Pregnancy is one thing that makes women happy though it is strenuous and puts their bodies under immense stress. Most women usually undergo yoga while pregnant to keep their body shape and strengthen it for the upcoming uphill delivery task.
After giving birth, their bodies need to recover from the rigorous labor, but at the same time, they need to do their day-to-day activities, which becomes a challenge. They may also have depression and stress about how they will take care of their body. For these reasons, doctors do recommend postpartum yoga.
It doesn’t matter whether it is your first or eighth baby; you need postpartum yoga to recover from exhausting labor. You might wonder what postpartum yoga is; stay tuned to learn more.
What is postpartum yoga?
Postpartum yoga is a low-intensity modified yoga to help you recover just a few days or months after giving birth. The timeframe of starting postpartum yoga depends on the time of delivery you underwent; if you had a normal vaginal delivery, it could take a few days, but if you delivered through cesarean, it could take months.
Yoga is a great way to build strength, increase energy, and reduce depression after giving birth. But, before starting postpartum yoga, there are things you should keep in mind;
Start it slowly
In most cases, women go to the gym immediately after giving birth, trying to reclaim their glorious bodies before pregnancy and childbirth, which tend to cause injuries because your body has not healed.
The best way to start recovering your body is through low-intensity yoga. You should focus on strength building and how to prevent postpartum stress and depression.
Poses to avoid
You should avoid poses like ab crunches that exert a lot of pressure on your abdomen. Besides practice poses like cat-cow pose, extended bird dog, eagle pose, etc.
Know your limit
Bear in mind that you’re just from a strenuous activity that leaves you with injuries, and therefore, you should know to stop when it starts to hurt.
Benefits of postpartum yoga
One of the benefits of postpartum yoga is lowering blood pressure. When your blood pressure is high, you risk developing chronic diseases like stroke, chest pain, and heart disease, which might be expensive to manage: and may require BLS certification. Other benefits of yoga include:
Increase milk production
Practicing yoga makes you feel relaxed and calm, boosting your self-confidence and encouraging the release of oxytocin and prolactin, the hormones responsible for milk production.
Strengthens the body
Like aerobic exercise, yoga can help you strengthen and regain your lost body during birth.
Strengthen the bond with your baby
Experts recommend you take your baby with you to yoga sessions as this will help you bond well with your baby and give you a feeling of well-being. Yoga with your baby can help improve their sleep and digestion.
Help you get rid of postpartum depression.
Most women experience depression after giving birth, with the thought of if and how they will take care of the baby a contributing factor. If you experience the following, you are experiencing postpartum depression, and if you aren’t, you are about to.
- Anxiety
- Withdrawn from your family and friends
- Severe mood swings
- Angry most of the time
- Insomnia
- The problem of bonding with your child
- Uncontrolled crying
Practicing postpartum yoga can help you eliminate or even avoid postpartum depression.
Conclusion
Postpartum yoga can help your mental and physical health besides other benefits like increasing energy, lowering blood pressure, strengthening the body and the bond with your baby, etc.
Fortunately, postpartum yoga does not require complex things. Once you have a mat and some comfy clothes, you are good to go.
