Three yoga postures I modified to manage for pregnancy weight gain and increased load on my joints.
Pregnancy weight gain is real! At nine months pregnant I’m 30% heavier than my pre-pregnancy weight. In Full Arm Balance, that means more pounds on my hands, wrists, elbows and shoulder joints. (Also, see my upcoming running posts!)
Since I started practicing yoga over 15 years ago, Full Arm Balance/Adho Mukha Vrksasana and Headstand/Sirsasana have ALWAYS been my go-to yoga postures for settling my body and concentrating my mind in preparation for meditation.
After surviving the first trimester, the second trimester brought a welcome relief from fatigue and nausea. However, as expected, I started to gain baby weight. To the day I write this blog, 9-months pregnant, the amount of load I’m lifting and holding up has gradually increased by 30%. This weight gain in combination with changing hormones has significantly altered my energy levels and endurance.
This brings me to my second principle: I will modify the way I practice yoga postures in pregnancy to help me manage increased load and weight gain. The way my body feels each day will be my guide.
Here are three yoga postures (of many) I modified to manage for weight gain:
One: Adho Mukha Vrksasana/Full Arm Balance
My first yoga teacher, Stephanie from Practice Yoga in the UWS (this was back in 2003!), taught us to hold our inversions for three minutes. When I do this, it’s as if the entire world stops abruptly in the present moment, the past fades and the future dissipates. I come down three minutes later to a tall, attentive seat ready for meditation.
In pregnancy, I stopped holding my inversion for 3+ minutes and I cut it back to 1-2 minutes or less. I also stopped practicing Sirsasana/Headstand because I didn’t feel comfortable with the amount of load on my neck and head. Two important notes: (1) I ALWAYS felt safe and confident going up and coming down because I’ve practiced it for so many years, and (2) I ALWAYS used a wall for support. This is not the time for practicing without a wall and risking a fall.
A note on practicing inversions after 32 weeks--the time in pregnancy when you want baby head down. Depending on who you ask, you’ll get different answers. I asked a few OBs and they told me there isn’t research to support that inversions will turn a baby breech and vice versa. I asked my doula/prenatal yoga teacher and was told this is a “grey area” and “there aren’t benefits to practicing handstand” and I could cause harm to the abdominal wall. I asked my pelvic floor physical therapist (who has known me and my body for YEARS over many injuries); she said after 35 weeks there isn’t any harm done practicing as long as I do it with proper breathing and alignment and “there isn’t much room for the baby to move anyway”. (When it comes to any complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) program that helps you feel good, get ready for conflicting answers like this. Refer to or write out your principles, close your eyes and listen to your inner wisdom.)
Two: Virhabadrasna One or High Lunge
I reduced the amount of time holding the posture as well as the length of space between my forward and back leg. (I’ll also refer to this posture during my post on ligament laxity because I use the same modification) And, I found creative ways to move in and out of the posture, like bending and straightening the forward knee, to help with prolonged and exhausting eccentric muscle activation.
Why I kept practicing it: It helps me to build posterior chain strength on the forward leg and hip extension on the back leg (and I always need both). This is important for running strong. It also helps to counter the effects of sitting and the increased number of spin classes I took in the third trimester.
Adho Mukha Svanasana/Downward Facing Dog
Depending on levels of overall fatigue or fatigue in the shoulders, I practiced this with my arms on a wall or on a yoga chair making the posture more like a half-way forward fold. My (super brilliant) teacher, Nikki Costello, taught me early in my pregnancy to practice the posture with increased length between hands and feet and to drive my thigh bones (femurs) back. Sarah Duvall in my pregnancy/postpartum corrective exercise course taught me internal rotation (IR) at the hip allows for the head of the femur to glide back in the acetabulum and reduces chance of hip impingement. My pelvic floor physical therapist, Alicia Ferriere, taught me that IR in general creates more space in the pelvis and is healthy for pregnancy.
In addition, to reduce shoulder strain from the increased weight, I reduced the amount of time in the posture or took Adho Mukha Virasana/Child’s Pose instead to continue opening my chest, shoulders and abdomen. (Keep reaching your arms forward and use a yoga chair if needed!)
Why I kept practicing it: Shoulder flexion feels really good especially with gravity coming down on my back. I especially love practicing it the way Costello taught me. I also love the stretch I get in calves which supports healthy dorsiflexion (when your foot is flexed) in running gait.
Are you pregnant? How do you manage the increased load on your joints? Can you feel it when you’re walking, running and in everyday activities? Let me know how I can help, I’m in this with you!
