During my first pregnancy, I was keen to ensure that I maintained fitness and flexibility so that my labour would be as easy as possible. Ha! on trying to make it as 'easy' as possible....! But when the time came I was strong, and I was flexible.
I had previously been doing some Yoga, but found it painful as I became larger, and my joints became looser as my pregnancy progressed. I tried pregnancy yoga, but it was such a step down from the yoga I was doing that I found myself getting bored.
I was lucky enough to be pregnant at the same time as my friend Maha, a former professional modern and Middle Eastern dancer as she had just started up a belly dancing during pregnancy class. What a revelation!
The class was both fun to do, and wonderful in keeping my core strength muscles in shape, and flexible. I won't pretend my labour consisted of a few gentle rotations of my hips and out came baby... no, my labour was 6 hours of pretty hard work, but I am confident that without Maha's belly dancing classes I would not have had the strength and self belief that I still had in the final stages of my labour.
I gave birth in the Mullumbimby birthing centre, and went home the day after my first daughter was born. My recovery afterwards was also swift; again, I put this down to Maha's belly dancing classes. When I found out Maha was putting together an eBook so that women around the world could attend her belly dancing classes in their own homes, I was of course delighted and had my hand up early to help promote her book.
I whole heartedly recommend it to anyone seeking to maintain a strong, flexible body through low impact exercise during their pregnancy. It definitely made my labour easier to get through, and my recovery greatly faster.
