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Ask the Teacher is an advice column that connects Yoga Journal members directly with our team of expert yoga teachers. Every other week, we’ll answer a matter from our readers. Submit your questions here, or drop us a line at asktheteacher@yogajournal.com.

Do you’ve got any suggestions for practicing yoga if you’ve got prenatal placenta previa?

—Sandy in Silverdale, Washington

It could be easy to overlook placenta previa because you could not experience any symptoms. The condition is simply detected during a prenatal exam. However it’s one which requires you to take care with the way you approach your yoga practice.

What’s Prenatal Placenta Previa?

The placenta develops while pregnant to provide oxygen and nourishment to your baby in addition to remove waste. Normally, the organ attaches to the highest or side of your uterus. In placenta previa, nevertheless, it attaches lower within the uterus, where it might partially or completely cover the cervix, or the opening of the uterus, in keeping with the Mayo Clinic.

Because your uterus grows as the child develops, the condition can correct itself. If it doesn’t, nevertheless, it might probably cause bleeding while pregnant or during and after delivery. Placenta previa is a serious risk factor for postpartum hemorrhage and might result in severe and even fatal outcomes for the mother and infant. For that reason, in case your prenatal exam indicates placenta previa, your doctors are prone to suggest delivering your baby by C-section to avoid attempting a potentially dangerous vaginal birth.

But what does that mean on your yoga practice?

If you’ve got placenta previa, chances are high you won’t have to provide up yoga, but you do need to watch out along with your practice.

Check along with your healthcare provider first, says Caitlin Harwood, a yoga teacher, doula, and childbirth educator who has been teaching prenatal yoga within the Cleveland, Ohio, area for greater than 10 years.

“Yoga guidelines should not ever meant to exchange any advice from a healthcare provider,” Harwood says. “People should at all times default to the recommendations of their provider.” They suggest that you just ask your provider for specific guidelines. Learn concerning the severity of your condition and what level of movement is secure—then communicate those recommendations to your yoga teacher.

What are guidelines for practicing yoga with placenta previa?

Individuals with placenta previa could also be placed on pelvic rest, which implies avoiding forms of movement that may cause contractions. Which means no jumping and no abdominal compressions, Harwood says. Hot yoga can also be contraindicated. These are generally avoided in prenatal yoga classes, in any case.

A practitioner with prenatal placenta previa would also avoid asanas that cause deep pelvic opening. “We wish to avoid full squatting,” Harwood says. Which means skipping  Malasana (Garland Pose), Goddess Pose, or any posture that requires a squat in preparation, similar to Bakasana (Crane (Crow) Pose).

You’d also decrease the gap between the legs in poses that typically ask you to take a large stance. “Whenever you’re enthusiastic about something just like the Warrior series, you’re lessening the gap between the feet at that time, because we don’t want the pelvic opening to be too wide,” Harwood says.

This also applies to poses similar to Hanumanasana (Monkey Pose), Urdhva Prasarita Eka Padasana (Standing Splits), Utthita Parsvakonasana (Prolonged Side-Angle Pose), Trikonasana (Triangle Pose), Prasarita Padottanasana (Wide-Legged Standing Forward Bend), Upavistha Konasana (Wide-Legged Seated Forward Bend), or Baddha Konasana (Certain Angle)

Practicing chair yoga could also be a safer option, since your body is fully supported by the seat.

Practice the opposite limbs of yoga

Remember, yoga is greater than only a physical practice. Researchers in India published a study in Advances in Preventive Medicine that means yogic respiratory, leisure, and visualization exercises could be helpful for high-risk pregnancy. Harwood’s prenatal yoga students say they profit most from pranayama.

“I often recommend people do partner respiratory practices: sitting back-to-back along with your partner, and just feeling their breath against your breath,” they are saying. “After which possibly transitioning from that to some ujjayi, some ocean breath.”  Avoid pranayama techniques that involve stomach contractions similar to Kapalabhati Pranayama (Skull Shining Breath).

Harwood says that breathwork can also be a helpful preparation for a Cesarean, since the parent is undergoing two major procedures concurrently—each of which could be stressful to body and mind. “A C-section just isn’t only giving birth, its major abdominal surgery,” they are saying. “You’re navigating each of those things together. And it’s so much.”

Respiratory practices can have advantages for you and the child. “After about 22 weeks, babies can hear that [breathing],” Harwood says. “They will feel that vibration.”

Afi-Odelia Scruggs is an award-winning multi-media journalist, writer, and content creator. Her work has appeared in The Guardian, The Washington Post, USA Today and lots of other media outlets.