When women in my prenatal yoga class ask me 'What is the most important practice I should be doing to prepare for my birth?' they are often surprised by my answer: relaxation.
The importance of relaxation in pregnancy should not be underestimated. The benefits are profound - for both you and your baby.
Achieving a deep state of relaxation for the body recharges a pregnant woman's energy levels. Deep relaxation activates the parasympathetic nervous system, helping to regulate the hormones needed for a healthy pregnancy and natural onset of labour at the right time for your baby. And don't forget that the more relaxed you are, you are benefiting your baby through the hormonal exchange across the placenta.
Learning effective ways to relax is also important for labour, when you will want to be able to relax between contractions. The more you have practiced the mechanisms of relaxing, the more automatic it will be for you when you most need it.
The best relaxation
The key with relaxation is: little and often. You should be relaxing at least once a day, for at least 10 minutes. The best time for relaxation is said to be in the early evening, around 5pm.
You can have your partner massage you or massage yourself, take a warm bath, put on some relaxing music and put your feet up - whatever works best for you. Just taking 10 minutes to enjoy a cup of tea - without doing other things - can be just what you need to pick you up.
But the best sort of relaxation is deep muscle relaxation, which allows you to reach a deeper level of relaxation for the mind as well as the body. You can follow a CD, many of which are specially recorded for pregnancy, and many of them also include visualisation and affirmation. You can also learn a script from a book, have your partner read one, or record one yourself.
The four-part relaxation technique that I learnt from my happinesslifetime.com yoga teacher training is very effective, and beautifully suited to pregnancy. It is done lying comfortably on the floor (use plenty of cushions for your head, knees, under your tummy etc, and remember that after 18 weeks you should lie on your left side.) The relaxation should be ideally around 20 minutes but can be a bit longer or shorter depending on what works for you.
It starts with a progressive muscle relaxation, starting at the toes and working up the body to the crown of the head. Each body part in turn is tensed, and then released with a single breath. Breathing in to tighten (say, the toes) and breathing out to relax (the toes).
The second stage of the relaxation is to repeat the sequence but this time using only inner awareness and not physical movement. Each body part in turn is relaxed, working up the body from the toes to the crown.
The third stage is simply resting in the silence and stillness you've created, for at least two minutes.
The fourth and final stage is to visualise a light above the crown of your head, and imagine drawing this light down into your body from the crown to your toes, visiting each body part again. This time we're waking up (re-energising) each body part, and it's an important stage to do so that you aren't left feeling sluggish after your relaxation.
This should be great for your baby, and yourself.
Rebecca L Perry
I am a prenatal yoga teacher in Canberra Australia. I am privileged to help many women throughout their pregnancy with prenatal yoga. I hope that this article helps and if you would like to know more about prenatal yoga or would like to join one of my classes you can click the links below.
yogacanberra.com.au Yoga Canberra
canberraprenatalyoga.com.au Canberra Prenatal Yoga
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