Pregnancy is one of life’s most profound transformations—physically, emotionally, and spiritually—and supporting your body and mind during that season of life is essential. Prenatal yoga offers expecting mothers a toolkit for the journey—easing common discomforts, building strength and balance, and cultivating trust in both body and birth. Just as importantly, it creates a sanctuary to pause, connect inward, and find community with others on the same path.
At the Prenatal Yoga Center in New York City, founder Deb Flashenberg has spent over two decades helping women move through pregnancy and postpartum with strength and confidence. With advanced training in yoga, pelvic health, childbirth education, and doula care, she brings an integrative approach that honors the whole experience of becoming a mother. We sat down with Deb to explore her wisdom on pregnancy, birth, and beyond—including why community is an underestimated benefit of the practice.
A Toolkit for Labor and Beyond
Prenatal yoga is more than movement—it’s about alignment, resilience, and balance. The physical practice eases back pain, swelling, and tension while strengthening the pelvic floor, stabilizing the pelvis, and releasing tightness in the psoas—the pathway for baby into the pelvis. When the body feels more supported, labor often flows with greater ease and recovery can be gentler.
Classes also weave in elements of childbirth education and coping skills. Instead of overwhelming new parents with information, lessons are introduced gradually, alongside breathwork and mindful movement. This layered approach supports both body and mind while creating a foundation of confidence for labor, birth, and early parenthood.
Poses That Restore Balance
Certain poses offer reliable relief and help keep the body balanced as pregnancy progresses. Practiced consistently, these movements support not only comfort in the moment but also long-term stability throughout pregnancy.
Side stretches with a twist—release tension in the lower back and open space through the mid-back.
Cat/Cow and pelvic circles—relieve spinal pressure, ease tight muscles, and prepare the body for labor.
Thread the Needle—softens tension in the shoulders and neck.
Downward Dog with bent knees—lengthens the spine without strain and restore balance.
Breath as Anchor
Breathwork is one of the most powerful tools for expectant mothers. A steady, conscious breath calms the nervous system, reduces fear, and builds resilience. Practicing mindful breathing during yoga creates an anchor that mothers can return to in any moment of intensity—whether navigating pregnancy changes, labor contractions, or the early weeks of parenthood.
Moving with Pregnancy, Not Against It
Because pregnancy shifts from week to week, prenatal yoga evolves alongside the body. The focus isn’t on achieving the deepest version of a pose but on creating stability, balance, and safe space for both mother and baby. By exploring sensation in a mindful way, yoga builds resilience and coping skills that translate directly into labor and postpartum life.
The Power of Community
Beyond the physical and emotional benefits, prenatal yoga offers something mothers deeply need during the delicate and transformative time—community. Each class creates space for connection, questions, and shared experiences. The friendships that form often extend far beyond birth, offering a support system that continues into the postpartum season and beyond.
Caring for Mothers, Supporting Families
body, steadies the mind, and cultivates community, helping mothers enter parenthood with more ease, trust, and support.
At Little Honey Money, we believe every mother deserves access to this kind of care. That’s why we created our cash fund registry—so friends and family can gift services like prenatal yoga, postpartum support, and other resources that nourish mothers well past the newborn stage. Because when mothers thrive, families flourish.
Emily Shepard is a mother of two with a third on the way, motherhood writer, and advocate for maternal health education.
