Calm your mind and cultivate postpartum acceptance

Major mental and physical challenges women face postpartum

Women face different challenges during the postpartum period, either physical, mental, or both, which can differ from one woman to another.  During this period some issues are shared by women everywhere. Here are the most common ones

Mental Challenges:

1- Feeling overwhelmed

2- Postpartum depression

3- Feeling inadequate

4- Self-blame and guilt, especially if they are not feeling a big immediate love for the baby. This is related to hormonal changes and in some cases postpartum depression.

5- Issues with body image and self-acceptance after this big change.

6- Poor concentration

Physical Challenges:

These are much more common, and unfortunately, there isn’t enough awareness and preparation to deal with these conditions.  Raising women’s awareness about these possible challenges will help them to face and overcome them.

1- Post-labor recovery, especially with the C section.

Managing the expectations about going back to the pre-pregnancy shape plays a big role in the post-labor recovery, especially in a world dominated by social media, showing some celebrities or influencers looking perfect right after delivery. These false perceptions trick women into believing that this is what postpartum recovery should look like, which makes the real challenges and pains quite shocking.

2- Lack of sleep

This creates a lot of stress, fatigue, and anxiety.

3- Pelvic floor issues:

This can be pelvic dysfunction, urinary issues, and pelvic organ prolapse.

4- Breastfeeding issues

Breastfeeding is not straightforward and seamless for all women.  In some cases, they might face issues such as engorgement, infections, lack of milk, etc.

5- Other Common Postpartum Issues  

Hemorrhoids and constipation, back pain, bleeding, hair loss.  

How can Yoga help women during the postpartum period?

-Yoga can tremendously help by training the mind to accept this new life and the changing situation.

-Visualization and breathing are techniques that Yoga uses to help in calming the mind, reducing stress, and overcoming anxiety.

- Yoga poses help with rectifying the posture and strengthening the body.

- Doing Yoga, among other postpartum women, helps cultivate a sense of community and makes women feel that they are not alone on this journey. They collectively share their burdens, stories, and experiences, which helps them tremendously in easier cruising through the postpartum period. Please get in touch to be included in the next community event! Send me a DM on my Instagram page available in my profile.

How can yoga help with treating baby blues and postpartum depression?

Yoga is usually suggested by therapists to help beat the symptoms of postpartum depression. Meditation, visualization, and various breathing exercises are very helpful in combatting this issue.

Some breathing exercises to help during the postpartum period:  

• Alternate Nostril Breathing: This technique balances the energy in the body and is very calming and grounding.
• Breath Counting: This technique makes the mind focus on counting and gets it off the thinking.
• Equal Breathing: This is a very calming breathing technique where the deep breaths, in and out, are equally counted

Some poses to support during the postpartum period:

- Puppy pose:

This is a great heart opener, which hence helps to cultivate acceptance.

- Warrior poses

Warrior 1 and warrior 2 are poses that develop inner strength, which is anchoring and grounding.

 

 - Pigeon pose

This pose helps release the psoas muscle, which is very connected to our fight, flight, and freeze responses.  This is the deepest muscle in the human body, and it tends to be chronically tight during anxious and depressive periods.

It is noteworthy that Yoga is for everyone, it can be easily adapted to individual needs and capabilities, which makes it a great exercise regimen for the body and the mind, especially for women who are pregnant or just had a baby.

Also read Yoga for easier labor