Asanaverse

Phase 3 · A Practice You Can Keep

Part of the 8 Week Postpartum Yoga Program for Core and Pelvic Floor

30 Minute Postpartum Yoga Sequence to Return to Movement

Weeks seven and eight and beyond. A full practice, in the order that keeps it safe, and no jumping.

The last two weeks look like an ordinary practice: standing poses, a fold, some floor work, a rest. What is different is the order and what is left out. No planks, no boat pose, no sit ups, no full backbends, and nothing with impact in it. The honest headline for this phase is that eight weeks is where a practice starts, not where recovery finishes.

30 min · Level 1

← Back to the full program

Wann hilfreich

For weeks seven and eight, three times a week, and afterwards for as long as you like. Thirty minutes. A wall, a strap and a blanket. Start no earlier than six weeks after birth and only once your midwife or doctor has checked you over, later after a caesarean or a complicated birth. Nothing here should make your abdomen dome or cone outwards along the midline: if it does, come out and go back to the breathing. This supports pelvic floor physiotherapy rather than replacing it, and ongoing leaking, a feeling of heaviness or dragging in the pelvis, or pain at a scar all need a physiotherapist rather than a video.

Whole body

Standing, folding, twisting and lying down, in a form that leaves out everything which loads the abdominal wall from the front.

Deep core

The same breathing, now underneath a fuller practice rather than instead of one.

Mood

The best evidenced outcome of postpartum yoga, and it is not in the title of this program. In one trial, 78 percent of the yoga group had a clinically meaningful improvement in depression.

Standing

Twelve minutes upright, low impact, wall in reach.

BerghaltungTadasana
01
2 min

Berghaltung

Feet hip width. Rib breathing, pelvic floor lifting gently on the out breath and letting go on the in breath.

The breathing has been in every session since week one and it stays here.

Mehr über Tadasana erfahren
Gestrecke ArmposeUrdhva Hastasana
02
2 min

Gestrecke Armpose

Both arms overhead. Keep the front ribs from flaring as the arms go up, which is what the breath is for.

Overhead reach without the ribs escaping forward. It is a small distinction and it is most of the exercise.

Mehr über Urdhva Hastasana erfahren
Krieger 2Virabhadrasana II
03
90 sec each side

Krieger 2

Wide stance, front knee bent, arms long. Longer holds now.

The legs carrying the load, held long enough to count as strength work.

Mehr über Virabhadrasana II erfahren
DreieckTrikonasana
04
1 min each side

Dreieck

Feet wide, hand on the shin rather than the floor, chest turning open.

A long side body over a wide base, with no reason to reach lower.

Mehr über Trikonasana erfahren
Stehende VorbeugeUttanasana
05
2 min

Stehende Vorbeuge

Knees soft, folding from the hips, coming up slowly.

The hip hinge again, and coming up unhurried.

Mehr über Uttanasana erfahren

On the floor

Ten minutes down low. Still no planks and still no sit ups.

KatzenposeMarjaryasana
06
2 min

Katzenpose

Hands and knees, rounding on the out breath. Fuller range now if the midline stays flat.

Full range only when the abdominal wall stays quiet through it. That condition is the progression.

Mehr über Marjaryasana erfahren
Kuh HaltungBitilasana
07
2 min

Kuh Haltung

Chest forward on the in breath, belly gently drawn.

The pair, unchanged since week one.

Mehr über Bitilasana erfahren
Stellung des Kindes Balasana
08
2 min

Stellung des Kindes

Knees wide, forehead down.

The back of the ribs, one more time.

Mehr über Balasana erfahren
Dem weisen BharadvajaBharadvajasana 1
09
90 sec each side

Dem weisen Bharadvaja

A seated turn, now to about three quarters of your range, still watching the midline.

Three quarters rather than full. End range twisting stays out of this program.

Mehr über Bharadvajasana 1 erfahren

Lying down

Eight minutes on your back, finishing flat.

SchulterbrückeSetu Bandha Sarvangasana
10
1 min, five times

Schulterbrücke

Five hip lifts on the out breath. Midline check every time.

Five repetitions, and still no height contest.

Mehr über Setu Bandha Sarvangasana erfahren
Liegende Hand Fuß PoseSupta Hasta Padangusthasana
11
90 sec each side

Liegende Hand Fuß Pose

Strap around one foot, other leg heavy on the floor.

The last thing that asks for anything.

Mehr über Supta Hasta Padangusthasana erfahren
Knie zur BrustApanasana
12
2 min

Knie zur Brust

Knees towards the chest.

On the way out.

Mehr über Apanasana erfahren
TotenstellungSavasana
13
3 min

Totenstellung

Flat, covered, cushion under the knees.

Three minutes. The most reliably skipped and most reliably useful part of this program.

Mehr über Savasana erfahren

Integration

Three times a week for weeks seven and eight, then keep going. Continence outcomes in the research are usually measured at three to six months rather than at eight weeks, so continuing is where the benefit sits. Running and jumping come later, after three to six months and ideally after a pelvic floor check.