Hot Yoga During Pregnancy

 When I was in graduate school, I kept getting tight pains in my chest.  I couldn't take a deep breath, I felt like there was a band around my lungs.  One day, my heart was racing and I was having the chest tightness.  I had convinced myself I was having a pulmonary embolism. I went to my professor and told her what was going on.  She very calmly and sweetly told me that the chest tightness was probably anxiety and this new feeling was most likely a panic attack. Great.

Shortly after that, I read this article in Oprah magazine about a woman's experience with Bikram yoga. Bikram= Stay in a 105 degree room for 90 minutes doing 26 yoga postures with no music. She was totally transformed by this grueling practice.  She was able to stop taking her high doses of depression medication. I wanted to be transformed.  I had two babies, newly diagnosed postpartum anxiety, an intense graduate program, and countless unresolved childhood problems. I wanted to feel new and calm. 

This is how I started my relationship with yoga.  I have practiced hot yoga three to five times a week for 11 years.  I took breaks only when I was pregnant with my third and fourth child. I continued yoga but stayed out of the heat during those pregnancies. Dr. Google will tell you that hot yoga during pregnancy is a bad idea and no one should ever do it.  The rationale is that high temperatures are bad for growing babies.  Of course, I didn't want to hurt my growing baby so I avoided hot yoga. By the time I got pregnant with my fifth baby, I had met many women who had continued their practice while pregnant. I consulted the internet again and there were more positive articles about hot yoga during pregnancy like this, this, and this is the best one.  

Here is why I decided to keep doing hot yoga during my fifth pregnancy:

  • Women live in hot places all over the world, work outside during their pregnancies, and do not suffer from any higher incidence of birth defects or miscarriage. 
  • I have a consistent practice.  I am not trying something new during pregnancy.  I know my limits. Many of the "Don't do it" opinions online were about passing out and hurting yourself because you can't handle the heat and hormones are making you stretchier than usual. 
  • My body felt so good while I was doing hot yoga.  I wanted to be as healthy as I could for this pregnancy and labor. I was calmer, stronger, and happier. 
  • I checked my core body temperature in the middle of class.  This involved going to the restroom at the peak of class and inserting an old fashioned thermometer in my baby maker. My temperature was never over 100 degrees. 
  • Class is only 90 minutes maximum.  Most women get a fever at some point in their pregnancy that lasts longer than that at much higher temperatures and our babies are fine. This isn't scientific, this is just common sense. 
  • Speaking of science, the reason we can't cite any research showing that hot yoga is safe or unsafe is the same reason we don't know if MOST things are safe or not during pregnancy: no one does trials on pregnant women.  No one wants to be wrong or be responsible for negative outcomes so we just tell women to avoid everything. It is so paternalistic. 
  • I had a very low risk pregnancy.  My midwife saw no problem with me continuing. 
Considerations:
  • Listen to your body.  If it feels wrong, don't do it. 
  • Don't start it if you don't have a consistent hot yoga practice. 
  • You do have more of a hormone called "relaxin" that makes you stretch more easily so don't go past your normal limits. See the above consideration. 
  • Be prepared for lots of people telling you how good you look and amazed they are that you are keeping up with your practice while pregnant.  Everyone at your studio will be invested in your pregnancy.  It's sweet.
  • I had a super speedy natural labor with my hot yoga baby so be prepared for that possibility! Read about it here. 
Body painting and yoga in my fifth pregnancy


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