Prenatal Yoga and Childbirth Education: A Response to Tracy Posner's Birth Story

Abstract

In this letter to the editor, the author responds to a birth story published in a previous issue of The Journal of Perinatal Education and discusses the relationship between practicing prenatal yoga and childbirth education.

Reading Tracy Posner's birth story again gives me shivers (“The Most Amazing 24 Hours,” The Journal of Perinatal Education, 19(1), 4–7). As her prenatal yoga teacher, I am so proud of her and her efforts. She had the benefit of a wonderfully supportive husband and an amazing doula. Tracy came to prenatal yoga class nearly every week throughout her pregnancy and also attended a “Comfort Measures for Birth” workshop that I offer for couples. In class, she had the opportunity to practice everything that we, as childbirth educators, preach. We preach relaxing, we talk about breathing, and we focus on positive language and empowerment and, of course, educating. Over the years, I have found that I can offer my yoga students the opportunity to try things out—to practice the techniques we use in childbirth while holding a challenging yoga pose. The similarities are strong and the learning opportunities are immeasurable. The marriage of the two disciplines, yoga and childbirth education, provides so much opportunity for women to practice and gain confidence in their abilities and their body. I feel that every childbirth educator would benefit from tossing a few yoga postures into their curriculum, and every prenatal yoga instructor would benefit from understanding more about the birth process and pregnancy.

Lamaze International's Prenatal Yoga Workshop was created to provide an opportunity for practitioners of both disciplines to blend their experiences together in order to provide more learning opportunities for the women we serve. It was created as an innovative and current way to implement the six Lamaze Healthy Birth Practices into the lives of the women of today. Participating in this workshop won't turn a childbirth educator into a prenatal yoga teacher, or a prenatal yoga teacher into a childbirth educator, but it will allow for some new ways to provide moms with practical applications that they can use in labor and beyond. For more information on Lamaze's Prenatal Yoga Workshop, visit the “Specialty Workshops” link under “Events” at the Lamaze Web site (www.lamaze.org).

Tracy's birth experience is a wonderful example of how she integrated her yoga practice into her labor. She felt empowered to request being upright when she wanted to be, and perhaps most importantly, she learned to listen to her body. For anyone who has practiced yoga, you know that you must listen to your body, and when you do that, you can also learn to soften around your discomfort and even settle into it, often accepting the discomfort and learning from it. Isn't that what we teach our pregnant women? Don't we want them to become aware of their body and all its capabilities?

Being a small part of Tracy's birth experience touched my life in a positive way, as it does with all of the women I work with, and as I am certain it does with all of us in this profession.