Pregnancy Yoga Teacher training

Sessions will include mantra, mudra, nada yoga and pranavidya practices, encouraging you to think for yourself and to develop your own style and method of teaching pregnancy yoga within a clear framework of safety guidelines. This course also includes some time on the early stage of postnatal recovery.

The emphasis of the course is on supporting healthy pregnancy through appropriate holistic yoga practices. There will be opportunities for teaching practice, as well as informal assessments during the course and you should be prepared for both a short pre-course assignment and written work during the course.

Uniquely, each day of this training course begins with specially designed yoga nidra practices designed for pregnancy, and exquisitely beautiful meditations, sound practices and breath work that gives all students on the course a direct experience of the subtle power of yoga to support the transition to motherhood. There are also deep relaxation and sound practices in the afternoons, and a lot of direct and practical encounters with restorative yoga. The emphasis on practice experience and subtle yoga practice makes the learning process effortless and enjoyable.

The course has always included sessions on dealing with particular maternal adaptations to pregnancy which often cause difficulty, for example, pelvic girdle pain (PGP), pregnancy anaemia, high and low blood pressure, dizziness, heartburn, exhaustion, oedema, insomnia, haemorrhoids, lax ligaments, vulval varicosities and digestive disturbances. Strategies for dealing with these conditions include techniques for prevention, management, relief and on going self-care in one-to-one and group settings, as well as teaching a range of modifications for therapeutically appropriate yoga responses to these issues in general classes and in pregnancy yoga classes. Additionally, an entire afternoon is included on listening skills and basic ways to respond appropriately with yoga therapeutic techniques in relation to anxiety, grief, pregnancy loss, still birth and miscarriage.

In addition to specific skills for dealing with pregnancy related ailments, students also gain valuable transferable skills and experience in therapeutic and restorative yoga propping and yoga nidra, which is practised twice daily on this course.

Pregnancy Yoga as Yoga Therapy

This Pregnancy Yoga Teacher Training is entirely rooted in Yoga Therapy. It was originally developed by Uma as one of the modules of the old Yoga Biomedical Trust Yoga Therapy Diploma course and formed the basis of some of the trainings which she used to co-teach for Birthlight with Françoise Freedman. Much of the content grew out of Uma’s own research project (part of her special independent studies for the Yoga Therapy Diploma) into appropriately supportive and nurturing yoga for pregnancy, which she conducted during her own pregnancy with her eldest son. The course has been developed and expanded over the years to include the work Uma did when teaching yoga therapy classes for pregnant women at King’s College Hospital and St Thomas’s Hospital, which classes formed the basis of both her Teach Yourself Yoga for Pregnancy and Birth book (Hodder Education) and Mother’s Breath which is a set text on the course.

“In my experience of running this course for the past fifteen years, I observe that yoga teachers who take this course leave with a transformed understanding of the importance of yoga therapy skills in relation to pregnant women, which they then transfer out across all of their yoga teaching.” – Uma Dinsmore-Tuli

Related Video – Watch Uma talking about the Pregnancy Teacher Training

Cost and Booking

The cost for this training is €1160.00 EURO,
this includes all tuition and manual (€775 of the cost). It also includes all meals and accommodation in a shared tipi whilst you are there (€385 of the cost).

If you have a beloved partner who wants to join you in Portugal as a retreat option (not joining the training and attending the drop-in open sessions only, usually one-two a day), the cost for them would be €598.00 EURO

Bringing Children: You are welcome to bring your children to enjoy this beautiful setting in Portgual with you. Babies under one are invited free of charge. For children and babies aged between one and five, we ask for a €40 EURO contribution. For children aged 5 -14years we ask you to pay half the full accommodation and food costs (which would be €192.50). If we end up having lots of children with us, we may organise to have a child-minder, the costs of this can then be shared between the parents.

To book for this training please contact Sivani Mata on sivani@wombyoga.org