Prenatal yoga in Koh Samui
Care for you and your baby before birth.
Prenatal yoga is yoga adapted for pregnancy. Poses, breathing and relaxation are chosen and shaped around a body that changes week by week, and classes are usually only for people who are pregnant. It is also a place to meet others at the same stage.
No classes scheduled in the next two weeks.
What Prenatal does for you
You get an hour where your body, not your to-do list, sets the pace. Slow movement, plenty of support and time to breathe often leave people feeling steadier and more at home in a changing body. The breath practice gives you something simple to come back to, in class and in the months ahead. Many people also value the company of others who are due around the same time.
It suits you if
- you are pregnant and want movement made for this stage
- you practiced before and want to keep going with the right adaptations
- you want to meet other people due around the same time
- you are curious about breath practice for the months ahead
Read the full guide to PrenatalWhat a class is like, your first time, history and the words you will hear
What a class is like
Classes usually run 60 to 90 minutes at a slow, steady pace. Expect gentle standing poses, hip and pelvis work, supported squats, side lying rest and breathing practice, with bolsters, blocks, cushions and chairs everywhere. Deep twists, lying on your belly and intense core work are left out, and lying flat on your back is usually swapped for side lying or propped positions as pregnancy goes on. Many classes open with a short round where everyone says how many weeks along they are and how they feel. The facilitator offers options constantly and expects you to take them. You sweat a little, rarely a lot.
Your first time
- Tell the facilitator how many weeks pregnant you are and anything your doctor or midwife has flagged.
- Wear soft, stretchy clothes that do not press on your belly, and bring water and a snack.
- Arrive ten minutes early and set up near the door if you expect to need the toilet mid class.
- Some Krankenkassen partly reimburse prenatal yoga courses that are certified or led by a midwife, so ask your insurer before you book a course.
Good to know
- Check with your doctor or midwife before you start, especially if your pregnancy is considered high risk or you have bleeding, pain or high blood pressure.
- Many studios ask you to wait until after the first 12 weeks; ask the facilitator what they recommend.
- Heated classes are generally not recommended in pregnancy, so skip anything labeled hot or infrared unless your doctor or midwife says otherwise.
Where it comes from
Medieval hatha yoga texts say almost nothing about pregnancy; they were written for mostly male ascetic circles. Prenatal yoga as you meet it today is a modern development, shaped in the 20th century as yoga became a practice for households rather than hermits.
T. Krishnamacharya, whose students shaped much of modern postural yoga, worked out poses suited to pregnant women by the 1960s. Geeta Iyengar's book Yoga: A Gem for Women, first published in 1983, included practice for pregnancy, and her later Iyengar Yoga for Motherhood (2010) addressed practice for expectant and new mothers.
In Britain, Janet Balaskas coined the term active birth in her 1983 book of that name and combined yoga with birth preparation at her London Active Birth Centre. In Cambridge, the anthropologist Françoise Freedman began small pregnancy classes in the 1980s, drawing on her yoga training and fieldwork in the Peruvian Amazon; they grew into the Birthlight method. Books and dedicated classes multiplied across the West from the 1980s on.
In Germany, Schwangerschaftsyoga sits next to the midwife-led Geburtsvorbereitungskurs, the classic birth preparation course. In Berlin you find it in yoga studios, midwife practices and family centers, as multi-week courses and as drop-in classes.
Words you will hear
- Baddha Konasana
- Bound angle pose: sitting with the soles of the feet together and knees wide, a staple for the hips.
- Malasana
- Garland pose: a deep squat, usually sitting on a block or bolster in prenatal classes.
- Pranayama
- Breath practice; prana means breath or life energy, and ayama means extending it.
- Bolster
- A firm, long cushion that supports you lying or sitting.
- Side lying Savasana
- The final rest taken on your side, usually the left, with a cushion between the knees.