Yoga In Pregnancy And After The Birth: What Geeta Iyengar, The Yoga Doctors And The Research Say

Pregnant, or hoping to be, and wondering whether yoga is safe, what it does, and how to keep going after the baby arrives? Prenatal yoga is one of the best things you can do for the months ahead and the birth, and postnatal yoga helps you come back afterwards. Geeta Iyengar wrote a whole section of her book on yoga in pregnancy, Judith Lasater wrote a book on it, and more than 20 studies listed below have tested it. This guide brings it all together, with Flametree’s own rules for practising with us in Darwin or online. Last updated: 1 November 2026.

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Is yoga safe in pregnancy, and does it help? The short answer

Yes, and yes. Yoga in pregnancy, taught well and adapted to each stage, is safe and it helps. Across 29 studies of 2,217 pregnant women, yoga lowered anxiety, low mood and stress, labour was on average about two hours shorter, and the odds of a normal vaginal birth more than doubled. In a review of 14 trials and 3,637 first-time mothers, women who did yoga had about half as many caesareans. After the birth, postnatal yoga eased low mood and lifted well-being. In a hospital study of 26 poses late in pregnancy, mothers’ and babies’ heart rates stayed normal in every pose.

One thing to keep in mind as you read: almost all of these trials tested “yoga” of many styles, taught by teachers with very different training. Only one small trial so far has tested Iyengar yoga in pregnancy, and it found less labour pain and less anxiety. In our view as certified Iyengar teachers, a well-taught Iyengar class, changed for each month of pregnancy, is likely to go further than the average. Why the kind of yoga matters.

The bottom line: five key moves for yoga in pregnancy and after the birth

1. Start before you are pregnant if you can. If you are trying for a baby or thinking about it, start yoga now, so the poses are familiar long before you need them.
2. New to yoga and already pregnant? Start at 15 weeks. Then practise with one of our certified Iyengar Yoga teachers and carry on right through the pregnancy.
3. Already doing yoga? Keep going. Existing students who become pregnant can practise with us from beginning to end, with the poses changed as the baby grows. Many do.
4. Rest more as the birth gets closer. Supported, restful poses and slow breathing come to the fore in later pregnancy. Many women come to Chris Lalor’s restorative classes, two a week, and it works very well.
5. Start now. New to Flametree, or away 3 months or more? 2 free classes, then 10 at half price, in Darwin or LIVE online.

Iyengar yoga is the style we teach at Flametree. During the 20th century, Mr BKS Iyengar was the major person who codified traditional Indian yoga, through his seminal books and widespread teaching. He also pioneered the use of props, so poses can be adapted to almost any body. His style is sometimes called modern classical yoga. His daughter, Geeta S Iyengar, did more than anyone to work out how yoga should change for women at each stage of life, and pregnancy is one of the three she wrote about most. This guide is part of our encyclopaedia of yoga for health conditions.

This guide in short

• Flametree’s pregnancy rules: new to yoga, start at 15 weeks with a certified Iyengar teacher; already practising, carry on right through; planning a baby, start now.
• Geeta S Iyengar: pregnancy is a natural state; the poses are changed so the mother stays comfortable and the baby has room; never over-strain.
• Mr BKS Iyengar: he taught differently in every month from the third to the ninth.
• Judith Lasater: yoga is “the perfect preparation” for pregnancy, labour and birth; rest on your side, not your back, in later pregnancy.
• Dr Timothy McCall and Dr Krishna Raman: pregnancy and prenatal and postnatal low mood are on McCall’s list; Raman gives a timetable for coming back after a caesarean.
• The research: 27 studies below. Less anxiety and low mood, less labour pain, shorter labours, fewer caesareans, and better mood after the birth.
• Take it further: a free ebook, restorative and women’s classes, masterclasses, in Darwin and online.

“She conquers fear and nervousness and learns to face her changing life and surroundings with confidence.”

Can I do yoga while pregnant at Flametree? Our pregnancy rules

In short: yes. If you have never done yoga, start at 15 weeks with one of our certified Iyengar teachers. If you already practise, carry on right through.

These are Flametree’s rules for yoga in pregnancy. They are in line with Iyengar Yoga Australia’s requirement that a pregnant student practises with a certified Iyengar teacher.

• Never done yoga before? Please do not start until you are 15 weeks pregnant. Then start with one of our pregnancy-certified teachers. At Flametree, that means our certified Iyengar Yoga teachers. You can then continue through the rest of the pregnancy.
• Already doing yoga? If you have done yoga before, including existing Flametree students who become pregnant, you can continue with us right through the pregnancy, from beginning to end. Many do.
• Getting pregnant, or thinking about it? We strongly recommend starting yoga now, so you are well prepared to practise throughout the pregnancy. Our fertility yoga classes page tells you more.
• Later in pregnancy: many women do restorative yoga, often in Chris Lalor’s existing restorative classes (two a week), and this works very well.
• Tell your teacher how many weeks you are, and how you feel on the day. Every pose has a version for each stage.

Our post Want Pregnancy Yoga Near Me? gives the class times, the props we use and how online classes work for pregnant women. If you want a start of your own, there is also a private prenatal yoga class.

“A feeling of radiant health after practice is a sign that one is working correctly.”

What changes in pregnancy, and why the yoga changes with it

Pregnancy brings tiredness early on (often worst in the first three months), sickness and indigestion, a growing weight in front of the lower back, swollen legs and ankles, calf cramps at night, and, for many women, worry about the birth. Judith Lasater, a yoga teacher since 1971 and a physical therapist, lists these as the common trials of pregnancy: fatigue, lower back pain, nausea and indigestion, swelling and leg cramps (Yoga for Pregnancy, Part One).

The yoga answer is not to stop, but to change the work. The belly needs room, so poses are done with the spine long and the front of the body open. The breath must never feel blocked. Effort goes down as the months go on, and rest goes up.

“Your body is your child, look after it.”

What did Geeta Iyengar teach about yoga in pregnancy?

In short: pregnancy is a natural state, not an illness. Keep practising, but change the poses so the mother is comfortable and the baby has room to move, and never over-strain.

Geeta S Iyengar (1944 to 2018) taught alongside her father in Pune for more than 50 years. Her book Yoga: A Gem for Women has a full section on asanas (poses) and pranayama (breath practice) in pregnancy (Section IX, pp. 261 to 278), with photographs taken in the seventh and ninth months. She wrote it, she says, because women are “normally” afraid or nervous to practise at this time, and she wanted to give them the courage to do so (p. 261). She wrote: “Pregnancy is a natural state, like menstruation” (p. 53). Her teaching, in our words:

• Make room for the baby. The poses were chosen, she says, so the baby has the most room to move and grow, and to help a natural, easy delivery (p. 261). This is her claim.
• Use props to keep the belly free. A block under the hand in standing poses, a folded blanket under the hips in seated poses, pillows under the chest and waist when lying back, a wall behind the back. Each one keeps the belly and chest open (pp. 264 to 270). This is the Iyengar signature in pregnancy.
• Lengthen the spine, do not compress the womb. In forward bends, keep the spine hollow and the chest lifted rather than folding over the baby (p. 262).
• Keep the breath free. The breath should never feel blocked, and the diaphragm (the main breathing muscle) stays soft (p. 262).
• Shorter holds, no jumping. Step into the standing poses instead of jumping, stay a shorter time, and do not go beyond your capacity (p. 262).
• Judge by how you feel afterwards. Radiant health after practice means the work was right; tiredness means it was faulty or overdone. “It is wrong to over-strain” (p. 262).
• Rest and breath to the end. Savasana (the resting pose), pranayama and meditation are kept up “till the end of pregnancy” (p. 275). She stresses Ujjayi (ocean breath) and Viloma (staircase breath) lying down, with the head and chest raised on a pillow (pp. 275 to 276).
• Each woman must use her judgement. She gives one general programme for women of normal health and says each woman must use “discretion and judgement” (p. 261).

She also makes claims for particular poses, and they are her claims, not ours: that standing poses with a block ease backache and heaviness in the belly and help morning sickness (p. 266); that seated, wide-legged poses on a blanket make for an easier delivery and less labour pain (p. 269); that Hero Pose (Virasana) on a blanket removes swelling in the legs (p. 269); and that the gentle breath practices calm the nerves, keep blood pressure under control and make delivery easier (p. 276). We do not publish her sequences. A sequence in pregnancy needs a teacher who can see you on the day and change it, which is what a class is for.

“The exhalations should be like a bath that a mother gives a baby.”

What did Mr BKS Iyengar say about pregnancy?

In short: pregnancy is taught month by month, by a teacher who knows what to change.

• A different practice each month. In The Tree of Yoga (p. 103) he says he teaches differently in every month from the third to the ninth, and that watching one session does not teach someone how to teach pregnancy. That is why our rule is a certified Iyengar teacher.
• Swollen legs and veins. In Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health (p. 267) he describes enlarged leg veins with aching, tiredness and cramps as common in pregnancy, and his approach is to rest and raise the legs rather than work them hard. Our guide to circulation and varicose veins and our post on swollen ankles in the heat say more.
• Labour, in Light on Yoga. In the appendix of his first book, which groups poses under ailments (Appendix II, p. 427), his entry for labour pain is short: a few seated hip-opening poses, breathing and rest. The full month-by-month detail came later, in Geeta’s book.
• Yoga is for women. In his foreword to Geeta’s book he calls the idea that yoga is not meant for women “fallacious”.

A story in Dr Timothy McCall’s Yoga as Medicine shows how far back this goes. Senior teacher Aadil Palkhivala began studying with Mr Iyengar in Pune at the age of seven. His mother had struggled to conceive, and Mr Iyengar worked with her using special practices to help her conceive and carry the pregnancy to term. That is his own account, as McCall tells it, and Aadil went on to become a senior Iyengar teacher in his early twenties.

What does Judith Lasater say?

In short: yoga is the best preparation for pregnancy, labour and motherhood, and the most useful pose is a fully supported rest on your side.

Judith Lasater has taught yoga since 1971, holds a doctorate in East-West psychology and is a physical therapist. She thanks Mr Iyengar and his children Geeta and Prashant as her teachers. Her short book Yoga for Pregnancy: What Every Mom-to-Be Needs to Know (Rodmell Press, 2004) comes from her own three pregnancies. In her words, “practicing yoga is the perfect preparation for pregnancy, labor, and delivery” (Part One). Her main points, in our words:

• Labour is focus and surrender. She took each contraction as a difficult yoga pose, breathing into it, and used the pause between contractions to relax. Learn both in pregnancy, she says, and you carry them into the birth. Her claim is that this can reduce the need for pain relief.
• Side-lying rest every day. She calls her Side-Lying Relaxation Pose, a supported rest on your side with bolsters and pillows, “the magic elixir” for pregnancy, labour and the weeks after. She did not lie on her back in the last two trimesters, because the weight of the womb can press on the vena cava, the big vein that carries blood back to the heart.
• Each common trouble has a pose. She gives supported poses for tiredness, lower back pain, sickness and indigestion, calf cramps, swollen legs and getting ready for labour (her claims for each).
• After the birth, go slowly. No inversions until the bleeding after birth (the lochia, up to about six weeks) has stopped; no sit-ups early on, because the stretched belly muscles and loosened pubic joint need time; walk, and start with a few simple poses.
• Time for yourself. A practice in pregnancy starts the habit of time for you, which matters most when a baby arrives. Even 30 minutes, she says, can change your mood and outlook.

“Savasana is control over the inner world…”

What do Dr Timothy McCall and Dr Krishna Raman say?

In short: both medical doctors see a place for yoga right through pregnancy and after the birth.

• Dr Timothy McCall, a US medical doctor and yoga therapist and author of Yoga as Medicine, lists normal and complicated pregnancy (no. 88), prenatal and postpartum depression (no. 90) and gestational diabetes (no. 37) on his June 2019 list of health conditions helped by yoga. He cites 19 references for pregnancy alone. Pregnancy is not one of his condition chapters (his general guidance on it sits in an earlier chapter), but the book’s central idea runs through every chapter: yoga moves the nervous system from fight-or-flight toward rest and lowers stress hormones such as cortisol. That is what the pregnancy trials below measured, in anxiety, stress and mood. His infertility chapter adds that calming practices still help once a woman is pregnant, taught by an experienced teacher, and tells the story of Ilana Boss Markowitz, who used yogic breathing through her contractions in labour. One story, in our words.
• Dr Krishna Raman, a Chennai physician who trained in yoga under Mr Iyengar, answers questions on pregnancy and after the birth in Yoga and Medical Science: FAQ. In his view, yoga can be practised from conception, and after a caesarean practice can resume after about three months. Flametree’s own rule for complete beginners is to wait until 15 weeks.

Postnatal yoga: coming back after the birth

In short: rest and gentle breath first, then a gradual return, week by week. Postnatal yoga lifts mood and helps mother and baby settle.

Geeta Iyengar sets out the return in Yoga: A Gem for Women (Chapter X, hints 64 to 67, pp. 91 to 93), in our words:

• The first month: after about a fortnight of rest, only Savasana and the gentle breath practices, Ujjayi and Viloma, for 20 to 30 minutes a day. Her claim is that this helps the belly muscles and womb return and helps the milk supply.
• The second month: a week-by-week return to poses. Every woman is different, and practice should not end in tiredness.
• The third month: most poses are back.
• After a caesarean: Savasana and gentle breathing until the wound has healed, about two months, then a short list of poses, with the normal course after about six months.

Judith Lasater adds two points: no inversions until the bleeding after birth has stopped, and no sit-ups early on. Weak or stretched pelvic floor muscles after childbirth are common, and our guide to pelvic floor dysfunction covers them in full. Low mood after the birth is covered in our guide to depression and low mood.

“With my father’s experience and mine, I say with confidence that women of all ages can learn Yoga.”

What are the benefits of prenatal yoga? What the research shows

In short: prenatal yoga lowers anxiety, stress and low mood, eases labour pain, shortens labour and cuts the number of caesareans, and postnatal yoga lifts mood after the birth. Most of these studies tested yoga in general, of many styles. Why the difference matters.

Is yoga safe in pregnancy?

• All 26 poses were well tolerated: mothers’ vital signs and babies’ heart rates stayed normal in every pose, with no falls or injuries in 650 poses. Including poses often thought unsafe in pregnancy. Polis, Gussman and Kuo 2015, a hospital study of 25 healthy women at 35 to 37 weeks, some new to yoga. Read the study.
• Yoga was safe, eased pain and stress, and did better than walking or standard pregnancy exercise. Jiang 2015, a review of 10 trials. Note: this was yoga in general; Iyengar yoga has not yet been tested against exercise on its own. Why it matters. Read the study.

Anxiety, stress and low mood in pregnancy

• Pregnancy yoga lowered anxiety, low mood and stress; twelve or more longer sessions did most for stress. Corrigan 2022, a review of 29 studies and 2,217 pregnant women. Read the study.
• Yoga lowered scores for low mood, anxiety and stress in pregnancy. Ranjbar 2026, a review of 35 studies. Read the study.
• Pregnant women who did yoga had markedly less low mood than those who did not. Punsuwun 2025, a review of 12 studies and 738 women. Read the study.
• In pregnant women with depression, yoga eased both low mood and anxiety. Lin 2022, a review of 13 studies. Read the study.
• Anxiety fell by 16% and low mood by 31% with yoga, while both rose in women doing standard pregnancy exercises. One hour a day from week 20 to week 36. Satyapriya 2013, a trial of 96 women. Note: this was yoga in general; Iyengar yoga has not yet been tested against exercise on its own. Why it matters. Read the study.
• Stress fell by 32% with yoga and rose by 7% with standard exercises; the body’s rest-and-digest signal rose by 150% during relaxation at week 36. Satyapriya 2009, a trial of 122 women who joined at week 18 to 20. Read the study.
• Low mood fell clearly over 10 weeks of gentle prenatal yoga, with no injuries. Battle 2015, a Brown University pilot of 34 pregnant women with depression. Read the study.

Does prenatal yoga help with labour?

• Women who did yoga had about half as many caesareans (55% fewer), fewer early births, fewer tears and shorter labours. Chen 2025, a review of 14 trials and 3,637 first-time mothers. Read the study.
• Labour pain was lower at the start of active labour, through it, and in the hardest phase just before the birth. Nikpour 2024, a review of 9 studies and 660 women. Read the study.
• Yoga in pregnancy clearly lowered labour pain. Boopalan 2023, a review of 8 trials and 576 women. Read the study.
• Fewer inductions, less pain relief, more normal births, fewer caesareans, a shorter first stage and fewer low birth weight babies, with no adverse effects. Seven 30-minute sessions from week 30. Bolanthakodi 2018, a trial of 200 first-time mothers in India. Read the study.
• Less labour pain, fewer inductions and fewer caesareans. A one-hour class three times a week from week 26. Jahdi 2017, a trial of 60 first-time mothers. Read the study.
• Less anxiety on arrival at the labour ward, less pain, fewer inductions and a shorter labour. Six one-hour sessions from week 26. Mohyadin 2020, a trial of 84 first-time mothers. Read the study.
• More comfort in labour and two hours after, less labour pain and a shorter labour. Six one-hour sessions. Chuntharapat 2008, a trial of 74 first-time mothers in Thailand. Read the study.

Blood pressure and blood sugar in pregnancy

• Only 6.6% of women who did yoga developed high blood pressure in pregnancy, against 38.1% of those who did not. Yoga from week 16 for 20 weeks also brought less painful deliveries, shorter labours and heavier, healthier babies. Karthiga 2022, a trial of 234 women at risk of high blood pressure in pregnancy. Read the study.
• Blood sugar fell, fasting and after meals, and over the longer term. Mindful eating with yoga. Youngwanichsetha 2014, a trial in pregnant women with gestational diabetes (diabetes that starts in pregnancy). Read the study.

Our guides to high blood pressure and diabetes and blood sugar say more.

Postnatal yoga: after the birth

• Postnatal yoga lowered low mood scores by about 3 points on the standard postnatal depression scale. Ruan 2025, a review of 6 trials and 443 women. Read the study.
• Postnatal yoga went with less low mood, more well-being and better quality of life. Munns 2024, a review of 6 studies and 377 women. Read the study.
• Mothers felt more confident breastfeeding and more bonded with their babies. Two one-hour classes a week for 8 weeks, starting 20 to 40 days after the birth. Boybay Koyuncu and Yayan 2022, a study of 124 first-time mothers. Read the study.
• Prolactin and oxytocin, the two hormones of breastfeeding, rose several times more in mothers who did yoga. Eight one-hour sessions from week 32 into the weeks after the birth. Astutik 2024, a trial of 60 first-time mothers. Read the study.

Meditation and mindfulness

These trials tested mindfulness programmes, not pranayama or asana. In an Iyengar class, holding a pose and breathing slowly train the same present-moment attention.

• An online mindfulness-based cognitive therapy programme, made for pregnant women, lowered the chance that depression came back: 33 percent had a return of depression against 44 percent with usual care. It ran from early pregnancy and the benefit lasted to six months after the birth. Dimidjian 2026, a randomised trial of 500 pregnant women with a history of recurring depression. Read the study.
• Mindfulness programmes lowered anxiety, low mood and stress in pregnancy. Six to eight weeks. Vázquez-Lara 2025, a review of 13 studies. Read the study.
• Mindfulness lowered fear of childbirth and labour pain, cut caesareans by 42% and shortened labour. Wang 2026, a review of 15 trials. Read the study.

Breathing practice (pranayama)

No trial has yet tested pranayama on its own in pregnancy. Not yet studied is not the same as not working. The nearest trial taught simple breathing exercises in pregnancy and found more labours started on their own, fewer caesareans and shorter labours (Karkada 2022, a trial of first-time mothers in India, read the study). A trial that taught breathing patterns only once labour had begun found no change in anxiety or pain (Boaviagem 2017, 140 women, read the study), which suggests the breath needs to be learned and practised over months, as Geeta Iyengar and Judith Lasater both teach. Geeta Iyengar’s pregnancy breaths, Ujjayi (ocean breath) and Viloma (staircase breath), are slow, nasal and done lying with the chest raised. Fast and forceful breaths are left out: no Kapalabhati (shining skull breath), no fast bellows breath, no uneven ratios and no long breath holds in pregnancy. Our posts Is Pranayama Safe? and Breath Of Fire explain why. Why the kind of breathing matters.

Iyengar yoga studies

This group is for trials that tested Iyengar yoga. One has been published so far in pregnancy. Its abstract describes the yoga as modified Iyengar yoga and does not say how the teachers were trained.

• Iyengar yoga lowered labour pain and anxiety in women having their first baby. Rahayu and Ariningtyas 2022, a controlled study of 59 first-time mothers in Indonesia (30 did Iyengar yoga, 29 did not). Read the study.

One small trial is not the last word, but it points the same way as the larger reviews of yoga in general. In our view, it is one more reason to look for a certified Iyengar teacher in pregnancy, which is also what Iyengar Yoga Australia requires.

“It is wrong to over-strain.”

How this comes together in a Flametree class

Everything above points the same way, and it is how we teach yoga during pregnancy in Darwin and online.

• A certified Iyengar teacher. Pregnant students practise with our certified Iyengar Yoga teachers, in line with Iyengar Yoga Australia’s requirement.
• Props in every class: blocks, blankets, bolsters, chairs and the wall, so the belly and chest stay free, as Geeta Iyengar taught.
• Changed for your stage. No one-size-fits-all. Tell your teacher how many weeks you are, and each pose has a version for you.
• Restorative yoga later on. In later pregnancy many women come to Chris Lalor’s restorative classes, two a week. Chris Lalor is a Certified Senior Iyengar Yoga Teacher and certified Yoga Therapist.
• Slow breathing and rest in every class: and no fast or forceful breathing in pregnancy.
• Cool in the Darwin build-up: Judith Lasater notes that leg swelling is worse late in pregnancy and in hot weather. On the hottest, stickiest days there is more lying back, more legs raised on support and more slow breathing.
• Classes for women: our Women’s Wellness class with Chris, and gentle yoga.

Read more on yoga in pregnancy

• Want pregnancy yoga near me? Class times, props and online pregnancy yoga at Flametree
• Private prenatal yoga class, online or in Darwin
• Pelvic floor dysfunction and yoga: leaks and prolapse after childbirth
• Yoga for pelvic floor: what research shows
• Fertility yoga classes: start before you are pregnant
• Women’s Wellness class with Chris Lalor
• Swollen ankles in the heat, and the legs-up poses that ease them
• Sacroiliac joint pain: the one-sided low back ache
• Is pranayama safe? Yes, taught well
• Breath of fire: why kapalabhati waits until after pregnancy
• Yoga inversions: who should take care

Related guides in the encyclopaedia: yoga for fertility, infertility, PCOS and IVF, pelvic floor dysfunction, depression and low mood, anxiety and anger, back pain, carpal tunnel (common in pregnancy), circulation and varicose veins, high blood pressure, diabetes and blood sugar, period pain and PMS and sleep and energy.

Take it further

This guide gives you the facts on what helps. The calmer mind the trials measured is the subject of our stress book, with the stories of people it has helped. Go and do the free classes, see what you think, and then a pass puts it all into action, right through the pregnancy.

• Classes, in Darwin or LIVE online: new, or away 3 months or more? 2 free classes, then 10 at half price. Already practising yoga? See the non-beginner half price pass. See every class time.
• Lower back sore as the baby grows? Our free ebook Happy Backs, by Chris Lalor, covers the back.
• Masterclasses: our 2027 Sunday Arvo Masterclasses with Chris Lalor, Certified Senior Iyengar Yoga Teacher and certified Yoga Therapist, include the pelvic floor, a big issue after childbirth, and sleep and energy, for the tired months with a new baby. Come for the poses, sequences and pranayama that put this into action.
• Retreats: a week of daily, adapted yoga in Bali, once the baby is older. See the retreats.

Other conditions are in our encyclopaedia of yoga for health conditions.

Yoga in pregnancy and postnatal yoga: questions people ask

Is yoga safe in pregnancy?

Yes, when it is taught well and changed for each stage. In a 2015 hospital study of 26 yoga poses at 35 to 37 weeks, mothers’ vital signs and babies’ heart rates stayed normal in every pose, with no falls or injuries. Reviews of prenatal yoga trials report no harm and real benefits. Geeta Iyengar’s rule is that practice should leave you feeling well, not tired, and that it is wrong to over-strain.

I already do yoga. Can I keep going now that I am pregnant?

Yes. At Flametree, if you have done yoga before, including existing students who become pregnant, you can continue with us right through the pregnancy, from beginning to end, and many do. If you have never done yoga, start at 15 weeks with one of our certified Iyengar Yoga teachers, in line with Iyengar Yoga Australia’s requirement that a pregnant student practises with a certified Iyengar teacher.

What are the benefits of prenatal yoga?

A 2022 review of 29 studies and 2,217 pregnant women found prenatal yoga lowered anxiety, low mood and stress, shortened labour by about two hours and more than doubled the odds of a normal vaginal birth. Other trials found less labour pain, fewer inductions, fewer caesareans and, in women at risk, far less high blood pressure in pregnancy.

Does prenatal yoga help with labour?

Yes. A 2025 review of 14 trials and 3,637 first-time mothers found about half as many caesareans, fewer early births, fewer tears and shorter labours in women who did yoga. A 2024 review found less labour pain in every phase. Judith Lasater describes taking each contraction as a difficult yoga pose: breathing into it, then relaxing in the pause.

What did Geeta Iyengar teach about yoga in pregnancy?

In Yoga: A Gem for Women, Geeta S Iyengar called pregnancy a natural state and wrote a full section on asanas and pranayama in pregnancy. She changed the poses so the mother stays comfortable and the baby has room: blocks, blankets, pillows and a wall keep the belly free, the spine is lengthened, holds are shorter and there is no jumping. Savasana and gentle breathing continue to the end of pregnancy.

When can I start postnatal yoga after the birth or a caesarean?

Geeta Iyengar’s timetable: after about a fortnight’s rest, only Savasana and gentle breathing in the first month, a week-by-week return to poses in the second, and most poses back by the third. After a caesarean, rest and gentle breathing until the wound heals, about two months, with the normal course after about six months. Dr Krishna Raman puts the return after a caesarean at about three months. Judith Lasater leaves out inversions until the bleeding after birth has stopped.

Which breathing practices are used in pregnancy, and which are left out?

Slow, nasal breaths are used: Ujjayi (ocean breath) and Viloma (staircase breath), lying down with the head and chest raised, and seated breathing on a folded blanket. Fast and forceful breaths are left out in pregnancy: no Kapalabhati, no fast bellows breath, no uneven ratios and no long breath holds.

Why is restorative yoga so useful in late pregnancy?

As the birth comes closer the body needs more rest and less effort, and supported poses let you rest with the belly free and the breath easy. Geeta Iyengar kept Savasana and gentle breathing to the end of pregnancy, and Judith Lasater called her supported side-lying rest the magic elixir for pregnancy. At Flametree many women in later pregnancy come to Chris Lalor’s restorative classes, two a week, in Darwin or online.

Where this comes from: Geeta S Iyengar, Yoga: A Gem for Women, Chapter VII, Three Milestones in a Woman’s Life (p. 53), Chapter X, Hints and Suggestions (pp. 91 to 93), and Section IX, Asanas and Pranayama: Pregnancy (pp. 261 to 278). BKS Iyengar, The Tree of Yoga, p. 103; Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health (Dorling Kindersley), p. 267; Light on Yoga, Appendix II (p. 427); foreword to Yoga: A Gem for Women. Judith Lasater PhD PT, Yoga for Pregnancy: What Every Mom-to-Be Needs to Know (Rodmell Press, 2004). Timothy McCall MD, Yoga as Medicine (Bantam), including his infertility chapter, and his June 2019 list of health conditions helped by yoga. Krishna Raman MD and S. Suresh MD, Yoga and Medical Science: FAQ, the women’s health questions. Flametree Yoga Studio’s pregnancy rules (1 November 2026). Studies as linked above, checked on PubMed. Everything is summarised in our own words.

This page is general information, not medical advice. Flametree Yoga Studio, Darwin and LIVE online.