BLACK : THE HEALTH MAGAZINE Vol3 | Page 20

YOGA Practicing yoga while pregnant is one of the best ways to keep your body feeling good and your mind in balance. If you’ve never practiced yoga before, start with prenatal yoga only. However, if you’ve been practicing yoga for awhile, you should be able to continue your regular yoga practice with a few modifications. When you’re pregnant, parts of your body hurt that you didn’t even know existed. Weird aches and pains pop up out of nowhere and your growing belly can make finding comfortable positions nearly impossible. Cathy Louise Broda certainly felt the pregnancy pains, especially the second time around when she was carrying twins. Thankfully, Broda has been doing yoga for 23 years and has honed her practice specifically for pregnant women. Broda recommends starting by sitting and doing three head rolls to the right and then left. You may be tempted to rush through this part, but don’t -- few things feel as good and relieve as much tension during pregnancy as a slow, deep head roll. Remember to stay off your belly when practicing Yoga poses.