prenatal yoga

I was looking online for a dvd series for prenatal yoga and fitness before I actually knew I was pregnant. I just knew it was something I wanted to try with this pregnancy, especially because with Lily I didn't exercise at all. 

Now, to be fair, I was extremely dizzy with Lily (fainting in the supermarket doesn't lend itself well to high hopes for pregnant exercising!) so that was part of it, and worried about hurting myself or the baby. 

But this time I'm feeling much better. A bit more energy during the sleepy first trimester than I had with Lily is just enough to motivate me! So a friend recommended www.fitmommagazine.com  and there I saw links to buy prenatal yoga dvds. Yoga is excellent for circulation (which you're totally robbed of during pregnancy!), building core muscles, targeting specific muscles for strength building (such as the pelvic floor muscles which are so crucial for labour and delivery) and increasing flexibility that make pregnancy more comfortable and delivery smoother. Aside from the religious connotations, I'm 100% on board with yoga, but I firmly believe that as a Christian I can benefit from and use things like yoga (that are strongly Hindu and Buddhist in origin, though today only in some practices) with a clear conscience and spirit.

So yoga it is. I started yesterday and so far it's great. I love the specific instruction to pregnant women. There are three women practicing yoga, one in her first trimester, one in her second, and one in her third, so as your pregnancy progresses you just follow a different woman. Surprisingly I'm a little sore this morning! Though it seems like a very relaxing exercise, it's really working those muscles!

The best part is, right before I was about to buy the yga dvd off the fitmom website, I did a quick craigslist search and found a woman selling both the prenatal yoga dvd and prenatal fitness dvd for $2 each! Oh how I love a good deal :)

Check out the video I'm using that I found on youtube if you like: