ON THE HEALTH FRONT November 2, 2004
Yoga is getting them ready for labor day
BY DESONTA HOLDER Mia Glick is always encouraging her prenatal yoga class to ''breathe, relax, open, let go.'' The class is for pregnant women, but spouses are invited, too, and the few who give it a try are amazed at how hard it can be to just breathe and let go. ''I call out each part of their body and dramatically have them relax each part,'' Glick says. ``And then once I get them to relax, I get them to relax even more. And once they relax even more, I get them to relax even more. It's like layers of an onion. Peel away another layer.''

That relaxation comes in handy on labor day when pain kicks in and a clinched jaw can lead to a tight pelvis, making it even harder to push out a baby.

Glick, 35, knows this from experience. She began practicing yoga in 1984 and has been teaching prenatal yoga for the past five years at several locations in Miami Beach. She designed and taught her first class while pregnant with her daughter, now 4.

A former student, Tamar Oppenheimer, 31, of Surfside, took her doctor's advice and waited until her 13th week of pregnancy before starting the class, and she took her last class one week before her due date.

''It was great,'' said Oppenheimer, whose daughter is now 11 months old. ``The breathing was very helpful in terms of exercise. I had a very fast delivery.''

TELL YOUR DOCTOR

Dr. Sharon M. Salamat, an assistant professor of clinical obstetrics at the University of Miami, recommends pregnant women get 30 minutes of moderate exercise daily, barring medical or obstetric complications. She also urges them to discuss all exercise plans with their physician.

As for prenatal yoga classes, ''I think it's good the fact that they know to tailor it for the pregnant patient because certain positions'' are difficult, Salamat said. ``In general, yoga has become more mainstream, and for that reason they developed these classes.''

In Glick's class, women in all different stages, some new to yoga, sit with their eyes closed, feet together and hands touching the floor as they lean back slightly, inhaling and exhaling, drawing energy inward.

''I also get them really in touch with their pelvic floor,'' Glick says. ``We do a lot of diaphragmatic breathing.''

Along with the breathing, they add the mantra, Sat Nam, which means ''I am light; I am truth.'' But it's not religious, Glick assures. ``Any religion can come in here and feel comfortable. I don't preach. I use that mantra to help them focus their mind. Whatever negative thought is coming across their mind, the mantra cuts it into a positive thought.

''I encourage the women to really listen to their bodies and to trust their intuition so that when they get into the labor room or wherever they are birthing they are more familiar with what their body is telling them,'' Glick says.

The class is also a reminder that they are pregnant.

''Most of the time when you have another child, you don't have time to stop and think that you're pregnant,'' said Gillian Goddard, whose husband looked after one child while she attended classes with the other in utero. ``But here it's all you focus on.''

POSES, SQUATS

Though the class revolves around breathing, it wouldn't be complete without the standing poses and squats the women do to strengthen their legs and stretch their pelvis. For vitality, they do ballet-like movements with spiraling hips, all at their own pace.

''And at the end of class I'll use meditation with them. I'll get them to go back to diaphragmatic breathing where you really just inhale into your belly, expand your belly, and then exhale and pull your belly back toward your spine gently,'' Glick says. ``What happens is the uterus is pushing up and up and up and they can't get a full breath. I have them imagine there is a balloon in the center of their body and they're filling up this balloon and this balloon is moving in all directions . . . They get this image, and for some people this may the first full deep breath they've taken all day or all week.''