New Active Birth: A Concise Guide to Natural Childbirth. Janet Balaskas

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      You will probably find, as you experiment with other movements, that this state of chronic tension exists throughout your body to some degree, affecting some areas more than others. The most effective way to become more relaxed and supple is by beginning to make the neglected movements we were designed by nature to make. It is simply a matter of spending some time each day practising them. Gradually stiff muscles will lengthen and regain their elasticity, and joints will become more mobile as tension is released.

      The programme of yoga-based exercises that follows will cultivate relaxation and flexibility in a safe, passive and non-strenuous way, which harnesses the help of the forces of gravity and your natural potential for movement. Pregnancy is a unique and marvellous time to let go of habitual tensions and to allow your body to become more open and relaxed.

       ‘I’d never exercised before and found some of the positions quite hard to start with but gradually, with practice, I loosened up. I concentrated mainly on about six or seven exercises which I tried to do every day.’

      The benefits of yoga-based exercise

       As your muscles become more elastic and your joints more supple, the balance of the muscle-pulls that support and move your body improves. Muscles work in teams – while one team is relaxing and lengthening, the other is contracting and shortening. By balancing the opposing teams of muscle-pull, your joints articulate better and your posture automatically improves. This ensures that you are carrying your baby correctly and will help to prevent backache.

       ‘I found that the most comfortable ways to rest, watch TV or read were either to sit in the tailor position on the floor or on all fours leaning on cushions. The latter position was invaluable whenever I got backache.’

       Breathing well depends on good posture. When your pelvis and spine are in good balance and your shoulders are relaxed, your chest cavity can expand easily so that breathing is not restricted. This ensures good oxygenation of the blood to nourish both you and your baby throughout pregnancy.

       As you become familiar with the exercises you will find movements which alleviate the minor discomforts of pregnancy, such as heartburn, pain in the hip joints or in the ribs, cramps in the legs or headaches.

       Your circulation depends upon your muscles. Blood vessels run through your muscles acting as pumps and return blood from your lower body back up to your heart. If a muscle is stiff then the blood vessels running through it are constricted and your blood circulation (and indeed, indirectly, the circulation to your baby in the womb) will be restricted. The exercises help to ensure that your baby is getting everything he needs to grow healthy and strong. Problems associated with poor circulation – varicose veins, haemorrhoids (piles), or fluid retention – will be prevented or improved. Yoga tends to lower the blood pressure and can often help to prevent problems associated with rising blood pressure. (See Chapter 11.)

       Yoga helps to combat fatigue. If muscles are stiff and movement is restricted, the flow of energy is ‘blocked’. After a session of exercise you will feel invigorated and refreshed, and more alive. Over time this will increase and your pregnancy can be a time when you feel healthier and more energetic than ever.

       The most comfortable positions in pregnancy will naturally extend into the labour itself. So, without needing to think about it very much, you will have cultivated ease and comfort in the natural positions for birth used by women through the ages. You will be able to move freely and instinctively like a primitive woman – your body will know what to do. Yoga will help you to be more deeply in touch with your own centre. It will be easier to behave involuntarily, and to surrender to the powerful forces within your body during labour.

       ‘When the contractions became very strong I knelt upon the delivery bed and leant over a very large firm cushion – this seemed to be a natural position for me to adopt as I had used it so much in late pregnancy.’

       ‘Yoga prepared me to relax as much as possible during and between contractions, to stay squatting, and to give birth in a position which allowed me to let go.’

       As stiffness lessens, you will be helping your body to become free of pain. You will learn how to become familiar with the discomforts and even the pain of going beyond your usual limits. As your labour and birth demand going beyond your normal limits, positioning your body to do this physically during pregnancy prepares you gradually for this, so that when the time of labour arrives you are familiar with this kind of effort. Yoga teaches you to surrender to the forces within your body. This is the best possible practice for labour and will help you to cope with the intensity of the sensations of your contracting uterus.

       ‘By exercising, I learned how to be at one physically and emotionally with the changes which would inevitably lead to the birth of my child. The teaching enabled me to “go with” my body, even when the pain was a burden. I was physically and also theoretically prepared for everything that was to happen to me and I approached the final events with excitement and real confidence.’

       Whatever happens during labour and delivery, even if complications arise, practising yoga throughout pregnancy is the best way to prepare for a speedy recovery and return to normal.

      The exercises

      INTRODUCTION

      Choose a time of day when you have an hour to yourself – first thing in the morning or perhaps last thing at night. It is best not to eat a large meal beforehand.

      You will need a carpeted space with one free wall, two pillows and a low stool or pile of large books.

      The exercises are arranged in eight sequences which include six basic exercises to be practised daily (these are starred and labelled ‘Basic’ I–VI). The whole programme should take about 1½ hours to complete but you may devise your own personal programme concentrating on the basics and then adding others according to preference or need.

      For best results, start doing these exercises as early in your pregnancy as possible – any time after the twelfth week, unless your doctor advises you that it is all right to start sooner. However, it is never too late to benefit.

      Start off in any easy way, holding each position for as long as you are comfortable, gradually lengthening the time as you become familiar with the movements. Start with a few of the movements and gradually build up until you are able to go through the full programme. The first thing you may feel when you start is your own stiffness, so expect to spend two or three weeks getting to know the exercises. Gradually, as you loosen up, the movements will become pleasurable.

      You will probably find that some of the movements fit comfortably into your daily habits, that there are some you can practise while watching TV, reading or talking to friends, and some you would like to concentrate on. All the exercises are perfectly safe for pregnancy and, once they are familiar to you, you may safely spend longer periods in each position. If any exercise is uncomfortable after you have tried it out for a while, then leave it out and concentrate on the others.

      At first you will find that, following the instructions carefully, you can go up to a certain point and then you begin to feel the stretch. In each position, reach this point and stay with it, breathing deeply, СКАЧАТЬ