When it comes to pregnancy and parenting it’s all too easy let your mental and physical health slide because you’re extra busy and likely exhausted. If you’re pregnant, prenatal yoga is an excellent way to combat stress. Here are some great ways to bring your physical and mental health back into shape during pregnancy and after baby is born – whether you live in Calgary or elsewhere.
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Prenatal Yoga Calgary
You’ve probably heard the term, prenatal yoga, but may not know why it’s helpful and where can it be taken. Prenatal yoga can be super helpful to prepare you for labor and promote both your health and your baby’s. We’re going to dive into the different classes available and where to take them in Calgary.
Additionally, prenatal yoga can improve sleep, reduce stress and anxiety, increase flexibility and endurance of those birthing muscles. Some even claim it helps to decrease pregnancy pain. Prenatal yoga is a great way to stay healthy during pregnancy, because it’s a super slow yet beneficial form of exercise.
A typical prenatal yoga class in Calgary or anywhere really, includes breath work and specific techniques to help manage shortness of breath or breathing through contractions during labour.
There’ll also be stretching, gentle yoga postures, a cool down and relaxation. Everything that you learn in prenatal yoga is helpful for your pregnancy journey.
Many places in Calgary offer prenatal yoga, just make sure to be careful about the types of yoga that can be potentially dangerous for pregnant women like hot yoga. It’s always important in any non-prenatal yoga class to tell your instructor if you’re pregnant.
Prenatal Yoga Calgary offers specific yoga options as well as fertility yoga. They focus not only the prenatal yoga poses and benefits, but also the community aspect. Here, they encourage interaction between moms in order to create connections that last after birth.
Other studios offering Prenatal yoga in Calgary include Yoga Mandala, The Yoga Studio of Calgary and Yoga Santosha, as well as many others.
Beginner Yoga Calgary
If you’ve never tried yoga before, you’ll want to start off with a beginner yoga class. There’s plenty of studios in Calgary that offer classes at the introductory level. Yoga has amazing benefits that are great for your body and your mind.
Physically, yoga can help to increase flexibility and muscle strength as well as improve your energy and breathing. Mentally, yoga is a great way to release stress and improve concentration.
If you’re feeling intimidated, you don’t have to join a class full of people who’ve been doing yoga for decades. Instead, take a look at our list of classes for new yogis out there!
One of the best yoga studios in Calgary for beginners is Yoga Santosha. The studio offers a series of six classes for beginners or first-timers. They will teach you the fundamentals of physical yoga with others that are new to yoga too.
Yoga Santosha offers pre-registered classes and drop-in. Plus, they have tons of other classes to check out once you are no longer a beginner! There’s two Calgary locations – one in Mission and another in Kensington.
Another studio worth checking out is The Yoga Studio of Calgary. This studio offers Level 1 yoga, yoga for 50+, yoga for plus-sized women and mixed level yoga. They offer both drop-in and pass classes. The Yoga Studio of Calgary also offers meditation and restorative classes for those looking for something relaxing, but just can’t get into yoga.
Prenatal Classes in Calgary
If yoga isn’t your thing but you still want to learn about the best postures and techniques for pregnancy as well as meet other pregnant women, prenatal classes could be your trick. Prenatal classes are also great for couples, and they promote connectivity.
These types of classes help you to learn about how to care and feed your baby, as well as keeping yourself sane during and after birth.
Alberta Health Services offer an entire perinatal and prenatal program with over 30 different courses. They offer pregnancy classes, preparing for a baby classes and services and information for parents.
Healthy Birth Choices is another option and they offer both in-class and online learning options. They provide education that encourages, enlightens and empowers.
Calgary Birth Essentials also offers multiple classes including a 7+1 week Childbirth Essentials prenatal class as well as a 4+1 week Childbirth Essentials prenatal which includes breastfeeding essentials, early parenting classes and one post-birth class.
Kids Yoga in Calgary
All of the amazing yoga benefits we talked about earlier in the post are great for kids, too. Yoga is a creative, non-competitive practice that can help a child’s focus, development and growth. Luckily, there are plenty of places in Calgary that offer kids yoga classes.
Wymbin Yoga offers yoga, education and wellness for young children, teens and families. Their goal is to inspire a healthy lifestyle in children, teens and families. Located in Inglewood, Calgary, Wymbin offers many classes, workshops, camps and school programs to help children experience a creative setting and develop their unlimited potential.
Other studios also offer kids yoga, described as a playful approach to Hatha Yoga. Teachers at these adult yoga studios provide imaginative and creative yoga classes so that kids can understand the essence of yoga. Some of these studios include Breathe Hot Yoga, Leela Eco Spa & Studio, Pureveda Yoga and Enlight Yoga and Wellness.
Parenting classes in Calgary
Let’s be honest, parenting can be really hard. The truth is that you don’t have to do it alone. If you feel like you can’t go to anyone in your family or friend group for help, there are tons of third-party resources and parenting classes to help you in Calgary.
Some great resources to access in Calgary are the Parent Link Centres and the Family Resource Centres. In Alberta, there are 59 Parent Link Centres. These centres offer ways to help increase parenting confidence, help parents to cope with everyday stress and strengthen belonging in the community.
One of their best programs is the Triple P- Positive Parenting Program. This program helps parents to gain positive parenting skills and understand what to expect from children at different pieces in their lives. This course, and the Parent Link Centres aim to help both parents and kids with mental health and positivity.
The Family Resource Centre helps to create a comfortable and friendly place at Alberta Children’s Hospitals for health care professionals, families and community members. They also aim to give access to credible community resources, health information and individualized supports.
Some other resources to check out around the city include TTMAC (Twins, Triplets and More!), Calgary Pregnancy Care Centre (great for prenatal, first year and parent education), Calgary Paeds (Paediatrics), Families Matter (great for mental health, and children of all ages) and CARYA Calgary (offer over 40 programs that range from counselling to development services and support).
What are some ways that you reduce stress and anxiety during pregnancy and parenting?
