I have been teaching pregnancy yoga for 19 years and over that time, the number of inductions has increased and they’re happening earlier.  What I’ve also observed is that this has led to an increase in the caesarean rate, to currently 50% of births being by c-section in many UK hospitals.

In the last two years, I’ve noticed that the positive birthing stories come from second time mums who didn’t experience the birth they’d hoped for the first time and advocated for themselves this time around. 

In the first pregnancy, you don’t know what you don’t know.  That doesn’t mean that you can’t have the birth that you hope for, but you’ll need to advocate for yourself, become as informed as possible of your choices and be prepared to make decisions. This article contains resources to help you do that.

When you see someone leave a pregnancy yoga class, they often have a post-class glow or look rested. I wanted to know whether there is evidence for these benefits lasting beyond a class. And whether yoga can affect the experience and outcome of labour? There is now a sizeable amount of academic research into the impact of pregnancy yoga and I share highlights of the best quality studies here.

A body-based approach to birth trauma support is helpful and sometimes life-changing, but is not widely known about.

Given that trauma does not happen independently from the body and the effects are frequently in evidence (e.g. tension, restless legs, racing heart, digestive problems, birth injuries, painful sex), it makes sense to include it in the healing journey.