Aquanatal Exercise
Perinatal Aqua Exercise
The water is an ideal environment for exercising during pregnancy, whether it is in the sea, the swimming pool or in a lake. Activities in the water in which pregnant women can engage in are, swimming, water walking or jogging and aqua aerobics because they are all low-impact forms of exercise that are fun, enjoyable and great for their fitness levels. Other aquatic exercise forms that have developed for pregnancy are Aqua Yoga, Aqua Pilates and most other forms of Aquatic Exercise adjusted to the needs of pregnancy.
The benefits of exercise during pregnancy include improved flexibility, better energy levels and improved blood circulation. Besides being low-impact, exercise in the water has good cardiovascular benefits and the buoyancy of the water cushions the pregnant woman's body allowing her to feel light, which can provide huge relief during pregnancy by loosening tensions particularly in the third trimester when she is at her heaviest.
When teaching pregnant women in the water one should take into consideration ACOG's recommendations and study well all the relevant information concerning Exercise during Pregnancy, so that all dangers are eliminated and safety of both the mother and the fetus is ensured. A part of aqua-natal exercise deals with gradual post natal introduction to regular exercise. In this section we will present all forms of Aquatic Exercise related to pregnancy, news, workshops, videos and research advances of the area.
https://www.acog.org/~/media/For%20Patients/faq119.pdf?dmc=1&ts=20140607T1037283073
Perinatal Aqua Yoga
Aqua Yoga for Pregnancy was developed by Francoise Barbira Freedman, the founder of Birthlight in the UK (http://www.birthlight.com), who was inspired to invent this method by studying the Peruvian natives of the Amazon. Her preoccupation with the natives was part of her study in Anthropology at the University of Cambridge. During her two pregnancies, with her knowledge both as swimming and yoga instructor and by watching the natives' care for their children and pregnant women, she blended all she was observed by watching them move in water with the traditional techniques and practices of yoga, thus creating aqua yoga for pregnancy.
One of the goals of aqua yoga, other than maintaining the functional capacity of the pregnant woman, is to help the mother bond with her baby by relaxing and enjoying the aqua yoga exercises in the water. These exercises are performed slowly and bring the pregnant woman in touch with her changing body and through better control of her body through water she can thus deal more effectively with her pregnancy.