New Active Birth: A Concise Guide to Natural Childbirth - Janet Balaskas

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base of your pelvis, attached to the area around the outlet, is a sling-like band of muscles which form the pelvic floor. These surround and form the base of the anus, vagina and urethra. These muscles support all the abdominal contents and your baby will pass through them as he is born.

      The uterus is a powerful muscle shaped like a hollow bag within which your baby is growing. It is attached by strong ligaments to the pelvic bones.

      Other muscles which are attached to your pelvis are the abdominal muscles, back and leg muscles. Your pelvis supports and distributes the weight of your upper body, and protects and supports your uterus and growing baby.

      Correct flexion of the pelvis during pregnancy is crucial for good posture, for the safe carriage of your child and will help to ensure a good birth. The exercises for pregnancy concentrate on the pelvis and include all the major joints of the body.

      Your Spine During Pregnancy

      Your spine is made up of a column of bony vertebrae which extends from the coccyx or tailbone at the base, and includes the fused vertebrae which make up the sacrum (back wall of the pelvis), then the vertebral column which begins with the first lumbar vertebra in the lower back, and continues all the way up your back to the smaller vertebrae, which make up the neck and support your head. In the joints between the vertebrae there are spongey discs which act as shock absorbers and assist healthy movement of the spine.

      The spine has natural curves and is capable of a range of versatile movements. A healthy spine can bend backwards or forwards, it can twist or go from side to side, or it can combine several of these movements at the same time. Your spine is the central shaft of your skeleton and supports your internal organs, your-ribs, and lungs, as well as your head. It contains your spinal cord and is the supportive structure of your autonomic nervous system. It controls movement and keeps your body weight balanced. Your spine is dynamic at all times – even when you are asleep.

      During pregnancy your spine has the additional task of supporting the weight of your growing uterus and its contents. As your baby grows, the natural curves of your spine will adjust to the additional weight in the front of your body. After your baby is born your spine will regain its normal curves and will have to cope with the many hours of carrying your baby during infancy.

      A healthy spine should adapt easily to the demands of pregnancy and mothering.

      However, often we are unaware of underlying imbalances or stiffness in the spine, and the additional stress of pregnancy may result in poor posture and back pain. Practising the exercises in the next chapter regularly will help to relieve or minimise back pain and will strengthen your spine and help to maintain its flexibility.

      Heart and Lungs

      During pregnancy your fluid and blood volume increases considerably to ensure that sufficient blood is pumped to and from the uterus and placenta, as well as the rest of your body. Your heart works harder and your breathing changes as well. In order to nourish and carry your baby well, your whole body works harder than usual.

      As pregnancy advances the extra weight you are carrying may make it more difficult to exercise and exert yourself in the usual ways. Yet, with birth and motherhood ahead, it is important to maintain or improve your fitness in the right way. Appropriate non-strenuous exercise will help to keep your cardiovascular system at its best, and ensure that you are breathing well and that the blood going through to your baby is well oxygenated.

       3 Yoga-based Exercises for Pregnancy

      During the nine months of pregnancy your body will need to accommodate enormous physiological changes. New demands will be placed on your system as you breathe, digest and excrete – not only for yourself but also for your growing baby.

      In early pregnancy, you will be adapting to the hormonal, physical and psychological upheavals that are common at this time and may need to cope with unusual tiredness or nausea. Later on, in mid-pregnancy, you will probably feel more settled and enjoy a sense of vitality, health and well-being. At this time you will want to exercise and use your body in a way that makes the most of its tranformative potential and is appropriate for pregnancy. In the last few months, as your body adjusts to the increasing weight you are carrying, you will benefit from exercises that protect and strengthen your spine and exercise your whole body without strain. You will also need to prepare for the challenge of labour, birth and motherhood.

      Most of the exercises in this chapter are derived from hatha yoga and are particularly suitable for pregnancy. A few are adapted from physiotherapy to strengthen the body appropriately and prevent stress.

      Yoga is an ancient system of exercise which originated in India and is now widely practised all over the world. It is a way to both relax your body and quieten your mind and to find your inner centre. Most importantly, yoga, correctly practised, educates your body to exist in harmony with the force of gravity. Without using force or strain of any kind, you can learn, with the help of your breathing, to let go of unnecessary tension and stiffness in your joints and muscles. Gradually, as your posture improves, you will feel more grounded and connected with the earth and your body and mind will find equilibrium, unity and balance. Like a tree that has firm roots extending into the earth, a stable trunk and branches that are free to blow in the wind, your body will become more rooted at its base where it meets the earth, allowing lightness and freedom in the upper body and an increasing sense of inner calm and security. This will help you, not only in pregnancy, but will extend very naturally into labour and birth itself, without the need to learn any complicated techniques or to remember anything mentally.

      In the preceding chapters, we have seen how the normal physiology of the birth process can best take place when you position your body in harmony with gravity. Each time you practise the exercises recommended in this chapter, you will be increasing your instinctive body sense and this will continue to be your guide during labour and give you confidence and faith in your own potential and power.

      It will be easier to be in touch with your primitive instincts and to let go of the fear and tensions that can inhibit the involuntary birth process. You will know how to centre yourself and accept both the pain and the change of consciousness which occur as your body opens up to give birth.

      Yoga can help you to flow with the challenges and transformation of pregnancy and birth from the very beginning. It will bring you greater self-awareness and will also increase your awareness of the presence of your child inside your body. You will discover, in the silence of inner peace, that it is possible to communicate with your unborn baby and to be aware of the powerful psychic and emotional link which exists between you from the very beginning. Yoga is a way to spend time with your innermost self, and to experience the oneness and creative energy of the universe. It will help you to be aware of the miracle of creation taking place within and through your body, so that you can nourish and welcome your baby in a spirit of celebration and love.

      How does yoga work?

      Practically speaking, yoga provides a system of exercises to help you recover the natural range of movements your body is designed to make, in harmony with the force of gravity, and to maintain structural fitness (see Recommended Reading).

      In our modern technological society, most of us are victims of a hidden epidemic of muscular stiffness which inhibits our potential for movement at the joints and throws our posture off balance to a greater or lesser

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