My Birthlight Journey – a blessing of joy, nourishment and connection

Ines Rothmann shares her journey and experience

My Birthlight journey started in 2017, at a time that I felt the need to deepen my prenatal yoga teaching experience. Over the years I have felt immensely grateful and privileged to learn from the profound wisdom of Kirsteen Ruffell, Francoise Freedman and many others at Birthlight. Since my first Birthlight teacher training on perinatal yoga in 2017, many more trainings were to come (e.g. postnatal yoga, baby yoga, toddler yoga, fertility yoga, diastasis recti, pelvic floor, caesarean scar healing, yoga for menopause and breast health) and I am sure will follow in the future.

But let’s start at the beginning!

Originally I come from a different field of work. By education I am an economist having worked for many years in developing countries. Slowly, I transitioned into the field of body work, not least because of my own challenges when becoming a parent. From the first day, moms and babies would somehow find their way to my body work. So it became clear very quickly where my journey was heading. After some years, I started complementing my body work with trainings on perinatal yoga. At the same time, I started reading and absorbing anything related to birth, becoming a bit of a birth nerd I must say.

In a nutshell, I am German, mother of a 15 year old son, having been a former globetrotter, but now settled and at home in Belgium. After a career change 15 years ago, my dream became a reality. My studio Lava (www.lava.yoga) was born, very organically and slowly, without much fanfare. Lava is situated in Antwerp. At the beginning I worked at different venues, but since a couple of years I bundled all my group lessons at one venue of a midwifery practice in Antwerp. The individual body work sessions take place at my own studio in the south of Antwerp. Today, I provide weekly lessons on prenatal and postnatal yoga, mindful birthing with your partner, baby yoga and baby massage, yoga & self-massage for c-section. The individual body work focuses on craniosacral therapy, c-section scar therapy, and facilitating closing the bones rituals. In addition, I organise regular free Walking MOMents throughout different parks in Antwerp, promoting shinrin-yoku and helping to build that tribe we are all so desperately looking for.

How the Birthlight approach shaped my yoga teaching practice?

The Birthlight approach has deeply defined and uplifted both my own yoga practice and my yoga teaching over the years. It has enriched and helped me to stay truthful to essential principles that I hold dearly at my studio: the principles of nourishment, joy & connection, heartfelt and easily accessible practices. These principles complement and blend easily into my other work as craniosacral therapist, c-section scar therapist and facilitator of closing the bones rituals.

The slogan of Lava “Cherishing hearts, nourishing life” has been inspired by the Birthlight approach. There are countless valuable lessons the Birthlight approach has taught me. Let me highlight a few.

First, my favourite Birthlight elements are integrating the principles of working in a circle of joy and practicing partner yoga moves. Birthlight has taught me that yoga does not have to be so serious and be practiced alone on your mat all the time. Finding joy, laughter and togetherness in the moment can be so nourishing in a world that glorifies “personal achievement”, “self-made-ness” and “getting back to normal”. Mothers need that sense of connection with each other and community. Magic happens when we work in a circle. Not always easy to teach in a circle in different studio settings though and with regard to cueing a yoga lesson, but all the more gratifying when you realise that the circle allows you to teach from a place of equal appreciation of one another rather than authority. Women spontaneously start to smile at each other. When doing yoga together we slow down, are more gentle and more consciously settling into the essence of the practice. The meaning of an adapted Vrksasana (tree pose) for mothers, for example, really comes to life in a circle setting. When we can literally start feeling that we are all together in this journey, which we were never meant to embark on alone and that we can lean on and support each other through challenge and that each one of us enriches the circle.

Second, I have learned to appreciate the dynamic approach to yoga poses, the yoga-dance-like movements. Each of my lessons incorporate rhythmic, circular, figure of 8, rocking, clapping movements. I witness time and again that for many (including myself in the beginning) this was stepping out of the comfort zone. But after a while women so naturally and easily connect to rhythmic movements because women are cyclical in nature. They experience how rhythm calms the nervous system and creates relaxation. What a wonderful way to promote intuitive, somatic movements and hence greater body awareness, all of which are much needed principles for pregnancy, birth and postpartum.

Third, holding the space for experiencing integrative body-mind-heart-breath practices is so much more nourishing for women and babies than teaching the precision of (hip & trendy) yoga poses and yoga flows. Doing less, with awareness to the essence of yoga (poses) and mindfulness practices, has been so much more nourishing for me as a teacher and my audience than seeking technical perfection.

Time and time again, I have seen how simple and accessible, gentle approaches translate for mothers into finding more ease in their body, heart and mind and in particular to cultivate more compassion for themselves.

What I appreciate the most is that Birthlight is not just adapting regular yoga poses to pregnancy and postpartum. Instead it stems from a deep understanding of the physical, emotional and mental needs of women, babies and families during the perinatal period and combining this with yoga tradition and evidence-based insights. At first, these practices may not seem really yoga to some, but over time I have witnessed how they lead to great and sustainable changes in how mothers experience pregnancy, birth and the postpartum.

Fourth, “teaching from the heart” and from a point of attentiveness to the needs of women and babies wherever they are at has helped me to truly connect to the individual journeys of mothers and babies. That is why I consistently chose to only offer courses lasting several weeks, to create a safe space for growth and commitment, to facilitate connection between mothers and to take time to listen and to exchange before and after lessons. And that has not always been easy, especially in a time when life is often rushed and investment has to yield. So yes I am all into “teaching from the heart” – I still hear those words deeply resonating with me when Kirsteen articulated them in 2019 at a moment when Birthlight and Lava cooperated for the first time here in Belgium.

Last, but certainly not least, Birthlight introduced me to the wonderful world of rebozo’s. I regularly use the rebozo in all my group lessons but also in my body work sessions. The colourfulness of the rebozo’s literally brings colour to your life and practice, and lets the feminine beauty and grace shine. They literally ignite a spark in me every time I use them. The firmness of the rebozo helps women to physically experience support and comfort and makes some yoga poses more accessible. And, they invite you as a teacher to integrate wonderful partner yoga moves into your lessons.

My Birthlight journey has truly been a blessing. I am grateful for this experience and can only recommend Birthlight to anyone seeking to explore or teach perinatal yoga, baby yoga and well women yoga.