Pregnancy yoga testimonials - Brunswick, Melbourne

Hi Katie,

Finally had my bub yesterday morning - a little boy - It was a successful VBAC at home in the birth pool.

I definitely credit the pregnancy yoga with giving me strength, flexibility and, most importantly, confidence in my body's ability to do what it was meant to do. It also gave me so many options for movement/ positions to deal with the pain (not that i ever quite found the perfect one while it was all happening!) So thankyou. It was a lovely class and i will miss coming on Tuesdays.

Cheers,
Ann - Brunswick, Melbourne

Hi Katie,

I had a fantastic labour - quite long but very calm and only really hard in the last couple of hours. I kept really active, and used a lot of the yoga positions - lots of rocking and supported upright positions. I didn't need pain relief, the bath and the shower were my saving grace! Afterwards I didn't even feel like I'd been through labour. I really enjoyed your classes, they fit exactly with what I wanted to achieve from pregnancy yoga, and the friendly and relaxed atmosphere of the group was great. Caitlin - Brunswick, Melbourne

Hi Katie,
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> We had a very eventful new year with the birth of Harvey at 2am on new years day. He was two weeks early, but thankfully he decided not to stick around because he was 4.2kg! (that's 9 and a quater pounds). We managed to have a natural birth and dont think I could have done it without the yoga. The positions that we;d been practicing throughout the classes, especially cat pose and all the squatting was invaluable, as was the breathing which gave me the ability to focus internally when needed. Also - I tracked down that Spirit of Yoga CD and played it about 4 or 5 times during my labour! I didnt want to listen to anything else! So thankyou for your wonderful classes and all the tips you give throughout them. I look forward to joining the mother and baby classes, so please add me to that email list.
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> Anna and Harvey, Brunswick Melbourne

"I really believe that regularly going to your classes helped me immensely throughout my pregnancy and labour and continues to be of benefit now that I'm a new mum.

I am grateful for your genuinely kind and caring approach to all of us mums to be, as well as your obvious love and understanding of yoga. While I had done lots of yoga before and found your classes both relaxing and challenging, there were many mums-to-be totally new to yoga who you accommodated easily and who seemed to get just as much as out of it as me.

I thought I might list just some of the benefits that I have appreciated:

BENEFITS DURING PREGNANCY
Even though I had a demanding job and it was hard to leave early to make your classes , I was determined to attend regularly. From about 16 weeks till 40 weeks I went to at least one class a week, often going to both Monday and Wednesday. This helped me to:
- Feel confident about retaining some level of flexibility and strength.
- Make time for just me and baby in the middle of otherwise hectic working weeks.
- Avoid having any back pain at all.
- Be with other pregnant women. Most of us didn't even know each others names but it was lovely to watch other regulars' pregnancies progressing, see some of the many pregnancy variations and to hear of other births from you.
- Sleep super-peacefully on yoga nights.

BENEFITS DURING LABOUR
I had a 24 hour extremely painful labour followed by an emergency caesarean (for a number of reasons). But the end result is a perfect baby boy so it was worth every second. During the labour, my yoga practice helped me to:
- Have the strength to stay mobile and to labour in different positions, including standing and leaning on the wall, which relieved a lot of the pain of contractions for me.
- Focus inward and focus on the baby instead of just on the pain.
- Avoid all pain relief for the first 20 hours of labour, enabling me to get to 6cm dilated completely unassisted.

BENEFITS AS A MUM
- Quick return to mobility after the caeserean - I was getting in and out of bed and walking on my own within two days with ease, allowing us to be moved to a room with a double bed so dad could stay over.
- Relaxation techniques helped me get to sleep when anxious or overtired.
- Shoulder and back stretches learnt during classes were easy to do at home to relieve tension associated with breastfeeding, and to relax.
- Visualisations help calm me and baby when he is unsettled.
- Faith in my body and its ability to heal itself with just a little of my attention and care.

So once again, many thanks." Nada, East Brunswick, Melbourne

"Prenatal yoga was fantastic for relaxation during my pregnancy. I'd go home revitalised & replenished after a class. With my second pregnancy I had problems with pelvic instability which limited the yoga poses I could do, however the overall session was still challenging, and I enjoyed feeling stretched and lighter. " Kate Northcote, Melbourne

"Prenatal yoga was an important and essential part of my pregnancy.    Katie's classes are warm and personal and she modifies the poses to  suit the varying abilities and yoga experience levels of each of her  students.  Her classes have a lovely blend of physical poses,  visualisations and relaxation that enhance the pregnancy and I looked  forward each week to my next class." Myf - Northcote, Melbourne

" I chose this prenatal yoga class initially because I felt confident from my first phone conversation with Katie that she genuinely knew what she was talking about with regard to prenatal yoga. I've really enjoyed the classes so far, and have found that they've been useful throughout various stages of pregnancy - most of the poses can be as challenging or as gentle as you want them to be, depending on how you feel that week. The stretching and breathing practice I suspect will be really useful through labour, and these are skills that I didn't feel I could get through more traditional forms of exercise. I've also found many poses have been useful to call on to help with various symptoms throughout pregnancy, such as lower back pain. I found weekly classes important as I needed regular contact with a class to make sure I did the poses correctly...and because much as I swear I will, I hardly ever get around to practicing at home. As I get bigger and slower this is about the only form of physical activity I still look forward to!" Anna - Kinglake

" I excitedly attended Katie's classes from 5mths into my pregnancy.  They were fabulous; after each class I felt energized and more deeply connected to my body and my baby.  Each class was made up of similar asanas to the weeks before which meant I could observe my body strengthening and witness the changes I needed to make for my baby and my body along the course of pregnancy.  I would highly recommend Katie's classes to all women" Natalie North Carlton, Melbourne

"I found Katie's prenatal yoga classes to be extremely beneficial in
preparing me for a positive natural labour and birth. I utilized many of the
poses during my contractions, particularly the "cat pose" which assisted me
in pain management. Consequently I enjoyed a drug-free experience and have a
happy healthy baby as a result!" Joanne Barrett, Brunswick, Melbourne

"Thank you for your wonderful pre-natal yoga class, it was one thing I did for myself that really helped me focus on myself and little unborn Lola." Amanda - Thornbury, Melbourne

"Hi Katie I wanted to let you know that I gave birth to a beautiful healthy baby boy on the 26th of July. He was 3.1kg which is great since I did have diabetes. The labour went pretty smoothly and I drew heavily on the resources I gained from attending your class. So thanks! I can see now why you emphasised the warrior poses not just for labour but for mother hood as well." Natalie Brunswick, Melbourne

 

"You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer seeks the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the Archer's hand be for gladness; For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable."

--Kahilil Gibran "The Prophet"