Hypnobirthing, Pregnancy Yoga, Antenatal Education, Mum & Baby classes - in York and online. Calm, confident and positive complete birth preparation and transition to motherhood for everyone.
This is such an important blog post and video! It's all about local breast feeding support here in York by a wonderful organisation called Treasure Chest. They are an amazing resource that aims to promote, support and encourage breastfeeding in the York area. They have amazing FREE breast feeding workshops you can attend when you are pregnant, and they offer brilliant support once baby arrives and for as long as you'd like or try to breastfeed (in person and on their Facebook group too). And support is SO important when you are trying to breastfeed. It is often not an easy journey, but having support and knowing where to turn is REALLY important.
So I wanted to write today about mindset and about positive affirmations for pregnancy, labour and birth. Positive affirmation are one of the many techniques and tools we use in hypnobirthing, and I often use positive affirmations in my pregnancy yoga classes too.
Positive affirmations are a great way to start thinking about mindset in pregnancy. This is so important, really actually more important than any physical work you may do to prepare. They are brilliant to build confidence and to release fear, and are simple yet effective and everyone can start using them straight away - wherever you are in your pregnancy. Here’s how to use them….
Coming along to a Mum & Baby postnatal yoga class can really help mums on so many levels – physical, mental and emotional. Postnatal mum & baby yoga uses movement, breath and relaxation to allow you to reconnect with your body after pregnancy and birth. It’s not an typical ‘exercise’ class as such, and is certainly not a ‘boot camp’, we are not trying to be some perfect instagramable, “look at me, I’m back in my pre-pregnancy jeans” type class. In these classes yes you will start to strengthen and gently work the muscles of your core, your lower back and the pelvic floor. But there is so much more to these classes, and so many brilliant benefits.
It’s so easy as a new mum to focus exclusively on the little human wrapped up in our arms and totally forget about ourselves. I mean who wouldn’t?!
The problem is, that ignoring our own well being through the postnatal period can make an already challenging time even more difficult. Lack of sleep, a plethora of (often unwanted, sometime not!) outside advice, a totally new relationship to navigate and endless new things to learn is a tricky landscape to steer through, even for the most zen of us. But practicing small acts of self-care that nurtures, nourishes and recharges YOU is so important. You need to take care of you, so you can best take care of your baby.
So here’s my top tips for self care in those early days.
To have the best possible birth for you, you need to give birth in an environment that makes you feel safe, comfortable and relaxed and allows you to produce oodles of the important birth hormone oxytocin - read more about oxytocin in birth here. This will not be the same place or environment for every woman – we are all different. And it can be harder in some places and easier in others, but it’s still possible and important whether you are planning a home, hospital or birth centre birth. Here are some great ideas for creating a brilliant birth space that works for you.
Often food cravings and/or aversions are often one of the first symptoms of pregnancy. You know when you start to feel weirdly nauseous at the thought of a morning cuppa, or you *really* need to eat salt and vinegar crisps for breakfast (cornflakes no longer cut it!)
While pregnancy is not the time to be watching your weight, you do need to be mindful about what you are eating and keep a really good supply of nutrients, vitamins and minerals both for you and your baby too. Here's some great tips on how to manage them and have a more positive pregnancy and food experience.
I wanted to share with you this blog post, which is a really interesting one for couples who are currently researching how to prepare for the birth of your baby. If you are considering your options for antenatal preparation you might be interested in what exactly Hypnobirthing is and whether you will get everything you need to know from attending my course.
Here are some of the questions that I have been asked many times by couples enquiring about my hypnobirthing classes in York, and I think these are the questions that everyone thinks about before about attending a hypnobirthing course:
Even if you have never stepped foot on a yoga mat before, you may well be drawn to yoga during their pregnancy as many women are. Pregnancy yoga provides a safe and gentle way to move your body in pregnancy, working with your pregnant body as it grows and changes. But pregnancy yoga offers *SO* much more than just exercise appropriate for the pregnant body, and many mums to be discover they are reaping many many more benefits than they imagined from taking a pregnancy yoga class each week. Here's my guide to 5 brilliant benefits of pregnancy yoga.
This week in my pregnancy yoga class here in York a women has found out that her baby, at 36 weeks pregnant, is in a breech position. This is not ideal for a vaginal birth but there is lots you CAN do and we spoke about some of the things she might do to encourage baby into the more favourable head-down position. So I thought I’d write a blog post to share with you about breech babies and what you might do and what your options are if you find yourself in this position later in your pregnancy.
When people ask me what I do for a living and I tell them I run hypnobirthing and birth preparation courses, often I get a confused look which makes me smile. I then get asked many of the same questions, or misconceptions about hypnobirthing come up again and again - so it’s time to bust some of those hypnobirthing myths!
Take a look at my video, or you can read the transcript below if you prefer
Partners, especially men, can be quite skeptical about hypnobirthing classes at the start, but often turn into the biggest advocates. Why? Because the tools that are taught are common sense, practical and very tangible. The other great benefit for partners, is hypnobirthing gives them a very defined support role during both your pregnancy and labour and that’s incredibly helpful for both of you. You can really become a ‘birthing dream team’ (love that phrase!)
When people ask me what I do for a living and I tell them I run hypnobirthing and birth preparation courses, often I get a perplexed look - which makes me smile. Many of the same questions or misconceptions come up again and again, so it’s time to bust some myths!
Here is a wonderful positive hypnobirthing birth story from a mother having a vaginal birth after a caesarean birth (called a VBAC). So inspiring and lovely to hear a positive birth story. Do contact me if you'd like more - I have lots I'd be delighted to share with you from hypnobirthing mums. Hearing all about positive birth when we are pregnant is so important (and please stop people telling you their negative birth stories, it really doesn't help you prepare for your birth in a positive way).
Every mother is likely aware that a placenta goes hand in hand with pregnancy. Even if you don't know much about what a placenta does, you likely understand that a placenta plays a pretty important role for the baby, since it's right there in the womb with your developing baby.
But do you know what a placenta really is or how amazing they are? Well read on and find out more about the amazing placenta.
In this weeks blog post I want to share with you some of the things that I teach all the couples on my For Modern Mothers Hypnobirthing classes (both the private and group ones) that are the most important for you to remember. So here are my 5 top tips for you to help your pregnancy and birth be positive, calm and confident.
Our reality is a reflection, not an absolute. There are so many social folk laws and cultural influences that influence our reality. Essentially, our beliefs, preferences, attachments, expectations, fears, emotions, and experiences all get rolled up into one big burrito and, voilà, we’ve got our subjective impression of reality. Hypnobirthing and Mindfulness can really help you find your own inner feelings, and remove the fear about birth thats been put upon us.
Here are ten steps you can take during your pregnancy to prepare your body and mind for the experience of a lifetime and a birth you will remember with joy.
"In modern life we have become so busy with our daily affairs and thoughts, that we have forgotten this essential art of taking time to converse with our hearts….If we are still, and listen deeply, for even a moment, we will know if we are following a path with heart… " Jack Kornfield, A Path with Heart
Exercises during pregnancy can feel like a bit of a minefield. Whether you are a yoga geek, a gym bunny or a couch potato (or anywhere in between), once you find yourself pregnant it can be hard to know what kind of exercise you should, and shouldn't be doing. Some stuff is great - pregnancy yoga, swimming. Some not advised - contact martial arts, skiiing. Here's a guide for you...
It’s natural to feel a little apprehensive about the massive changes that are about to happen not only in your day-to-day routine but also to your body when you are pregnant. I know many (if not all) of the women that I teach in my hypnobirthing and pregnancy yoga classes feel this way. I know I certainly did.
However, any negative thoughts or frustrations that you may have about your changing body shouldn’t be allowed to take away from your enjoyment during this incredible time in your life. You are after all growing a new human being - and that is truly and utterly amazing.
So this blog post is to show you 5 simple ways to help you feel confident, powerful and feminine throughout your pregnancy...
