The huge changes that occur in our body throughout pregnancy can sometimes be challenging to adapt to both on a physical and psychological level. Dr Leah has designed the completely unique 4-Pillar approach of the Pregnancy Yoga Plan to encompass 4 essential areas.
The driving purpose is to give you the essential tools that Dr Leah has seen to be key in understanding and supporting the connection with your body and your baby. We want you to finish the course feeling empowered with the knowledge of the changes happening in your body and feel prepared and strong as you enter birth and motherhood on every level.
EASE
FLOW
Our bodies change hugely as we grow another human being and this can mean that our usual yoga practice, may just not feel as though it’s serving you in the way that you need. Perhaps you’ve never practiced yoga before but have heard of the benefits that it brings in pregnancy and you want to give it a go. Either way, we’ve got you covered.
This course was filmed in the final trimester of Leah’s own pregnancy, so not only are you benefiting from her wealth of experience as an obstetrician and prenatal yoga teacher, but you can feel confident that the classes are safe and manageable in your own pregnancy.
Yoga in pregnancy, can mean different things to different people, there is no one size fits all and finding the style that works for you is key. Regular yoga classes may not cater for the changes our bodies go through in pregnancy. Conversely, it’s common to find an approach to prenatal yoga classes where, instead of being treated as a normal physiological state, pregnant women are treated as though they need to be wrapped in cotton wool. We wanted to break away from the mold and find a balance, allowing women to feel energized but also using the opportunity as a way to help connect with your body and your baby. We repeatedly have women telling us how good it feels to actually move in these classes.
We can’t stress enough the importance of tuning in to your body and honoring where you are in the moment. We want to support you in a way that nurtures what you need at the different stages of your pregnancy, by including the more introspective practices of meditation and pranayama (breathing techniques), whilst still enabling you to benefit from the significant health advantages the physical practice of yoga brings with classes ranging from gentle Yin to more active Vinyasa inspired flows.
Being able to share with you Leah’s knowledge as an obstetrician and gynaecologist, is a key component of this course too. Empowering ourselves with the understanding of the physical changes happening at each step, helps create a far deeper connection, helps dispel fear and leads to an ownership and empowerment in the process, rather than something beyond our control.
The 4-Pillars that she has created are conveniently split in to 4 corresponding modules that you can access in any order, with the ability to dip in to the pillar you feel is right for you in the moment and repeat them as many times as you want.
We wanted to explain a little more about the importance and rationale behind including each carefully curated module below.
The yoga classes designed as part of the MOVE module, comprise of EASE and FLOW classes, the beauty of these two types of classes, is that you can choose the style that suits your energy level on a particular day.
The FLOW classes can often feel challenging and this is deliberate. The sequences are designed to have a purpose and are heavily influenced by Leah’s background in vinyasa and alignment based practices. The focus is on a more energetic, yet fluid and feminine flow, whilst keeping in mind the physiological changes happening in pregnancy and how best to support you in a safe way.
Cultivating space within the EASE classes for periods of more gentle, introspective practice is equally as important. These are largely floor based more gentle practices, where we help tone the body but move in a slower and less physically challenging way and can be more suited to the beginning or end of pregnancy.
Not only this, but the physiological changes which are necessary to grow a new life, can unfortunately mean common aches and pains unique to pregnancy arise. Yoga can be incredibly beneficial in helping alleviate conditions like pelvic girdle pain, sciatica and carpal tunnel syndrome. This pillar includes, especially curated classes to help support you with these more specific concerns.
This module is one we’re incredibly excited to include in the 4-Pillar Plan and is completely unique to this prenatal yoga course. This was designed in recognition that there is a great deal of misinformation about pregnancy online making it hard to decipher what’s to be trusted and what you can disregard.
Having supported thousands of women go through pregnancy and birth, Dr Leah has seen first hand what a significant difference it can make to the experience, when we understand why and how the changes occur. This part of the course is designed to bring you a closer understanding and appreciation for the incredible adaptations your body is making.
We explore the incredible changes each body system undergoes including respiratory, cardiovascular and gastrointestinal systems and how that corresponds to symptoms you may be experiencing. As we progress through this module in to the changes that need to occur to enable birth, we learn how we can support ourselves in this process.
This module is designed to support and work with the other 3 pillars, helping empower your pregnancy and birth experience.
Have you noticed that when you feel stressed or anxious you breathe more quickly, shallowly or perhaps even hold your breath? This process creates a tendency towards the flight, fight or freeze system under the control of the sympathetic nervous system. To create the calm and feeling of safety, which is more supportive in pregnancy and essential for birth, we want our bodies to be in a parasympathetic state of functioning. Did you know, we can help drive shift away from the sympathetic in how we breathe?
Pranayama or focused breathing is one of the parts of yoga often disregarded in place of the more aesthetic physical practice, but the benefits, especially in pregnancy shouldn’t be underestimated, helping with anxiety, sleep and providing resources you can take through to your labour.
A whole section on breathing may seem a bit odd if you’re new to the practice of yoga, after all we’ve been breathing without thinking much about it since the day we are born. The difference happens when we focus our breath in a more controlled way, with studies showing that when we focus our attention towards the breath, it positively impacts on our health and wellbeing, lowering blood pressure, pulse and activating the parasympathetic nervous system.
This module will guide you through the basic techniques we use to help enhance and support our physical practice. Moving on to focus on more specialised techniques, which you can take away to help you with anxiety, sleep and ultimately in to your birth. Enabling you to stay calm and connected in labour.
Guided meditation or mindfulness practices have become much more mainstream in recent years as we become increasingly aware of the benefits they bring to our physical and mental wellbeing, helping in treating symptoms of mild depression and anxiety.
Not only this, but epigenetics is the mind blowing area of study that identifies how our mental wellbeing and thoughts change the genetic make up and brain structure of the growing baby. The classes in this module are designed to support this aspect of your mental, spiritual and emotional wellbeing.
We include a guided savasana which is the really important period of rest to consolidate your practice, which we recommend you use at the end of each class. We include guided meditation to help facilitate a deeper connection with your baby and a downloadable mp3 of a guided yoga nidra.
Yoga nidra is a practice unique to yoga, which some describe as a yogic sleep. It’s similar to meditation, but is more focused to connecting with what’s going on in our bodies and our inner environment. This can be really beneficial in aiding restful sleep, with studies showing improvement in symptoms of anxiety.
We offer different plans to suit you wherever you are in your pregnancy. From monthly subscription to the full 9 months of your pregnancy. We also offer gift vouchers for all membership plans, which can be a really unique and supportive gift to give that special pregnant person in your life.
A truly unique gift for that special pregnant person in your life
Each subscription plan can be purchased as a gift voucher
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