WHY I CREATED THIS COURSE

The Backstory

I used to watch my fellow teachers panic when a pregnant students would arrive for class. And as much as I wanted to help my teachers, I actually felt like the impact was potentially much more significant for the student.

It doesn't feel particularly welcoming to walk into a room and have the warm and cozy teacher recoil simply based on your presence, does it?

And I got to thinking... in America (and other parts of the Western world, but the US in particular) we treat pregnant people like unguarded explosives, not like fruiting trees. If you wander around and everyone behaves as though you are plagued or will potentially detonate, you start to internalize that something might be inherently dangerous or toxic about you. If instead you are greeted like a blossoming cherry tree - with health and trust and wonder - you might just internalize that story.

When I asked my colleagues what they had learned about pregnancy in their YTT programs, their answers varied widely:

"Basically a yoga teacher who had been pregnant once told us what it was like."

"Just tell them to trust their intuition and only do poses that feel ok. If it feels ok, it is ok."

"Do not allow pregnant students to come to your class."

Huh.

I created a short form course The Five Things You Need To Know To Best Support Your Pregnant Students, which was the boot-camp basics, and teachers wanted more. A lot more... but... not 85 hours more. They didn't want to become prenatal yoga teachers and take an 85 hour RPYT course, they wanted something in the middle - something that covered the basics of the most universal human experience [we are all born] - as well as the ways they could best support these students in the context of their 'regular' yoga classes.

I believe pregnancy is a normal condition of the adult human, and that yoga is more than the poses, and if you do, too, welcome. You're in the right spot.

The Next Story

Hold onto your britches, my friends.

America is not the best (or safest) place to birth in the world. In fact, what you experience as a pregnant person in America is a factor of quite a number of policies and cultural influences you may not be aware of. It is reasonable to be frightened by the confusing labyrinth of resources available, and the horror stories we have at our fingertips. The good news about this is that we as yoga teachers & wellness professionals have incredible power to educate, empower, and shift the micro cultures our students live in.

Did you read that?

You - as a wellness professional - have significant power in supporting your pregnant students in having the most empowered experience possible.

THAT is why I created this course.