YOUR Empowered Pregnancy & Birth!

Welcome to Your 2nd Trimester- Introduction Lecture.

This introduction lecture will show you how this section is laid out and how to best approach each section in this practice. In this lecture we will discuss the following;

1. How your body is changing at this stage

2. Common pregnancy pains and ailments that occur during the 1st trimester

3. Baby’s development

4. Movements and postures you will need to avoid

5. General recommendations for this trimester

Welcome to your 2nd Trimester Exercise Practice!

This practice is great for you whether you are new to exercise or have an established exercise routine. If you are newer to exercise, I recommend doing the first half (about 10min) of the exercise practice for a few days or a week. After you establish a regular routine, you can add the second half of the practice in. I also recommend starting with just 1 set of repetitions, instead of 2 or 3. If you have an established exercise practice, feel free to do 2 or 3 sets of each exercise.

In this practice we will:

1. Exercise to train our core with special pregnancy core movements paired with your "360 Diaphragm Breath".

2. Learn how to train our glutes, hips and supporting muscles for good pelvic support.

You can continue to do this practice throughout your pregnancy as your body grows and changes to stay mindfully aware of your posture and movement. If any of the movements begin to cause you pain or discomfort, please discontinue them. There are safety cues in the resources section below to help you stay mindful of your core pressure management and your pelvic floor.

Welcome to your 2nd Trimester Yoga practice!

This practice was designed specifically with your 2nd trimester body and pregnancy changes in mind. The practice has a focus of building core strength safely and effectively. Your 2nd trimester practice includes:

1. We will practice postures that train your "Core 4" muscles, our hip flexion muscles and our adductors.

2. We will learn how to modify our Sun Salutation sequence to accommodate the 2nd trimester needs.

3. This practice includes movements and postures that will help to ease some of the common "pregnant pains" that you may experience, like heartburn, acid reflux, SI joint or low back pain and Charlie horses or other muscle cramping.

This yoga sequence is great to practice throughout your entire pregnancy, however, I recommend waiting until you are at least 4 months postpartum if you delivered vaginally and 6 months postpartum if you had a c-section birth.

In Your 2nd Trimester Mindfulness Practice we will do:

1. The Alternate Nostril Breath - focuses on balancing the 2 halves of your brain and regulating your nervous system.

2. Guided Meditation- Womb Connection - this meditation will guide you through a total body relaxation process and womb connection to strengthen your mind-body connection and your bond with your baby.

Your second-trimester mobility practice focuses on your neck, shoulders, thoracic spine, and hips to keep our major joints functioning well as we move into our next trimester and experience greater physical body changes.

Welcome to Your 3rd Trimester- Introduction Lecture.

This introduction lecture will show you how this section is laid out and how to best approach each section in this practice. In this lecture we will discuss the following;

1. How your body is changing at this stage

2. Common pregnancy pains and ailments that occur during the 1st trimester

3. Baby’s development

4. Movements and postures you will need to avoid

5. General recommendations for this trimester

Welcome to your 3rd Trimester Exercise Practice!

This practice is great for building arm and shoulder strength and we will continue to work on movements that will strengthen our core to prepare us for an empowered birth. If you are newer to exercise, I recommend doing the first half (about 10min) of the exercise practice for a few days or a week. After you establish a regular routine, you can add the second half of the practice in. I also recommend starting with just 1 set of repetitions, instead of 2 or 3. If you have an established exercise practice, feel free to do 2 or 3 sets of each exercise.

In this practice we will:

1. We will continue to train our core with special pregnancy core movements that will target the core muscles that assist with birth.

2. Work on upper body strengthening of our arm and shoulders that will help us grow stronger and create good postural alignment. These exercises will help combat the "hunchback" rounding of your upper spine in your last trimester.

You can continue to do this practice throughout your pregnancy as your body grows and changes to stay mindfully aware of your posture and movement. If any of the movements begin to cause you pain or discomfort, please discontinue them. There are safety cues in the resources section of your 2nd Trimester exercise practice to help you stay mindful of your core pressure management and your pelvic floor.

Welcome to your 3rd Trimester Yoga practice!

This practice was designed specifically with your 3rd trimester body and pregnancy changes in mind. The practice has a focus of preparing your body for birth and relaxing your nervous system. Your 3rd trimester practice includes:

1. This is a accessible practice to most folks. We do our warm up movements in a chair and then the rest of the movements are done with props on the floor or in your bed. This practice was written to be accessible to those who use assistive devices.

2. We will have a short "Chair Yoga" movement practice that leads into a "Restorative Prenatal Yoga" practice. Each posture will be fully supported with a lot of props for ultimate relaxation.

3. This practice includes movements and postures that will help to ease some of the common "pregnant pains" that you may experience, shortness of breath, round ligament pain, pelvic girdle pain or low back pain.

This yoga sequence is great to practice throughout your entire pregnancy and is gentle enough to continue in your postpartum recovery.

In Your 3rd Trimester Mindfulness Practice we will do:

1. Tapping (EFT)- focuses on gently tapping on acupressure points )used in Traditional Chinese Medicine) to help you relax, de-stress and helps to regulate your nervous system.

2. Somatic Movements - gentle, mindful movements that help you embody the feelings, sensations, thoughts and aches/pains of pregnancy. By doing embodiment practices we understand how to process these things in a healthy way.

Your third-trimester mobility practice is focused on your lumbar spine, hip flexion muscles, and the musculature of your pelvic floor to help reduce common pregnancy symptoms that arise in this trimester and help to prepare these areas of your body for birth.

In this "mini class", we will focus on 4 stretches and movements that help relieve round ligament discomfort during your 2nd and 3rd trimesters.

Sciatica symptoms are a real pain in the bottom during pregnancy. These stretches and movements can help relieve some general pain until you are able to see a prenatal provider for further assessment.

PGP (Pelvic Girdle Pain) is a general term for any pain and discomfort in the pelvic region or surrounding areas. Sometimes, stabilizing the pelvis with gentle strengthening exercises can help decrease your symptoms. The exercises in this mini-class will help you do that. Pelvic health therapists are also helpful to help PGP symptoms.

In this bonus section, we will learn how to breath for each phase of your birth. In each phase of birth, your breath can help with the following;

1. Reduce pain and prevent the "Fear-Pain Cycle" with breathing exercise and birth postures.

2. Ease your core pressure to prevent perineal tearing.

3. Maximize your contractions and pushing phase.

4. Help reset your nervous system and reduce cortisol after birth.

This Birth Prep Exercise practice can be started at any time during your pregnancy, however, I begin this routine with my clients at their 34th week of pregnancy and have them practice this routine twice a week until their birthing day.

These mindful movements can be practiced with your partner to help guide you through each stage of labor for optimal fetal engagement through your pelvis. The partner support postures help you feel nurtured and supported during your birthing day. If you have done private, virtual birth prep with me, these are the postures we practiced in our sessions.

Helping baby descend easily through each level of the pelvis with birth movement.

This lecture is about how you can mindfully navigate your early PP (postpartum) recovery time to maximize your healing benefits and reduce common PP issues.

These breathing exercises are designed to help you re-establish your core connection in your early PP recovery. They are safe for all birth experiences and will help your organs settle back into place, your ribs to relax and your diaphragm to function at it's most optimal functionality.

This guided meditation practice will help you connect deeply to your mind-body awareness in the first couple of weeks after birth. This is especially helpful in helping you regulate your nervous system and reducing your body's stress response.

These mindful movement practices are gentle and supportive and appropriate for most folks during early PP recovery. They combine practices like Tai Chi, yoga and somatic embodiment practice to nurture your body and mind.

Brain Balancing Breath for early postpartum recovery. This breath technique is a combination of Alternate Nostril Breathing and a Tibetan Yogic breath exercise. It helps to balance the two hemispheres of your brain, reduce stress and help your body process emotions.

This Foundation Meditation builds upon our Waterfall Meditation from Weeks 1 and 2. We continue to tap into the energetic principles of our heart, womb, and root chakras or, centers. By intertwining mind/body awareness techniques and subtle body breath work, we can begin to make the connections between our physical bodies and our powerful minds that are so crucial to our healing journey.

In weeks 3 and 4 of postpartum recovery, you may find yourself doing a little more movement as you take yourself and your baby to doctor's appointments and other necessary outings. The mindful movement we focus on in this practice will help support your body functionality as you begin to add more movement to your daily postpartum life.

Side Lying Breath helps you find awareness in your lateral (side) body and movement in your ribcage. This will help you find your best breath and really work your diaphragm muscle with more ease. Finding ease with the breath will allow for better core function.

This section is dedicated to weeks 5 and 6 of your postpartum recovery. We will continue to expand upon the mindful movements we have already practiced in the previous weeks that will continue to support your body as it heals from birth. I have included a tapping practice as part of our mindfulness care for nervous system regulation.

This 15-minute workout has a core and pelvic floor focus and BUILDS upon the foundation of mindful movement and breath work that we laid in the EARLY postpartum recovery section. You can use body weight or a light-medium weight resistance band. Start with one set of each movement and as you progress through the weeks, try adding a set or more resistance.

This postpartum yoga sequence is the perfect blend of strength and stretch and many of the postures have a pelvic floor focus.

This movement practice focuses on the healthy mobility of our postpartum body. We work on the range of motion of our shoulders/neck, thoracic mobility, and hips. This is a seated practice and we will use a small, 9"round Pilates ball AKA Corgis ball.

Help your postpartum body function with ease and comfort with these mobility practices for better joint function and range of motion.