13 Amazing Benefits of Prenatal Yoga

13 Amazing Benefits of Prenatal Yoga

Prenatal yoga plays a key role in a healthy pregnancy. It prepares your mind and body for childbirth and motherhood. Prenatal yoga practice helps to relieve stress and also reduces inflammation that is common pregnancy complications. Practicing yoga during pregnancy is extremely beneficial for the expectant mother as well as for her baby. Practicing prenatal yoga improves sleep, reduces anxiety and stress, increases the strength, stamina, and flexibility of those muscles that are required during labor and childbirth. Pregnant women experience lots of complications such as mood swings, morning sickness, back pain, cramping, and many more during pregnancy. Prenatal yoga helps to keep you away from such pregnancy complications. Breathing exercises also helps to calm your body and mind during pregnancy.

Benefits of Yoga During Pregnancy

Here are the benefits of prenatal yoga:

1. Develops Physical Strength, Stamina, and Flexibility

Prenatal yoga provides you physical strength and stamina. It helps to strengthen and increases the flexibility of muscles that are to be used during childbirth.

2. Strengthen Pelvic Area

Pelvic area weakens due to the weight that you carried during pregnancy. Practicing prenatal yoga helps to strengthen the pelvic area that helps you during delivery and post-partum recovery. 

(Also read: Top 10 Safe & Best Pregnancy Yoga poses and their benefits)

3. Prevent Pregnancy Complications

Prenatal yoga keeps you and your baby healthy. It helps to reduce and prevent many pregnancy complications such as back pain, headaches, insomnia, nausea, hypertension. Lower back pain is usually caused due to the shift in gravity during pregnancy. Practicing prenatal yoga on a regular basis strengthens the abdomen and back hence prevent lower back pain.

4. Regulates Blood Pressure

Prenatal yoga helps to keep your blood pressure level under control thus prevent hypertension that is a common complication during pregnancy.

5. Reduces Stress Levels

Yoga including breathing exercises, deep relaxation, meditation helps to reduce stress levels of a pregnant woman. Breathing exercises help to calm the body and mind and release stress and tensions during the pregnancy phase. 

6. Reduces Risk of Preterm Labor

High-stress levels during pregnancy can lead to miscarriage or preterm labor. Prenatal yoga is a great stress reducer. Pregnant women who do prenatal yoga on a daily basis have a lower preterm birth rate as well as a lower risk of pregnancy-induced hypertension.  

(Also read: Pregnancy at 8 weeks - What to expect)

7. Reduces pain during childbirth

Breathing exercises are really very helpful in reducing pain during childbirth. By practicing such exercises during pregnancy will help you to regulate your blood pressure and heart rate during the process of childbirth. These breathing exercises help to ease delivery.

8. Healthy Pregnancy and Easy Delivery

Prenatal yoga keeps you fit, active, and healthy. It helps to prevent excess weight gain during pregnancy. Practicing prenatal yoga burns your calories, strengthens your muscles thereby keeps you fit and active during the pregnancy phase. Staying active during pregnancy is essential for a healthy pregnancy and easy delivery.

9. Prepare for labor 

Prenatal yoga practice strengthens the core muscles of the abdomen and the pelvic region that helps pregnant women during the process of labor. Breathing plays a key role during the process of childbirth. Breathing exercises provide strength and stamina that is very essential to ease labor. prepares your body for labor and childbirth.

10. Good Sleep

Many pregnant women experienced insomnia during their pregnancy period. Lack of sleep can be harmful to the expectant mother and can cause complications during pregnancy. Prenatal yoga helps to release all your stress and tensions and calm the nervous system. Hence, it helps to improve your sleep patterns during pregnancy.

11. Reduces Edema

Prenatal yoga enhances blood circulation throughout the body that helps to reduce swelling (edema) and boosts your immunity during pregnancy. It also helps with fluid retention. 

(Also read: Amazing Benefits of Prenatal Massage)

12. Bonding with the baby

Prenatal yoga practice helps you to take some time from your busy life to focus attention on yourself and to establish a bond with your baby.

13. Fewer Complications

Practicing prenatal yoga helps to reduce the risk of many pregnancy complications such as preterm labor, intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR is a condition in which a baby growth slows during pregnancy). Practicing yoga on a regular basis also increases the chances of having a healthy baby. 


Prenatal yoga offers numerous benefits to the expectant mother and her baby. Practicing prenatal yoga on a regular basis not only keeps you healthy during pregnancy but also eases childbirth. Consult your doctor before practicing prenatal yoga. Here's wishing you a very happy, healthy and safe pregnancy.

Also, read other pregnancy-related articles :

• Pregnancy at 40 weeks - Symptoms, Ultrasound, Baby Development, Baby Size, Childbirth and Signs of Labor

• Pregnancy 38 weeks baby movement - Normal fetal movements, NST and BPP

• Kegel Exercises during pregnancy

• 10 Best exercises to induce labor naturally

• Blood test for pregnancy - Blood Group, Rh Factor, Cost, Accuracy, AFP and Multiple Marker Screening

• Top 10 best books to read during pregnancy

• Braxton Hicks Contractions vs True Contractions

Disclaimer: This content is intended for general information only and it should not be used as the basis of patient treatment. The given content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, treatment, or any diagnosis. Always consult a doctor for more information. Our website doesn't claim responsibility for this information.