As the belly gets bigger moms-to-be encounter more problems breathing, even when trying to do the simplest tasks. It’s quite common for expectant women to be short of breath. What actually happens is that the hormone progesterone causes you to breathe more deeply. This might make you feel as if you’re working harder to get air. Also, the enlarging of the uterus takes up more space, resulting in pressure against your diaphragm. As your baby “drops” lower into your pelvis and you near delivery, you should start to be able to breathe a little easier. But until then it is important to maintain good posture, expanded breathing and a positive mind set. Slouching doesn’t give your lungs enough room to expand when you breathe; shallow breath robs yours and your baby’s brain from oxygen and increases the production of adrenaline. As a result, fearful anticipation of the actual birth deprives you of enjoying the luminous state of pregnancy.

For the past five months I have witnessed my practice changing by the week. In the first trimester, I enjoyed a pretty advanced and varied practice. I still incorporated most yogic breathing techniques with ease, even the ones that involved longer breath retention. But now towards the end of the second trimester, I feel I need to give up some of my favorite advanced poses and binds for a deeper breathing practice.

Most prenatal pranayama techniques are valuable, but are limited to just a couple of ways always practiced in a propped seated position. My experience with prenatal yoga has intuitively guided me into practicing repetitive breathing in some safe and key asanas. When you are seated you feel extra pressure on the lower back and the breathing is agitated and somehow dashed. But if you practice the same breath in a rocking child’s pose, you will find that you not only free up more space for breathing, but you also massage the neck, as well as the lower back. Try breathing in a semi-standing Goddess pose and you will notice that your spine naturally hollows out and arches up, allowing you to center, ground and enjoy the stress-free undulation of the hips. This triggers the secretion of happy hormones and transforms your breathing into a devotional dance.

It is also so much fun to experiment the telescoping of your ribs and the amplifying of your diaphragm while you assume any kneeling position (whether “camel”, or “hero” pose). It allows you to find a different hinge point in space and view your pregnancy from different vantage points. You experience a different level of breath perception and expanded awareness that is not routine and physically, mentally and spiritually empowering.

There are also a couple of squatting, rocking breaths that you can probe which will make you feel you are cradling your baby and self, while opening up the hips and yielding joyfully to gravity. This is the energy you need to harness during labor. These repetitive rocks practiced in a fan pose or a deep squat also activate the energy in your basal chakras that facilitate a safe and smooth birth.

And although reclining breathing is not recommended because of the pressure of the uterus on the lungs, and the belly weight loading the heart, I have discovered self-propped ways that unlock reclining breathing and rocking. As you bend your elbows and prop your body on your forearms while smiling the hips out, you create a safe, soothing, energizing, expansive and nourishing way to feed the baby with vital force.

All of these flowing posture-breathing techniques allow you to generate positive energy and bask in the luminosity of baby and self. And they are Goddess-like to perform as you gracefully succumb to the dance of life. These flowing breathing practices associate birth with ritual dance. As you flow with the movements and tune them to your breath you actually explore the deep feminine power and spiritual connection inherent in primal rocking.

In most ancient traditions childbirth was associated with ecstatic pelvic dancing where breath and movement synched to support the labor process. When you integrate shimmy movements into the pranayama you activate the hips, chest and full body simultaneously and with time hone a wonderful looseness and relaxation of the muscles of the pelvic floor. These quick vibratory movements were actually intended to move the baby down the birth canal. These movements actually emulate the physical and emotional manifestations of labor in a woman’s body. In the early phases of the first stage of yielding, the mood is one of excitement, anticipation and welcoming of the onset of labor.

Many women, if left to their own instincts, choose upright positions and naturally move their hips and pelvis in circles and crescents. These movements help to disperse the pain, and are often prescribed by midwives especially when the woman is experiencing back pain. Moving the hips also facilitates the baby finding the optimal position for entering the birth canal. As the labor progresses to the active phase, and contractions become stronger, the woman goes deeper into herself.

An emotional turning inward which resembles the mood of “Shakti breath” (breath of fire) – or a serpentine dance of the pelvis accompanied by deep diaphragmatic breathing. In ancient birthing traditions, a shallow depression would have been dug into the earth to receive the baby, and the birthing woman would lower herself to the floor and position herself in such a way as to gently release the baby into this hollow. Then the woman’s abdomen begins to spontaneously undulate with the uncontainable urge to bear down that signals the beginning of the second stage of labor. Undulations are the slow, snakelike dance movements of the arms, abdomen and torso that prepare the mother for the great push – the culmination of the luminous dance of divine creation and natural flow.

Dear moms-to-be, come join this unique integration of dancing breath to celebrate your fertility, sensuality and abundance and affirm the fullness of your being!

This multi-dimensional Yogea series of breathing-asana practices sequenced in the form of a dance of creation offers a safe haven for moms-to-be to experience the soothing, energizing, expansive and nourishing effects of wedding dance and yoga from implantation to child-birth. Seated, reclining, kneeling, standing and squatting positions unlock the breath through the different chakras and body zones and bring greater mobility to the hip joints and looseness in the spine. The regular practice of this routine helps diminish shortness of breath and any physical discomforts at any stage of your pregnancy. Regular practice leads to overall to shorter labors and less need for interventions such epidural analgesics and C-section. The combination of breathing and rocking movements results into increased placental blood flow. This means the growing baby gets more oxygen and nutrients delivered to it throughout its intra-uterine life. Unlike many forms of fitness where the emphasis is on muscular contraction, this form of dancing breath balances muscular contraction with expansion or muscular lengthening, similar to yoga. This results in both increased strength and flexibility. Emphasizing the mind body and spirit connection, this luminous dance improves body awareness helping the woman to be in tune with her changing body and her growing baby.