Tips for Teaching Yoga while Pregnant

As a yoga teacher, your physical health is a vital part of your career success. So, if you find yourself pregnant, you may be wondering how it will affect your current and future classes. Having taught through my singleton and twin pregnancy, I’m here to tell you, it’s possible to maintain your schedule if that’s something you are comfortable doing. Keep reading for some of my best tips for teaching yoga while pregnant.

Please Note: this article is not meant to act as medical advice. Always consult your medical professional before engaging in physical activity while pregnant.

Tip #1: Ensure you are able to teach effectively without demonstrations

Sometimes as yoga teachers, we can use our demonstration of poses to provide the guidance for our students, but if you find yourself unable to practice certain poses throughout your pregnancy, you likely don’t want to exclude them from your class plans for the next 9 months. It’s important that you are able to effectively use verbal cues to guide students into poses, and be knowledgeable enough about the poses you teach to provide alignment cues when you see students doing a pose in a way that shows you they may need assistance. This means being able to use different words to explain the same things - for example if you notice students are continuing to round their shoulders when you are cueing “heartspace is open” you may try saying “roll your shoulders back and down” or “lift your sternum” or “broaden your collar bones”. One description may work for some studetns and another will work for others, so being comfortable and familiar enough with the poses and alignment you are teaching is important for being able to teach without using your body to physically show your students what you mean.

If you are working with students that you know well and have practiced with for awhile, if you feel like students need a pose demonstrated, you can also ask one of your students who you know understands the alignment of a pose to demonstrate for you while you talk to the students about what they see.

There will be plenty of poses you can (and will want) to practice through your pregnancy if you choose to, so you will likely still be able to practice along with your students somewhat, but on days you just don’t have the energy, or if your pregnancy becomes physically taxing or difficult, it’s definitely possible to teach while taking breaks to sit in a chair (trust me, I did this a lot while I taught a 25 weeks pregnant with twins).

Tip #2: If you have control over what you teach in class, make your class work for you

If you are working in a studio and you are the “Advanced Vinyasa” teacher, this may not apply to you (but see above), but if you are teaching a session that is more general (Hatha style yoga, beginner etc) you can make sure the class you offer your students works for you that day. If you wake up with very low energy and tight hips, offer a hip opening, relaxation focused class. If you wake up feeling like you have tons of energy and need some movement, teach some of the more challenging poses you feel comfortable doing (I will always remember demonstrating Ardha Chandrasana in my third trimester with my singleton pregnancy and how I felt like a superhero after lol). If you have the option to be flexible with what you offer your studetns, then plan the class based on your needs, and I assure you, some of your students will likely have the same ones and be very thankful for your choice that day.

Tip #3: Listen to your body

This is something we often preach to our students and it is important that we heed our own advice (pregnant or not). Your students will not be upset with you for taking care of yourself and your baby, so if you need to adjust something, even mid-class, it’s ok. I used a belly band in my pregnancies and there were some days that thing was being put on mid-class because I needed it (imagine loud velcro noises). There were days I sat in a chair and did only arm movements for the second half of a class because the energy I thought I had, had left after 20 minutes. One day during the days of mask wearing, I had to remove my mask (gasp!) and simply told my students that if I wore it one minute longer my morning sickness would be making an appearance - they understood. Make sure you don’t hold yourself to an unrealistic standard as a teacher. Listen to your body, take care of yourself, and your students will understand. (and if they don’t - they aren’t the student for you!)

So, if you are pregnant and wondering what that means for your yoga teaching career, it’s going to be ok. Of course, there are circumstances where you may not be able to teach (bedrest, hyperemesis gravidarum, etc), but if you have an uncomplicated pregnancy and your doctor gives you the “ok” to engage in physical activity, you should be able to continue to offer your students an amazing yoga experience.

Let me know if you have any other tips to add or any questions about teaching while pregnant in the comments below!

Twin Mom Life: What’s a Twin Pregnancy Actually Like?

What this twin mom wants you to know (but doesn't have the time to tell you).

Since I’ve always shared pieces of my “real life” with you here in this blog - from quitting my job, to the brutal truths about being a yoga teacher - it only seemed fitting to write about my current reality, which is parenting twin babies and a toddler. It’s a wild ride I tell ya. Read along in this multi-part series as I delve into my experiences with twins from pregnancy until now, navigating my life as a #twinmom.

As a new mom of twins, I have found many aspects of this adventure surprising, including other people’s reactions and comments. Since I often leave an interaction thinking of all the things I wish I would have said, I’ve decided to share some of it here. It seems that there are a lot of misconceptions about being a parent of twins out there, and just a lot of things people can’t know or understand if they haven’t lived it. If you’re reading this as a new or expecting parent to twins - congrats! - maybe this series will help prepare you a tiny bit. If you’re reading this as someone who doesn’t have twins, maybe it’ll inform the way you respond to a twin parent in the future.

Read to the end to see what items helped me make it through my twin pregnancy with some level of comfort!

As many people are, I was totally shocked when I found out I was pregnant with identical twins. To be honest, I had been shocked I was pregnant at all. It was a three year journey, navigating fertility challenges and a miscarriage, to get pregnant with our son who was 16 months old, and we hadn't been "trying" for this pregnancy. Now it's very important to me, before we go any further, that you understand this - I believe any healthy baby born is, and should be treated as, a huge blessing and I am incredibly grateful for my children. This is and continues to be true as I share with you that this whole "twin mom" thing is incredibly difficult. It isn't simply matching onesies, but matching illness (you know what's worse than a sick baby - two sick babies), matching food allergies (think two babies having a delayed vomiting reaction to an allergen - at the same time), and matching meltdowns (there's quite a bit of crying when the math is simply against you in being able to meet everyones needs at once). 

The only thing that has surprised me as much as the initial "reveal", has been the responses I received from friends, family, and strangers when they learned about my pregnancy, or now, when I am out in the world with my children. On mulitiple occasions I have been caught completely off guard by people's comments and am continuously surprised at how novel the idea of twins is to people and how little is truly known about it (I learned a ton after finding out). So, let’s talk about a twin pregnancy, starting with this truth.

Twin Pregnancy can be stressful and scary.

One of the first and most common questions I get asked when I mention my twins is always "do twins run in your family?" followed by "are they identical?". However, when you come to find yourself pregnant with mulitiples you quickly learn that "fraternal" and "identical" is not the entire picture. You also learn that there are a lot of people who declare they are “jealous” or have always wanted twins. These people clearly have never been pregnant with two babies at once.

There are two types of twin or multiple pregnancies and they are categorized as dizygotic or monozygotic and each carries it's own risks. Fraternal twins are always dizygotic as they are the result of a person ovulating more than one egg and each of those egg's is fertilized. These types of pregnancys are referred to as dichorionic - diamniotic, meaning each embryo has it's own placenta and amniotic sac. Fraternal twins can “run in the family” but only on the mothers side. If your grandma or mom ovulated more than one egg, this is something you may also do, this the chance of twins being higher.

Identical twins are monozygotic as they occur when a single fertilized egg splits, resulting in identical twins. This process is completely random, as far as I understand, no family history required. Within this category there are two types of pregnancies - monochorionic-monoamniotic (mono-mono or mo-mo) which means the embryos share both a placenta and amniotic sac, and monochorionic- diamniotic (mono-di or mo-di), shared placenta, but their amniotic sac is divided by a thin membrane which means they have their own sacs. My pregnancy was mono-di, which I learned is the second highest risk out of the three.

The risks and complications in mulitiple pregnancies occur for both mom and babies. Besides things like Twin to twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) which you are monitored closely for in a monochorionic pregnancy, you are also at high risk for gestational diabetes, high blood pressure and preeclampsia, and preterm labour. Twins are more likely to be born premature and even if they go to "full term" which I was told would be 37 weeks with a mono-di pregnancy, twins generally have lower birth weights. Pre-Mature birth can lead to a wide variety of complications and medical concerns depending on the gestation a baby is born. So, as I was quickly being educated on all of these risks and complications and reading up on what to expect from a NICU stay for babies born from 32 weeks on, not to mention how terrible I felt (the nausea just hangs on way longer than the first trimester), I found myself overwhelmed, stressed, and scared. I was worried for my babies, myself, my future, the future of my family - did you know the divorce rate of parents of mulitiples is higher than average? Every time someone would tell me how envious they were of me I felt so confused. It didn’t feel like a situation that someone should be wishing for.

I ended up having a pretty uneventful pregnancy as far as twin pregnancy goes, but I still landed in the hospital at 28 weeks with a preterm labor scare and ended up going into labor at 34 weeks 5 days. I was monitored every 2 weeks, until about 31 weeks when they had some concerns over the size of the babies and fluid levels, so for the last few weeks of my pregnancy I went in twice a week for extra checks. My babies were born 4lbs 6 oz and 5lbs 1 oz via c section and stayed in the NICU for 9 and 10 days. It was terrifying, physically and emotionally exhausting, and I will forever be changed by the experience. My heart goes out to parents with kiddos in the NICU for longer stays.

So, my twin pregnancy ended with two amazing and healthy little boys with the exact same genetic make up. It still feels miraculous to be honest. That pregnancy felt like one of the hardest things I’ve done in my life. I was stretched to my limits - physically and emotionally. Giving birth was the end of one journey and the beginning of another one. But more about that next time.

If you or someone you know if experiencing a twin pregnancy, here is a list of my “must haves” for navigating it.

Note: as an amazon associate I earn on qualifying purchases.

Maternity Seat Belt Clip - this was amazing. Keeps the belt off your belly so you and babies are safe. Also so much more comfortable and amazing for post c-section car rides.

Belly Support band - my back and pelvis pain was pretty bad and a good belt helped relieve some of the pain.

Ginger gravol - again.. the nausea

Lululemon Align Leggings - my belly got pretty big and these stayed comfy AND didn’t stretch out so I still wear them now and they are amazing.

If you have questions feel free to ask in the comments below and I’ll do my best to answer!

5 Places to Teach Yoga (besides Yoga studios)

When you are getting close to finishing your yoga teacher training, or perhaps even before you begin, you likely start to consider where you’ll teach yoga. The obvious choice for many teachers is a yoga studio, perhaps one you took your training through or one you frequent, so the transition from student to teacher is fairly natural. However, if you are in a position where you are simply applying for teaching positions at studios, it can be just competitive and difficult to find employment opportunities as any other field. Luckily, there are a variety of places you can teach besides yoga studios that people don’t necessarily consider initially, and some can end up bringing in more income than your typical studio class. Here’s my top 5:

1. Community Centre’s or other rented space - The cost for renting a space in a community centre is usually quite reasonable, and if you go that route you can set up the classes/programming exactly how you want. You will also be in charge of all the back end work in that instance (registrations, marketing etc), which isn’t for everyone, however, some community centre’s also manage their own programs and may just be in need of a teacher! If there is a community centre near you that doesn’t currently run programming, (or even if they do they may want another teacher or class), reach out and see what options are available.

2. Schools & Daycares - If you are passionate about working with kiddos or better yet, certified in children’s yoga, schools and daycares are often looking to provide programming to their students. My tip: figure out which age group you enjoy working with most. Some people love working with teens, and others find it difficult. Some people are incredible at keeping little ones engaged and others find it impossible. Yoga for kids is not the same across all ages/grades.

3. Workplaces - More and more, large companies are realizing the importance of their employees overall wellness and mental health. Yoga programs are typically easy to organize and low cost ways of assisting with this.

4. In Home private classes - Private classes can feel intimidating when you are first starting out, and working one-on-one with someone is a lot different than leading a class of students. Some yoga teachers will thrive in privates, and others will not. You won’t know until you try!

5. Seniors Residences - If you have experience or additional training that qualifies you to work with seniors, reaching out to seniors residences to see if they are interested in a yoga program is a great idea. It may be chair yoga or quite modified, but the benefits for the students will still be great.

Did I miss anywhere? I’d love to know where else you have taught! Leave me a comment below to let me know.

Are you a new or aspiring Yoga teacher or a Yoga teacher looking to start their own business? Check out our Yoga Teacher resources and get my 5 tips for getting started!