Here are some simple breathing exercises that you can practise for labor and birth

1. relaxation breathing
take a full breath in, and relax the breath out...visualise relaxing the body, softening the face
this type of breathing is great for early stage of labor, calming and focusing...and is also excellent for any time when you are feeling a bit overwhelmed (such as the first few weeks as a new mummy )

2. controlled breathing
this helps during a contraction...visualise the contraction as a wave that you need to float up and over, breathing steadily and calmly with the wave as it rises to its peak and then allow the breath to relax as you move down the otherside of the wave

labor is like a hill...take it one step at a time, work with your body, maximise the work of your breathing to facilitate oxygen intake and hormone release

3. birth breathing
fouses on releasing your pelvic floors
practise on the toilet...as you can then really let the pelvic floor relax
with an exhalation, gently bring the lips together and slowly release the breath as you would blowing on an imaginary feather...as you do this focus on relaxing the pelvic floor, releasing tension.
this helps not only create pelvic floor awareness, which helps promote pelvic floor tone, but also facilitates the 2nd stage...delivery of your baby

xx yogababy