The pelvic floor is a group of muscles located at the base of your pelvis, stretching from the pubic bone to the tailbone (coccyx). Practicing pelvic floor yoga for pregnancy helps you strengthen and become aware of this important muscle hammock that supports your womb, bladder, and intestines—key organs that play a big role during pregnancy and birth.
What Is the Pelvic Floor and Why Is It Important?
Your pelvic floor has three main openings: the urethra, through which you urinate, the vagina, through which you will give birth, and the anus, through which you defecate.
These openings are controlled by sphincter muscles—small ring-like muscles that help maintain control.
Beyond simply holding everything in place, the pelvic floor works closely with the deep core and postural muscles that support your spine. This makes pelvic floor strength essential not just for pregnancy and birth, but for your overall posture and well-being.
How to Feel Your Pelvic Floor
Because the pelvic floor is internal and not visible, many people have trouble identifying it. Here’s a simple way to locate yours:
Sit comfortably and place one hand between your legs.
Make a fist with your other hand and place it near your mouth.
Focus your awareness on the area between your legs.
Cough strongly into your fist.
You may feel a slight bulge or movement—that’s your pelvic floor responding.
Why Pelvic Floor Exercises Matter During Pregnancy
During pregnancy, your pelvic floor muscles bear the increasing weight of your growing baby. If these muscles are strong and balanced, they offer essential support and help manage the added pressure. But if they’re weak or over-tight, you may experience:
- Lower back or pelvic pain
- Poor posture
- Stress incontinence (especially when sneezing, laughing, or jumping)
- Complications during labor or postnatally
That’s where pelvic floor yoga for pregnancy can be especially beneficial.
How Yoga Supports Your Pelvic Floor
In yoga, the pelvic floor is seen as the energetic root of the body—where grounding, strength, and stability originate. Yoga can help you:
- Increase awareness of your pelvic floor muscles
- Build tone to support your organs and spine
- Release tension, which is vital for labor and delivery
- Strengthen posture through breath-synchronized movement
Importantly, yoga teaches that it’s just as crucial to relax the pelvic floor as it is to strengthen it—especially as you prepare for birth.
How to Start Practicing Pelvic Floor Yoga During Pregnancy
Pelvic tilts
Cat-cow movements
- Deep squats (with support)
Diaphragmatic breathing
Kegel exercises paired with slow, mindful exhales
The best pelvic floor yoga practices during pregnancy are gentle, intentional, and aligned with your breath. These may include:
These movements help tone the pelvic floor and surrounding muscles while promoting circulation and relaxation.
Four pelvic floor exercises before pregnancy
Easy Pose -Sukhasana
Sit in any comfortable position that allows you to keep your back upright. This exercise will help you to locate your pelvic floor. Start by engaging your anus, contracting it without engaging anything else. Then move on to your urethra, trying to contract it without engaging anything else.
To do so, the action is the same as when you’re peeing and trying to stop the flow midstream. Then put your focus on the part between your anus and your urethra. Try to lift up this part without engaging the rest. In yoga we call this mula bandha.
Take your time exploring the sensations, and if you don’t feel much, don’t worry, it will come with practice.
Funny Walk
This is a silly little exercise to start working on your pelvic floor with the synchronization of the breath. Start at the back of your mat, feet hips-width apart and slightly open. Take a step forward, extend your legs and engage your pelvic floor, lifting everything up inside. On the exhale, bend your knees a little and relax everything.
Take a second step forward on your inhale, engaging the pelvic floor, and repeat this exercise as you walk all the way to the top of your mat and back to where you started.
Garland Pose Malasana
Place your feet hips-width apart, the toes turning outward and come down to a deep squat position, maybe placing a block below your butt for more comfort. Place your hands in prayer at your heart center and open the chest by pushing your elbows into your shins.
On every inhale, lift up your pelvic floor, on every exhale, let everything relax. Do 10 to 20 rounds of breathing.
Bridge Pose – Setu Bandhasana
Lie down with your back on the floor and your feet close to your hips, knees pointing towards the ceiling. On every inhalation, lift up your hips and press them away from the floor as much as you can while engaging your pelvic floor muscles.
On every exhalation, bring the hips back down and relax everything. Do 10 to 20 rounds of this movement, synchronizing your breathing and the motion.
Featured Video: Easy Pelvic Floor Exercises For Pregnancy
Conclusion
I can’t stress enough how much those pelvic floor muscles exercises are important for everybody and even more during pregnancy.
You can practice them during your yoga session but you can also practice them anywhere, anytime as it is an invisible yoga exercise.
When you’re driving, working, waiting in line, cooking, brushing your teeth… Just maintain the synchronization with the breath, lifting everything up on the inhale and relaxing on the exhale. It is better to practice this exercise a little bit at a time but often rather than a big session once a week.
You want ideally to make it become a part of your routine so that you will be doing them without even thinking about it!
About
Clementine
Clementine is a multi-style prenatal yoga teacher, world traveler and animal lover. She started yoga back in 2015 and fell in love with this beautiful ancient practice. Read More..