I seem to be surrounded by radiant pregnant ladies in all stages of pregnancy at the moment. Or by women who are preparing for motherhood and trying to become pregnant - but more of that issue in the next blog.
Teaching yoga and advising on Ayurvedic lifestyle and diet I come into contact with men and women from all backgrounds. But at the moment there appear to be an abundance of mothers-to-be. It is amazing to follow the changes that happen as the baby grows. But one thing that is challenging with a increasing bump is breathing.
The body breathes on it own. We don’t actually need to do anything but somehow a lot of us still find it difficult. We breathe only in the upper part of the chest, we get palpitations, we hold our breath for no reason...
To promote complete breathing try this - pregnant or not:
Three Part Breathing.
Sit in a comfortable position and bring both hands to your lower abdomen. Imagine you can breathe into your hands. As you inhale the abdomen will press into your hands and as you exhale the navel moves gentle towards your spine. When we inhale the lungs expands and the diaphragm muscle beneath our lungs presses towards our intestines making our abdomen expand. However for some people it seems to do the opposite. If it is challenging to expand the belly on an inhale just imagine it happening - eventually it will. Pregnant women may not feel this movement physically but can make this breath a time to connect with their baby.
After a few breaths bring your hands to the sides of your ribcage and breathe in to expand the muscles between your ribs. The ribcage will widen and broaden. Allow a sense of creating space inside your body. More room for oxygen and Prana (Chi, life-force energy and maybe even love or healing...). For pregnant ladies this is where you can create the greatest expansion of breath.
Next bring your hands to the top of your chest and feel the chest lift as you inhale and relax as you breathe out. Most of us will be familiar with this breath as we have formed a habit of only utilising the upper part of our lungs to breathe.
Physiologically this is where we breathe when we are in a stressful situation. A situation which can be catogorised into ‘Fight or Flight’. Either we run for our lives or we put up a fight to survive. Breathing here produces adrenalin, gives us a buzz and creates stress to deal with a life or death situation. It can also result in hyperventilation and panic attacks. Now, our stresses are generally (and luckily) more trivial but the body-response is the same. We don’t need to get into the ‘Fight or Flight’ mode when we are stuck in traffic, working to a tight deadline or dealing with
hyperactive children. We can learn to respond from a centered and well balanced place.
The simplest way to become balanced, relaxed and focused is to breathe properly. Learning to use the full capacity of our lungs will make us healthier in body and mind.
To connect to the complete breath bring one hand to your abdomen and one to your heart.
Imagine that your can fill your lungs by breathing into your abdomen, continue to the sides of your ribs and then to the top of your chest. Breathe out gentle and slowly from the chest, then ribs and finally bringing the abdomen towards the spine.Allow your body to breathe effectively with the full capacity of your lungs - naturally and relaxed!
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