Home From Home - Normalising Birth

A while ago I was invited to give a short talk to around 40 midwives from the Haywards Heath Princess Royal Hospital and also from the Royal Sussex in Brighton. They were keen to hear about what it is we are teaching our pregnant mamas-to-be and learn about the benefits of yoga breathing and why it can be so helpful for women in labour.

I was delighted to be asked and so enjoyed being there amongst such a lovely group of women who are all experienced and passionate about birth - my perfect day out!

When I found out that I was pregnant with my daughter the fear I have lived with for years about giving birth raised its head again. I have no idea where this fear stems from, I haven’t been exposed directly to any difficult births, or heard that many 'bad' birth stories. Perhaps it was from looking at some hippy birth books of my Mum's with some rather graphic pictures when I was only very young...maybe that didn't help, ha ha! But honestly, I was simply terrified. How on earth would I get a baby out of there!

LushTums teacher, Kate, talks about her journey from London high-flyer to pregnancy yoga teacher.

 I decided to train to teach pregnancy yoga because there wasn’t anything in the town where I live – Haywards Heath – when I moved here expecting my second child in 2012. Throughout that pregnancy I used to make the journey to Brighton to attend Clare’s classes every week, and I absolutely loved them. I was happy to make the journey as I’d been practicing yoga for years by that point, so understood how the classes would benefit me both mentally and physically. But I worried that any ladies who were new to yoga and living in the area wouldn’t feel compelled to make such an effort to attend a class, and I did feel frustrated that nothing was available locally.