Aliky in Natarajasana, Lord Shiva Dancer day before due Date June 1st, 2011

 Yoga Asana or Physical Exercise: These gently work on the reproductive organs and pelvis to ensure a smooth pregnancy and a relatively easy childbirth. At the subtle level, these ensure optimum supply of blood and nutrients to the developing foetus.

 Breathing or Pranayama – These powerful techniques ensure the abundant supply of oxygen and a better life force for you and your child. These methods work on your fitness during pregnancy. Breath also has the ability to create one-pointedness and calm the parasympathetic nervous system. Key pranayama exercises also help energize the brain and nervous system in addition to assisting with libido balance and harmonious energy distribution throughout the body in particular after during and after birth. Some key pranayama and breathing techniques are available at our Youtube channel where you can view examples of Pranayama technique  as well as Super Brain Yoga.

 Meditation – As a therapeutic tool, meditation will help you resolve the deepest of neuroses, fears and conflicts, which are so common during pregnancy. Meditation brings with it an incredible awareness which helps you connect with your child in a way that is impossible to explain. Meditation also assists you consciously rest and purge stress and fatigue from the body and mind very simply.  Sublime Energy also provides timely, relevant and simple consulting for meditation techniques.

Breath and Meditation is particularly effective during pregnancy for physical and mental relaxation as well as for childbirth preparation.

 Psychological Health and balance, also hormonal balance is experienced as an effect of either or all of the techniques combined. Sublime Energy also provides “non-invasive’ hormonal harmonizing energetic facilitation and overall energetic balancing and clearing including your home/work place which also promotes psychological health and wellness/stability during this fluctuating time. Please enquire about our one on one or small group remote consultancy services which are available both remote or in person and are most timely and effective. We have worked with pregnancy mums, families, young babies and family dynamics. More details below …

 Nutrition and balance: Mineralization is key for overall optimum bodily functions during pregnancy. Blue Ocean Minerals, are key for neural development in baby, hydration for mum and baby, optimizing cellular function and the body’s electrolyte functioning. When one feels balanced, intuitive “cravings” for nutrition become a reality as an effect of Blue Ocean Minerals from Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.  Minerals are vitally important for your health, we are made of minerals, they are not optional, but an essential part of our health and life. Similarly like clean food and water. Ocean chemistry is the same as our chemistry and we are at least 70+% water. Every function in the body is a result of mineralization and critical to our overall well being.  We are made of minerals and they literally light you up from the inside out which has an effect of vitality, vibrance, glow and personal magnetism. With consistent of the Blue Ocean Minerals use one starts to feel content, nourished, inside and out. The minerals provide a fluid electrolyte so that food extracts and nutrients travel easily between cells and cell systems and organs, support that whole network of nourishment and extract the most from food so we eat less. Via electrolyte activity creates the passage to every cell in the body. It is of course critical to work with your healthcare provider and/or doula to ensure you are obtaining proper nutrients by way of daily eating, pre natal vitamins, calcium and the like.

Other benefits and effects experienced by the Blue Ocean Minerals are as follows;

-       Energy, Endurance and Strength

-       Purification, assisting with detoxification

-       Enzyme production support and electrolyte function enhancing

-       Immunity boosting and contains powerful natural electrolyte levels

-       Reduction of Stress, calming and influencing the brain and nervous system

-       Better sleep

-       Heart health with presence of magnesium and minerals for powerful nourishment

-       Reproduction wellness for reproductive functions and tissues

-       Pregnancy and Children receive benefits from facilitating brain development in pre-natal, or post partum in particular if breast feeing.

-       Daily dosage recommendations are available to Adults, Children and pets

 Balance: In addition to nutritional balance, overall energetic balance is also key. Sublime Energy provides ‘safe’ and non invasive hormonal balancing, stress level reduction, physical relief/alignment, harmonizing and energetic techniques over the entire body, mind and spirit for mummy and baby both pre natal and post partum. Dad is also brought into the mix for harmonization with mum and baby.

A Relaxing Bath is also amazing and helps to keep our energy fields clearer from the inside out in addition to giving you an enhanced glow to your already experienced “pregnancy glow”.

The Recipe is as follows; 1 pound sea salt, 2 pounds Epsom salt, 1 pound baking soda. You can add essential Lavendar oil and/or geranium and rose oil for your senses and ambience. Dimming the lights with a candle is also calming to the senses.

Easier labor: Can help promote progress in early labor and decreases preterm labor. Not to mention those taught kegel muscles which are a result of yoga asana/exercise.

 With Yoga Exercise, main modifications and adjustments on pregnant women and experienced yoga practitioners are as follows. Please refer to an article on Yoga Journal by Tim Miller

Highlights below: 

During pregnancy it is most important to listen closely to your intuition whenever something in the practice doesn’t feel right. But an experienced practitioner can do a pretty normal practice for the first three months.

 During first trimester: some women prefer to step back versus jump back, well ventilated rooms are key also since nausea may be occurring.

 During second trimester: your growing belly will require modifying some poses. Use common sense and avoid putting undue pressure on the abdomen and reduce the amount of heat generated by vinyasa if generating heat in the body makes you uncomfortable at this stage. Avoid twists and if practicing a seated forward bend, spread the legs wider to accommodate belly. Always stick to poses that open your heart versus promote twisting. Reduce abdominal tensing exercises as your abdominals are beginning to stretch out so you don’t want to have issues later on with tears or stretch marks, and modify in planks to be on your knees and maintain form. Be mindful of chatarangas and once your belly starts hitting the floor or you feel you are becoming concerned about it, modify with a bolster or be on your knees and slide through

 During third trimester: will require you to continue to adapt and omit certain poses completely. There are often modifications available, so please ensure you speak with your yoga teacher prior to class or raise your hand with any questions or uncertainty during class.  Again, trust what feels right.

Focus on poses like Prasarita Padottanasana (Intense Spread Leg Stretch), Baddha Konasana (Bound Angle Pose), and Upavistha Konasana (Seated Wide Angle Pose) to open the groins in preparation for delivery. Standing poses like Utthita Trikonasana (Extended Triangle Pose), and Utthita Parsvakonasana (Extended Side Angle Pose) can help relieve back pain. And a simple inversion such as Viparita Karani (Legs-Up-the-Wall-Pose) can help to relieve swollen ankles.

 If you also have a handstand practice, again be mindful, stick to your intuition, it isn’t about performing, pregnancy is only temporary, in fact the effects and benefits are the same in principal and less effort with feet elevated like Viparita Karani and if you drop forward to forward fold with bent knees and reducing compression in the spine. I have seen women do handstands, headstands right up until the end, then I have seen others who did drop backs and ended up having abdominal muscles that didn’t heal/regenerate to closure without a line in the center of the belly. The point is to follow your intuition and listen to your body.  Ahimsa.

Aliky in Raja Kapotasana day before due date, June 1st, 2011

 In Summary, throughout pregnancy, as expansion and relaxin starts making its way into the body to make room for baby, ensure you don’t overexert poses, in particular if you are flexible or hyper flexible, be aware of the adequate balance on tension and flexibility used in poses. Taking it easy during this time of change in your body is always safer, than stressing your body. Be mindful and trust your intuition on what your body is telling you and practice ahimsa (non violence) with intention and presence in your breath. Try, or rather, just BE and do not attached to your prior abilities or your visualizations of what a pose should look like or be and remember this is only a temporary adjustment in your body and it is worth it to keep mum and baby healthy, sound and safe.

 Yoga and Research Articles below for further reference; 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15865489

 Efficacy of yoga on pregnancy outcome.

Narendran S, Nagarathna R, Narendran V, Gunasheela S, Nagendra HR.

SourceSwami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana (sVYASA), Vivekananda Yoga. Research Foundation, Bangalore, India.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To study the efficacy of yoga on pregnancy outcomes. 

DESIGN AND SETTING: Three hundred thirty five (335) women attending the antenatal clinic at Gunasheela Surgical and Maternity Hospital in Bangalore, India, were enrolled between 18 and 20 weeks of pregnancy in a prospective, matched, observational study; 169 women in the yoga group and 166 women in the control group. 

METHODS: Women were matched for age, parity, body weight, and Doppler velocimetry scores of umbilical and uterine arteries. Yoga practices, including physical postures, breathing, and meditation were practiced by the yoga group one hour daily, from the date of entry into the study until delivery. The control group walked 30 minutes twice a day (standard obstetric advice) during the study period. Compliance in both groups was ensured by frequent telephone calls and strict maintenance of an activity diary. 

MAIN OUTCOMES: Birth weight and gestational age at delivery were primary outcomes.

RESULTS: The number of babies with birth weight > or = 2500 grams was significantly higher (p < 0.01) in the yoga group. Preterm labor was significantly lower (p < 0.0006) in the yoga group. Complications such as isolated intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) (p < 0.003) and pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH) with associated IUGR (p < 0.025) were also significantly lower in the yoga group. There were no significant adverse effects noted in the yoga group.

 CONCLUSIONS: An integrated approach to yoga during pregnancy is safe. It improves birth weight, decreases preterm labor, and decreases IUGR either in isolation or associated with PIH, with no increased complications.

 PMID:15865489[PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE

 Efficacy of yoga on pregnancy outcome.

http://www.theholisticcare.com/research/Efficacy%20of%20yoga%20on%20pregnancy%20outcome..htm

 OBJECTIVE:

 To study the efficacy of yoga on pregnancy outcomes.

 DESIGN AND SETTING:

Three hundred thirty five (335) women attending the antenatal clinic at Gunasheela Surgical and Maternity Hospital in Bangalore, India, were enrolled between 18 and 20 weeks of pregnancy in a prospective, matched, observational study; 169 women in the yoga group and 166 women in the control group.

METHODS:

Women were matched for age, parity, body weight, and Doppler velocimetry scores of umbilical and uterine arteries. Yoga practices, including physical postures, breathing, and meditation were practiced by the yoga group one hour daily, from the date of entry into the study until delivery. The control group walked 30 minutes twice a day (standard obstetric advice) during the study period. Compliance in both groups was ensured by frequent telephone calls and strict maintenance of an activity diary.

MAIN OUTCOMES:

Birth weight and gestational age at delivery were primary outcomes.

 RESULTS:

 The number of babies with birth weight > or = 2500 grams was significantly higher (p < 0.01) in the yoga group. Preterm labor was significantly lower (p < 0.0006) in the yoga group. Complications such as isolated intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) (p < 0.003) and pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH) with associated IUGR (p < 0.025) were also significantly lower in the yoga group. There were no significant adverse effects noted in the yoga group.

 CONCLUSIONS:

 An integrated approach to yoga during pregnancy is safe. It improves birth weight, decreases preterm labor, and decreases IUGR either in isolation or associated with PIH, with no increased complications.

 Efficacy of yoga in pregnant women with abnormal Doppler study of umbilical and uterine arteries.

http://www.theholisticcare.com/research/Efficacy%20of%20yoga%20in%20pregnant%20women%20with%20abnormal%20Doppler%20study%20of%20umbilical%20and%20uterine%20arteries..htm

 To study the efficacy of yoga on the outcome of complicated pregnancy, 121 women attending antenatal clinic at Gunasheela Surgical and Maternity Hospital (GSMH) in Bangalore, India, were enrolled between 18-20 weeks of pregnancy in a prospective, matched, observational study. Sixty-eight women were in the yoga group and 53 women in the control group. Women were matched for age, gravida and Doppler velocimetry scores of umbilical and uterine arteries. Yoga practices including physical postures, breathing and meditation were practised by the yoga group, one hour daily, from the date of entry into the study until delivery. The control group walked half an hour twice a day during the study period. Compliance in both the groups was ensured. In babies the birth-weight is significantly higher (P < 0.018) in the Yoga group (2.78 +/- 0.52 kg), compared to the control group (2.55 +/- 0.52 kg). Occurrence of complications of pregnancy (pregnancy-induced hypertension, intrauterine growth retardation, pre-term delivery) shows lower trends in yoga group.

 Article on Pregnancy and Labor:

http://www.theholisticcare.com/cure%20diseases/Pregnancy%20and%20Labor.htm

 Dancing Through Pregnancy

 http://dancingthrupregnancy.com/research/reseach-updates-2011/

 Reseach Updates 2011

Phys­i­cal activ­ity before and dur­ing preg­nancy and risk of ges­ta­tional dia­betes mel­li­tus: a meta-analysis.Tobia DK, Zhang C, van Dam RM, Bow­ers K, Hu FB. Dia­betes Care. 2010 Sep 27.

The researchers con­cluded that higher lev­els of phys­i­cal activ­ity prior to preg­nancy or in early preg­nancy are asso­ci­ated with a sig­nif­i­cantly lower risk of devel­op­ing GDM. The study search iden­ti­fied 7 pre-pregnancy and 5 early preg­nancy stud­ies, includ­ing 5 prospec­tive cohorts, 2 ret­ro­spec­tive case-controls, and 2 cross-sectional study designs. Pre-pregnancy phys­i­cal activ­ity was assessed in 34,929 total par­tic­i­pants includ­ing 2,813 GDM cases, giv­ing a pooled odds ratio of 0.45 (95% CI: 0.28–0.75) when com­par­ing the high­est vs. low­est cat­e­gories. Exer­cise in early preg­nancy was assessed in 4,401 total par­tic­i­pants includ­ing 361 GDM cases, and was also sig­nif­i­cantly pro­tec­tive (OR=0.76, 95%CI: 0.70, 0.83).

 Aer­o­bic exer­cise dur­ing preg­nancy improves health-related qual­ity of life: a ran­domised trial. Mon­toya Ariz­a­baleta AV et al. J Phys­io­ther. 2010;56(4):253–8.

The researchers con­cluded that a super­vised 3-month pro­gram of pri­mar­ily aer­o­bic exer­cise dur­ing preg­nancy improves health-related qual­ity of life. The exper­i­men­tal group had improved their health-related qual­ity of life more than the con­trol group in the phys­i­cal com­po­nent sum­mary of the ques­tion­naire by 6 points, the phys­i­cal func­tion domain by 7 points, the bod­ily pain domain by 7 points and the gen­eral health domain by 5 points.

 The exper­i­men­tal group com­pleted a 3-month super­vised exer­cise pro­gram, com­menc­ing at 16 to 20 weeks of ges­ta­tion. Each ses­sion included walk­ing (10 min), aer­o­bic exer­cise (30 min), stretch­ing (10 min), and relax­ation (10 min). The con­trol group con­tin­ued usual activ­i­ties and per­formed no spe­cific exer­cise.  The pri­mary out­come was health-related qual­ity of life assessed by the Colom­bian ver­sion of the Med­ical Out­come Study Short-Form Health Sur­vey at base­line and imme­di­ately after the 3-month intervention.

 Effects of Yoga:

For more than 30 years, DTP has included exer­cise com­po­nents that are ele­ments of yoga (cen­ter­ing, deep breath­ing, mindfulness/transcendence, iso­met­rics and relax­ation), because these are mea­sur­able, effec­tive com­po­nents within a total fit­ness pack­age.  Car­dio­vas­cu­lar con­di­tion­ing is our cen­ter­piece — along with spe­cific strength work — since these pro­duce most of the ben­e­fits of pre­na­tal fit­ness. Due to the grow­ing pop­u­lar­ity of pre­na­tal yoga at the expense of car­dio­vas­cu­lar con­di­tion­ing and strength train­ing, we have been seek­ing cred­i­ble research evi­dence about yoga’s effect on preg­nancy, birth and recovery.

 Despite the length of time it has been avail­able, there is lit­tle data to estab­lish yoga’s effi­cacy beyond reduc­ing some dis­com­forts and per­haps improv­ing body trust, often through the use of posi­tions, breath­ing skills and mind­ful­ness that are also com­mon child­birth prepa­ra­tion and com­fort mea­sures. The relax­ation ele­ment — achiev­able through any stan­dard alpha brain wave pro­duc­ing method — can help pro­mote pro­mote progress in early labor, as the Relax­ation Response (per Ben­son) is known to help the body release oxy­tocin in early labor (per Odent). How­ever, the only study of the cor­re­la­tion among labor onset, yoga and the length of the first stage was very small. It was per­formed in Thai­land and we can­not find any record of exactly what was per­formed dur­ing the six ses­sions over the course of pregnancy.

 Yoga dur­ing preg­nancy: effects on mater­nal com­fort, labor pain and birth out­comes. Chunthara­pat S, et al. Com­ple­ment Ther Clin Pract. 2008 May;14(2):105–15. Epub 2008 Mar 4.

This study exam­ined the effects of a yoga pro­gram on mater­nal com­fort, labor pain, and birth out­comes. 74-primigravid Thai women were ran­dom­ized. The yoga pro­gram involved six, 1-h ses­sions at pre­scribed weeks of ges­ta­tion. A vari­ety of instru­ments were used to assess mater­nal com­fort, labor pain and birth out­comes. The exper­i­men­tal group was found to have a shorter dura­tion of the first stage of labor. No dif­fer­ences were found, between the groups, regard­ing pethi­dine usage, labor aug­men­ta­tion or new­born Apgar scores at 1 and 5 min.

 We also found a small, non-randomized study that indi­cated chronic prac­tice of yoga pro­duces sim­i­lar affects.

 Effects of a pre­na­tal yoga pro­gramme on the dis­com­forts of preg­nancy and mater­nal child­birth self-efficacy in Tai­wan. Sun YC, et al. Mid­wifery. 2010 Dec;26(6):e31-6. Epub 2009 Feb 25.

This non-randomized study aimed to pro­vide yoga to prim­i­gravi­das in the third trimester of preg­nancy to decrease dis­com­forts asso­ci­ated with preg­nancy and increase child­birth self-efficacy. Low risk, seden­tary prim­i­gravi­das were tar­geted. The pro­gram was 12–14 weeks, with at least three ses­sions per week. Each work­out lasted for 30 min­utes. Pro­gram par­tic­i­pants reported sig­nif­i­cantly fewer preg­nancy dis­com­forts than the con­trol group (38.28 vs 43.26, z=-2.58, p=0.01) at 38–40 weeks of ges­ta­tion and exhib­ited higher out­come and self-efficacy expectan­cies dur­ing the active stage of labour (104.13 vs 83.53, t=3.24, p=0.002; 99.26 vs 77.70, t=3.99, p ≤ 0.001) and the sec­ond stage of labour (113.33 vs 88.42, t=3.33, p=0.002; 102.19 vs 79.40, t=3.71, p ≤ 0.001) com­pared with the con­trol group. Inter­est­ingly, the researchers con­cluded that the pro­vi­sion of book­lets and videos on yoga dur­ing preg­nancy may con­tribute to a reduc­tion in preg­nancy dis­com­forts and improved child­birth self-efficacy.

 Effi­cacy of yoga on preg­nancy out­come. Naren­dran S, et al.  J Altern Com­ple­ment Med. 2005 Apr;11(2):237–44.

The only matched-control study we have seen that reports any ben­e­fi­cial out­comes for yoga par­tic­i­pants vs. con­trols was a small study con­ducted in India. Women par­tic­i­pated daily in super­vised 1-hour ses­sions, while con­trols walked. The daily yoga par­tic­i­pants’ out­comes were improved com­pared with con­trols, includ­ing a reduc­tion in IUGR, in con­junc­tion with infec­tion and PIH. It is impor­tant to keep in mind that these out­comes occurred in a set­ting where under-weight, over-work and infection-related com­pli­ca­tions are common.

 It is inter­est­ing to note that aer­o­bic fit­ness pro­vides the same ben­e­fits as those seen in these stud­ies, while also reduc­ing the need for aug­men­ta­tion or other inter­ven­tions, as well as reduc­ing the risk of fetal distress.

 Dur­ing the sec­ond stage of labor, the tran­si­tion to an ergotropic reflex pro­motes the release of oxy­tocin as the body changes from a parasym­pa­thetic state in the first stage to a sym­pa­thetic state in the sec­ond stage (that is why we call the end of the first stage tran­si­tion). The phys­i­ol­ogy of push­ing requires a very aggres­sive approach. Our in-house data sug­gest that we have found a bal­ance for help­ing women develop the nec­es­sary traits to accom­plish both the pas­sive state required by the first stage and the endurance capac­ity to become aggres­sive dur­ing expul­sion. We mea­sure this in the reduc­tion of our cesarean rate by 1/2 to 1/3 com­pared to the local population.

 There is evi­dence of inverse risk for cesarean as the amount and inten­sity of aer­o­bic con­di­tion­ing increases. These stud­ies are also fairly small, although they are numer­ous and have pro­duced con­sis­tent results con­cern­ing dose-effect. There is grow­ing inter­est within the health care field that sup­port­ing pre­na­tal aer­o­bics could help reduce the cesarean rate. There is no infor­ma­tion from any cred­i­ble sources con­cern­ing the rela­tion­ship of yoga to type of birth. The only avail­able sta­tis­ti­cal infor­ma­tion is the coin­ci­den­tal cor­re­la­tion that as the cesarean rate has risen in the U.S., so has the pop­u­la­tion that par­tic­i­pates in pre­na­tal yoga.

 Yoga remains an illu­sive sub­ject of study. So much depends on who is teach­ing and what they are teach­ing. Unlike aer­o­bics, strength, range of motion, relax­ation response, bal­ance, coor­di­na­tion and train­ing speci­ficity — all of which we can pre­scribe and mea­sure — the pop­u­lar term yoga has lost mean­ing. How much of exactly what is nec­es­sary to pro­duce effects? What are those effects? Are they ben­e­fi­cial? These ques­tions are yet to be answered.

 Other articles here: http://yoga.researchtoday.net/