I offer a range of different birth preparation classes and workshops, both in person (Taunton) and live online via Zoom.
Join me for this 6 week pregnancy relaxation and birth preparation programme, and feel calmer and more prepared about your upcoming birth.
Take time out to
… nurture yourself
… connect with your baby
… meet other mums-to-be
… and relax deeply
… all while learning active birth principles and hypnobirth breathing to make your birth a much more positive experience.
Each session includes a chance for you to share any questions or concerns that have cropped up in your pregnancy, a discussion on a positive birth related topic, powerful breathing techniques, and a guided hypnobirth relaxation.
My classes offer a holistic mix of pregnancy yoga, birth breathing techniques, antenatal education, and deep relaxation. Each element is included with the intention of helping you to have a more positive experience of pregnancy and birth:
- The simple yoga-based movement helps to ease pregnancy symptoms and demonstrate positions that are helpful in labour.
- The hypnobirth breathing techniques help you to stay calm and grounded at different stages of labour.
- The antenatal education focuses on what happens in your body and how best to work with it (e.g. how to boost your birthing hormones, different positions to speed up/slow down labour, how baby's position affects birth and what you can do about it...)
- Finally, the relaxation at the end of each class is a chance to connect with baby and I weave in positive birth affirmations to get this into your subconscious.
You will leave feeling rested and relaxed, as well as growing in confidence each week about your ability to birth your baby.
Classes can be started from 14 weeks of pregnancy and are taught over a six-week term. You can do as many terms as you wish until baby is born.
--------------------------------------------------
BIRTHING WORKSHOP - PREPARE TOGETHER
(for women / birthing people and partners)
If you are looking for an intensive session to help you and your partner feel ready and positive about your birth, I run 4 hour workshops every month or so.
Workshops work really well alongside my weekly Birthing Classes. Many women come to classes then attend a workshop with their birth partner nearer to their due date.
The workshop is designed to bring you and your birth partner up to speed on everything you need to prepare for a positive birth in one intensive session.
The workshop covers:
All the basic principles of active birthing and hypno birthing
Breathing techniques
Helpful movements and positions
Understanding how your body works in labour
Making empowered choices about any potential interventions
Focus on the birth partner’s role, so that they know how best to support you on the day (and, most importantly, stay calm themselves!)
Massage and other techniques that they can use to make you more comfortable.
I don't assume any prior knowledge in the classes or workshop, so they can be attended separately. However, I generally recommend coming to both classes and a workshop.
That way you gain a deeper understanding of the whole process of birth and a chance to relax, reduce any anxiety, and answer questions you have week by week during your pregnancy, then your birth partner will learn how best to support you in labour using the breathing techniques, movements and knowledge you have already gained in class.
--------------------------------------------------
COMPLETE HYPNOBIRTHING PROGRAMME
(for women / birthing people and partners)
This comprehensive 10 hour course (from the Little Birth Company) has everything you and your partner need to prepare for a positive birth.
It will support and prepare you regardless of where or how you give birth. Whether you are planning to birth in a Midwife Led Unit, Birth Centre, Home or Obstetric Unit, hypnobirthing has your back.
It will enable you to keep calm and relaxed, to breathe, and to even 'enjoy' your birth. It will help you through the intensity of each stage and give you the confidence to make decisions.
Hypnobirthing doesn't promise you a 'perfect' birth but it definitely stacks the odds in your favour of having the birth you would like. Even when the journey to birth changes, hypnobirthing can support you to stay calm, and still go on to have a positive experience.
The tools and techniques you will learn on a course are hugely beneficial for mums to be, birth partners and babies. The relaxation techniques you learn will support you through birth and into parenthood.
Course outline:
Session 1 - Birth as an instinctive process
The mind - body connection and why it is so important in birth
Understanding birth as an instinctive process
How hypnobirthing can help you have a much more positive birth experience
Learning the first birth breathing technique and anchoring to your relaxation
Session 2 - Preparing your mind and body for birth
Understanding the importance of hormones in birth
Developing positive language for birth
Finding your own anchors and affirmations for relaxation
The power of movement - helping baby into the optimal position for birth
Session 3 - Working together to have a positive birth
Releasing fears you may have about birth
Choices and preferences about birth - writing a positive birth plan
Creating a supportive birth environment
The importance of the birth partner’s role
Massage and rebozo techniques to support birth
Session 4 - Your body, your birth
Gentle ways to help your labour to start and progress
Working with your body during labour - what to expect at each stage
The power of birth breathing and optimal positions
How to navigate possible changes to your birth plan
--------------------------------------------------
About me
My name is Ali, I am a qualified Humanistic Counsellor, Mindfulness Teacher and Hypnobirthing Practitioner. I specialise in support across the whole perinatal period.
My aim is to be there every step of the way through your journey through motherhood, from reducing fear and anxiety about birth, to helping you in the early days (potentially dealing with PND or birth trauma), and beyond into all the joys and challenges being a mum brings.
The official stuff
Here is my background and qualifications:
BA (Hons) Psychology
MSc Occupational Psychology
Postgraduate Diploma in Humanistic Therapeutic Counselling
Member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (MBACP)
Rewind Technique practitioner (trained with Human Givens Institute)
Active Birth and Hypno Birth teacher (trained with The Daisy Foundation and The Little Birth Company)
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) teacher
Mindfulness Based Compassionate Living (MBCL) teacher
