Yoga during pregnancy - moving security for the body & nervous system
A blog article for therapists, yoga teachers and companions in a therapeutic context
By Florian Hockenholz, physiotherapist, osteopath & yoga teacher
Pregnancy is a time of change - physical, emotional, hormonal, identity-forming. For many women, it marks the beginning of a new form of self-perception: more intense, more fragile, more mindful.
Yoga can be a stabilizing anchor during this time. Not because it is spectacular - but because it creates space. For breath. For movement. For relationship - with the growing body, with the unborn child, with your own inner self.
Why yoga during pregnancy?
Because pregnancy is not only a medical event, but also a physical and emotional one.
And because many of the associated complaints - back pain, sleep problems, anxiety, tightness, shortness of breath - cannot be solved by medication.
Yoga acts as gentle regulation and perception training:
Stabilization & mobilization: for pelvis, lumbar spine, pelvic floor
Breathing training: for more space, calm and diaphragmatic mobility
Vegetative calming: Vagus activation through movement & breathing
Body awareness: orientation in a changing system
Psycho-emotional integration: regulating anxiety, strengthening trust
What has a concrete effect?
🧘♀️ Posture & movement
Pelvic mobilization (e.g. pelvic circles, cat-cow, gentle lateral tilt)
Relief of the lumbar spine and sacroiliac joint
Four-footed stance exercises → Symmetry & stability
Gentle side stretch → creates space in the chest
🌬 Breath & nervous system
Exhalation-emphasized breath control → vagus activating
Consciously feel breathing spaces: ribcage, flanks, pelvis
Understanding breath as a tool for birth: calm, rhythmic, connected
🧠 Body awareness & emotional stability
Bodyscan & mindful movement → Integration & safety
Visualizations: Expansion in the pelvis, connection to the baby, arriving in the now
Encouraging an inner attitude: "I can be soft. I can be strong."
What yoga should not be during pregnancy
❌ No performance program for "fit birth"
❌ No spiritual overload
❌ No posture correction at any price
❌ No dogma about how birth or pregnancy should be "right"
Instead:
✅ Permission to get to know your own body anew
✅ Respect for individual boundaries
✅ Mindful guidance instead of optimization
For whom is pregnancy yoga particularly valuable?
For first-time mothers with uncertainties
For women with previous birth or loss experiences
For anxiety, insomnia, inner restlessness
For back, pelvic or SI joint pain
As preventative self-regulation - also for the child's nervous system
Conclusion
Yoga during pregnancy is not a method, but an attitude: towards yourself, towards your changing body and towards the life that is emerging.
If it is offered in a mindful, anatomically sound and therapeutically guided way, it is a valuable tool - not for self-optimization, but for self-connection.
📅 Do you want to learn how to practise or teach yoga safely and effectively during pregnancy?
Here you can find my webinars & training courses for therapists & yoga teachers:
www.hockenholz.com/yoga