Prenatal Yoga – 5 Poses for All Trimesters

Adriene: Hey everyone! Welcome to Yoga with Adriene I am Adriene and today we have a very special guest on the show, my friend Hilah

Hilah: Hi Adriene: Welcome Hilah, thanks for being here This is our first video in the prenatal series, and obviously, as you can see, Hilah is beautiful and pregnant So today we thought we would share with you five safe poses for every trimester So these are the things that you can do at home and that feel safe and supportive that you can feel good in and repeat, so that you're taking time to connect to your body and connect to baby and most importantly, connect to your breath

So, if you're ready, we'll just jump right in Hilah: I'm ready Adriene: So, Hilah and I are both in a nice easy cross legged position We can be cross legged or we can also go one foot in front of the other which is Siddhasana and you have nice open hips already, so this might be comfortable for you, but if this is not comfortable for you, we can come to that criss-cross applesauce, something you're going to be saying in no time Trust me

I have 10 kids Just kidding So yeah, so we're in Siddhasana or Sukhasana, just a nice comfortable seated position, where we will take the right hand to the belly Hilah: Hi baby! Adriene: And the left hand to the heart And let's just take a second, I know, and bump our mics simultaneously

And we'll just take a second to tune in here, so nothing fancy and I say this to Hilah but I also say this to you, my friends, there's no right or wrong here For me, especially in prenatal yoga, the goal is to connect to baby, nurture the body, nurture the baby, but also just support your intuitive self, which sounds kind of cheesy but, it's really so beautiful and so important as you prepare for birth to connect to your intuition The body knows what to do, so it just kind of support that with a little breath and a little faith So we'll just start by checking in with the breath So we'll loop the shoulders forward, up, and back

And we'll exhale maybe close the eyes or soften the gaze here Soften the fingertips as we connect right hand to belly, to baby And Hilah was just telling me that she had a prenatal massage yesterday and the lovely lady who was rubbing her said to move the hand clockwise, right? Hilah: Clockwise To help digestion Am I doing it clockwise? Adriene: So you get a little bonus there

So we might incorporate that Again, I feel like that's about kind of about using your intuition So all of the information you learned yesterday coming into the practice And then we'll find stillness there and then just take a second here to use the hands to kind of scrape or graze the heart Just kind of activating

Nice little boob rub there, too And so the reason I do this is because we kind of get into that yoga robot mode especially if you've been practicing yoga before where we're just like okay, right hand belly, left hand heart We just kind of get into the sensation of it all And then we'll close the eyes and just notice the breath You just take a moment here to honor the breath, each inhale of breath now for momma and baby, and each exhale an invitation to create space, to release any stress, any tension, any potential worry or fear of the unknown

We'll soften the skin of the face, even relax the jaw here, just find a moment of peace And on your next inhale we'll take a deeper breath, and on the exhale blow it out through the lips softly Let's try that again, we inhale a deep breath in, like we're blowing out birthday cake candles here And again we inhale This time as you blow out, slide the right, excuse me, the left hand all the way down to meet the right

So now we have both hands here on the belly and we'll just continue with that breath Inhaling in through the nose and exhaling out through the lips, the mouth And we'll keep that going here at your own rhythm, Hilah, nice and easy Inhaling in both for Hilah and baby, exhaling to create space and cultivate peace Inhaling lots of love in, and exhaling lots of love out

On your next inhale gently slide both palms now up towards the heart, we'll bring the palms together here, just take a couple more breaths, we might begin to deepen the breath, inhaling in through the nose, and long exhale out through the lips or the mouth So keep this going, Hilah, and I'll just talk to you guys for a second So as we move into prenatal practice at whatever stage, I encourage you to kind of take a break from those powerful feisty, fiery heating breaths, and move into a more calming Pranayama practice And Hilah and I are working on a series where we'll do more cooling, calming breaths, but as you work at home, I encourage you to just kind of lay off those feisty breaths for a while The body already has a lot of heat, depending on what trimester you're into, you'll know what I'm talking about

So focusing on an inhale through the nose and a nice soft exhale through the lips might be useful for you Great We'll keep the heart lifted here, my friend and draw the chin to the chest and just a little invitation for all of us to just set an intention for the rest of our practice here together, may be taking a moment to talk to babe or even focusing on one word to be the mantra for our practice Shoulder blades melt down towards the base of the spine, we go ahead and breathe into the back of the neck here and once you have your intention, or your one word, again it can be quite simple, it can be ease, it can be love, trust Once you have your intention or your word, take a deep breath in confirming it, and a long exhale out through the mouth confirming it and we release

Great, we can bring the palms face up, take a deep breath in and bat the eyelashes open and we're in Awesome All right, so the first pose we are going to learn today is a gentle chest opener, a really great if you're experiencing heartburn, also just nice for the chest, the neck, and shoulders, and then also a gentle twist to kind of get fluids movement and the thing about the twist is that we want to be super mindful but I think that this is one that we can just feel safe and grounded and comfortable in, and also it's just a nice neck and shoulder opener So, Hilah is sitting in a nice, comfortable, cross-legged position She has nice open hips but we're going to go ahead, and we've propped her up on a blanket because I recommend that you do that

Most girls will have a bit tighter hips and so lifting the pelvis up onto a couple of towels, or even a block or even a phonebook, wait, nobody has phonebooks anymore, hopefully you don't Hilah: We still get them Adriene: Why do they deliver them still? It's ridiculous Anyway Hilah: Let's appreciate them for yoga

Adriene: Yes, if you still have those dang phonebooks, get one, sit up on it So we're lifting the pelvis just to allow the weight of the legs to release down and find a little more openness and spaciousness in the hips So we've lifted Hilah up on one blanket, you can lift up on a blanket or two or a phonebook Towels work too All right, so we're going to sit up nice and tall and lengthen up through the crown of the head

Go ahead and take a second to loop the shoulders forward, up and back, just a nice gentle rotation in the shoulders Then we'll take the left palm to the right knee nice and easy and swim the right fingertips behind So unlike Ribu [SP], where we're really moving behind that right shoulder like an active Hatha yoga class, we're just going to keep it nice and stacked So head over heart, heart over pelvis, and now more than ever in your yoga practice, it's so important to deepen the breath, right? Because we're not just inhaling in for one now, we're inhaling in connecting baby and mama, so we can close the eyes here and breathe Shoulder blades come in together and down, just a little energetic drawing down and Hilah is nice and open here in the shoulders but maybe as we move on we get a little more tight, so this is nice and easy

Then again, we're not going to crank here but we'll just slowly draw a line with the nose, past the right shoulder So rather than pulling that right shoulder back, we're just checking in the head and neck That's pretty gentle here, my friends, you're using the breath Good Beautiful, then we'll drop the chin to the chest and slowly release, come back to center, lift the gaze, look forward

Loop the shoulders again, forward, up, and back and then we'll take it towards me, right palm comes to the left knee, left fingertips swim behind Beautiful And so, resist the urge, my friends, to really crank into the twist, like we often do in class So just nice and easy, keeping that lift up through the chest, that lengthening through the back body, the shoulder blades, beautiful Gorgeous

And then again, rather than cranking towards the left, just consider drawing a line with your nose past the left shoulder As we do that we draw down through the right shoulder which is looking beautiful here and breathe into the neck Great, then drop the chin to the chest Gorgeous We'll release the chest back to center and just take it to the other side one more time

So nice and easy, left palm to right knee, right fingertips swim behind She's nice and stacked, head over heart, heart over pelvis, so even though we have a little bit of weight, right in the forward, we want to keep head over heart, heart over pelvis There's a tendency to lean back here, which could be a little bit uncomfortable for babe, so let's keep it nice and stacked And then for this round, Hilah, we're just going to loosen it up through the neck So we can get a little freaky here

So we can look past the right shoulder or we can begin to draw a couple of circles with the nose and this will be, definitely, to each zone, checking in with the neck, staying nice and loose Beautiful And then when you feel satisfied, take a deep breath in and use an exhale to unravel it back to center Loop the shoulders in between, smile, lift the corners of the mouth slightly, and then we'll take it to the other side Right palm to the left knee, left fingertips behind

And then same thing It's all you momma, just checking in with the neck, finding what feels good, and as we move along you might notice unnecessary tension in the neck, in the face, in the jaw, so keep the jaw relaxed I like to remind my mommas, my friends to soften the area between the two eyebrows Even the space between the upper lip and the nose, just kind of softening and relaxing, yes, beautiful So it seems so simple, but the more we begin to expand our awareness now on softening and releasing, the more we're going to be able to do that when it's time

You know what I'm talking about? When it's time to be loose and free and soft and release Great Right, now we'll come back to center and one last time take a nice loop of the shoulders as we breathe in, and we exhale, blow it out Gorgeous All right, my friends

So the next thing we're going to learn is "Cat-Cow," which we are probably most familiar with, so we're going to come to all fours, just in case you're not, we'll walk you through the alignment of knees directly underneath the hips, and wrists directly underneath the shoulders Beautiful And you can see Hilah, already, is practicing just awareness in the neck, remembering that the neck is a beautiful extension of the spine, so she's extending through the crown, in fact you can release in the neck just a little bit to show them what that would not look like if you just dropped, yeah So she's broadening through the back of the neck Quite beautiful

We'll draw the shoulders away from the ears, just take a second here to breathe And then we release the floodgates open We soften through the elbows, yeah, and drop the belly, inhale, look forward, tailbone rises, and we're not pushing, we're keeping it nice and soft here as we exhale, start at the tail and then travel up the spine So rather than drawing the navel up towards the spine, we're just going to consider hollowing through the upper back So inhale in here, and exhale we hollow, rounding the spine

Gorgeous And then you can just move in your own time, Hilah, moving back and forth, nice and easy Beautiful And then, actually, Hilah, you might even widen your knees, just a hair, just give yourself a little more space here Inhaling we drop, the heart looks forward, opening the throat and exhale softly, rounding up

And she's taking her time, which is beautiful We want to slow it down In fact, in all these cases, I think, in cat-cow, we can benefit from slowing it down a little bit but especially here Really connecting to the spinal flex here, keeping soft, of course, in the belly, let's do a couple more here Once you get the hang of it, you start to feel good, you can close your eyes, go inward

Visualize the spine from the crown of the head to the tip of the tailbone Awesome Then we'll bring the two big toes together, widen the knees a little bit wider, and we'll just do it a couple more times here So this time, I just want to offer you the option, my friends, my viewers, to move in circles You can do like a drunk cat-cow or you can begin to shake the hips a little left to right

You can begin to maybe move the hips to the left as you look past your right shoulder gently and just kind of check out the side body Nice and easy, it's all about creating space and maintaining a sense of ease We never want to push, in particular in this cat-cow or in this all fours pose We don't want to push ever, right? Hilah: Right Let's not be pushy, guys

Adriene: Let's not push till it's time to push, if you know what I'm talking about I never knew I had prenatal jokes in me Labor jokes Okay So then we'll come back to tabletop position, my friends

Take a deep breath in through the nose, and a long exhale out through the mouth Beautiful Okay, so from all fours you can send it back now to extended child's pose, which is where we're headed So the hipbones melt back onto the heels and so we can add a little space here, depending on where you're at You might just stay on the fingertips, and Hilah is, you're 26? Hilah: Yes

Adriene: Weeks? Hilah: Yes Adriene: So Hilah's 26 weeks, she can go ahead and go into this with a little support So I'm bringing a little gift here, of a block obviously, and I just put a little lavender on a little tissue here, and if you like it you can use it, and if you don't you can move it forward So we're going to come to rest, yeah, on the forehead And this is a nice cooling, calming, place to put a little pressure to the third eye, if you will

And then, how are your shoulders feeling here? Hilah: Shoulders are fine Adriene: Shoulders are tight? Or feeling fine all right

If they're feeling a little tight, my friends, you can soften through the elbows here just bending a little bit, but it looks like she feels good, so whatever feels good for you, Hilah Great, then nice easy breaths here as we open the chest Knees are nice and wide Good Hilah: They have to be, because there's a big basketball in between them

Adriene: Yeah It's a reminder And we'll just take a couple of breaths here, letting the weight of the heart melt down, the shoulders soften and release May I touch your back? Hilah: Hmm Adriene: And then if you have a partner here they might take a couple of hands to the lower back, just gently guiding

This is just a soft, I'm not putting any pressure at all, just a little power-up touch on the lower back to soften and release Beautiful And then we'll just take 3-5 breaths here, my friends, focusing on your mantra, inhaling nice, long, smooth, deep breaths for baby Beautiful So we can take a second to rock on the forehead a little bit here, Hilah, especially if you have that block there, it's nice, just to massage the forehead

Then we'll activate through the fingertips and nice and easy take a deep breath in, exhale, blowing it out through the mouth Then we'll use the palms to gently walk it up, nice and slow, we can press in at the tops of the feet And we slowly roll it back up Beautiful How do you feel? Hilah: Good

Adriene: Excellent Hilah: Yeah, that forehead pressure was really nice Adriene: Yeah, that's a nice little pressure point to just kind of calm the nervous system and cool out And it's amazing, I know it just kind of seems silly but it's amazing what just a little essential oil will do In the morning, after a nap, after like, an afternoon nap, then before bed, and we'll list some essential oil options for you guys on the website

Somewhere, somewhere Sometime Okeydoke So for this next pose, we're going to come to standing And we're going to connect to a little strength, so strong for momma and baby

So, perfect, Hilah's already stepped just about hip-width apart, and then we're just going to inch a little bit wider, so a little bit wider than hip-width apart, so finding a nice strong stance, strong and supportive Then we'll bring the hands to the belly Take a second to loop the shoulders forward, up and back Reconnect to your breath, my friend, my friends, mommas of the world And then, on an exhale, we'll slowly begin to bend the knees

So it's a nice easing into this Goddess pose here today, bending the knees, and the knees are going to go out towards the toes, so the tailbone lengthens down, but rather than drawing the navel to the spine like we know to do in Goddess pose, we keep it nice and soft here Moving the hands on the belly if that feels good, or just connecting to the breath in stillness So this will be a little bit different for everyone, but we're checking in with the legs here, lower body, so knees are bent, hands are resting on belly Great Then we'll inhale, rise up, lift up through the crown of the head, and exhale, Goddess pose

Inhale, press on all four corners of the feet, gorgeous And exhale, thrust yourself, bending the knees deeply, Goddess pose And inhale, we reach up And exhale, bending the knees, Goddess pose, and this time we stay here, connecting to the breath So we might just stay with hands on belly here, or we might experiment, Hilah, with bringing the palms together at the heart, pressing the palms together, lifting the sternum up to the thumbs

Gorgeous So strong legs here, and this is a strengthening pose, so nice cooling breaths as we inhale in through the nose, and out through the mouth Hang with me, doing great, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful We'll inhale in and on your next exhale, Hilah, just curve a line with your nose past that right shoulder again Strong for momma, strong for baby here, inhale in, exhale, come back to center

And we'll curve a line with the nose, excuse me, to the left side now So we're creating a little heat in the body, we're pressing into all four corners of the feet, we're breathing nice, long, smooth deep breaths Gorgeous, my friend, let's take one more breath in here And on an exhale gently melt it back to center Great

Smile, take a deep breath in, and on an exhale, strong mommas, we press into the feet, straighten the legs Great Here's where we go, sister-woman-sister We're going to open the palms here, keeping the pinkies and the thumbs together, nice little Mudra here And once again we reconnect to that word or that mantra, your intention, then we inhale in here, my friend, and exhale, hands to baby

Awesome Just take a second to notice how you feel All right So for our final pose today, we're going to come back down to the mat Take your time getting there, and as you can see, we're going to bring the soles of the feet together and the knees nice and wide

So again, I mentioned before, Hilah has amazing beautiful hips, so we're not going to prop her up on a blanket Hilah: Thanks! Adriene: You don't need that blanket But if you do, feel free to lift the hips up here or give yourself a little extra padding with a towel, again just lifting the pelvis up just a little more can do it for some whilst pregnant Okay, so, we're going to grab the ankles, Hilah, here today, loop the shoulders forward, up, and back, and just sit up nice and tall Permission to lean a little bit forward, which you're already doing a little bit naturally, listening to your body, and again, connecting to that intuition

So you can inhale in, on an exhale, close the eyes, we're just going to take a couple breaths here So to be perfectly honest, Hilah, your hips are so flexible that here you might feel like you're kind of not doing a lot, practically nothing, right? Hilah: Yeah It's easy Adriene: So, but for most moms or women, we might just need to breathe here, letting gravity do the work, letting the weight of the thighbones melt down on the exhale, letting the knees open wide and the heart stays open and lifted Beautiful

So then we'll slowly transition to interlace the fingertips around the toes, and we might have the tendency to collapse the chest, which Hilah is absolutely not doing, this is gorgeous, so if you are tending to kind of round the shoulders forward, or collapsing the chest, give yourself that sweet reminder again to just open the chest and heart, and again, nice, long, smooth deep breaths for momma and baby So you can stay here, or we can guide the heart down a little bit, coming into a gentle forward fold So the goal is really not to bring the nose to the toes, but just to fold forward, nice and easy, finding what feels good You can relax the way to the head over if that feels good, Hilah Yes, gorgeous

And we'll take 2-3 breaths here, nice and easy breezy Beautiful Hilah's checking in with the neck and the shoulders, soften through the jaw, maybe lick your lips here Take this time for you and babe Then to gently come out of this, we'll lengthen the tailbone down, and slowly draw the chin into the chest to roll it up

Cool So, from this cobbler's pose, we're going to do a little two-for-one, my friends, see, you really get your money's worth And we're going to take it to a reclined Supta Baddha Konasana or a reclined Baddha Konasana So stay where you're at now, Hilah, and we have some bolsters here, but you can do this with body pillows, or you can practice this with just a couple of normal pillows stacked up and the knees nice and wide So, we're going to use two bolsters for Hilah here today

If you do have some blocks and bolsters, that's nice, that's nice for you, especially when you're moving with babe This one has a tag that I want to not use Oh, this one has a tag too, okay Well, so much for being OCD You're like, "I'm waiting!" Okay, so I'm bringing the pillow or the bolster in this case right up to the base of the spine

This should feel good And then she'll inhale in, and exhale, slowly begin to melt back So we just have a gentle incline here, I've got you, and after all these looping of the shoulders, this time we'll inhale, loop the shoulders, and on the exhale we just let the weight of the arms go So the arms can spill left to right, and then, again, Hilah's nice and open in the hips here, but sometimes it's nice to support the knees, particularly, so, most ladies' knees are right here Seriously, including mine

So, we will go ahead and give you this little support for yummy's sake, but she's nice and open And so, don't fret if you don't have all these props and bells and whistles, you can get them in time or you can just use towels We can even pillow the head here, my friends, by lifting the neck up a little Is that all right, is that too much? And then, letting the hands either come on to the belly or rest gently at your sides, let's put a box here for you, just to rest the hands So the name of the game, I like this one, it has my name on it

Hilah: So I can't take it Adriene: Yeah, don't take this block So the name of the game here is support, right? We're nurturing, creating space, and using the breath to connect to the body, connect to baby, remembering that each breath is an opportunity, a pathway to a more happy and healthy pregnancy

And of course, we know, the happier, the more healthier the pregnancy, the happier and healthier the labor So here we just rest and relax And Hilah, you decide what feels best, palms face down or palms open up And we just take 3-5 breaths here, my friends, closing the eyes, softening the lips If you're at home, you might take a second to make sure the temperature in the room feels good, maybe to put a little music on

And use this supportive posture as an opportunity to really, again, connect with the breath Each inhale an opportunity, a pathway to a happier, healthier pregnancy Each exhale an opportunity to create space, to find a looseness Marrying the strength of our prenatal practice now with a little bit of grace and ease and relaxation Okeydoke, my sweet friends, thank you for sharing your time and your breath and your practice with me

Hilah, thank you so much for being, actually you're the first person to ever be on "Yoga with Adriene" Hilah: Yes!!! Adriene: We always knew that it would happen, but it finally happened, yay! And actually, first two! Hilah: Yay! Good job, guy Adriene: Who would have thought? How do you feel? Hilah: Good Very relaxed, yeah Adriene: Cool

So these are things you can do at home You have access to these bolsters and blankets and stuff, but if you don't have those things, don't fret, it doesn't mean you can't do these postures These are all things that you can do without props and that you can do even without a yoga mat, just a nice, comfortable, clean space for you and babe to connect with the breath Hilah: I was thinking, yeah, like a firm couch cushion would probably be a good bolster, too Adriene: Oh, yeah! Yeah, actually, the couch cushions on my couch that are like, too firm

Hilah: Right, they're not very comfortable Adriene: To sit on, but they're yeah Hilah: They'd be great for a yoga pose! Adriene: Yeah, so that's a great tip Anything else that you can share with our lovely mommies? Hilah: It was just interesting, I haven't actually done yoga since my first trimester because I didn't know what to do and I couldn't do the stuff I used to do and so, yeah, having to make adjustments, for having like Adriene: Yeah Hilah: Your body parts are in different place now Adriene: Yeah, you mentioned the one on the twist Hilah: Like, yeah, I'm not used to my boobs being in the way for that twist

Adriene: So it's good, it's like an exploration in a whole new way, I can't imagine So beautiful Well thank you again If you enjoyed this, I invite you to stay tuned Hilah and I are going to continue to work on a prenatal series

We're going to have some lady talks and labor tips that will be for free Hilah: That's how girls do Adriene: That's from the Music Man "Pick a little, talk a little, pick a little, talk a little, pick, pick, pick" Sorry

Hilah: It won't be like that Adriene: It won't be like that, or will it? Musical references do come out when you're pregnant, I hear Hilah: That's true Adriene: The hills are alive Okay, so we'll save that for the lady talks, maybe So join us for that, lady talks and labor tips We will also have another video here It's just a modified sun salutation for mommas

And if you're interested in more, Hilah and I are creating a series just for momma and baby to prepare you for the healthiest and happiest pregnancy of your dreams Hilah: And birth Adriene: And birth Yeah, there's some good labor and delivery stuff in there too So, if you're interested, check out more information down below, and we'll see you next time

Thank you so much, Hilah Thank you, mommas Namaste Hilah: Namaste


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