Video Transcript

Hi there, I'm Jennifer Parke, Owner and Director of Fluidity Dance and Yoga. Today, I'm here to tell you about the benefits of Prenatal Yoga. Now, Yoga has many benefits for helping chase a child around the house; you need strong legs; or for lifting baby up out of the crib you need strong arms. But, specifically for the pushing part of the pregnancy, Yoga can have very many benefits For instance, it improves the strength of the reproductive organs; also, it improves hip flexibility and finally, Yoga might improve circulation in areas or circulation might be roughed during your pregnancy. So, I'm going to show you a few basic poses that are great to do as you're getting ready to become pregnant. There are so many benefits to Prenatal Yoga. It strengthens and improves hip flexibility, it strengthens your reproductive organs and it improves circulation to places that it might be a little bit rough when one should become pregnant. So, I'm going to show you a great routine to improve all of those things. It's a Warrior routine to begin with. So, we're going to start off with a nice wide legged stance with our toes slightly turned in. We're going to bring our hands into prayer position and as we inhale, we'll bring our hands up; we'll clasp our hands, pointing towards the ceiling and as we exhale we'll turn out our right foot, bending the knee to lay back slightly to Warrior I. We'll inhale sliding the hands through the center as we straighten the back. Now, we'll take the right forearm, putting that to the right knee, as we exhale to reach over with the left arm, trying to keep it in line with the left leg for our Extended Triangle. Now, we'll inhale feeling the tug on this left elbow, as we leave the legs where they are, as we exhale to look over the right hand for Warrior II. We'll inhale pushing off the right foot, turning that towards the front, touching the palms together, as we exhale to bend the knees, stepping the feet together. And now, we'll go for our Dancer's Pose which is kind of a tricky pose. So, take it easy and do only what you can. We'll inhale first, lifting up our ankle and then, as we exhale, we'll counter valets, lifting our arm and then trying to gradually lift up our knee. And now we'll inhale bringing the leg back down and as we exhale, we'll take a nice step out and bring the hands to the center so we can start it all on the other side. We'll inhale bringing the hands up, clasping them together, as we exhale to turn the left foot out, bending the knees for Warrior I. We'll inhale sliding the hands through the center, dropping the left forearm to the left knee, as we exhale to shift the gaze to the ceiling for our Extended Triangle. We'll inhale pulling back on the right elbow, as we exhale to look over the left hand for Warrior II. We'll inhale pushing off the left foot, turning that towards the front, as we exhale to circle the hands around, bending the knees as we bring the left foot to the right foot. And now we'll go for our Dancer's Pose on this side, as we inhale grabbing the left ankle and as we exhale, reaching forward with the right hand. We'll inhale bringing the left leg back down and as we exhale, we'll step back out again, bringing the hands back into the center. Now that you know the benefits of Prenatal Yoga and some great poses to get you started in this practice, I wish you good luck. This is Jennifer Parker with Fluidity Dance and Yoga. Namaste.