Reconnect with your body with this sequence made just for new mothers.
After giving birth to a child, you may be eager to get to your mat. But you are likely to discover that pregnancy and childbirth have weakened your abdominal muscles, and they need reconditioning. The sequence below has been created by vinyasa flow yoga teacher (and mom) Claire Missingham.
By Diane Anderson
Wait at least six weeks after delivery before you try this practice (you may need to wait longer if you’ve had a cesarean section). Get approval from a health care practitioner before you begin. When you choose to begin, be sure to allow yourself to do fewer repetitions or shorter holds if you need to, and frame the practice as a way to nurture yourself.Pick a music that’s calming and reconnects you with your unique inner rhythm. Place a photo of your baby close by to honor and admire your gift of life.
1) Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog Pose)
Start with your feet together. With each exhalation, draw the navel to the spine in Uddiyana Bandha (Upward Abdominal Lock) to engage the pelvic floor muscles and draw them up. Stay for 10 breaths. Once you feel stable, separate the feet hip-distance apart.
2) Plank Pose
Inhale and shift into plank. Align shoulders over your wrists.Press back firmly through the heels and gaze between the thumbs. Relax your jaw and stay for 20 breaths. Then flow from Down Dog to Plank 10 times, inhaling to Plank and exhaling to Down Dog. Step your feet to your hands and fold in Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend). Lift your arms to stand, then exhale into Tadasana (Mountain Pose).
3) Garudasana (Eagle Pose)
Wrap your right leg over your left and hook your toes around your lower leg. Place the left arm over the right and touch your palms together. Stay upright and bend the supporting knee. Lift the elbows up and move the hands away from the face. Gaze gently out at a fixed point. Stay for 10 breaths on each side. Return to Tadasana.
4) Paripurna Navasana (Full Boat Pose)
Sit with your legs together and back straight, lift your legs off the floor, and bend your knees. Stay here for 5 breaths. Hold the back of your thighs or reach your arms forward, palms facing in. Engage your core, exhale, straighten one leg; inhale, release back; exhale, switch sides. Repeat the change of legs 10 times, then release your feet onto the floor, hold your shins, and open your chest to the sky. Repeat twice, and then lie on your back.
5) Jathara Parivartanasana (Revolved Abdomen Pose)
Bring your knees to your chest, draw your navel in, and keep the pelvic floor engaged. Place your arms, palms up, on the floor. Bring your knees over your hips so your legs form a right angle.
Exhale, press the shoulder blades into the earth, and lower the legs to the right, almost touching the floor. Inhale up and repeat to the other side. Continue for 20 breaths. Hug your knees and breathe deeply.
6) Elbow-to-knee Pose
Interlace your fingers behind your head and bend your knees. Exhale, lengthen the right leg, draw your left knee toward your chest, and lift up to touch it with your right elbow. Inhale, release; exhale, change sides. Press your low back into the earth. On exhalations, pull your navel back and feel your pelvic floor lift up buoyantly. Do this 4 times on each side, then rest and repeat it one more time.
7) Sethu Bandha Sarvangasana (Bridge Pose)
Bend your knees and press into Bridge Pose, and then breathe there for up to a minute. Exhale and roll back down to the floor, vertebra by vertebra. Inhale and roll back up. This time, take your arms overhead as you root the shoulder blades down. Exhale to roll down. Repeat 10 times, opening your chest more each time.
8) Supta Gomukhasana (Reclining Cow Face Pose)
Cross your left leg over your right, stacking the knees on top of each other. Hold your outer ankles firmly.
As you exhale, draw the feet toward the floor on either side of your waist, and you’ll feel a deep release in the hips and buttocks. Stay as long as it feels good, then switch legs. Take a moment to relax on your back.
9) Supta Garudasana (Reclining Eagle Pose)
From your back, bring your legs into Garudasana with the right leg on top. Drop the legs to the left, gently drawing the right knee toward the earth. Reach the right arm to the right until you are in a deep spinal twist. On the exhalation, deepen the twist from the navel, keeping the pelvic floor active. Close your eyes and remain here for 10 slow breaths, then change sides.
10) Matsyasana (Fish Pose)
Stretch your legs in front of you. Inhale and press your forearms and elbows down as you lift your chest and head away from the floor. Release your head back onto the floor. Either the back or the crown of your head will rest on the floor. This pose opens the heart. Stay for 10 breaths.
Slowly, relax your head and back, remove your hands and place them next to your body, palms facing up. Take a deep inhalation and exhale out an “Aaah”, like a sigh, from your mouth, allowing your body to relax into Savasana. Stay here observing your body from toes to head, and let your rhythmic breath lead your mind to total relaxation with your body.
Do the Savasana (Corpse Pose) for at least 10 minutes, so that your body gets to completely let go. And later, take another couple of minutes to sit quietly with your hands in Anjali Mudra (Namaste) to appreciate all that you have.
This article was first published in the print edition of Yoga Journal Singapore , which is now Yogahood Online.
