to your baby for joining you on this journey and thank you so much for joining me in this process.