How to structure pregnancy yoga classes your students will love

If you’re new to teaching yoga you might be wondering whether there is a right way to structure pregnancy yoga classes. Does your planning need to look different to regular yoga classes? And what exactly should prenatal yoga classes include?

Over the ten plus years I’ve been teaching pregnancy yoga classes my approach to planning and sequencing has changed many times. The only thing I know for sure. Your personal style will evolve over time. Take inspiration and ideas from this article, but don’t forget to try what feels good to you and listen to your students. In time you’ll develop your own style.

There is no right or wrong way to structure pregnancy yoga classes.

Despite what you were taught in your 200 hour teacher training, there is no “right way” to structure your yoga classes. Want to teach an entire class of floor based poses – do it. Want to try starting your class in savasana – give it a go and see how it feels.

Why then were you taught the “standard yoga class structure”? When you’re new to teaching, it’s helpful to have somewhere to start.

Standard yoga class sequence

1. Arriving / setting an intention – welcome your students, introduce your class intention and guide breathwork and gentle asana to encourage your students to arrive on their mat.
2. Warm up – gentle asana and movement to warm the body and drop into the practice.
3. Working – the focus or more challenging part of your class. This section doesn’t necessarily have to be physically challenging. For example, you might focus on building mental stamina through breathwork here.
4. Floor work / stretching – build on the focus of the class through floor based poses. I often revisit some of the poses I introduced in the warm up and explore how the body feels now.
5. Cool down – prepare your students for the final relaxation. Generally this section is full of supine poses.
6. Relaxation / meditation – conclude your class with a guided meditation in savasana.

This standard yoga class sequence will also work for your pregnancy yoga classes, especially when you’re first getting started. Once you feel confident teaching sequences that you know work, you can start to get creative with how your sequence your classes.

3 creative ideas to structure pregnancy yoga classes

If you’re ready to start mixing up the way you structure your classes, try a variation of these ideas.

Ladder flow

You’re probably familiar with ladder flows. A ladder flow is a series of poses that builds by adding a pose or two each round. Each round is usually broken up with a vinyasa sequence (chaturanga – upward facing dog – downward facing dog).

The increasing number of poses and repetition of vinyasas means that the flow becomes more dynamic as the class progresses. But is a ladder flow too intense for pregnancy yoga classes? Not necessarily?

You can use a ladder flow as inspiration to structure pregnancy yoga classes. You’ll just need to modify your choice of poses (and slow it down) to lower the intensity.

I’d swap the regular vinyasa for a pregnancy friendly variation like cat / cow pose – tabletop chaturanga – child’s pose. It might look something like the example below.

Example pregnancy yoga class inspired by ladder flow.

Introduce vinyasa – cat / cow – tabletop chaturanga – child’s pose

Round One – low lunge – high lunge

Vinyasa – cat / cow – tabletop chaturanga – child’s pose

Round Two – low lunge – high lunge – side angle

Vinyasa – cat / cow – tabletop chaturanga – child’s pose

Round Three – low lunge – high lunge – side angle – goddess

Vinyasa – cat / cow – tabletop chaturanga – child’s pose

Round Four – low lunge – high lunge – side angle – goddess – wide leg forward fold

Vinyasa – cat / cow – tabletop chaturanga – child’s pose

Round Five – low lunge – high lunge – side angle – goddess – wide leg forward fold – gate pose

And on it goes, eventually building up to.

Final round – low lunge – high lunge – side angle – goddess – wide leg forward fold – gate pose –

half splits – lizard pose – table top – bird dog – downward facing dog.

You can add more or less poses to this sequence depending on the duration of your class.

Idea #2 Peak message instead of peak pose

I’m sure you’ve attended yoga classes that are built around a peak pose. This type of class moves through a series of poses designed to prepare the body for the final, most challenging pose.

While pregnancy is not the time to challenge the body, you could use this as inspiration to choose poses that lead to the peak message you want to share. For example, choose poses that give your students opportunities to practise ‘letting go’ and surrendering to the process of pregnancy (and ultimately motherhood). All of these moments of surrender could lead to the final guided meditation where you complete the sequence with the final practice of letting go and reiterate your message.

Idea #3 Practise the rhythm (and intensity) of birth

This is one of my most popular styles of structuring pregnancy yoga classes. In this sequence I offer women the opportunity to practise the on / off nature of contractions. I’d start the class by introducing yoga practices that can help manage the pain of contractions (eg. breathwork, rhythmic movement, etc). We’d then move through a sequence that involves a few minutes of asana that creates strong sensations in the body, followed by resting positions.

Asana to practise intense sensations:

• kneeling toe stretch
• easy pose arms to the side
• wall squat
• goddess

Resting poses might look like:

• Childs pose over bolster
• Malasana on bolster
• Side lying savasa

What should pregnancy yoga classes include?

Prenatal yoga classes should include a pregnancy friendly combination of:

• Asana (poses)
• Pranayama (breathwork)
• Mantra / affirmations
• Visualisation
• Mudra

We go into detail on which practises are safe and most beneficial for pregnancy in my Pregnancy and Postnatal Yoga Teacher Training.

Where to now?

Try out different styles of yoga, including pregnancy yoga, and take note of what you like about the sequencing that other teachers use.

Join my Pregnancy and Postnatal Yoga Teacher Training to learn how to choose yoga practices for the three trimesters of pregnancy and common pregnancy yoga conditions.

Join our Facebook Community of other pregnancy yoga teachers.

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