Prenatal Yoga

I love this yoga exercise for expectant moms (Prenatal Yoga with Shiva Rea, Gaiam, 2007). I've been doing it (or part of it) two to three times per week, and I always feel great afterwards. It's a lot of stretching and "joint opening." The poses are not difficult, especially if you're already a little familiar with yoga.

I like the routine because it moves seamlessly from pose to pose, and the poses all flow together. There are three ladies doing the poses - the leader is not pregnant (first trimester), there's a late second trimester lady, and a third trimester lady. Each is doing the pose modified for her trimester. I like this because you can look ahead to what's up for the next trimester, or, if the pose in your trimester seems too easy, you can move back by one trimester.

There are several segments - warm-up, standing poses, seated poses, and relaxation. All the routines together are about 50 minutes. I've been doing the first two, and sometimes part of the third segment, for about 30 minutes of work.

Because I've been doing the same routine over and over again, I have parts of it memorized. I think this is good because knowing what's coming up helps you relax and focus on your breathing. Excellent preparation for childbirth, in my opinion!

I also have another prenatal exercise DVD, but I don't like it as much (Prenatal Yoga - 20 Routines for Common Prenatal Issues for Each Trimester, BodyWisdomMedia, 2008). The poses are chopped up - in one way it's nice because you can skip a pose if you don't like it, but overall that decreases the nice relaxing flow of the poses. You choose a trimester at the very beginning, and there is just one lady for you to follow. There are routines supposedly targeting specific problems, like backache and constipation. The main instructor is annoying and a little scary! (It's not the cute girl on the DVD's cover.)