Can Postpartum Yoga Help In Recovery After Child Birth?

 

Learn how postpartum yoga can strengthen your body, provides you energy and help you to relax in spite of your busy schedule as a new mother. A simple yoga practice can put you on path to recovery and helps you to avoid postpartum depression.

 

Precautions Before Starting Postpartum Yoga

Consult your doctor before doing yoga. Do not push beyond limits. Gradually your body will regain strength and you can get back into shape. Choose only the poses you feel comfortable. Learn the poses properly.

Challenges After Child Birth

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Physical and emotional stress is high particularly after first baby. A new mother has to cope with general weakness, hormonal changes and sleepless nights while caring for the baby.

Yoga can be most effective way of getting back in shape by toning abdominal muscles and provide strength to back, leg and hip muscles. Postpartum yoga can help you better if you have previous experience, you can start with easy poses at home. Newbies to yoga can also benefit by doing yoga under guidance.

When to start Yoga?

Your body should have healed and should have sufficient strength to start yoga. With normal delivery you can start practice after six weeks of delivery. Women who have undergone Caesarean procedure may need more time before they can start with yoga.

Why to Start Yoga?

Yoga can help you to fulfil the following expectations to achieve good health. These expectations should be tackled sequentially one by one in this order.

Rest. During this period of three to four months,you can practice shavasana or normal rhythmic breathing.

Eat healthy. and nutritious yogic diet which is easy to digest.

Strength. Yoga provides both physical and emotional strength. Yoga practice helps to rebuild muscles of legs, hips and abdomen.

Relaxation and Proper sleep. Make adequate use of shavasana and yoga nidra for relaxation.

Flexibility. A simplified yoga practice of asanas and pranayama along with sattvik diet will improve your flexibility.

Toning of abdomen muscles.

Weight Loss. Weight loss will follow if you can take care of issues mentioned above. Continue with your yoga practice.

Start With Pranayama And Relaxation

Initially start with rhythmic deep breathing, alom vilom and shavasana. These will condition your body for more asanas and pranayama. Shava asana (corpse pose) itself will benefit you a lot.

During the day take 5 minutes break and lie down in shavasana (on a yoga mat put on the floor) to comfort your back. Try rhythmic breathing while doing shavasana.

Try to breathe rhythmically during the day taking deep breaths. After some days your breathing will become deeper. Carry on rhythmic breathing practice throughout the day whenever you have spare time. If you can breathe deeply most of your problems will vanish.

Here is a link to free yoga breathing lessons. First start with only rhythmic breathing (10 minutes) and alom vilom (upto 10 or 15 minutes).

Make efforts to catch up with your sleep and try to stay relaxed.

Take care of your posture. Try to sit erect with spine straight while working or feeding the child. Initially you have to do some efforts, gradually you will be able to maintain correct sitting posture naturally.

Take a walk for 10-15 minutes whenever possible.

In addition to yoga, diet, mental make up (relaxation), proper sleep are very important. Therefore follow a simple, nutritious diet without watching calories. If you do not take junk, fried food, you cannot exceed the calories. Follow a healthy yogic diet with more thrust on getting enough fiber and nutrition.

Yoga Asanas

You may get pain if you over do the asanas before your body is healed properly. be getting pain as your body may not have healed properly. Do not do asanas that you feel difficult. Here is a basic sequence of asanas which are comfortable for beginners. Initially, do not do asanas which require forward bending.

Yoga Asanas for Postpartum Yoga

Downward-Facing Dog Pose (Adho Mukha Svanasana)
Triangle Pose (Trikonasana)
Bhujang asana (Cobra Pose) - Good for back pain
Shalabha asana (Locust Pose) Ushtrasana (Camel Pose)
Markatasna - (Good for back ache) Plank Pose

Generally do pranayama after doing asanas. In the end do shavasana for 5 to 10 minutes.

While doing pranayama you can sit in vajrasana. Just take care that you increase the duration of vajrasana gradually. If you are in practice of sitting in vajra asana comfortably, then it is ok.

Weight Loss Through Postpartum Yoga

Once you gain adequate strength, concentrate on your abdominal muscles. These are the most difficult muscles to push back. Try these poses for your abdomen. Gradually increase the repetitions and enjoy the results.

Boat Pose (Navasana)
Snake Pose (Sarp Asana)
Kapalabhati Pranayama

Postpartum yoga can improve your quality of life and provide you with good health with minimum effort.