A Heart-Opening Prenatal Yoga Sequence for Your 1st Trimester
For many who are in their first trimester of pregnancy, battling morning sickness (or all-day nausea), vomiting, food aversions, and extreme fatigue are a recipe for disrupting your workout routine. While it’s important to rest, gently moving your body and getting fresh air can help curb some of these pesky pregnancy symptoms and help you connect to your body.
Alo Moves instructor Briohny Smyth is prenatal yoga certified and a mother of two. Let her guide you through this heart-opening gentle flow that’s ideal and safe for pregnant people in their first trimester.
Supine Heart-Opener with Blocks
Sitting on your mat, set two blocks up horizontally behind you at medium height. If you know you’re more open in the shoulders, you can switch to the tall height. Set your legs out in front of you, gaze back and brace yourself with your hands as you begin to lie back. Lie down so that one block is at the bottom tips of your shoulder blades and in the center of your back. Bend your knees like Bridge and comfortably situate the back of your head on the second block. Make sure the back and front of your neck find symmetry and aren’t crunched. Open your arms out wide and either leave your legs bent or step them out as wide as your mat and let your knees drop in. Close your eyes and take several breaths here.
Smyth says, “Not only are you opening the shoulders in this position, you’re also creating a nice, solid backbend shape in your back.”
Prayer Pose with Blocks
Move your blocks to the front of your mat. Come on to your knees as you would in a Tabletop position. Arrange your blocks either in the medium or tall position in a narrow distance from each other, about chest-width apart. Come into Tabletop with your hands right behind the blocks, taking one elbow to a block, and then the other. Press your hands together in a prayer position and walk your knees back one small step, ensuring your feet are hips distance apart. Begin to lower your chest down to the mat, keeping your fingertips facing the front of the mat. Your head may go between your elbows, or you may prefer to lower it all the way to the mat. Now, lift your hands up in the prayer position so they face the sky. Keep pushing down through your elbows, spreading the shoulder blades wide and pushing your hands together. For a deeper stretch, you can walk your knees farther out if it feels comfortable.
According to Smyth, this pose is beneficial because it “helps open the shoulders without overstretching the belly.”
Downward Dog to Plank to a Cow Variation to Low Cobra
Move into Downward Dog. From Downward Dog, take your stance a bit wider than your hips, putting a tiny bend in your knees and pressing your outer hips out and back, rather than pressing your chest back. Shift forward into Plank. To modify, put your knees down on the mat or keep your feet wide. Shift all the way forward to the tips of your toes, place your knees down if they aren’t already there, and tilt your sit bones up like you’re doing a Cow Pose variation. Bend your elbows so your chest and chin can come down to the mat. Move your hands back so they’re underneath your elbows. Now, untuck your toes as you stretch your legs back and root your pubic bone down. Lift your chest into Low Cobra.
Low Lunge with Cactus Arms
Flow back to Downward Dog. Step your right leg to the top of the mat and step your left foot behind you, ensuring your back knee is behind your hip rather than stacked directly underneath it. Keep your front knee stacked above your foot. Inhale and lift your arms up. As you exhale, bend the elbows out to the sides for cactus arms. Push your palms back and elbows forward as you lift your chest.
Warrior II with Cow Face Arms
Coming into Warrior II, spin your back left foot parallel to the back of the mat and line up your front right heel with your left arch as you bend your right knee. Open your arms out wide, flip your right palm to face up, and touch your fingertips to your right shoulder blade. Use your left hand to bring in your right elbow toward the side of your head for a stretch. Now, sweep the left hand behind your back, clasping your two hands together into Cow Face arms. Tilt your right elbow back toward your left foot for an even deeper stretch. If your hands can’t reach each other, Smyth recommends using a strap or connecting the fingertips rather than the palms.
When you’re ready, cartwheel your hands down to the mat to frame your front foot and move back to Downward Dog. Repeat the last two poses on the other side.
Bridge Pose with Blocks
Sit down on the mat and grab one block. Bend your knees with your feet flat on the mat and lie down. As you push down through your feet and lift your hips up, place the block underneath your sacrum, the large triangular bone at the base of your spine. Adjust the block height according to your preference. You can stay here and grip the side of your mat for a nice shoulder-opener, or you can extend one leg to open the front of your hip flexor. Listen to your body — if it’s uncomfortable to do both at the same time, then just try one variation. If it feels good to proceed, extend both legs down to the end of the mat and close your eyes, allowing this mild backbend to open up your chest.
Supported Corpse Pose with Bolster
Lift your hips up and remove the block from underneath you. Sitting up for a moment, grab your bolster and place it lengthwise down on the mat. Extend your legs out in front of you, and bring your hips close to the bolster and recline back in this propped-up position. You can keep your legs extended in traditional Corpse Pose or place the soles of the feet together. Close your eyes and take several breaths here as you feel your body release its tension.
Want to practice along with guided visual instruction? Try Briohny Smyth’s full Stretch Flow: Heart Opening class from her Prenatal Glow: 1st Trimester series. Practice the entire series and more for free with a 14-day trial to Alo Moves.