BABY YOGA? You must be joking, how on earth can babies do yoga? Surely this is unnatural and dangerous, one of these yoga fads that discredits yoga as a reputable ancient practice brought to the West by famous Gurus after years in their Himalayan caves. Babies are not on ascetics’ […]
From the start of Birthlight classes, the changing bodies of pregnant women who were mostly new to yoga called for a dynamic approach to stretching to make space for the growing babies inside. We used the breath, mostly the exhalation, to extend the muscles below, above and to the sides […]
Birthlight Swimming classes aim to provide the optimum environment for not only learning to take place but to create deep emotional and loving connections between the parent and child. Water itself is a great conductor of emotions, it transmits both positive and negative intent and can set the tone of […]
Early Days My baby-swimming journey started with the birth of my eldest daughter in 1975. I had some time between her birth and returning with her to my work in the Amazon. I needed to get her used to being in the water, crossing rivers with me and playing in […]
Baby Communication Awareness Week Day 1 14 – 20th June 2021 After months of waiting, preparation and imagining, meeting a new baby unlocks an unexpected set of physiological, sensory and behavioural responses that parents can never fully anticipate. Many of these responses are mammalian traits, such as checking and exploring […]
Founder and Director of Birthlight. She is a pioneer, Senior Yoga Teacher, acclaimed writer and lecturer of Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge. Françoise interlaces her academic research at Cambridge with Birthlight’s mission. She combines her expertise as a senior yoga teacher, swimmer and birth attendant with new ideas to […]
Once upon a time, not so long ago, yoga for pregnancy was considered to be dangerous. Birth preparation programs that included exercise were sensational media material. Fathers were still pacing in the corridors of maternity hospitals smoking proverbial cigars. If they were admitted on delivery units, they stood nervously behind […]