Finding prenatal yoga awkward and painful. Any other suggestions for stretching?

[TrixieLox]

I've done yoga intermittently in the past so thought I'd give pregnancy yoga a go. So got a highly recommended DVD but, having done it a couple of times now, find it awkward and painful. It's aimed at beginners but I struggle to get into the positions and just don't enjoy it. I know these things take a while to get used to but didn't have these problems before.

I walk the dog every day so it's not like I don't get any exercise. But I'd really like to do something that'll help me stretch and be more flexible without being painful.

Any suggestions?

 

[Eurydice]

I've found the prenatal yoga depends strongly on the instructor. I tried a whole bunch of local courses and most of them were pretty useless, but I kept asking around until someone recommended my now favorite instructor. So you might just have gotten a lame dvd. There are some free trials online for prenatal yoga courses that you could try.

On top of yoga I do a lot of swimming and water walking/running, both of which are GREAT exercise if you have a pool nearby. For the walking, you can take a weight belt and "walk" in the deep end, or if your pool has a large shallow area you can run/walk there. I put my hand paddles on from lap swimming and use my arms to dig as I walk to get an extra arm work out. I feel pretty worn out after 1/2 hour.

(Just to give a sense of my fitness level, pre-pregnancy I was a serious and fairly successful trail runner and triathlete.)