Postnatal Yoga - Certificate

Overview

This is a comprehensive two-day intensive course aimed at providing yoga teachers already experienced in teaching yoga for pregnancy the resources they need to hold effective postnatal classes. The course covers new mothers’ needs from birth through the first year; it ensures a safe return to normal yoga practice after childbirth for women with different degrees of fitness and with a diversity of birth and early mothering experiences.

Birthlight courses refer to detailed anatomy and integrate inter-disciplinary research findings on reproductive health and infant health. Priority is given to offering safe and simple practices which are informed by research but directly accessible and beneficial to women, babies and their families. Birthlight postnatal yoga is compatible with, and expands upon practices recommended by midwives, health visitors and physiotherapists in the UK.

Who is this course for?

The course is open to all qualified Pregnancy Yoga teachers.  Applications from yoga teachers who have not obtained a teaching qualification in Yoga for Pregnancy will be considered on a one to one basis (please email)

The Birthlight Postnatal Yoga course offers full Continuous Professional Development (CPD) credits to Birthlight Perinatal Yoga teachers (Diploma holders)           

Course structure

The style of Birthlight yoga taught on this course is syncretic and accessible to teachers trained in all recognised schools of Yoga. Birthlight has pioneered the continuity of yoga from conception to the postnatal period even before yoga from pregnancy became a popular practice. The benefits of continuity are extensive, as it takes roughly nine months for the pelvic ligaments to regain their pre-pregnancy tone. Yoga breathing practices are used to involve deep muscles and restore core-strength or even create it anew. The Birthlight postnatal yoga includes the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual aspects of yoga to address the needs of each new mother in an integrated way and to ensure a solid foundation for well-being and enjoyable mothering in the months following birth.

The course includes the following components:

• Principles of postnatal recovery (core-realignment, pelvic joint stabilisation and decompression of the spine, by means of gentle isotonic stretches using deep abdominal breathing and some bandhas)
• Progression of Asanas after childbirth: steps for safe practice using modified chair and floor versions of classic asanas. Simple teaching points ensure safe transition from yoga class to home practice, applicable to both experienced yogini and women new to yoga
• Postnatal relaxation with baby and without baby: integration of the birth experience; postnatal self-nurturing practices; principles of integrative relaxation and self-referral for calming self and baby
• Postnatal yoga to address common complaints (weak pelvic floor, instability of pelvic joints, lower back pain, neck and shoulder pain, split abdominal muscles
• Integrated postnatal yoga with baby: relaxed holds and yoga steps, yoga tips for optimal infant feeding, simple yoga practices for the comfortable handling of infants
• Structuring of postnatal classes with various options: with babies, without babies, in women’s homes, at different stages.