It’s not that time of the year without scrambling through the goals list and realizing that only 88 days are left to tick the checklist that was so ambitiously prepared at the beginning of the year. Since I was pregnant, my list was pretty simple. Read 30 books and get back into my yoga practice after the delivery of the baby. The former is embarrassingly lagging behind with only 13 books completed, but I have made good progress in getting back on track. My core strength has improved since the last time I wrote about fitness at 4 months postpartum. So here’s a massive update on 6 Months Postpartum Yoga and fitness.
I had a Diastasis Recti (abdominal separation) measuring three and a half fingers after delivery. So until the gap had reduced to about 2 fingers I did a lot of pelvic core exercises, concentrating on strengthening my TVA muscles. The exercises are very simple but extremely essential to strengthen core post-birth. A weak pelvic core can result is long term issues, one of the most common being bladder incontinence.
I am happy to say that my DR is gone. Yayyy!! Which means I can now happily do deep core workouts. 😀
Yoga Inversions
Initially, after 6 weeks of giving birth, I could do headstands with wall support. But I have seen a lot of improvement after working on my core and back strength. I am now able to hold headstands without the wall and do other variations as well. Balancing headstand with Eagle legs adds a little more challenge.
When I first started my Yoga practice in 2015, I practiced a lot of Tripod headstand and then built my strength to do other inversions. After pregnancy, I am back to building my foundation and improving yoga asanas that I could do before.
I learned about Mukta Hasta Sirsasana on Instagram, which is my favorite platform to find inspiration and stay motivated. This extended shoulder variation is certainly a lot more difficult to balance than the supported headstand.
I still haven’t gained back the strength to do a Forearm stand and Handstand. But since last month I have started doing Handstand drills in this tight corner of my room. My first handstand in over a year. 🙂
Hanumanasana or Front Splits
I tried to find articles on when to start doing splits after episiotomy but there isn’t much information available online. So I waited till 5 months to start transitioning into splits. Most days I would do warmups and stretches that improve hip and back flexibility. You can read about how I learnt to do splits in this blogpost.
Now that my abdominal separation (DR) is healed, I can do planks again. But it is all about slowly building up the strength. 10 breaths … 20 breaths … 30 breaths. I haven’t done minute holds like I used to do before. But hopefully, I will be able to do them soon.
As I couldn’t do front planks for longer interval, I would challenge myself with these side plank variations. Side planks are said to be much more safer than front planks after pregnancy.
Increasing core strength meant I could start practicing other deep core yoga asanas like Bakasana, baby Grasshopper, and Chaturanga Dandasana. I have always found Bakasana really hard, but after pregnancy, it seemed to have increased a notch higher.
The one yoga pose that I really want to do again is Wheel or Chakrasana. Working on shoulder and back stretches have helped me to achieve Camel or Utrasana again, but wheel is still a distant dream.
My baby has started sitting up now and soon he would be crawling. I can only hope that I will be able to fit in my practice while running after a mischievous baby. 😀 Practicing Yoga helps me find my balance – physically and mentally. It is my happy place where I can concentrate on nothing else but only my breathe. And trust me, we all need a happy place like that.
With that thought let me conclude this post. Stay strong and humble! 🙂
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I received this tag from Tulika at https://obsessivemom.in/. It’s my pleasure to pass on this tag to Anamika at https://thebespectacledmother.com/. There are 38 of us on this Blog Hop and it will be spread over 3 days – 4, 5, 6 October 2019. Do follow the #WordsMatter Blog Hop and prepare to be surprised!
Love all things yoga! I didnt find yoga until well after my little one was not so little anymore so its always interesting to me those that practice yoga while pregnant and after. In general through my yoga training it was always indicated that one shouldnt (not really that you couldnt) practice yoga or inversions while on your cycle so it would make sense that one would want to wait some time after giving birth before trying.I believe yoga is a wonderful way to get back to yourself especially after baby. Movement mediation in its finest! Thanks for teaching me a thing or two.
You always impress me with your yoga poses. Absolutely incredible and inspiring! I’m getting back into my yoga practice now and I’m working towards being as flexible as you eventually.
The progress you attained is simply awesome. It gives me motivation to start practicing yoga again 😛
You are amazing. I can’t do any of those things and every time I am here, I tell myself that someday I will get where you are 🙂
That last picture is so cute 🙂 Thanks for joining #WordsMatter with this post. It’s a great inspiring one.
You are an inspiration dear. I should get back to my yoga ASAP.
Wow! You are so inspiring. I have just started doing yoga and I wonder if the day will ever come when I can do head stands!
that’s great… just keep going at it 😀 Thank you
Wow! You are so very strong and flexible. Congratulations of returning your body to pre pregnancy shape. You child is adorable! I did yoga for many years but knee injuries interfered and I gave it up. I should try to find a modified program again that will adjust for my bad knees.
thank you so much. I hope you find a program that suits you. 🙂
This is astounding stuff, Raj! You are such an amazing Yoga practitioner. You are acing the asanas and more than that you are doing them safely. Kudos!
Thank you so much Rachna. Just trying my best to stay active 😀