You’re truly welcome at any stage along your conception, pregnancy and postpartum journey (and we believe that postpartum is forever).

The guidelines that you cannot exercise beyond 12 or 16 or 20 weeks are outdated and based on fear. If you’re feeling well, want to practice and your pregnancy remains uncomplicated, you’re welcome to continue with us!

We live in Cairns. Unless you’re a superhuman, you’re likely no stranger to sweat.

Truth be told, our classes do get sweaty sometimes. But your perfect amazing body is always working to regulate your temperature and this is no different in pregnancy.

Sometimes if you feel too hot, you may wish to take extra breaks, have some water or even step outside for a moment. You’re welcome to claim the coolest spot in the room (in front of the aircon or under a fan). You know your body best, listen to it and we will support you accordingly.

Worry is very common in pregnancy and is a sign your mothering instincts are working beautifully. Your baby is supported by incredible structures to keep it buoyant, cushy and cosy in there.

“Concerns that regular physical activity during pregnancy may cause miscarriage, poor fetal growth musculoskeletal injury, or premature delivery have not been substantiated for women with uncomplicated pregnancies” (ACOG, 2020).

If something doesn’t feel right, we encourage you to listen to that inner voice and let us know or let your midwife/obstetrician or other care provider know at your next appointment.

You can lay on your back for as long as you feel comfortable. Outdated advice was to turn pregnant women onto their sides (especially the left side) but we now say you can do all of our supine (lying down) work as long as feels right for you.

Think about it, you’ll likely be encouraged to sleep on your side from the 3rd trimester. You’re (hopefully) sleeping a lovely lush 8 hours. We’re only on our backs for less than a minute in any given class (with the exception of relaxation/savasana), so until 3rd trimester, you can feel confident to be on your back as long as feels good for you.

After 3rd trimester, the latest evidence also suggests you will be fine to be on your back and you simply may not want to be flat on your back as your belly grows bigger. The guidelines, however, indicate to be elevated slightly.

Just let us know if being on your back no longer feels good or if your care provider has advised against being on your back for any length of time.

Truthfully, you can lay on your front for as long as feels comfortable (which will vary slightly from woman to woman). Some women feel comfortable to be on their belly until they “pop”, others don’t feel comfortable from the moment they discover they are pregnant.

Regardless, we can give you other options and will probably encourage another position for your comfort.

Yoga and Pilates are truly the most adaptable practices for pregnancy. Yoga facilitates not just flexibility, it encourages a softening and opening which is required for birth (and also motherhood). Pilates offers a strengthening, which can be really useful to prepare particularly the back, the pelvis if there are any imbalances and the arms and wrists for for feeding and baby carrying postpartum. I (Claudia) also strongly believe in barre in pregnancy as you’re standing for most of the class, there’s no pressure on the wrists that can often get tender, the load of the belly is lessened and you have the barre as additional balance support.

We encourage you to avoid:

• Risk of falling (which is virtually non-existent in mat classes)

• Sudden fast movements (you are always encouraged to move at your own pace and you can absolutely slow down more or we can support you to breakdown a movement if needed

A universal approach to pelvic floor contractions (or kegels) is a pain point of mine (Claudia’s). You see, we all have different pelvic floor histories, movement histories and birth histories too.

I believe it is best to work with a women’s health physio or other pelvic health therapist to identify whether strengthening exercises are required.

In preparing for a physiological birth, the pelvic floor needs to open and relax. Sometimes doing too much strengthening work can be counter-productive to this. However, rebuilding pelvic floor strength and balance in postpartum is useful for long-term pelvic health.

We will not cue the pelvic floor in classes as this is an intimate space that you know best. We do not believe in a universal approach to pelvic floor work in pregnancy. You are encouraged to do your own research and can incorporate any strategies from other professionals into your practice here at Kynd.

Unless you’ve been advised against it by your care provider, we will encourage you to understand your capacity using the “Talk Test”

• Unless you’re wearing a heart rate monitor, you won’t know you HR

• We all have different capacities base on a number of factors including fitness/training history

A better measure is to only challenge yourself as much as you could maintain a conversation (“Talk Test”). If you could chat to the person on the mat next to you while doing your pulses, your heart is perfect!

Pregnancy is an open, expansive and softening time. You are preparing your body and mind for the biggest expansion you will ever face (and then again in subsequent pregnancies).

You can stretch as much as feels good. You will know if a stretch is too far or too much.

Stretching in postpartum

In the postpartum space, we encourage movement that brings you back in to your centre. Pregnancy and birth are deeply expansive experiences and energetically, you can feel open and loose in your body and mind. We encourage movement that creates a bolstering, held sensation through the body. Things like walking and Pilates when you feel ready are great! We would encourage being mindful the long slow practices such as yin yoga for the body (although the space feels heavenly for the mind).

Warning signs to stop exercise and seek medical attention include:

• chest pain

• persistent shortness of breath that does not get better with rest

• severe headache

• persistent dizziness/feeling faint that does not get better with rest

• regular painful uterine contractions

• vaginal bleeding

• persistent loss of fluid from the vagina – indicating possible ruptured membranes.

• decreased fetal movement

Please let us know if you experience anything like this so that we can support you best.

Get expert advice from a health professional before starting or continuing physical activity if you have a history of, or develop, any of the following:

• spontaneous miscarriage, preterm labour or fetal growth restriction

• mild/moderate cardiovascular or chronic respiratory disease

• pregnancy induced hypertension

• poorly controlled seizure disorder

• type 1 diabetes

• symptomatic anaemia

• malnutrition, significantly underweight or eating disorder

• twin pregnancy after the 28th week

• other significant medical conditions

If your care provider advises that you may continue or commence yoga or Pilates with us, please get in touch so we can ensure we are able to support you and provide the most suitable class style and/or teacher skill.