Om....Om...Omygod, it hurts!

I have been taking prenatal yoga classes here around town (at Avenues Yoga and at Centered City Yoga).


I've been doing yoga pretty regularly for about 5 years now.  I was taking 2-3 classes a week, I felt great, I had gained some of the flexibility that I lost immediately after graduating college, and I was strong.  I could seriously do this pose without even thinking about it:

Crow Pose

Last fall semester was tough for me to keep up with my exercising: I went to my first public health conference, I finished my master's thesis, I was taking a buttload of classes, and we moved into a new house.  As soon as I found out I was pregnant, I made it a point to try to exercise a lot, but I didn't.  I was still "too busy."  It wasn't until March that I started taking the prenatal yoga class at Avenues Yoga.  It was wonderful!  Relaxing but sort of strenuous!  I definitely built up a sweat in class.  

Prenatal yoga isn't easy.  It's a modified form of regular yoga that focuses on stretching your back, strengthening your legs (we do lots of squats and lunge poses), and hip-opening exercises (like pigeon pose, my favorite!).  Any position on all fours helps to "push" the baby into the ideal position: head down, facing backwards.  It also helps you get "centered," a fancy way of saying that you focus on one thing at one time, usually your breathing, and let that flow through the poses (during labor, maintaining control of your breath and feeling relaxed is of the utmost importance!  You don't want to cut off oxygen to your baby by being too tense!)

Anyhow, I'm not the yogini I used to be.  The last prenatal class I took had me sweating bullets 15 minutes into the "modified-for-big-bellies" sun salutations.  I swear I was the only one struggling in class.  Nobody was sweating like I was.  I felt so gross.  I seriously dripped sweat onto my mat in downward dog :(  Furthermore, my range of motion is limited and any small, wrong movement can bring upon the most intense twinges of pain in my back.

Warrior pose: Faking it like I would in class.

What it feels like right after I fake it.

Regardless, after every class, I feel a little stronger and a little more capable.  I can't wait until this baby is born strictly so I can sleep on my stomach again and so that I can do any yoga move that requires time on my belly or any scrunching of my abdomen.