PREGNANCY YOGA VIDEOS | prenatal and postnatal yoga video

Prenatal Yoga with Shiva Rea

The best thing about this prenatal yoga tape is that there is a model for each trimester. Instructor Shiva Rea demonstrates each of the stretches and exercises for the first trimester, and two pregnant women show modifications for the second and third trimesters (they're even dressed in different colors for easy reference). This removes the self-doubt home-exercisers often have about the safety of certain moves – especially in that cumbersome final stage of pregnancy.

Using gentle voice-over instruction, Shea and her assistants take viewers through a half hour of meditational stretches using blocks and chairs for support. She follows that up with 16 minutes of floor work: lunge pose, bridge pose, child's pose, plank pose – all with the necessary adjustments.

She winds things up with a four-minute guided relaxation on her back – the traditional position – with the second-trimester woman on her side and the third on her side with one leg up on a chair. By including the different adaptations, Shea has made a tape with the flexibility to carry an expectant mom through her entire pregnancy – and beyond, if she wishes.
• VHS

• DVD

Crunch - Yoga Mama - Video - (2000)
Crunch - Yoga Mama - Video

Crunch, a New York-based gym, keeps bringing innovative and hip exercise videos to VCRs across the country. You don't have to be in a metropolitan area to experience cutting-edge fitness trends and formats because Crunch: Yoga Mama delivers an effective (and chic) pre-natal workout that can be done in the comfort of your living room. Instructor (and pregnant woman) Sue Elkind leads this 40-minute workout with concise descriptions and a healthy knowledge of yoga as it relates to pregnancy.

The content here provides a workout that is both safe and efficient, with great attention to participants' individual fitness levels. This session is presented with a backdrop class (consisting of women in various stages of their pregnancies) that demonstrates modified and more challenging options to each pose. Pregnant participants may find it more appropriate (and less annoying) to take direction from another pregnant woman rather than an ultra flexible, ultra thin (non-pregnant) instructor.

Basic postures within yoga are taught with intensive focus on breathing, flexibility, and the constant connection between mind/body (and mother/child). Some poses are altered to accommodate the roundness of the midsection with constant awareness of spine alignment. Elkind gives special attention to balance as she slowly increases the intensity of postures. After a series of basic poses are performed, Kegels are practiced (which strengthen the pelvic floor), and meditation closes out the workout.

This basic format is friendly for beginners, pre- and post-natal women, or anyone who requires modifications. This safety-conscious video offers a simple, straightforward workout with real potential for increased strength and flexibility. Props needed: a blanket or pillow, a mat, and (especially if you are expecting) a chair.

Postnatal Yoga and Infant Massage with Shiva Rea & Michelle Kluck

INFANT MASSAGE - For a baby, touch is one of the most essential elements of healthy development. In Massage Practice for Infants, Certified Infant Massage Instructor, Michelle Kluck takes you step-by-step through safe and effective techniques that help relax your baby and relieve common physical discomforts. Practicing massage daily helps deepen the communication between infant and parent -- and builds a solid foundation for your child's overall health and well-being.

How Infant Massage Benefits Your Baby: Stimulation - enhances brain and body communication. Relaxation - teaches babies how to relax and to handle stress. Relief - helps relieve the symptoms of colic and gas. Interaction - encourages bonding.

Good for babies 2 weeks old and up! - VHS -

YOGA JOURNAL'S POSTNATAL YOGA - Mothering a new baby is one of life's most fulfilling and challenging experiences. The practice of yoga helps you cultivate a conscious, loving connection with yourself at a time when the changes in your life are profound. Led by long-time yoga teacher Shriva Rea, Postnatal Yoga is designed to support you in recovery from the physical, emotional and spiritual stresses of giving birth, and to empower your daily life as the mother of a newborn. This practice strengthens and de-stresses muscles overworked by tending to a baby around the clock, and helps ease the stress of sleep deprivation, baby's tears and family tensions. Modifications enable you to honor your body's limitations to safely and gently recover your strength. To maintain joy in the demands of motherhood, it is essential that you find ways to nourish yourself. This yoga practice extends a daily invitation to deepen your relationship with yourself, your baby, your family and your world.

Includes Three Progressive Sequences: Center your awareness as you rebuild pelvic muscles and abdominals. Strengthen abs and lower back, open hips and stabilize spine. And Maintain balance while creating power in legs and lower body. Props Recommended: Mat, Blanket, Block, Bolster, Chair, - VHS - 60 Minutes

Postnatal Yoga with Shiva Rea

Led by long-time yoga teacher Shiva Rea, Postnatal Yoga is designed to support you in recovery from the physical, emotional and spiritual stresses of giving birth, and to empower your daily life as the mother of a newborn.

This practice strengthens and de-stresses muscles overworked by tending to a baby around the clock, and helps ease the stress of sleep deprivation, baby’s tears and family tensions. Modifications enable you to honor your body’s limitations to safely and gently recover your strength.

To maintain joy in the demands of motherhood, it is essential that you find ways to nourish yourself. This yoga practice extends a daily invitation to deepen your relationship with yourself, your baby, your family and your world.

Total running time: 60 min