Surya Namaskar during Pregnancy – Benefits and Precautions

Pregnancy brings significant changes to a woman’s body, which makes health and fitness the top priority. Yoga is a great way of staying healthy and fit during pregnancy and does not put too much strain on the body (1). In fact, one of the best asanas that ensures a full body workout is Surya Namaskar, popularly known as Sun Salutation in English. Surya Namaskar is a wonderful yoga practice that is beneficial for improving blood circulation and strengthening various joints and muscles, boosting strength and flexibility. Since pregnancy is a highly delicate phase, you might not want to do anything that may jeopardise your or your baby’s health. The same goes for awareness regarding the safety of Surya Namaskar during pregnancy. To know whether Surya Namaskar during the first trimester and further months are safe, keep on reading!

Is It Safe to Do Surya Namaskar in Pregnancy?

The first and foremost thing to consider is, ‘Can we do Surya Namaskar during pregnancy?’ The answer is yes; you can comfortably do Surya Namaskar during pregnancy. It is an ideal form of exercise and helps you work on every muscle of the body. It is not only good for your body, but it is also good for your emotional well-being. You can effectively start doing Surya Namaskar during the first trimester pregnancy. However, please consult your doctor before doing Surya Namaskar during pregnancy.

Benefits of Surya Namaskar

Here are some of the benefits of doing Surya Namaskar during pregnancy:

1. Makes You Feel Energised

Pregnancy can make you feel extremely tired and exhausted, and this is because a lot is happening inside your body. Doing Surya Namaskar on a regular basis can help you regain your lost energy.

2. Helps You Adapt Better

Pregnancy makes your body undergo many physical and emotional changes. Practising this helps the body in adapting to various pregnancy changes in a better way.

3. Helps Your Mood Swings

You may find yourself going through various mood changes throughout the day. One moment you will be happy and the next you can be very sad. This is very normal during pregnancy. However, practising this will help you keep your mood swings under check.

4. Helps in Reducing Morning Sickness

Morning sickness is experienced by most pregnant women and practising this on a regular basis may help you keep your morning sickness at bay.

5. Improved Oxygen Supply to the Foetus

The breathing technique in Surya Namaskar involves deep inhalation and exhalation. This breathing technique increases oxygen in your body and thus improves oxygen supply to the foetus as well.

6. Helps in Keeping Stress Levels Under Control

The hormonal imbalance in the body may make a pregnant woman go through a lot of emotions, and these may make a pregnant woman go under a lot of mental stress. Surya Namaskar is an effective way of reducing pregnancy-related stress.

7. Beneficial During Labour

Practising this on a regular basis during pregnancy proves to be extremely beneficial during labour too. If you have been practising it regularly during your entire pregnancy, then the intensity of your labour pain may reduce to considerable amounts.

8. Helpful in Backaches and Leg Cramps

Surya Namaskar is very beneficial in strengthening the back muscles and spine. Back pain and leg cramps are very common during pregnancy. However, if you practise it on a daily basis, then you can reduce your chances of having backaches and leg cramps during pregnancy.

9. Helpful in Managing Hypertension

Hypertension may lead to serious complications during pregnancy, and practising these exercises on a regular basis reduces your chances of suffering from hypertension.

10. Maintains Healthy Pregnancy Weight

Doing Surya Namaskar on a regular basis may ensure healthy weight gain during pregnancy, and thus it would keep off your weight woes.

11. Helps in Overall Well-Being

Practising these exercises regularly during pregnancy helps in various physical and emotional aspects, and this is very beneficial for the overall well-being of a pregnant woman.

Modified Sun Salutation for Pregnant Women

Surya namaskar involves a group of asanas; however, some of these asanas may not be suitable for you as you progress with your pregnancy or when your pregnancy belly grows. Therefore, here we have the modified sun salutation for a pregnant woman that you can try during the later stages of your pregnancy. This modified Surya Namaskar for pregnancy will ensure a safe pregnancy. Here are the basic steps of sun salutation for pregnancy:

• Start with the mountain pose with your feet placed hip-width or more than that.
• Inhale, raise your arms over the head into Utthita Hastasana.
• Exhale, hinge from your hips while folding your legs into Uttanasana.
• Inhale, get your hands towards your shin, and with your chest forward, look towards the top of your yoga mat and into Ardha Uttanasana.
• Exhale while still looking forward, get into Downward Facing Dog Pose.
• Inhale/exhale, move forward with your shoulders over your wrists and with your knees bent, into a modified plank.
• Inhale, kneel your shin and arch your upper back by taking your hands back.
• Exhale, tuck your toes inside, move your hands forward and lift your pelvis up into Downward Facing Dog Pose.
• Inhale, take your hand back towards your feet by keeping your knees aligned with your spine into Ardha Uttanasana.
• Exhale, fold the legs, let your spine hand and release into Uttanasana.
• Inhale, bend your knees a bit and lift yourself up, let your hands reach forward and up too.
• Exhale, get back to mountain pose by placing your one hand on your heart and the other on your belly.

If you feel calm and relaxed and you are breathing normally, you may repeat the modified Surya namaskar a few more times. However, it is recommended that if you feel uneasy or uncomfortable at any given point, stop and discontinue.

Precautions to Take While Doing Surya Namaskar

Here are some things to remember while doing Surya Namaskar for pregnancy:

1. Get Professional Assistance

Surya Namaskar has many benefits for a pregnant woman, but it is always advisable to seek professional assistance to know the correct way of doing it during pregnancy. If you do not follow the correct way of doing the asanas you may not be able to get the benefits and on the other hand it may harm you or your baby.

2. Do it Regularly

You can avail its benefits only when you are doing it on a regular basis. Random practice may not prove to be that fruitful for you during your pregnancy.

3. Practise Shavasana

You should not undermine the importance of shavanasa after you finish doing Surya Namaskar. If you feel the need to relax and calm yourself in between your Surya Namaskar session, you may do that, too.

4. Be Gentle in Your Movements

It is important that you perform all your asanas in a gentle and deliberate manner. Do not force yourself or perform any asanas if you feel any kind of discomfort or pain.

5. Refrain From Doing Surya Namaskar in Case of Complications

If you have any kind of complications in your pregnancy, it is recommended not to strain your body by doing any kind of physical workout without your doctor’s content. Any kind of complications put you at risk; doing Surya Namaskar may further increase your complications.

6. Consult Your Doctor

No matter how healthy or fit you are, you should never start doing Surya Namaskar on your own or without your doctor’s consent. Every pregnancy is different and what may be good for one may not be so for another. Therefore, your doctor is the best person to guide you if you can safely do Surya Namaskar during pregnancy or not.

FAQs

1. What other Yoga asanas are safe for pregnancy?

Sukhasana, Vrksasana (Tree pose), Malasana (Garland pose)), Marjaryasana (Cat pose), Garudasana (eagle pose), Virabhadrasana I (warrior pose I), Virabhadrasana II (warrior pose II), Uttanasana (Standing forward bend), and Viparita Karani (Leg up wall pose) are among the 26 yoga poses that are safe for both pregnant women and their babies as per a 2015 study published in the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology (2) (3).

2. What are some tips for a healthy pregnancy?

National Institute of Health suggests taking healthy and timely eating of healthy foods, doing enough exercise, maintaining optimal weight, and avoiding alcohol, caffeine, smoking, junk, and unhealthy food during pregnancy (4). 

3. How many hours should pregnant women walk in a day?

According to NHS, a minimum of 30 minutes of walking every day, five days a week, if not all days, in the beginning, is enough for pregnant women to build their stamina (5). From there you can increase the minutes and speed.

4. Is it important to do yoga before breakfast during pregnancy?

Although it is best to perform yoga asanas on an empty stomach, according to the Ministry of Ayush, it is ideal to consult a doctor if you are pregnant before doing yoga (6).

The above-mentioned are some of the benefits and tips for practising this yogic exercise during pregnancy. However, it is important that you follow the correct way of doing the asanas and thus take guidance from an expert before you start doing it on your own.

References/Resources:

1. Yoga in pregnancy; Tommy’s; https://www.tommys.org/pregnancy-information/im-pregnant/exercise-in-pregnancy/yoga-pregnancy

2. Polis. R. L, Gussman. D, Kuo. Y. H; Yoga in Pregnancy: An Examination of Maternal and Fetal Responses to 26 Yoga Postures; Obstet Gynecol.; PubMed; https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26551176/; December 2015

3. Yoga in pregnancy: Many poses are safer than once thought; Harvard Health Publishing; https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/yoga-in-pregnancy-many-poses-are-safer-than-once-thought-201512298898; December 2015

4. Health Tips for Pregnant Women; National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases; https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/weight-management/healthy-eating-physical-activity-for-life/health-tips-for-pregnant-women

5. Exercise in pregnancy; NHS; https://www.nhs.uk/pregnancy/keeping-well/exercise/

6. Do’s and Don’ts of Yoga Practice; Ministry of Ayush; https://yoga.ayush.gov.in/blog?q=58

Also Read:

Yoga Asanas for Normal Delivery
Butterfly Exercise in Pregnancy
Abdominal Exercises during Pregnancy
Exercises for Easy Labour and Delivery

Our Editorial Policy

Parenting is a huge responsibility, for you as a caregiver, but also for us as a parenting content platform. We understand that and take our responsibility of creating credible content seriously. FirstCry Parenting articles are written and published only after extensive research using factually sound references to deliver quality content that is accurate, validated by experts, and completely reliable. To understand how we go about creating content that is credible, read our editorial policy here.