I'm so excited to be pregnant (second trimester) and I'm still teaching and practicing yoga. I've read the yoga and pregnancy books and taken a short teaching prenatal class, so I'm good in terms of book learning. However, I was comparing notes with a friend the other day and realized that she and I had both experience a similar thing - tightness in our hip flexors that we felt during even gentle backbends in the first trimester - that I haven't seen in any books!

So my question is - did you have any personal surprises, successes, changes, things that you weren't expecting while you were pregnant? Any advice or anecdotes that contradicted or confirmed the books, or that were just flat out different? I'd love to hear other people's experiences!

Absolutely. Everyone's body is different and every baby/pregnancy is too. I danced/pilates/yoga through each pregnancy and inevitably my body surprised me. Any imbalance was exaggerated and various weaknesses were strengthen which created different imbalances. I learned to take it one day at a time. The funny thing is as my kids positioned differently I had to adjust...that's still happening well after delivery! haha!

Helping students develop the body wisdom is another matter. Pain or discomfort or development all sounds the same in words. So - I would have people jot notes after class so that they could track progress or changes.