Garbh sanskar recommends that pregnant women take up some light form of exercise or yoga for the physical and emotional well-being of both the mother and the child.

Breathing practices can help to calm and relax the body while preparing you for breath- control during childbirth.

Light exercise increase flexibility, improves blood circulation, and reduces backaches during pregnancy.

Specific yoga asanas boost the mother’s chances of having a full-term normal delivery with minimal labor pain.

Practicing prenatal yoga can benefit both mother and child. Prenatal yoga focuses on breathing techniques and gentle stretching. These classes are designed to make you more flexible and prepare you for labor.

If you’re expecting, you may want to consider trying a prenatal yoga class in a studio or at home. 

Regular yoga practice makes it easier to withdraw from the outer world of distractions and focus on instinctive realm within during labour. Flexibility of body and mind which an expectant mother develops during yoga practice helps to accept and adapt to whatever happens when the time comes to deliver.

Yoga During Each Trimester

The further along you are in your pregnancy, the less intense your workouts should be.

The first trimester. You may feel fatigued and sick during this trimester. Try to avoid overworking yourself. Doing yoga poses slowly and carefully will prevent you from feeling worse. Yoga can alleviate pregnancy symptoms like nausea and backaches. 

The second trimester. At this stage, you’ll want to avoid belly poses and sharp twists. If you’ve been practicing advanced poses like backbends and inversions — where your feet are above your head — you may want to modify them. Inversions can compress your lungs and cause severe discomfort. 

Yoga can be a supportive tool for a pregnant woman’s well-being. It can help with: 

• Stress and anxiety
• Physical and emotional stress
• Sleep
• Headaches
• Lower back pain and sciatic pain
• Nausea
• Risk of pre-term labor
• Risk of intra uterine growth restriction
• Focusing on the instinctive realm within during labor
• Accepting and adapting to whatever happens during delivery

Yoga can also help with the mental and physical development of the baby. 

PRE NATAL YOGA is a really beautiful way to support your pregnancy.

In yoga , the poses, breathing and relaxation techniques are nurturing both physically and emotionally and provide you with an opportunity to form a connection with baby. Oxygen and blood flow helps in excellent development of the vital organs of the baby. 
Positive thinking and a positive attitude can go a long way in ensuring the mental and physical well-being of the mother, which is linked to the well-being of the baby inside her womb as well.
The most important factor of any type of yoga, the breath has perhaps even more significance in pregnancy yoga because it can be such an incredible tool during labour.

The exhale is the relaxing breath. It can reduce the sensations of expansions (aka contractions) and it can help to calm the mind and nervous system. You can simulate this experience (obviously to a mild degree) by holding a reasonably challenging pose like Goddess Pose (pictured) for a while, and use the exhale to reduce the sensations felt through the groin and front of the hips.
It’s time to focus

Babies whose mothers have performed regular exercise tended to have better health, development, and motor skills than their counterparts. According to the new captivating study, newborns whose mothers enrolled for prenatal yoga or other gentle exercise practices have noticed benefits of pregnancy yoga for infants such as earlier physical coordination, better health & immunity, normal growth and development, and lesser chances of motor inactivities or ADHD (Attention-deficit / hyperactivity disorder). 

Experts suggest that an expectant mother should follow at least 20 minutes of yoga and breathing exercises a minimum of four to five times a week if they want a healthy, smart baby. The benefits of pregnancy yoga for your unborn child are numerous. It not only strengthens the mother’s wellbeing but also helps in the development of the fetus in a healthy baby.  

and experience Antenatal Yoga 

How is prenatal yoga different from regular yoga?

Common positions in regular yoga — such as those where your feet are spread far apart — may be too stressful for your joints and pelvic area when you’re expecting. As your baby grows, there’s a lot more weight pushing down on your bladder and pelvis.

Pregnancy hormones also loosen your ligaments, making joint and bone problems (especially in the pubic bone) a source of discomfort. In addition to modifying positions for pregnancy, prenatal yoga also emphasizes breathing, stretches and strengthening moves that help your body prepare for labor. 

Benefits of Pregnancy Yoga for the unborn child

1) Lowers the risk for the baby 

Prenatal yoga has been proven to reduce the chance of pregnancy complications, a mother’s stress and pain level, and even the possible risk of premature gestation period which can affect the growth of a child. Pregnant mums who do yoga are often in a healthier and happier space of mind, which ultimately leads to a healthy growing child. 

2) Oxygen and blood supply 

Breathing exercises ensure the optimum supply of oxygen to the baby in the womb. This keeps the baby on a healthy track of development. One of the key benefits of pregnancy yoga is that it increases the blood circulation in the body and all the required nutrients are supplied to the fetus which promotes the development of vital organs such as the spine, skull, and brain.  

3) Smarter baby 

Newborns born to mothers opting for yoga and exercise during their pregnancy are smarter and are better adopters of mobility and gestures than the other ones. They also prove to be quick learners and tend to be more focused. It is a type of a ‘Garbh Sanskar’, which is nothing but the education of the mind of the unborn.  

4) Chances of genetic inheritance lowered 

Starting yoga and pranayama in an early stage of life can lower the risks associated with the genetic disorders, can also reverse the corresponding ill effects. But adopting yoga during the pregnancy itself can lower the chance of inheritance of these genetic conditions or any neonatal disorders.  

5) Healthier baby 

Benefits of pregnancy yoga also include the fully developed, healthy-looking, and weighing baby. The nutritional benefits fetus received due to good blood circulation; abundant oxygen supply contributes to the baby’s weight. It also benefits healthy skin, hair, and nail development.  

6) Stimulates milk production 

One of the most significant benefits of pregnancy yoga is the assistance in facilitating the production of milk in lactating mothers. Everyone knows the importance of breastfeeding for a child. Yoga improves blood circulation, stimulates the pituitary gland, aids the secretion of prolactin, and increases the production of breast milk.  

7) Provides a strong support system 

Yoga establishes a better connection between a mother and an unborn child. It helps the mother to maintain a stress-free, positive attitude. This also provides the child with a strong support system in the form of a mother. The strong connection between a mother and child gives the baby warmth, affection, and security needed for better development. 

renatal yoga is the best way to prepare for childbirth. It ensures the good health of the child & mother with fewer complications. You can start attending prenatal yoga classes as early in your pregnancy as possible. The sooner you start the more beneficial it will prove. But, always consult your doctor and start practicing yoga as per your doctor’s advice and your health condition. The yoga practices are usually customized according to the stages or the trimesters of the pregnancy, so it is always advised to join the pregnancy yoga classes having highly qualified yoga instructors. 

Staying safe in a prenatal yoga class

First and foremost: If you aren’t taking a yoga class that’s specifically for pregnant women, let your instructor know you’re expecting before you start class. That way she’ll be able to point out which moves you should avoid or modify. Otherwise, keep these tips in mind:

• Drink enough water. This goes for anytime you’re working out, no matter how much of a sweat you break.
• Stay off your back. Avoid any exercises after the first trimester where you’re lying on your back, since your baby’s growing weight puts pressure on your vena cava (a major vein that brings blood to your heart), interfering with circulation and making you feel dizzy and nauseous.
• Skip hot yoga. Don’t do yoga (or any other exercise, for that matter) in any extreme heat, in part because exposure to excessive heat could result in neural tube defects, and also because it can cause you to feel dizzy and nauseous. That goes for both Bikram yoga and exercise outdoors on a hot day.
• Avoid deep abdominal work, backbends and twists. Your center of gravity can be off during pregnancy, and backbends and twists may cause you to fall. As with most things during your pregnancy, if it doesn’t feel right, don’t do it.