Prenatal Yoga Has Many Beneficial Effects on the Health of the Mother and the Fetus, Especially if began in the First or Second trimesters. Therefore it Should Become a Routine Part of Prenatal Care.
Purpose: Establish reliable data and information gathered through scientific research to educate the general public on the various benefits of prenatal yoga.
Method: Research pre-existing scientific literature on the subject and analyze it.
Scope: Scientific journal data from different countries in the world, mainly from Asia and the United States, dating from January 2000 to the present.
Summary/Conclusion: Many current scientific studies of yoga confirm its benefits on numerous conditions, including the state of pregnancy and its complications such as pre and postnatal depression, sleep disorders, diabetes, depressive and anxiety disorders, mother-child bonding, more comfort-giving birth, low fetus weight, and more. The outcome of this research creates hope and encourages further study of regular yoga practice benefits during pregnancy and throughout life. There are supporting studies for including yoga in treating many other conditions such as migraine headaches and aphasia related to stroke.
Yoga has become a popular
activity worldwide in recent years.
Yoga is a self-administered therapy with many benefits which makes it ideal during pregnancy.
Yoga is said to lower blood pressure, reduce cortisol levels, reduce stress and anxiety, and reduce pre and postpartum depression.
pregnant women who do yoga are
said to have shorter labor and
easier births
Yoga classes help boost circulation and fluid retention. improve sleep, stamina
It can help ease the back problems common in pregnant women
as well as other pregnancy-induced conditions such as gestational diabetes
Breathing techniques practiced in a yoga class are also good preparation for labor.
Improve optimism and self-perceived sense of power an individual needs to overcome life’s challenges such as pregnancy.
pregnant women who do yoga are said to have shorter labor and easier births
Yoga classes help boost circulation, and fluid retention. improve sleep, stamina
Yoga,
can be said to have started about 1000 BCE. It is a tradition that originated in India. However, it had become a forgotten practice by most Indians by the 18th century(5). It wasn’t till the early 1900s, when it was brought to the West (5) by great yogis such as Yogananda (the founder of the self-realization center), that yoga as we know it today began to take root in the West. It was greatly embraced in Los Angeles and throughout California where it grew and was exported back to the rest of the world including India.
Yoga is a way of life, an eight-fold science of living as named by the great Indian sage Patanjali
Patanjali described yoga as an eight-fold path:
- Yamas- self-restraint
- Niyama- self-observation
- Asana- physical postures
- Pranayama- yoga breathing exercises
- Pratyahara- mindfulness, and withdrawal from the world
- Dharana- concentration
- Dhyana- meditation
- Samadhi- pure consciousness awareness
Pregnancy is a unique physiological stress state that necessitates physical, mental, and social adaptation. Introducing yoga into obstetrical practice provides a lower-cost, low-risk intervention with numerous benefits in pregnancy outcomes and high patient compliance. We may recommend that prenatal yoga become a routine part of prenatal care and be offered at hospitals internationally.