Learn to Teach Prenatal Yoga: Including Pregnant Bodies
Including Pregnant Bodies is a weekend intensive led by this post’s author, Dannielle Green.
Most 200-hour yoga teacher trainings set up a bare bones foundation of what to avoid when a pregnant person attends your group class.
As a fledgling teacher there is a lot to cover in your first training, and even after months or years of teaching you may find yourself thinking, “I know the don’ts… but what do I DO?”
This course is an opportunity to explore the physical, mental, and even social changes experienced during pregnancy and the ways you might adapt your own sequences to make your group classes more accessible and inclusive.
A lack of information and lack of practice opportunities can lead to uncertainty and even fear, not only in teachers but also pregnant students learning to adapt and practice in their changing bodies.
This course is designed to provide greater clarity and confidence in your knowledge, your skill in adapting in the moment, and your ability to include pregnant students more fully.
To contextualize a yoga practice in a pregnant body and practice critical thinking and improvisational teaching, each participant is asked to bring in a piece of their own sequencing to work through and adjust during this course.
We will incorporate the use of props including blocks, bolsters, and blanket/backpack “babies,” not only to grow your skills in offering an accessible practice but to have a better embodied understanding of what your pregnant students might experience.
After this weekend, you may find that you not only have to tools to create a more inclusive class for pregnant bodies, but also bigger bodies, bodies with limited mobility, and more!