Pregnancy Lifestyle
What's on this Page?
- 5 Key Self-Care Pregnancy Practices for Māyurveda Mamas
- The practices laid out in a sample Weekly Schedule for 2nd Trimester Mama
~Pregnancy is a time of deep inward oriented connection.
~As life grows inside you... you are constantly pulled inward toward that presence inside.
~This deepens your connection to yourself, your overall awareness, your sensitivity.
~Pregnancy is an opportunity for connectedness.
~It is also a time when you are easily destabilized mentally, as your body is going through constant change.
~It's hard to keep up with all the change!
~In Ayurveda, this state of constant change and high sensitivity is called vāta. And pregnancy, birth and postpartum is the most naturally vāta "deranging" experience in a woman's life.
Om Shantiḥ ~ Kaya
The pregnancy Māyurveda lifestyle is all about
Embracing the inward orientation
Increasing cellular nutrition
Adapting to change by stabilizing your mind
As always, the Māyurveda online resource pages are a supplement to your in-person work with me. In person time will enliven and personalize these recommendations, as well as give you insight into the most important areas of focus for your unique pregnancy and constitution. May these recommendations serve you, your baby and your family... and in doing so, may we help create happier, healthier communities and societies!
~As life grows inside you... you are constantly pulled inward toward that presence inside.
~This deepens your connection to yourself, your overall awareness, your sensitivity.
~Pregnancy is an opportunity for connectedness.
~It is also a time when you are easily destabilized mentally, as your body is going through constant change.
~It's hard to keep up with all the change!
~In Ayurveda, this state of constant change and high sensitivity is called vāta. And pregnancy, birth and postpartum is the most naturally vāta "deranging" experience in a woman's life.
Om Shantiḥ ~ Kaya
The pregnancy Māyurveda lifestyle is all about
Embracing the inward orientation
Increasing cellular nutrition
Adapting to change by stabilizing your mind
As always, the Māyurveda online resource pages are a supplement to your in-person work with me. In person time will enliven and personalize these recommendations, as well as give you insight into the most important areas of focus for your unique pregnancy and constitution. May these recommendations serve you, your baby and your family... and in doing so, may we help create happier, healthier communities and societies!
1. Time with loved ones...
This suggestion is especially helpful to those Vāta Mamas or any Mama suffering with anxiety or restlessness.
Make time with the other parent of your child, family members, dear friends and loved ones a priority. Your baby feels their presence.
Your loved ones LOVE being in the presence of you during your pregnancy and want to support you.
Learn to let others help you now {so it's easier to let them help you after the baby comes}. Spend time sharing meals together, in nature together, enjoying entertainment or long walks together. Being with others BALANCES VATA. If you are feeling anxious, depleted, nervous, restless... being with loved ones is a true REMEDY. For you and for baby. Make it woo-woo spiritual or totally blast off fun... the activity really doesn't matter, it's the togetherness that counts. PS... your partner's main job during your pregnancy is to keep you happy!
Your loved ones LOVE being in the presence of you during your pregnancy and want to support you.
Learn to let others help you now {so it's easier to let them help you after the baby comes}. Spend time sharing meals together, in nature together, enjoying entertainment or long walks together. Being with others BALANCES VATA. If you are feeling anxious, depleted, nervous, restless... being with loved ones is a true REMEDY. For you and for baby. Make it woo-woo spiritual or totally blast off fun... the activity really doesn't matter, it's the togetherness that counts. PS... your partner's main job during your pregnancy is to keep you happy!
2. Time with yourself...
During your postpartum time, you may struggle to have "me time"... in fact already during pregnancy, such a thing doesn't exist... as your baby is always in your awareness and you are always in your baby's awareness. If you already have children, you still need to make your own self-care a priority. Mama needs Mama time and your own self-care must be a priority.
Carve out a little time each day and a little extra time each week for "Mama time".
In this way, you model for your children and those around you a deep value for self care and the joy of some solitude. Children mistakenly learn from "time outs" that alone time is a punishment... model for them now that it is a pleasure. Mama time can take many forms, and really is up to you and your own natural inclinations! Here are a few examples.
Carve out a little time each day and a little extra time each week for "Mama time".
In this way, you model for your children and those around you a deep value for self care and the joy of some solitude. Children mistakenly learn from "time outs" that alone time is a punishment... model for them now that it is a pleasure. Mama time can take many forms, and really is up to you and your own natural inclinations! Here are a few examples.
- Home Yoga and Pranayama Practice or Prenatal Yoga Class {with a trained pregnancy yoga teacher}
- Natural Manicures or Pedicures
- Baths, naps, deep relaxation practices
- Curling up with a good book
- Prenatal Massage {safe after the first trimester}
- Meditation or Prayer
- Singing or chanting to your baby or to God or Goddess
- Long walks on your own or take yourself out on a solo tea and snack date
- Cooking a meal in silence or while listening to your favorite music
- Journaling about your pregnancy or your thoughts and feelings about birth and motherhood. This can be an opportunity to release fear and anxiety and visualize a strong and healthy birth and baby.
3. Commune in nature + exercise...
Pregnancy is a deeply natural experience that easily connects you with mother nature. It is truly an opportunity to commune with the natural world ~ to feel a part of, and supported by mother nature the way our ancestors felt. Get outside every day for at least a little bit + once a week at least for an extended period. Take long walks to nourish, rejuvenate and strengthen.
Your baby experiences what you experience... your baby digests what you digest...
So Mamas who are in an urban setting or spend lots of time in front of a computer or inside need to make an extra effort to get into nature, even in a small way every day... where and how doesn't matter... and if you can marry physical exercise with nature, all the better... breathe in the prāna of the sea, or the trees or the fresh air and let it soothe your nervous system and strengthen your spirit! Go to the water, the woods, open fields of plants and flowers, local parks, or anyplace you feel drawn to! If you feel dry, go to the water... if you feel ungrounded try connecting with trees... if you feel lacking prana or energy try a waterfall or a field of flowers.
Your baby experiences what you experience... your baby digests what you digest...
So Mamas who are in an urban setting or spend lots of time in front of a computer or inside need to make an extra effort to get into nature, even in a small way every day... where and how doesn't matter... and if you can marry physical exercise with nature, all the better... breathe in the prāna of the sea, or the trees or the fresh air and let it soothe your nervous system and strengthen your spirit! Go to the water, the woods, open fields of plants and flowers, local parks, or anyplace you feel drawn to! If you feel dry, go to the water... if you feel ungrounded try connecting with trees... if you feel lacking prana or energy try a waterfall or a field of flowers.
4. Bathing + Sleep Rituals...
While some Mamas find they want to sleep their way through pregnancy, others find sleep quite challenging and easily disturbed. Either way, it is important to get deep, restful sleep at regular times as much as possible during pregnancy. Your 2nd trimester in particular is an important time to perfect your sleep habits! I recommend starting your bedtime ritual around 8-9pm...
Bonus! These rituals can lull both you AND baby to sleep at night
Many Mamas find that baby wants to be up dancing and spinning and kicking all night... these rituals can help flip your baby's schedule to match yours ~ awake during the day and asleep at night... and as my midwife said to me when I told her how I flipped my baby's schedule... "who knows, maybe it will carry over after the baby is born!" Here is a sample nighttime routine based in Ayurveda. This works best when you repeat the same, or similar routine night after night {think, Pavlovian}
Bonus! These rituals can lull both you AND baby to sleep at night
Many Mamas find that baby wants to be up dancing and spinning and kicking all night... these rituals can help flip your baby's schedule to match yours ~ awake during the day and asleep at night... and as my midwife said to me when I told her how I flipped my baby's schedule... "who knows, maybe it will carry over after the baby is born!" Here is a sample nighttime routine based in Ayurveda. This works best when you repeat the same, or similar routine night after night {think, Pavlovian}
- Evening "Moon Walk" ~ step out into the moonlight for a gentle walk with a loved one. The "great mother moon" is known in Ayurveda to calm, cool and soothe your nervous system and emotions. This is extra helpful for pitta-Mamas or Mamas in a hot climate.
- Evening warm bath or shower followed by a belly massage {clockwise and gentle} with cocoa or shea butter and a foot massage too! You can add pregnancy-safe botanicals to help encourage restful sleep such as a drop of lavender or chamomile essential oil or a few drops of a Flower Essence, such as Mind Ease, Rose or Cellular Harmony from Floracopeia {we can choose the right botanicals for you in your sessions}.
- Evening elixir ~ passionflower tea, chamomile tea or a warm vanilla almond milk with cardamom. Or try a "Bowl of Soul" {chamomile tea brewed in vanilla almond milk with some sucanat or maple syrup}. Kapha mamas might not do the extra sweet though. Mama's suffering from constipation can safely add a 1/2 tsp of ghee to their evening elixir too.
- Light Entertainment ~ Pregnancy can be intense! Go ahead and take the pressure off with a good book, or some light funny entertainment. If you're lucky maybe your partner will massage your feet while you sit back and drink your elixir over your fave tv show. Do please avoid violent or disturbing images, as these effect both your mind and your baby's.
- Turn off Blue Light Screens ~ cell phones, computers and LED lights at least a 1/2 hour before bed. Do not have these in your bedroom at all! The light disrupts your natural sleep cycles.
5. Know Your Constitution, and Respond Accordingly
Each pregnancy is unique because of the karma and constitution of the child, your locale, environment, state of mind-body and your own individual mind-body constitution. During your sessions we will go more deeply into an exploration of your constitution and how this will impact your experience of pregnancy, birth and postpartum.
Having this in your awareness helps keep you making healthy choices for YOUR mind and body, and understanding objectively and spontaneously why something that works for another pregnant Mama may not work for you!
This is a boon in parenting as well as it can teach you to let go of comparing yourself and your children to others and instead, encourage a blossoming of each family members' innate strengths. You can use this knowledge to choose the best foods and daily lifestyle during pregnancy. Consider... are you for example
Having this in your awareness helps keep you making healthy choices for YOUR mind and body, and understanding objectively and spontaneously why something that works for another pregnant Mama may not work for you!
This is a boon in parenting as well as it can teach you to let go of comparing yourself and your children to others and instead, encourage a blossoming of each family members' innate strengths. You can use this knowledge to choose the best foods and daily lifestyle during pregnancy. Consider... are you for example
- an easily destabilized and highly creative Vāta Mama who gets anxious, worried, or restless? A few remedies are to get VERY routine in your daily habits, make sure you aren't constipated and spend more time with others.
- a high achieving Pitta Mama who too easily becomes self critical or critical of others and attempts to strategize her way through everything? A few remedies are to stay out of midday sun, do moon walks, practice some restorative yoga and eat more cooling foods.
- a sweet + lazy Kapha Mama who is happy to spend pregnancy on the couch eating pasta but feeling lethargic and lacking motivation? A few remedies are to get morning exercise, make sure not to sleep in or take daytime naps, and increase spices and green foods in your diet.
Your Sample Māyurveda Pregnancy Calendar...
During postpartum and the first year of your child's life... a lot of planning and scheduling may go out the window. However, during pregnancy... your natural anxiety and feelings of unrest will be calmed by a little list-making and planning. Take advantage of the natural tendency during pregnancy to amp up your planning and start to create an "ideal calendar" that leaves room for this... I am going to put an example below!
Start NOW to make your wellness rituals a PRIORITY in your calendar... because it will be much harder to establish this later with a baby in tow.
I call this a "2nd Trimester Calendar" simply because nature dictates that the first trimester you may be an "underachiever"... only joking! You are MAKING A PERSON! And at the beginning, this process requires more rest, less activity, and for some women, basic survival {because of exhaustion, nausea, and other discomforts}. Again, toward the end of your pregnancy, something both physical and psycho-spiritual takes over that will likely cause you to again slow down, and be more of an inward-oriented homebody. You should listen to this call inward and reduce your activity by the end of your pregnancy. Your body, mind and spirit are preparing for an amazing and huge transition.
You'll easily "double up" some of the recommendations above.
For example, time in nature + exercise can be done with others {check #1 + #3}, and your nighttime bathing and self-massage ritual is a self-care practice {check #2 + #4}. You'll see this below.
Start NOW to make your wellness rituals a PRIORITY in your calendar... because it will be much harder to establish this later with a baby in tow.
I call this a "2nd Trimester Calendar" simply because nature dictates that the first trimester you may be an "underachiever"... only joking! You are MAKING A PERSON! And at the beginning, this process requires more rest, less activity, and for some women, basic survival {because of exhaustion, nausea, and other discomforts}. Again, toward the end of your pregnancy, something both physical and psycho-spiritual takes over that will likely cause you to again slow down, and be more of an inward-oriented homebody. You should listen to this call inward and reduce your activity by the end of your pregnancy. Your body, mind and spirit are preparing for an amazing and huge transition.
You'll easily "double up" some of the recommendations above.
For example, time in nature + exercise can be done with others {check #1 + #3}, and your nighttime bathing and self-massage ritual is a self-care practice {check #2 + #4}. You'll see this below.
Here is an example of a single day...
- 7am wake up
- Brush teeth, clean tongue, wash face, drink water
- 1/2 hour of restorative, gentle yoga practice and 10 minutes of meditation
- 7:45am make breakfast
- 8am breakfast
- 9am - 11:30am work {and eat a snack around 10:30am}
- 11:30am make lunch
- 12:30pm lunch
- 2pm-5pm work {and eat a snack around 3:30pm}
- 5pm-6pm local hike with husband
- 6pm make dinner
- 6:45pm eat dinner
- 7:30pm gentle moon stroll around the neighborhood
- 8:30pm warm shower, massage belly with lavender cocoa butter
- 9pm watch a half hour of tv while drinking warm almond milk with cardamom, and husband massages feet with coconut oil + lavender
- 9:30pm get in bed