In your first trimester you may be dealing with fatigue, sickness, nausea, headaches, body tenderness, heartburn, constipation, and other sensations. It is important to feel into your body and align with your innate wisdom. If a heated class like Yoga FLOW, Yoga FiiT or Barre BURN feels good in your body, then follow the charm. If you're craving a slow and steady pace, try Mindful FLOW, Align + FLOW, Restorative Yoga or a more traditional Barre class.

In general, be mindful of any extreme twists of the spinal column as moving in the transverse plane could potentially dislodge the placenta from the uterine wall. While the risk of this is extremely low, we believe that there can be consideration of this type of movement with a greater awareness of the body. Avoid any deep, compressive twists where your baby belly would be pulling or pushing into your thigh. As long as vertical twists or open twists feel good in your body, that could be a possibility for you.

As your pregnancy progresses, it will most likely not be comfortable for you or the baby to lay on your stomach. Instead of stomach-down prone postures, feel free to take table top, child's pose, downward-facing dog, and/or any standing squat variations. You have full license to take care of you, your baby, your body, mind and heart here in our studio.

In your third trimester it may no longer be comfortable to lay on your back due to the weight of the baby laying on top of the inferior vena cava, which returns deoxygenated blood from the lower extremities to the right atrium of the heart. You can simply utilize a block or bolster behind the shoulders or spine to elevate your back off the floor, or you can also lay on your left side.

We recommend our pregnant students to take their knees to the floor in any plank variations. This will allow you to create maximum support of the spine as well as integrate the pelvic floor and breath connection.

Core work in seated and/or lying on your back can be accessible for all stages of pregnancy; however, please consider steadiness as your best asset versus range of motion of arms or legs. In other words, do your best to keep your hips and spine stable in neutral rather than moving your extremities in any direction.

The most important aspect of core integration during pregnancy is the fluid connection of your pelvic floor, deep core stabilizers and diaphragm (your breath). It is important to be able to utilize your pelvic floor and deep core cylinder to stabilize the intra-abdominal pressure to decrease your risk of advanced abdominal separation (diastasis recti). Take a look at your front abdominal wall during all core exercises and do your best to make sure it flattens rather than domes or pyramids.

This is a big one! And we feel you. Please know that every body is different, every pregnancy is different, and the constant Google searching is exhausting. You already have everything you need. You already have the knowledge you desire. Slow down and allow yourself to tune into it.

With that being said, stability takes precedence over mobility, particularly during pregnancy. During pregnancy your body is releasing many hormones, one of which is called relaxin. Relaxin is important in softening soft tissues, such as tendons and ligaments, in order to allow your pelvis to expand to create space for your growing baby.

Relaxin also creates greater instability, which can lend to low back pain, round ligament pain, sciatica and/or tenderness in the hips. Many pregnant students feel pain and/or discomfort and believe that more stretching will be the answer. Typically, the exact opposite is true. What could be the most beneficial tool for your body in these circumstances is deep, supported core and pelvic floor integration.