Indian actress Lara Dutta, who recently gave birth to a baby girl, diligently practised pre-natal Yoga fitness routine during her pregnancy. She even released her Prenatal Yoga DVD.

In the picture below, Lara is seen doing her yoga routine while she was eight months pregnant.

An 8-months pregnant Lara Dutta on the yoga mat

Click here to see other Lara Dutta doing Pre natal Yoga pictures.

Yoga Guru Rajendra Pandey says that the key to Pre-natal Yoga is smooth flow of yoga poses, with no jerks and excessive/stressful stretching. To make his point, he points to how Lara Dutta is using her two hands in the second picture. She is supporting her belly with one hand and raising the second hand in a relaxed manner. Another thing which should be seen is that the actress is not trying too hard to make a perfect yoga pose, adds the Yoga master.

Cautioning against any over stretching, Mr. Pandey says that during pregnancy certain hormones released by the body make the body quite flexible (which is body's way of accommodating the growing foetus and eventually help the woman in the parturition process). This enhanced flexibility sometimes motivates the pregnant woman to over stretch. And over stretching is definitely not advisable.

Mr. Pandey advises consulting a doctor before trying pre-natal yoga. And if the doctor  allows, an initiation class with some expert yoga teacher is the best option.
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