Heavily pregnant Chongqing policewoman Liu Liu leaves office for
a yoga institute nearby. Although Liu's husband offers her a lift,
the 30-year-old insists on getting there by foot. After changing,
she strokes her ball-like belly tenderly, saying: "Hi, my little
baby, let's do yoga together."
There are more than 10 women waiting for her, for the near
full-term expectant mom is their part-time yoga tutor at the Jiayi
Yoga House.
Yoga tutor Liu Liu (left) practices
with her student in Jiayi Yoga House in
Chongqing.
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Liu takes up to three classes of one-hour duration per week,
putting 80 women through the paces.
"It is a common misconception among Chinese that a pregnant
woman should not exercise to avoid the risk of a miscarriage. I
want to use my own case to convince people that proper exercise is
certainly in order during pregnancy," she says.
Currently, there are more than 60 yoga training centers in
Chongqing, and Liu is probably the only pregnant tutor. Wearing her
hair neatly in a bun, the slim and graceful woman's only sign of
her pregnancy is her belly.
Liu became interested in yoga in 2001, after suffering ankle
injures from intense workouts.
But at that time, there was no professional yoga center in
Chongqing and Liu taught herself through books and VCDs.
To her delight, her ankle injuries, which were diagnosed as
incurable, healed.
"I have long been looking for an exercise regimen that I can
keep with throughout my life. I am very pleased to find it in
yoga," she says.
The policewoman has done several stints at yoga classes in
Shanghai since 2002.
In the beginning of this year, Liu found she was pregnant. "I
did not see any reason to cut back on yoga because of the
pregnancy. In Shanghai, I had a classmate who was seven months
pregnant. If she could do it, so could I," she says.
What's more, many exercises recommended for pregnant women,
especially breath training, are adopted from yoga, she says.
But Liu did stop teaching for the first four months of her
pregnancy, using the time to read up widely on prenatal yoga.
After the Spring Festival, she resumed classes and says that
except for some moves such as twisting the waist and bending
backwards, she can do 70 percent of the exercises.
"At present, every move I do is based on a good understanding of
my body. I never challenge myself to do something which is too
difficult for me. It is important to listen to your body and know
your limits," she explains.
In the classroom, her students look nervous as Liu presses down
her ball-like belly to the ground or stands on one foot. But their
calm teacher completes all the moves without faltering once.
As the students start to try the exercises, Liu either kneels on
a carpet correcting their poses one by one, or repeats the key
points of the move. The pregnant teacher seems to put in more
effort than anyone else in that class.
In recent years, prenatal yoga has been attracting more and more
interest from Chinese women.
Yoga is a great way to relieve stress during pregnancy, stay in
shape and help prepare for a natural birthing, according to Zhang
Lei, a yoga tutor at the Shanghai No 1 Women and Infants' Health
Center.
Zhang kept teaching until two weeks before the 28-year-old gave
birth to her daughter. The Shanghai native says yoga helped her
recover quickly from labor.
"My two-year-old daughter has also benefited from it as I have
been told that she has a better sense of balance than others the
same age," she says.
Zhang believes it is better to start yoga classes after the
morning sickness of the first four months has passed.
"Wear loose and comfortable clothes and make sure you listen to
your body and do only as much as feels right on any particular
day," she stresses.
According to Liu, her latest medical check-up shows that
everything is going right.
"I seem more energetic than other women at the same stage of
pregnancy," she says with a smile.
Liu plans to keep doing the exercise during her stay at
home.
Wang Zhengping, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at
Woman's Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, says:
"Yoga is good for pregnant women as it allows them to contract the
muscles, adjust their breathing during delivery and stay calm. But
its practice must be based on one's own capabilities."
Wang says, in Liu's case, she has a sound foundation in yoga and
her body has acquired the flexibility to cope with the more
difficult moves even during pregnancy. But this may not be possible
for other pregnant women with no background in yoga."
"Simple exercises may be better in such cases," he says.
(China Daily July 11, 2007)
