I spoke to the lovely Hanna Weber from Yoga during pregnancy, who is an expert in chakra yoga, pregnancy yoga and mommy-baby yoga. She explained to me what pregnancy yoga can do, what the benefits are and made an interesting comparison between online vs. on-site classes.

1. Pregnancy yoga in general

Pregnancy yoga is ideal as a form of exercise during pregnancy. It combines so much that is important for you and your baby during pregnancy. Yoga is not just movement, you will also learn breathing techniques, meditation and, above all, get to know yourself better. You strengthen your intuition and learn to trust your gut feeling again. You feel the deep connection to your baby and strengthen it already during pregnancy. This bond that exists between you from the very beginning of your pregnancy is magical. And by the way, yoga during pregnancy helps you to naturally prepare for the birth. You won't find this combination in any other sport.

Physical fitness: Strengthening your muscles during pregnancy is super important. Little by little your beautiful baby bump is growing, your baby is gaining weight and is thriving in you. But in order to be able to carry this additional weight without discomfort, you need well-trained muscles. In this way you prevent back pain and other pregnancy complaints or alleviate existing problems.

Mental balance: The various meditation and breathing techniques will help you to feel more balanced and relaxed. You will learn how to relax quickly even in stressful times. This will make you more relaxed overall, no matter what you are confronted with. By the way, your baby is already aware of all your feelings and is just as happy about a lot of relaxation, joy and balance as you are.

Connection to the baby: During the pregnancy yoga class, you and your baby are the sole focus. Everything else doesn't matter. This is how you take a little break from your everyday life and draw your attention to the miracle in your stomach and you.

Natural birth preparation: The yoga poses increase your flexibility and endurance. This will be very useful to you during childbirth. But not only does it prepare you physically for the birth, but also mentally. In this way you can fully concentrate on yourself during the birth, feel what you need when and give your baby optimal support to see the light of day.

2. Can I start with pregnancy yoga even if I have no experience yet?

Starting yoga during pregnancy is perfect. A lot of women start yoga at this very special time and are surprised at how good it is for them. That said, you absolutely don't have to be a yoga pro to do yoga while pregnant. The poses are all explained in great detail and care is taken to ensure you don't overdo it.

The most important thing in yoga is that you take good care of yourself and learn to feel what is good for you and what is not. It is not important that you execute a pose perfectly or get particularly deep, it is important that you knowing and respecting your own limits. Not only valuable for your pregnancy, but for your entire life.

You may be wondering what the difference is between yoga and prenatal yoga. In pregnancy yoga we pay attention to your very special needs with a pot belly. This means that we avoid exercises that would not be good for you and the baby. These include, for example, asanas in a prone position or targeted abdominal muscle training. Otherwise it's actually quite "normal" yoga.

4. Find the right pregnancy yoga course

You can either book a pregnancy yoga course in a yoga studio or you can choose an online course. Both have their advantages and disadvantages and what suits you better depends on your personal situation. If you are very busy and are looking for a flexible way to do yoga, then a self-contained online course is perfect for you. If you are more interested in getting to know other pregnant women, then an on-site yoga course is ideal for you.

Advantages of online course

You have little time and want to train flexibly? Then I recommend my online course pregnancy yoga. This course is packed with valuable content for your pregnancy and birth. You can choose exactly the yoga class you feel like doing from a variety of long and short yoga units. You get to know your pelvic floor, learn to meditate, connect with your baby with the guided meditations and mentally prepare yourself for your birth with a hypno recording.

But an online course has many other advantages:

You save yourself the travel time and don't have to be on time.

Who doesn't know it, the clock is ticking and you're pretty close to getting to your yoga class on time. And of course, exactly when you're in a hurry, one after the other traffic lights in front of you will turn red. When you train online, your yoga mat will wait for you until you have time for it. This saves you precious nerves because you can't be late. But you also save yourself the travel time. It will take at least 20 minutes to get to and from the yoga studio. During this time you could do a short yoga session at home.

You save money and get even more

While you pay for each class you attend at an on-site yoga class, you can practice online as often as you like. In addition, you get a lot more on offer. You can download various guided meditations onto your cell phone and listen to them again and again when you need a 5-minute break. With a hypno recording you prepare yourself mentally for your birth and the accompanying e-book provides you with useful information about pregnancy, yoga and childbirth.

You start immediately and train wherever you want

Many pregnancy yoga courses are booked up very quickly and you only get one place on the waiting list. If you choose an online course, you can start immediately after payment! And the best thing is, you can train wherever you want. Just take your course with you on vacation and roll out your yoga mat there too.

Advantages of yoga course on site

You get to know other pregnant women

You like to train in a community? Then it is perfect for you to book a yoga course on site. You will also get to know other pregnant women with whom you can connect. If you decide to take an online course, there are still many other ways to meet like-minded people. For example at the birth preparation course or in the toddler group after the birth.

If you book a yoga course in a yoga studio, you will get direct feedback from your yoga teacher and you can ask questions if you don't understand something. This is often an important point, especially for beginners. But you can also get all the poses explained in detail online and contact us by email if you have a question.

While some pregnant women love and need flexibility, it is very important for others to have a fixed appointment to go to a yoga studio so that they can really switch off. That depends entirely on your own needs.

But you can also combine both types. For example, you go to the yoga studio once a week and use the online offer for the rest of the week if you feel like doing yoga several times a week.

Whether online, on site or both, we wish you a lot of fun with pregnancy yoga and a relaxed pregnancy! :-)

Guest contribution by Hanna Weber. You can find more information about pregnancy yoga at www.yogainderschwangerschaft.de.

Photo Credit:

Photo 1: Hanna Weber from Pregnancy Yoga

Photo 2: freestocks.org by Pexels

Photo 3: by Yan Krukov by Pexels