Martial Arts during Pregnancy? Yes, you can!

I haven't blogged in over a year, and with very good reason. Ross and I went to Peru for our belated honeymoon and upon return, I was pregnant (as planned). In fact, I fell pregnant upon completing the Inca Trail, so it was one intense journey into another. (I was almost a text book checklist of every pregnancy symptom and was dry retching until the end, but this is perhaps for another post!)

Pregnancy health experts recommended that I continue exercising into pregnancy, which I was always intending to do. There's a lot of yoga for pregnancy and aqua-aerobics for pregnancy, and walking in nature is always a good, gentle form of exercise. But martial arts for pregnancy? It's certainly do-able - if you know how.

I obviously didn't spar during this time (in fact, in one of my classes at Wu Lin during early pregnancy, Kyoshi James thought it was a good idea that everyone warm up with an hour of sparring practice. I hadn't announced my pregnancy at this stage and after playing pat-a-cakes with Ross for a bout, I politely sat out, feigning illness.) However, I did practice kata and lots of nei jia: Tai Chi Chuan, Ba Gua and Pa Tuan Chin 8 Treasures breathing exercises (Qi Gong) that Kyoshi James promptly sent me a link to as soon as my pregnancy was announced.

The kata I practised most often was Kururunfa. It features a particular technique where one intercepts and traps the attacker's punch, turns around and breaks the arm by squatting sharply. The squatting, I thought, would prepare me for labour. It did help in part but as they say, nothing quite prepares you for labour, especially since mine was 50 hours long (I kid you not) and drug free (which I'm very proud of!)

Here are some key techniques of Kururunfa Kata, which I practised in the park last spring (note the pregnant belly). Unfortunately, I didn't get a shot of the squatting technique I'm talking about, but trust me, it's there!

And yes, I kept teaching right through, until about 35 weeks of pregnancy. Surprisingly (and fortunately), none of my students decided to push their luck with me and try misbehaving when their waddling Sensei couldn't chase them. I may have had every symptom in the book but a diminished voice wasn't one of them.