Well Woman Yoga supports women through all kinds of life transitions

Cathy Welch shares how Well Woman Yoga supports women through all kinds of life transitions

As an experienced childbirth educator it felt very natural to move into teaching first Pregnancy Yoga and then Postnatal Yoga – extending my relationship with the women on my courses and offering a gentle and holistic way to support women through a time of great change. Women would attend during pregnancy, then postnatally with their babies and then return when they were pregnant again and so the natural cycle just propelled itself. It always felt very sad when we said farewell for the last time and I was unable to offer them a class that was just for them, to continue to nurture and encourage them as their children grew and their lives readjusted. In my own yoga practice I was also craving something gentle, yet powerful and also a practice that would support me through my next transition – the menopause. 

One day I found a Birthlight advert for Well Woman Yoga training and I immediately knew, just by the title, that this was what I had been looking for. Having already done the fabulous Postnatal Yoga with Francoise and Belinda I was confident that the Well Woman course would not only give me the tools to work with women in a very special way, but it would also give me a range of practices that would be equally beneficial for myself. How right I was!  First of all I did the face to face Well Woman Diploma in London over two weekends and I have since added Fertility Yoga training and the Menopause module (both online during lockdown) as I knew that these ‘top ups’ would deepen my knowledge and develop my practice further.  I just loved all the training and continue to revisit my notes and the training videos to keep my practice fresh and to find new ideas to incorporate into my classes.

My oldest class member is 83 and the youngest in her early 20’s

I started small with a Well Woman Yoga class online and it very quickly filled up with a whole range of women looking for exactly what I was offering – something gentle, supportive and created to meet the needs of the group. Feedback told me that they all loved the way they were able to listen to their bodies and work within their own abilities and limitations. The chance to practice with a group of women where they felt safe and nurtured was really important to them and it very quickly became my favourite session of the week. The majority of these women are still attending 18 months later. Over the year I have gradually added an additional online class and recently two face to face classes. Once women come once, they usually keep coming. It becomes their favourite time in the week too and it is an honour and privilege to offer such special classes across a broad spectrum of individuals. Some of the women are the ones who attended classes when pregnant and with their new babies, others are in their menopausal years, working through fertility challenges or in their ‘senior years’ and learning to live with the physical and emotional challenges that this presents. My oldest class member is 83 and the youngest in her early 20s. Never have I been more grateful for a training course and never have I been able to make such good use of it afterwards – and all of this just feels like fun, pleasure and connection for me too. Once again Birthlight has got it spot on. 

Cathy Welch