What is Sattva Prenatal Yoga?

Sattva Prenatal Yoga is a curated set of practices from the Sattva tradition dedicated to the support of women during their pregnancy, birth and after birth. The integrated teachings of the Sattva tradition are very supportive for women during this time.

Babies bring their mamas to yoga!

In the Sattva Prenatal Classes I have offered, almost every class has a mama who is coming to yoga for the first time.  In fact, I first started practicing yoga 26 years ago, when I was pregnant!  

Pregnant women desire to be their very best during their pregnancy, to support their baby to have a healthy start.  They are interested in releasing old habits and beginning new healthy ones. They feel drawn to yoga, intuitively knowing that these practices can be supportive to their journey of pregnancy.

Pregnant mamas are in the midst of dramatic change on every level.  Sattva Prenatal Yoga, as in integrated yoga practice, can support them on every level– physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.

With the rapid changes that come with pregnancy, there can be increased feelings of anxiety and worry.  This anxiety can increase stress hormones that can affect how a baby grows.  One aspect that Sattva Prenatal focuses on is decreasing stress.  

Through Sattva Prenatal Meditation, women can start a daily meditation practice that helps the mind come to ease and peace.  The integrated practices of asana, kriya, pranayama, mantras, and mudras support the release of stress and focus on stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system– bringing rest and ease.  When mama is in ease, baby is also in ease.

When a mother is in a state of stress, the baby’s physiology can be affected by the constant release of stress hormones like cortisol, epinephrine, and norepinephrine.  These can affect the baby’s developing nervous system. In this way, the baby may be more irritable, more colicky, less resilient to stress, cry more, and be less easy to console after birth.

Just the opposite is true when the mother is relaxed during pregnancy.  She produces oxytocin, endorphins and anandamide which create an environment that is easeful and supportive to an immature nervous system– that it will be more healthy.  Babies born to mothers that are relaxed in pregnancy are more resilient, less fussy, easier to console, sleep better and cry less after birth.  The Sattva Prenatal Yoga integrated practice is focused at increasing ease and joy during pregnancy.

With a body that is changing every day, the asana (yoga poses) of Sattva Prenatal are so helpful.  The practices support women to relieve aches and pains that occur as well as prevent those from starting.  So many women feel that they have to suffer physically during pregnancy.  This is not true!  Prenatal yoga brings strength and opening to the physical body, supporting women to be in more ease.  When practiced frequently, it can prevent those physical symptoms from even occurring.

The media often portrays pregnancy as a time of anxiety, pain and discomfort.  This does not have to be the path that women take.  Sattva Prenatal Yoga supports you to be your very best on every level-  mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually so that your pregnancy becomes a time of joy, presence, resilience and flow.   You are invited to take a different path…the path of Sattva Prenatal Yoga…. And experience the difference for you and your baby!

To learn more about Sattva Prenatal, please visit the prenatal section on Sattva Connect. There is also a Sattva Prenatal Meditation series with Aditi in the series section. AND, we will be launching a Sattva Prenatal Course - 9 months of Blossoming with Aditi and Siddhi very soon, so stay tuned!