This 2-day yoga training, hosted by Yogamazia, is taught by highly experienced yoga teacher and writer, Sally Parkes, and will take you on a journey through pregnancy and birth and the first six months of the postpartum journey.

Who is this training for?

This workshop is for anyone who works with pregnant or postnatal persons, and anyone who would like to deepen their existing knowledge and skill set in order to serve their clients to a high level. We welcome prenatal and postpartum yoga and Pilates teachers, birth workers and people who would like this knowledge to enhance their current yoga practice.

Course outline:

Day 1: 

• We will explore the application of yoga for each of the three trimesters and how breath and movement, when applied accordingly, can support the mother in her transition though this sometimes challenging time. The style of yoga that Sally teaches is slow and steady, allowing the mother time to focus on her expanding baby bump, so that she can increase her connection with her baby whilst gaining strength and flexibility in her own mind and body.
• We will also apply pranayama techniques that are specifically for the pregnant person, encouraging regulation of the nervous system and even blood and pranic flow to both mother and baby for optimum wellbeing.
• Towards the latter part of the day will begin to explore how birth can unfold and how yoga asana, pranayama and relaxation can assist with birth preparation whether the experience is medicalised or not. We will also consider how certain yoga posture can improve the biomechanics of the pelvis and therefore positioning of the baby (optimal fetal positioning).
• We will also discuss the difference to anteriorly  and posteriorly position babies and how breath work can assist the Caesarean birth experience also.

Day 2: 

• We will begin by practically applying the knowledge learnt so far with regards to birth preparation via a yoga for birth class, which will include some partner work also.
• We will then move on to considering what is potentially occurring on a physical and emotional level within the postnatal mother, and what yoga practices she would most likely benefit from at this physically and emotionally challenging time so that she can energetically nourish herself and her baby more easily.
• The afternoon will consist of a series of yoga and pranayama sequences that aim to restore the pelvic floor and rebuild the core. We will also learn how to recover from abdominal separation (diastasis recti) and these practices can be progressed over a six month period.
• The day will end with a Q and A with Sally before a deep relaxation, known a yoga nidra, that will help calm and nourish the nervous system of any mother-to-be or new mother.