Guidelines for Teachers: Pregnancy Practice
There seems to be a trend of pregnant students at MLC, I was one of them. We joked that there was something in the water! It has taught me a lot about working with women during pregnancy and I feel it is important to share. There are some guidelines that I recommend to you as teachers when you work with pregnant students. My disclaimer is that moms to be should find a caregiver that they trust and should not do anything that contradicts what her caregiver has instructed. These are voiced from the perspective of the Ashtanga Mysore practice method but whatever your practice, the principles remain the same:
1. Trust the mommy to be and encourage her to trust herself
This means that a pregnant student can do anything they want - within reason and as long as it honors the Ashtanga method intentions (progression, vinyasa, etc) Acceptable changes to the practice can include: modifying or eliminating postures, adding in feel good poses (like cat / cow, or hip openers) as long as they make sense, piecing together portions of primary, second etc as long as the poses were part of their pre-pregnancy practice and the sequencing makes sense and honors Ashtanga intention. General rule - if it doesn't feel right, they shouldn't do it and you shouldn't ask them to (even if they can't articulate why it doesn't feel right, they are receiving a message from their body and / or their baby and should listen to it) See if you can come up with a modification or allow them to eliminate the posture all together.
2. Protect Don't Push
Never push a pregnant practitioner to do more than she is comfortable doing. She is growing a person with her body and is using more energy sitting still than a non-pregnant person uses while working out. This means don't let her get overheated, out of breath, or a racing heart. Don't deepen her in any postures any further than she is comfortable with. If she can only do one back bend for three breathes - allow it and avoid judgment from you or from her to herself. She may already be judging herself for being lazy or questioning if she could do more. Your job is to protect her from doing too much. Ashtanga yogis have a tendency to push too hard as it is and some may not be tuned in enough to know when they are going too far. Be aware of your students ego tendencies and know when it is right to encourage them to take it easy. However, if a woman feels good with her practice allow her to do as she sees fit (except adding new postures or more difficult versions of postures - pregnancy is not the time to introduce new things to the body and nervous system - the pregnancy is doing enough of that without the yoga) Also realize that the mommy is flushed with a hormone that is helping her body to expand and make room for the baby, this hormone affects all soft tissues and connective tissues. She may seem more open and flexible, but this does not mean it is safe to push her into deeper flexibility, in fact the opposite is true. As she and you are unable to feel the limitations, overstretching and injury is way more likely during pregnancy and continues if she nurses.
3. Forward folds and twists
Don't adjust these postures. Forward folds and twists compress the uterus. A pregnant woman should only go as far into these poses as she is able to by her own efforts, never by receiving deepening adjustments. In fact all twists that move into the body (ie Marichyasana C and D, Pasasana etc) should be modified or eliminated. If you are going to touch a student during forward folds or open twists (like Bharadvajasana) do so only to give support, not to deepen. This guideline also applies to any posture that puts the heel of the foot into the abdomen (ie Ardha Badha Padmotanasana, Janusirsasana C, Marichyasana B, etc)
4. Inversions
These can be eliminated all together but if your students want to practice them, they should only be upside down for short periods of time, no more than a couple of minutes. Encourage women to eliminate inversions completely in the last 6 or so weeks. They should begin to honor any downward energy they feel and visualize the baby descending, inversions could interrupt that intention. There may be an exception for babies presenting breach, I have heard that inversions can aid in turning the baby to a head down presentation, but the mother should check with her caregiver
5. Second Series back bends:
When adjusting the first sequence of back bends in second series - never give pressure into the floor ie never sit on the pregnant student in Bekasana and in the others, allow the weight to shift from the abdomen to the hips and even thighs. My experience with these poses was the sensation of laying on a fragile water balloon, a balloon that you have to protect from popping.
Every woman experiences pregnancy differently so even if you have been pregnant you cannot know exactly what each mother is going through while on the mat. Even if she has been pregnant before, each experience may present things that are completely new. It is an insecure and sometimes frightening time, not to mention exhausting, and painful. I give you these guidelines so that you are not an element that adds to the pressure and challenges she is already dealing with. I don't mean to sound dramatic, but I want you to take it seriously and the truth of the mater is that when you are adjusting or even verbally directing a pregnant student in your class, her health and her baby's vitality (um... life) are in your hands. Honor your pregnant students and keep them safe.
