Postpartum Yoga After Cesarean Delivery

by Hima
(India)

I am a post delivery mother of 4 months. Am I eligible to do yoga now? Are there any precautions to be taken for a lady who has delivered by Cesarean. Please clarify me so that I can start yoga at my home.


Answer


By now you must have regained your strength and your body must have healed properly to start yoga. However, please consult your doctor before starting yoga.

Precautions.

If you have done yoga before then you will understand the general precautions to be considered for yoga practice.

Do not push your body beyond limits. Listen to your body and do not proceed with an asana or pranayama if you feel pain or dicomfort.

Start with easy asanas in the beginning. Consider yoga as along term affair and plan to achieve your targets over a period of 6 months.

Here are some essential yoga workout tips and guidelines for pranayama.


More tips
Do not get overawed by your new responsibilities as a mother. Take out time for yourself. Being regular in yoga while looking after your infant will be the most difficult thing.

If you are working, managing time for a workout becomes even more difficult. You have to ask your husband to help you with baby sitting while you do your workout.

Plan your yoga exercises in simple and short sequences and repeat these two or three times. For example, whenever you get time sit in vajrasana or padmasana. While looking after your baby sit on the floor (use a thick rug for comfort) in sukhasana.

Get yourself short naps whenever baby sleeps so as to avoid sleep deprivation.

Take short walks whenever time permits.


Yoga Practice for You. Here is a generic sequence for beginners and these tips for starters. Initially you may do few of the asanas but follow in same sequence. You can contact me if you need a detailed personalised sequence.


Step I. For 2-3 weeks just concentrate on rhythmic breathing, alom vilom pranayama, aum recitation and shavasana.

Step II. For next 4 weeks, from the beginners sequence follow any asanas you feel comfortable. If you feel comfortable start doing surya namaskar also. Try agnisaar for abdomen. Do not push your body beyond limits.

Step III. By now, you should be able to do any asanas.

Hope this helps. For any more clarification, submit your query as comment on this page.

With best regards,
Daljit


References
http://www.yoga-for-beginners-a-practical-guide.com/postpartum-yoga.html