For expecting mamas the period of nine months can be the most memorable and rewarding if they could find a tool to keep the elements viz. morning sickness, stress, and backaches at bay. Hence, the “yoga poses for pregnant women to ease morning sickness” will address other prenatal issues too.
I memorize my first prenatal period filled with nausea and a constantly achy-back. Nothing and nothing worked!
Mom-in-law’s advice or calcium supplements from the gynecologist failed to ease my woes. When the aroma of favorite dishes started inducing nausea, life halted on survival mode. Though fruits proved to be my staple diet, instead of gaining some decent motherly weight all over, my protruding belly with match-stick hands and limbs were all I could feel proud of!
On one side thinking to step up a yoga mat when heavy with the morning sickness is the last thing you can imagine. Yet, lying motionless on the bed expecting some miracle to ease the discomfort won’t help either. This 15 minutes gentle Yoga Sequence is designed to ease your morning nausea, along with keeping you stress-free and free from various ache.
Disclosure: Some of the links in the post may be affiliate links. That means, if you make any purchase by clicking them, I may earn a small commission without costing you anything extra.
What Is Morning Sickness
According to Medical news today Morning sickness affects around 80 percent of all pregnant females.
Women who use hormonal contraception or HRT (hormone replacement therapy) may also have symptoms similar to morning sickness.
Usually, morning sickness, an unpleasant occurrence, has no health risk for the mom and her baby and is a regular part of pregnancy. In fact, some studies indicate that morning sickness during pregnancy can be a sign of a healthy pregnancy, with lower rates of miscarriages and stillbirths, compared with pregnancies with no nausea or vomiting.
Some facts on morning sickness
These are some well-known and observed facts an expecting mom should be aware of-
- Morning sickness can occur at any time of the day, contrary to its name.
- Specific yoga Poses for pregnant moms can actually help treat the symptoms of morning sickness.
- Evidence suggests that ginger(tea or products) might ease nausea.
- Morning sickness may be a sign of a healthy pregnancy.
Reasons behind Morning Sickness during pregnancy
Ever thought why expecting moms have to live with the morning sickness! I always wondered why people around me seem least worried about the symptoms which were killing me slowly. Killing; because I was not taking enough of the food, a key behind the survival of me and the baby inside. Even doctors were not giving much of the thought to the problem.
At this time (aka the first trimester) your body is producing the hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) in large quantity. This hormone ensures your baby’s appropriate nutritional intake from your body in the early weeks. Once the placenta takes over nourishing upon your body, the hCG level drops to ease your nausea.
But if the problem persists for longer, cortisol, the stress hormone could be the main culprit. Nutritional deficiency, especially vitamin B6 could be another reason suggested by experts.
Best Yoga Poses For Pregnant Women to Ease Morning Sickness
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Ready for the ride? Read the most important things first-
- Practice basic poses with a few modifications. Build strength and encourage flexibility with basic postures such as prayer pose or mountain pose, use props whenever you feel unbalanced or tired.
- Avoid inversions, deep twists, and backbends. Avoid poses that might compress the uterus or overstretch the abdominal muscles.
- Go for long relaxation at the end of class. The best thing for you is to practice focused breathing and calm the mind.
- Never feel you’re sick.
PS: Here for your ease, I’m dividing the whole yoga poses for pregnant moms into four sequences viz. Standing, Seating, Meditation, and Lying yoga poses. You can choose any number of poses from each type to enjoy the complete body, mind and soul experience.
Standing Yoga Sequences
Standing sequences such as mountain pose, prayer pose, and warrior pose are safe and grounding. Provide you a better posture and stability.
Seating Yoga Poses
Staff Pose, Baddh konasan or bound angle pose, neck and shoulder rotation and seated forward bend, cat and cow stretch strengthens your pelvic floor, release tension from neck and shoulder, and massage reproductive organs.
Meditation
Slow breathing and body scanning technique, visualization meditation, and Yoga Nidra.
Meditations are here to keep us stress-free and rejuvenated. At this time, being mindful of your pregnancy helps you to take better care of the needs of a prenatal body.
Yoga poses in lying position
Lying spinal twist, bridge pose, and Savasana. It feels so good after a full practice. Spinal twists are highly relaxing and charge intensively on your back pain.
Unwind your yoga mats yoginis, it’s time to show off the “mom’s power”…
Mountain Pose
Mountain Pose serves as a basic posture for all the standing yoga poses. At a glance, this simple-looking asana does involves many technical aspects of yoga.
How to Do
- Stand with both of the toes touching together and heels slightly apart.
- With the gradual adjustment, ground your self by spreading all the toes and balls softly.
- Tuck in the lower belly and firm up the thigh muscles.
- Imagine an energy line from the ankles to thighs and torso all the way passing through the neck, head, and the crown.
- Extend your tail bone towards the ground.
- Press the shoulder blades into the back and expand the collar bones.
- Let the hands go along the torso or raise upward as shown in the pics.
- Balance crown of your head at the center, chin parallel to the floor.
- Soften the gaze along with the throat and tongue area.
Prayer Pose
- Stand upright on your mat with your both feet closely aligned.
- Inhale deeply; expand your chest while keeping your shoulders relaxed.
- Raise your arms while inhaling.
- Bring your palms together, in front of your chest as you do for “Namaste”, and exhale.
- Stay in the pose for five breaths.
Warrior Pose
- Start from mountain pose.
- Open your legs 2 to 3 feet wide.
- Spread your arms parallel to the ground.
- Inhale and rotate your one (say left, see pic.) foot and knees outward.
- Keep your gaze to your left hand.
- Keep breathing and hold as much you can.
- Repeat with another leg.
Staff Pose
This one may appear simple, but it’s an intense strength-builder for the upper back, chest, and abdomen. This pose is also the foundational posture for other seated poses. By providing the structural basis for all seated poses, it is essentially the seated version of Mountain Pose (Tadasana), which is the base of all kind of standing poses.
How to Do
- Sit on the floor with your legs together and extended in front of your torso.
- To check alignment, sit with your back against a wall.
- Sit towards the front of the sitting bones, and adjust the pubis and tailbone equidistant from the floor.
- Stay there for 5 breaths.
Baddh Konasana or butterfly pose
Baddha Konasana (BAH-dah cone-AHS-anna), also known as the Butterfly or Bound Angle Pose, is a seated posture that strengthens and opens the hips and groin while eliminating abdominal pain. This is one of the best yoga poses for pregnant moms. The consistent practice of this pose can help with childbirth, urinary discomfort, and feelings of pain and heaviness. Make sure to stay focused on your breathing while performing the Butterfly Pose.
How to Do
- Sit in Staff Pose (Dandasana).
- To get a proper Staff Pose, elevate your hips slightly by placing a soft block or blanket right under your sit bones.
- On an exhale, bend your knees and bring the soles of your feet to touching together.
- Next, bring your heels close to your pelvis as much as you can without exerting pressure or pain in your knees.
- Push the outer edges of your feet firmly into your yoga mat and grab your feet or ankles with hands.
- With the pelvis in a neutral position, work to open the groins by gently pressing the outer knees towards the floor.
- Stay here, or try to recline your torso forward, leaving your spine long and neutral by bending from the hip joints (instead of from the waistline).
- Stay in anywhere from 1-5 minutes.
- To exit the pose, draw your knees towards one another, extend your legs and return to Staff Pose.
Neck and Shoulder Rotation
Neck and shoulder rotation helps to alleviate any stress from the neck and shoulder area.
How to Do:
- Neck and shoulder rotation can be done either sitting in easy pose(Sukhasana), staff pose, or in vajrasana.
- Dropdown your chin to touch the chest.
- Let your neck pivot for 360 degrees, clockwise and anti-clockwise.
- Try to do smoothly and slowly not to strain your neck.
- Maintain sustained breathing.
- For a beginning,5-sets are sufficient. Gradually you can increase the number of sets as per your time.
- For Shoulder rotation, Place your fingers on the upper part of the shoulder joints.
- Now rotate clockwise then anti-clockwise in the same posture.
- Keep breathing sustained and progressive.
Seated Forward Bend
Seated forward bend or the Paschimottanasana is one of the most accomplished yoga poses along with the Vajrasana (diamond pose) and the Siddhasana (lotus pose).
Paschimottasana stimulates the Solar Plexus Chakra and improves the energy and confidence.
Let’s Do It-
- Start from the staff pose.
- Inhale and raise your hands.
- While exhaling, bring everything down- hands and upper body.
- Remember not to curve your back and exert the uterus.
- That said, folding should be from the crease of your hips joint.
- Try (not hard) to grab the outer edge of your legs with the hands.
- You can use a yoga prop beneath your knees or one to support the head.
Cat and Cow stretch
The cat-cow pose is a combination of two poses, the cat pose, and the cow pose. It prepares us for most activities as a warm-up session does. It does wonder in relieving lower back pain. This pose strengthens our bones also works well for neck and shoulder pain. It also releases any pressure on the back and spine due to pregnancy.
It is recommended for the prevention of severe ailments like osteoporosis and osteopenia, arthritis or stiffness of the hips and spine.
However, if you are already suffering from any kind of bone-related disease please consult your doctor first. Researchers reveal that forward bends may harm the weak bones further. So yoga poses involving a forward curvature should be avoided. A backward curvature is found to be safe and rewarding.
Let’s try it-
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- Start from the knee and hand pose.
- While inhaling open your chest, puff your ‘heart’ out while sending the tail-bone to the sky.
- Get into the back curvature of cow pose as shown in the pic above.
- Exhale to switch dynamically into a forward bend of the cat pose so that the crown of the head together with the tail-bone points to the ground.
- You can do 5-10 sets of the cat-cow without exhausting yourself.
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Meditation
Meditation can give the much-needed peace of mind for expecting moms. Just 5 minutes of meditation may not help you experience the enlightenment of Buddha, but will sure heighten the mindfulness, all for the wellness of your child.
Herbert Benson, MD, a researcher at Harvard University Medical School, coined the term “relaxation response” after conducting research on people who practiced transcendental meditation. The relaxation response, in Benson’s words, is “an opposite, involuntary response that causes a reduction in the activity of the sympathetic nervous system.”
Since then, studies on the relaxation response have documented the following short-term benefits to the nervous system:
- Lower blood pressure
- Improved blood circulation
- Lower heart rate
- Less perspiration
- Slower respiratory rate
- Less anxiety
- Lower blood cortisol levels
- More feelings of well-being
- Less stress
- Deeper relaxation
Contemporary researchers are now exploring whether a consistent meditation practice yields long-term benefits, and noting positive effects on the brain and immune function among meditators. Yet it’s worth repeating that the purpose of meditation is not to achieve benefits. To put it as an Eastern philosopher may say, the goal of meditation is no goal. It’s simply to be present. (Source)
Let’s try the easiest way to mindfulness-
- I highly recommend setting an alarm for your practice.
- Sit in sukhasana- the easy pose.
- You may make your session more comfortable by investing in a meditation chair or cushion.
- Close your eyes. For calming your brain I recommend Cooling Eye Masks.
- Focus completely on the breath and the body movements with each set of breath.
- Notice each movement of your body as you breathe.
- Feel your chest, shoulders, spine, rib cage, and belly along with each inhalation and exhalation.
- Simply focus on your breath without controlling its pace.
- Notice any thought arising in your mind then return back to your breath.
- Continue till your endurance allows you to remain in stillness. Or go with the alarm.
Lying Spinal Twists
When you perform spinal twists lying on your back, you shed all the tension from your waist and hips area. After doing all seating and standing postures you must seal your practice with this pose, just before the Savasana.
HOW TO DO…
- Bend your hip and knee at 90-degrees angles and try to touch the floor.
- Doing this will help stretch your piriformis by internally rotating your hip and creating space in the lower torso.
- Bend your hip and knee so that they are both forming 90-degree angles.
- Try to touch the bent knee to the floor on the other side of your body.
- Hold this position for 30 seconds and then repeat on the other leg.
- Do this stretch three times on both legs.
Bridge Pose
- Start from lying on your back.
- Bend your knees while opening your legs hip-width apart.
- Stack your knees straight above your ankles (see pic.), and the hands, on the ground with palm-down.
- Inhale and Push the trunk upward while the head still on the ground.
- Hands, either supporting your waist or on the ground.
- Stay for 30 sec.
- Bring everything down with an exhale.
Savasana
Savasana states that you are done with a commendable yoga session. And..that its time to relax your limbs and joints and be grounded yogis.
Surrender on your yoga mat. Do it, you know how to..:)
More tips for expecting moms to cope with the morning sickness
For most cases of morning sickness, doctor’s help may not be necessary. However, there are certain factors that might improve symptoms.
Mindfulness– The most important part of staying prenatal-healthy is staying mindful throughout the period. This will help you to remain stress-free and happy.
Proper Rest – Any stress or tiredness can make nausea worse. Resting techniques like lying with elevated head or power naps can make you feel better instantly.
Intakes of liquids – Regular and small amounts of fluid intake are always better than gulping a large quantity when feeling thirsty. This will help reduce vomiting. Licking ice cubes made from water or fruit juice is highly rejuvenating.
Eating Habits– Eating several meals per day with less time gap and smaller quantity may help, especially high-carbohydrate meals. Cold meals are often better than hot ones because they have less odor and are cool on the tummy.
Avoid staying hungry – I remember one of my friends sipping sweet’n cold milk before leaving the bed in the morning and starting the day without nauseous feeling.
Sometimes, munching on biscuits about 20 minutes before getting up helps a lot.
Lookout For Vitamin B6 Supplements- Also known as pyridoxine, vitamin B6 can help alleviate nausea. Thus inclusion of food such as chickpeas, bananas, sweet potatoes, carrots, and avocado in your diet will make you feel better along with providing a fabulous amount of nutrients much needed to an expecting mom.
Check the Hydration Amount and Time- You need plenty of water during pregnancy but more of it can trigger nausea especially in the morning time. Remember that water should not be the first intake when you wake-up. Try munching something before drinking.
Stay Occupied –Watching a movie or reading a book may help more than anything else. Not paying heed to those triggers may help reduce the frequency and severity of nausea and vomiting.
Get Medical Help – if symptoms are still severe, despite attempting self-care measures, the doctor may recommend a short course of anti-sickness medication (antiemetic), which is safe to use during pregnancy.
Ginger supplement – Studies have shown that ginger supplements may help reduce nausea symptoms during pregnancy. The key is to use fresh and organic one. Some food supplements made of ginger are also available online.
Acupressure and acupuncture – Acupressure is the process in which pressure is applied to specific points on the body to control symptoms. Wearing a special band (aka a sea-band) on the forearm is also a part of this China originated healing technique. Evidence suggests that this may help improve nausea and other awful symptoms in expecting moms, although large-scale trials are lacking.
Acupuncture, on the other hand, involves pricking of ultrathin needles at a specific point of the body. Take help from a qualified and renounced healer.
Wrapping Up- Yoga Poses For Pregnant Moms
Thanks for reading up to here. I heartily wish that all the above yoga poses for pregnant moms like you will help to get rid of nausea, stress, and other pregnancy-related issues like obesity and back pain. With all this information and hard work which took me more than a month to compile :), I am expecting a few lines from you in the comment section below and some share.
