The Best Yoga Positions For Pregnancy?

[backtalk]

A friend of mine recently found out that she is pregnant. Shortly before becoming pregnant, she started doing yoga. I told her that she has to be more careful now, and might not be able to do all of the yoga positions that she did before. Can anyone recommend some of the best yoga positions to do while pregnant?

[yogasun]

I usually tell ladies to be careful in the first 12 weeks only because that's what we are meant to say. Quite frankly if someone is going to miscarry they will anyway. Doing basic Yoga poses is not going to influence that.
Also joints and ligaments in the pelvis loosen.
From 12 weeks onwards more or less anything is fine. I always say avoid inversion though, strong twists and strong abdominal movements.
Yoga is beneficial in pregnancy. Google it, too much info for me to give here really.

[Brandon33]

My yoga teacher told me that it's not recommended to practice yoga during pregnancy, and I agree with him (not because he is my yoga teacher). It's fine for a pregnant woman to do some meditation poses though.

[yogasun]

Totally disagree. A recent study found it was one of the best forms of exercise for pregnancy. They recommended it in my daughter-in-law's NCT and other NHS run ante-natal class.
There are special Pregnancy Yoga classes, have been for years and loads of books and DVDs on it.
Have had lots of pregnant ladies over the 38 years and all have gone on to have healthy babies.
Practised throughout my pregnancies myself and I was an older mother. Lucky to have trouble free pregnancies and births

[Brandon33]

Thanks Yogasun for the response. Well, I think it would depend on the poses. A pregnant woman can do neither forward nor backward bending poses. Inverted poses are not recommended for her either. But I guess she can do some poses on this link: http://www.yoga.com/yoga-poses-asanas/