A grounding and smooth vinyasa yoga practice for mama’s in their third trimester; this prenatal sequence offers a well-rounded flow to strengthen and support the legs and low back. This class features Wave Theory from Shiva Rea’s Prana Flow. Connect to breath as you dance through several progressive waves, building heat and stability with lunges, warriors, chair pose, and triangle pose. Close your practice with seated poses to lengthen the inner thighs, low back, and hamstrings.

Style: Vinyasa Yoga. Prenatal Series – Trimester 3

Duration: 30-mins

Level: Open-level class

Props: 2 Blocks

Focus: Lunges, Triangle, Supported Bridge, Gate pose—no peak pose

Location: Haramara, Mexico

This practice asks that you create a state of calm in your body for you and your babe. As you sit and breathe, place your hands on your belly and feel your baby. What is the word you would like to fuel your practice with? Can you select one word for you and your baby to breathe into as you flow? Choosing a word gives the mind something focus on as you dance through practice; it acts as a mantra to connect with and allows for a more meditative state. Mantra quiets the habitual fluctuations of the mind by focusing on a set word or series of words, which will enable you to flow freely and feel the sensations of the body as you breathe and move.

Through yoga, we train our bodies and minds to become more disciplined in action and thought; practicing while pregnant treats you and your baby to all the benefits of the practice. The physical postures (asana) equally strengthen and lengthen the muscles and connective tissues that prepare the body for childbirth. Prenatal yoga may decrease the pain around the lower back and hips, and allow for better sleep and concentration. The attunement to breath, words (mantras), and meditation strengthen the mind’s ability to stay present and focus on the tasks at hand, which also prepares you for childbirth and the shift into motherhood.

Opening Meditation

Start seated and place your hand’s palm down on the belly, close your eyes, and feel your breath move through your body. Bring your palms to your stomach, and feel your baby as you breathe. Check-in, how are you doing today? How are the two of you doing today? What is the word you want to feel in this practice, to nourish you and your child?

Wave 1

Anahatasana (heart pose) take knees wide to allow space for your belly.

Adho Mukha Svanasana (downward dog) take feet wide to give the belly lots of room.

• Bike pedal out the legs and sway hips side to side to release the low back.

* You can always take tabletop on hands and knees if a downward dog is too much 

Uttanasana (forward fold) take feet hip-distance or wider.

• Pedal out the legs and sway your hips side to side

* Place hands on blocks or on thighs to support the weight of your baby

Roll up to stand with chin into the chest

Tadasana (mountain pose)

Uttanasana (forward fold)

Anjaneyasana (low lunge)

*Take hands inside the feet as you step back and the front leg wide to allow space for your belly

Ardha Purvottanasana (tabletop)

*Hands to blocks as you transition to a downward dog, or stay in tabletop pose

Marjaryasana (angry cat pose) to open the back body

• Cycle through cat/cows and back through a downward dog

Anjaneyasana (low lunge)

Uttanasana (forward fold)

Tadasana (mountain pose)

Repeat on the other side

Wave 2

Utkatasana (chair pose)

*Take feet wider than hip-distance to support the belly

Uttanasana (forward fold)

Anjaneyasana (low lunge)

Ardha Purvottanasana (tabletop) OR Adho Mukha Svanasana (downward dog)

Phalakasana (plank pose)

Knees to the ground, come to shins at the back of your mat for a Prana Flow breathing

• Inhale hands extend overhead
• Exhale arms cactus wide to the side
• Inhale arms draw together in front of the chest, elbows touching
• Exhale arm sweep forward and up
• Repeat this cycle several times

Ardha Purvottanasana (tabletop) OR Adho Mukha Svanasana (downward dog)

Ashta Chandrasana (high lunge)

*Front leg a little wide to make space for your belly  

Take back knee to the ground and kick-stand the back leg to the same side of the mat

Utthan Pristhasana (lizard pose) variation

• Walk hands off the top corner of your mat and breathe into the inner groins of the front leg and your side waist

Parighasana (gate pose) variation

• Reach opposite arm up above your head and breathe into the side waist

Virabhadrasana II (warrior 2)

*Use a block on the inside of the front leg to support the transition to upright 

Viparita Virabhadrasana (peaceful warrior)

Trikonasana (triangle pose)

Uttanasana (forward fold)

Roll up to stand with bent knees

Tadasana (mountain pose)

Repeat on the other side

Twisting Sequence

Utkatasana (chair pose)

Wide-armed twist from chair pose

• Take feet mat distance
• Place one hand on a block
• Take the opposite hand up to the sky

Both palms to blocks and round the back to release

Repeat on the other side

Tadasana (mountain pose)

Uttanasana (forward fold)

Ardha Purvottanasana (tabletop)

Balasana (child’s pose)

*OR heart pose with wide legs to make space for the belly, place forehead to a block

Cooling Sequence

Setu Bandhasana (bridge pose) active, or supported with a block, for eight breaths.

Take hips to the ground and come up to sit.

Sukhasana (seated twist) variation

*Take the legs wide to allow space for your belly and twist in the same direction as the leg that’s extended, so you don’t compress the baby. 

Janu Sirsasana (head to knee forward bend)

*Take hands inside the extended leg to bow forward and down, belly to the ankle that’s close to the groin, use a block or bolster to rest the forearms 

Baddha Konasana (bound angle pose)

*Take elbows to a bolster or to blocks to support the weight of the belly and torso

Seated meditation with hands to belly to close your practice.