Pregnancy yoga is the ideal way to bring the body into harmony with the changes and demands of pregnancy. Yoga maintains and improves health, it allows us to trust our intuition, and ability to listen to the body. This is vital for labour to progress naturally and brings calm if things don’t go quite according to plan. This class offers time for you to enjoy the unfolding, and time to be with your baby. Yogabirth, yoga for pregnancy, classes offer healthy exercise and preparation for labour and birth. These antenatal classes run in Inverkeithing and Dunfermline.

It can help

Improve general physical wellbeing and posture
Position the baby well for labour
Alleviate associated discomforts such as:
heartburn, achy back, restricted breathing,
sleep disturbance, anxiety

When to join

It is ideal to start classes once you have reached the second trimester (12 weeks), but you can start anytime. the classes are designed to be suitable right up until the birth of your baby.

I have a YogaBirth class lasting 1 3/4 hrs, and a 1hr yoga for Pregnancy class. See 'classes' (left) for details.

Each class includes

Balanced range of appropriate yoga poses for pregnancy
Positions that are useful in labour
Self massage
Breathwork, to help with labour and birth
Relaxation
Refreshments at the end
May include pairwork & labour management techniques

Feedback

"Susannah's 'mummy centred' and relaxed yet structured approach to pre-natal yoga helped me reach the places other classes haven't quite reached... thank you Susannah!" Lynoa Cattanach, Co-Director & Founder Babygroe charity, Fife

"It has been good staying relaxed and active during pregnancy. The class has a calm atmosphere where I can talk about pregnancy and childbirth issues, and meet like-minded mums. Looking forward to Tuesday evening and a good sleep afterwards - about the only one I get a week!" Katrin Munro, Fife

"The breathing techniques that you taught really helped me during labour, and it was a really relaxing forum in which to meet and share experiences with other pregnant women. It helped me stay stretched, meditated and sane during my pregnancy." Sue Sheehan, G.P., Fife

'Yoga helps with aches and pains and I enjoy the chat ith everyone'

Click here to hear what other women say about Susannah's pregnancy yoga classes

Qualifications

Susannah has completed over 2 years of specialised training with YogaBirth in yoga for pregnancy and birth, and antenatal education. Yoga for pregnancy offers safe yoga, some breathing and relaxation. YogaBirth classes also offer a deeper understanding of pregnancy, complications, ways to alleviate discomforts, preparation for birth and breathing for labour and birth.

Paid time off work for prenatal yoga classes

Women in full time employment are entitled to paid time off work to attend yoga classes, which are covered by the category 'antenatal appointments and relaxation and parent craft classes'. We encourage students to exercise their right to this time off work.  For further details of the legal obligation of employers to pregnant workers click here for further details

For further information

Please call Susannah on 01383 413121 or

Email me

Susannah's Qualifications

Class times & prices

Yogabirth Couples Birth Workshops

Many women approach birth with anxiety and fear. These Couples Birth Workshops give you effective tools to cope with the intensity of labour, and to transform your birth experience into an empowering, even enjoyable experience.

The Inverkeithing Class, 2010

Yogabirth Manifesto

A Public Statement of Identity, Ethos and Intention

Who we are, what we believe in and what we do

Who We Are

Experts in our field

YogaBirth is an association of professionally trained teachers of antenatal and postnatal yoga and childbirth education. We are dedicated to supporting women from pregnancy, through birth, to babyhood.

The women who come to our classes come from all walks of life. Our classes are inclusive and aim to make coming to yoga possible regardless of circumstances.

Commited to Shared experience

Our specialised approach to childbirth education through yoga combines the physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual aspects of birth preparation and the early postnatal period. This approach has been formed through over 300 years of collective experience and skill sharing within YogaBirth

Commited to Continued learning and commitment

Our members are trained and certified through YogaBirth and regularly continue their professional development with courses, personal yoga practice, experience at births and time spent with new mothers. The YogaBirth Association provides annual study days and residential weekends featuring professionals who present current research and lead practical sessions. We also work closely with midwives and obstetricians, GPs, other healthcare professionals and yoga teachers, birth activists and childbirth organisations.

What we believe in

Yoga for mind and body

The ancient Sanskrit word “yoga” means “union”. We believe that the union of mind, body and breath, as practiced in YogaBirth classes, is the ideal way to prepare for labour and birth, and for the transition into motherhood.

Supporting Pregnancy

YogaBirth classes are not spiritually prescriptive, yet often through our work we help women to sense and appreciate the miracle of life growing inside and encourage them to joyfully accept the way their bodies change over the months. As a woman embraces her precious status in the world as a mother-to-be, she may increase her commitment to nurturing herself and thus ensuring her baby’s wellbeing.

Supporting natural birth

Our integrity as YogaBirth teachers is rooted in our respect for every new mother, as well as our firm belief in the body’s natural intelligence and in the instinctive, physiological process of birth. We honour childbirth as a healthy, normal event in the life and support women.

Supporting individual choices

We encourage woman to make the choices that are right for them and their situation, and to keep a posative open-minded attitude to the safety-net of modern technology. YogaBirth teachers are committed to providing up-to-date, unbiased information.

The essence of our teaching

In pregnancy

In YogaBirth classes we teach deep and gentle bodywork appropriate for pregnancy and the postnatal period. We integrate important exercises, including pelvic floor and postural awareness, to optimise health during the childbearing year. Women develop physical strength and suppleness, an essential combination for birthing and mothering, and they can experience the vital energy that connects each mother to her baby.

Breathing, essential to life and birth, is the core of YogaBirth classes. Over the weeks, through the practise of simple breath awareness, women become familiar with the natural rhythm of their breath and so increase their ability to focus inward. This practise helps calm the busy mind, clearing the way for each woman to listen to her own intuitive voice.

Our classes are infused with preparation for labour and birth, incorporating intelligent, gravity-assisting positions and movements. These provide great comfort, keep the baby well-oxygenated, and potentially make birth easier, faster and uncomplicated.

Breathing

With greater clarity, she can realise her intentions for birth and yet remain open to the individuality of each birth. These insights help dispel much of the fear around the birthing process so that she can approach labour with peace of mind: with trust in her body’s natural wisdom and power, and confidence in her innate ability to give birth. When her body takes over during labour she can instinctively use her breath to soothe, steady and guide herself through the contractions.

For the postnatal mother & baby our classes offer posnatal recovery for the mums, and stimulating and soothing yoga for the babies. We support mothers responding to the needs of their baby and encourage time together to help baby bonding

Offering a supportive environment

By facilitating weekly meetings of women in a familiar, relaxing environment, YogaBirth classes provide continuity during both the antenatal and postnatal periods, and a forum for women to meet other pregnant women and new mothers. Women gain great support and learn enormously from each other: sharing information, experiences, feelings and confidence.

Our Intention

To offer women safe and inspiring classes to help the journey from pregnancy, through birth to motherhood.

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