This course is about honoring the goddess within women at the most sacred time in their lives. You will learn how to sequence yoga classes that are specifically designed to empower and prepare women for birth.
This 90-hour Yoga Alliance Prenatal Yoga Teacher Training is for experienced teachers who have completed a Level I Yoga Teacher Training, as well as for experienced childbirth educators, doulas, midwives and other pregnancy health professionals with a committed yoga practice.
Importance of Prenatal Yoga
Yoga offers tremendous benefits to women through every phase of pregnancy, labor and childbirth and throughout the postpartum period. It allows them to connect more deeply with themselves and their unborn babies.
During pregnancy, women experience many changes physically, emotionally and mentally. On the physical level, yoga helps women to build and maintain their strength, stamina and flexibility – helping to prepare her for the often long and exhausting process of labor. In addition, a woman can experience many discomforts as her body changes to accommodate her growing baby, and these can often be alleviated through yoga. Because of the hormonal changes taking place, women can feel very emotional. Practicing yoga helps to balance the endocrine system, giving practitioners an overall sense of well-being. On the mental level, women often experience feelings of anxiety when thinking about labor and childbirth. The meditative aspects of yoga learned on the mat can be applied off the mat, helping to calm the mind when anxiety-producing thoughts arise.
By practicing yoga throughout her pregnancy, a woman is also preparing for labor and childbirth. The strength gained through yoga asana will help her to endure the physical demands of labor. Yoga’s breath awareness and pranayama techniques can also be used as coping mechanisms during and between contractions. Integrating yoga’s meditative practices can encourage a woman to stay present. Being present allows her to work with her body, breath and baby during labor, which can help labor to progress, decreasing the possibility of dystocia (a slow or difficult labor).