The Universal Principles of Alignment for Pregnancy

Written by Jessica Jennings

After my Anusara teacher training in 2000, I was asked to teach a prenatal yoga class for the first time.

I panicked. I knew nothing about pregnancy (except the basics of course), and I had only taken a weekend training with lots of do’s and don’ts, and lists of poses.

But I was so filled with inspiration from the goddess-based philosophy I was studying that I figured I would just spew it at them.

I gushed to my students about their perfect fullness (purnatva). I told them that they were all beautiful, unique expressions of the Divine, that they only need to listen to the wisdom within, and that pregnancy was a transformative dance to enjoy.

And, well… they looked at me like I was nuts.

It turns out my pregnant students had a new ache or pain not just every day… They weren’t sleeping well because it was hard to find a comfortable position. and they had to get up to pee all the time… and all of their joints were weakened because of the pregnancy hormones.

Beyond Therapeutics

As an alignment geek, I decided to focus on therapeutics in class. We addressed the Universal Principles of Alignment to relieve wrist pain, back pain and knee pain to anxiety and stress.

I felt so grateful for my training when I watched my students do poses without pain for the first time since they’d been pregnant – and feel better overall by the end of class.  

But I still felt like I was missing something… 

Around that time, prenatal yoga was mostly gentle yoga. However, more and more as a culture we were beginning to recognize that exercise wasn’t only ok for pregnant mamas, it was essential.

Strength and endurance are needed to carry around a bowling ball-size baby, both inside and out. 

Yet it didn’t feel right to teach a regular class with adjustments, building to a pinnacle pose and focusing on expanding our boundaries. My students seemed to just want to feel better, prepare for labor, and enjoy this exciting time together. 

It wasn’t until I began asking myself this one question that teaching prenatal yoga began to feel more meaningful to me – and useful to my mamas.

The question I asked myself was this: “What is the opportunity that pregnancy brings?”

I knew that it had to be more than just feeling huge and exhausted. As Tantric philosophy teaches us, life is a gift. Pregnancy is a natural part of life, so I figured it must be a gift as well.

I thought about how, over my first few years of teaching prenatal yoga, I had witnessed a transformation in my moms-to-be from anxious, overwhelmed, and isolated to calm, clear, and grounded. They enjoyed their pregnancy more and  experienced birth as empowering more often than what I sensed for those who didn’t do yoga.

I realized what these women all had in common, besides being pregnant: They had all made the same choice to slow down, focus  inward, and honor their bodies – some of them in a whole new way.

My pregnant students were choosing to turn nurturing energy inward: growing into a mother, not just to their baby, but to themselves.

For me, this led me to understand what I came to believe is the foundational principle of prenatal yoga.

Find the Feminine

I continued to learn more about pregnancy.I got my Master’s degree in Kinesiology and did a 6-year study at Kaiser Permanente on the effects of prenatal yoga on customer satisfaction (very high)) and birth outcomes (trended positive).

By the time I became a  Certified Anusara teacher  in 2006. I’d learned so many reasons why the alignment principles were even more essential for pregnancy.

I also learned how the alignment principles had to shift to be really effective for my mamas.

I went back to the Anusara concept of the masculine vs. the feminine.

These complementary opposites appear in most spiritual traditions. We see them as Shiva/Shakti,, yin and yang, or feminine and masculine.

Rather than thinking about them as referring to gender, sexuality or even archetypes, we can see them simply as two categories for the qualities within each of us.

Neither is better than the other. They are in eternal dance with each other, and in fact, can’t be separated from each other. Like the inhale and exhale, or a contraction and expansion, they support each other.

When we are coming from our more masculine side, we tend to be more linear, logical, achievement-oriented, and independent. It’s the version of us that takes action, checks off lists, moves forward in a straight line and says “I got this.”

When we’re connected to our more feminine side, we tend to be more feeling-our-way forward, intuitive, process-oriented, and collaborative. It’s the part of us that listens, is open to guidance, and spirals around, knowing that it’s ok to need each other.

Our more masculine qualities are essential in getting things done – everything from errands to building a house. Moms are in their masculine often: checking to make sure rooms are baby-safe; picking up the right kids at the right place and getting them to the right activities. All this requires self-reliance and logical, linear thinking.

For co-creative acts, like writing a poem, starting a new relationship or having a transformative pregnancy, the feminine qualities are the foundation – listening, sensing, following a deep desire within. 

Society doesn’t often reward the feminine.We get kudos for buying a new house, getting a promotion, or completing a project.

We don’t really get rewards for taking a step back from life, letting ourselves not know what’s next, and being a great listener.

And yet, as yoga teachers, we know that this is the only path to know our Selves.

Pregnancy is a time when many women slow down,  turn inward, and begin to honor what they hear in a whole new way.

What I came to call “Finding the Feminine” was for me the gift that pregnancy brings.

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The Syllable “Ma”

Nine years after starting to teach prenatal yoga, what I was teaching felt so fundamentally different from my regular yoga classes that I decided to give this method a name.

I choose the name Ma Yoga because the root “Ma” in so many languages means mother:

• Arabic: Ummi, māma, ahm
• Catalan: Mare
• Czech: Matka or maminka
• Greek: Màma
• Icelandic: Mamma
• Indonesian: Mama, bunda, ibu, ‘bu
• Korean: Eomma
• Latvian: Māte
• Malayalam: Amma
• Norwegian: Mor or mamma
• Slovak: Mamička
• Swedish: Mamma or mor

And “Ma” has another meaning as well.

In Sanskrit, “Ma” means “the highest, most powerful and wise” – as in “Maha Vaha Srota” – the Great Digestive Channel, and “Ma Kali” – the mother of all goddesses.

I asked my philosophy teacher Dr. Douglas Brooks, and he confirmed that the root “Ma” contains both meanings.

It also made sense to me in the context of prana–life force–which has three major qualities:

• It is nurturing. Whether we’re aware or not, each breath is taking care of us on the deepest levels.
  
• It is intelligent. he different systems in our bodies are constantly communicating and working together to heal and thrive
  
• It is powerful. Nothing can match the power of the body to create life.

I began to see that nurturing energy opens the door to our power and wisdom.

As a new mom myself, I knew that the challenges of pregnancy and labor were temporary, compared to the isolation, depletion, and stress of motherhood.

Nature gives us 9 months to step away from the fray and learn how to love ourselves, honor our body’s’ wisdom, and stand strong in our power.

And of course, we can all Find the Feminine – learn to treat ourselves with the same love and care that we would a little one we love. We can all (male and female, young and old) learn to love ourselves fully.

For me, this is the opportunity pregnancy brings: When we learn to mother ourselves, we step into our highest, most powerful and wise “Ma” Self.

The Universal Principles of Alignment for Pregnancy

While the Universal Principles of Alignment  turned out to apply physically to pregnancy beautifully, the way I taught them shifted for prenatal yoga.

I focused less on aches and pains, shoulder blades and tailbones, and dove deeper into the essence of the principles: the five natural elements.

The feminine is holistic. It’s not about separating and isolating parts, but rather seeing and experiencing ourselves as an interconnected whole. And according to yoga, we are made up of these five elements, and nothing else.

Connecting my mamas to space, earth, water, fire and air within themselves became my guide as a prenatal yoga teacher.

The five elements allowed me to help students align with their highest Self, while giving them a powerful experience of all that they needed to have a transformative pregnancy, labor, and postpartum period.

When I focused less on just the physical, the shifts happened on all levels: physical, mental/emotional, energetic, and spiritual.

As I continued working with the energy of the five natural elements, I realized they are actually the keys to not only understanding prenatal yoga, but to any co-creative act. When we lay them down as “steps” over the journey of pregnancy, we  understand what to emphasize.

As we go through them, think about whatever you may have gestating within you,whether it’s a baby, a project, or a new way of showing up in the world. The five natural elements – or what I call “the Five Sacred Steps” – can be your guide.

Below is a deep dive into the Universal Principles of Alignment: their element, how this element plays out in nature, the feminine aspect of this principle, and how it supports pregnancy:

Universal Principle of Alignment: Open to Grace 

Element: SPACE

Garden Metaphor: Clear away brush for planting

Sacred Step One: Find the Feminine

For Pregnancy: Make Space for Baby

As my birth mentor used to say, “If pregnancy doesn’t teach you we’re not in charge, labor will. And if labor doesn’t, our baby will.”

The first principle is essential to teach our students even before they are pregnant,especially if they are having fertility issues.

When we remember there are bigger forces at work, and we are at most “co-creating”, we let go. Our groins release, our energy settles, and prana can flow with more ease.

Even in the first trimester, before everything has stuck, it’s important to remind our students that “naps are the new productive.” It’s time to start listening to your body, letting go of micro-managing, and allowing nature to do her magic.

Because of the high rate of miscarriage during this time, we want to encourage our students to back off more than any other time throughout pregnancy.

This is not because we could “jump” the baby away, but because loss happens, and we don’t want to add to their experience of self-blame because they did a pose that didn’t feel right.

Making space for ourselves is about slowing down, opening to receive guidance from our bodies, and honoring what we hear. 

We’re also making space for this new growing being in our lives.n prenatal yoga, we never stop needing to make space for the baby.

As the baby grows, our organs get pushed aside. Our bladder gets squeezed, our diaphragm is impinged, and the weight of the baby often pulls the rib cage forward, leaving less space in the back of the body.

In order to allow the baby to move into optimal position, we need to make space in all the same ways we learn to make space in Anusara,especially the back of the body, and the top of the chest. 

Even just having students sit on a folded blanket, settle their pelvis down on the exhale and expand up and out on the inhale gives the baby needed space to move freely.

And of course, these principles go beyond the physical. When we learn to make space by adjusting a pose – a lunge for instance, when we put both arms inside our front leg–we are also helping our students make space for babies in their minds and hearts.

Encouraging our students to adjust poses for their yoga partner isn’t just about being able to do poses. it’s wonderful practice for shifting every aspect of their being for what will become a new life partner.

Universal Principle of Alignment: Muscular Energy 

Element: Earth

Garden Metaphor: Plant seeds in dirt

Sacred Step Two: Source Your Strength

For Pregnancy: Create a Strong Container for Baby

Pregnancy hormones like progesterone and relaxin weaken all the joints during pregnancy.

So it’s even more important during pregnancy to engage muscles before stretching.

And as our belly grows, this instability increases. I’ve had students who couldn’t even lift their hips off the floor for Bridge Pose in their 3rd trimester. Even squeezing a block between their thigh wasn’t enough.They still felt like their thigh bones would just fall out of their hips.

You can help your students stabilize their hips by standing over them as they do Bridge and squeezing their hips with our legs.

As we challenge moms-to-be to find physical strength in the midline of their bodies (mudya), they can’t help but find their inner strength as well. 

And yet each principle builds on the last: We never forget that we are Making Space for Baby in the most nurturing, loving way possible. 

The “hug your muscles” cue is wonderful for the mamas because they are literally hugging their baby – and themselves.

Universal Principle of Alignment: Inner Spiral

Element: Water

Garden Metaphor: Water your garden

Sacred Step Three: Do a Divine dance

For Pregnancy: Make space for baby in the back of the pelvis

It took me two and a half years to get pregnant, and people ask me often: What finally did the trick?

I had tried everything from “drink a glass of wine every night” to “get a plant” to “don’t get a plant or your body will already think it’s nurturing something” to, of course, the ubiquitous “ground your femurs.”

None of it had worked for me.

Of course, who knows, but my husband and I were about to do IVF (we had the medication and were ready to go)… this is a common story of letting go.

And yet also my husband went away and missed our optimal window… That was odd.

And then there’s this: The week before I got pregnant, I took a week-long workshop with Ansuara founder John Friend. His theme that week was water and the goddess, and every pose we did became a flowy dance.

I remember swaying my hips in figure 8’s in Warrior II and realizing that we could bring our softness into anything – and still be strong.

We swayed and spiraled and never hardened or held poses for long. It was a transformative practice, and… who knows – just might have helped me finally get pregnant.

What I do know is that connecting to our feminine side with flowy movements of the hips not only feels really great when we’re pregnant – it makes space for baby to move into optimal position.

It supports baby’s exit strategy, it releases the groins so energy can move downward, and relieves low back pain that is all too common as the weight of the baby pulls our stomach and thighs forward.

Plus, when we stick our booty out, we release not only the groins but the Round Ligament – connecting the uterus to the pelvis – that can get over stretched and feel crampy.

Maybe most of all – dancing is a wonderful way to help our mamas feel a deep, joyful connection to baby.

Universal Principle of Alignment: Outer Spiral

Element: Fire

Garden Metaphor: Roots grow down

Sacred Step Four: Ground Your Power

For Pregnancy: Root In to Support

When I was pregnant, I was told that I shouldn’t work my core at all.

My prenatal yoga teacher had a 6-pack for abs, which had  inhibited her body’s ability to expand during her contractions.

However, I am not someone who ever had a 6-pack – or ever will. I have a more organic, flexible body.

For me, not engaging my core for a year caused my body to move into asymmetrical patterns that took years to recover from.

For this reason, I’m passionate about training yoga teachers how to help their pregnant students safely and effectively engage their core.

In a nutshell, to stay connected to our feminine side, we always want to support movement and flow. 

Of course, sucking the belly can actually reduce space for baby, so it is not optimal.

And since prana flows downward from the low belly, any cues like “tuck the tailbone” can actually block the flow of prana. It can leave our mamas feeling ungrounded and even block the downward energy flow of labor.

Doing too much tailbone tucking also presses the thighs and belly forward, increasing the risk of diastasis recti, or abdominal wall splitting. 

Instead, “exhale, and “root from hips through heels” became my go-to prenatal cue to help keep energy moving, all the parts connected, and the whole body feeling both spacious and grounded.

Even for kegels, it’s important to recognize that drawing the pelvic floor in is only half of it. Tthe other half is inhaling, allowing both the diaphragm and pelvic floor to release and broaden, so we don’t get stuck in a contracted state.

All of the alignment actions feed into each other, and this one is no different: We cannot separate engaging our core with grounding downward through the heels. Otherwise,we may block prana. Remembering this allows core engagement to be safe and effective for pregnancy.

Universal Principle of Alignment: Organic Energy

Element: Air

Garden Metaphor: Plants grow up and out

Sacred Step Five: Offer Your Gifts

For Pregnancy: Become the “Ma” You Want to Be

On the mat, our 5th principle refers to the stretch: energy moves from inside out.

In life, it’s all about trusting the work we’ve done, and allowing ourselves to expand into our greatest possibilities.

For pregnancy, it’s so important to stay connected to the inner space, the hug, the dance and the rootedness. When we do, we experience a deep transformation.

I always encourage mamas to take birth classes, find lactation groups, and receive knowledge from those who have walked this path before them.

And yet at some point, no matter how much they know, and how wonderful their support team is, it’s important to remind them: Only you can birth this baby, and ultimately you will be the one who knows best how to mother this baby.

In other words: educate and meditate.

And then, trust what’s moving through you.

The biggest regrets we have are when we ignored that little voice inside, guiding us, directing us along our path.

For many people, prenatal yoga is their first experience with yoga.

It’s one of obstetricians’ most highly recommended forms of pregnancy exercises.

And moms-to-be have all new motivation to learn to take care of themselves because taking care of themselves means taking care of baby. 

Pregnancy is a wonderful time for people to learn to turn nurturing energy inward, and in doing so, they can begin to find a deep power and expansive wisdom within.

It can be an opportunity to change challenges into opportunities, learn how strong they are,find play and release and joy, and connect to support within their bodies and all around them.

It can be a transformative journey to their own highest, most powerful and wise “Ma” Self.

And prenatal yoga teachers can stand at the doorway, saying “Welcome.”

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