Active Birth Yoga
by Suzanne Swan
Active Birth Yoga is designed for pregnant women to learn the skills involved in giving birth to their baby naturally. In addition to exploring Active Birth Skills, you will practice yoga poses relevant to birthing, including standing, squatting, lunging, all-fours, and resting postures. Learn how to relax and breathe through labour and birth, utilise visualisation and vocalisation techniques to integrate labour sensations, and optimise your baby’s position to ease first and second-stage birthing positions.
Relaxation techniques & Affirmation creation
Breathing, visualisation, and vocalisation skills
Optimal baby positioning
Active Birth Positions for 1st and 2nd stage
“I found the breathing techniques to be an incredible help to me and numerous staff commended me on my breathing and asked where I had learnt this. I was able to achieve the birth I wanted thanks to your help, as well as encouragement from my mum, with no pain relief needed and the confidence to actively be involved in decisions around my son’s birth, ultimately achieving a natural birth seemingly against the odds.”
Women are most familiar with lying on their backs to give birth, regardless of their ethnic background, which highlights the need for women to learn about different positions during pregnancy and labour to broaden their options. The best place to explore various labour positions is in the Active Birth Yoga course, where you become comfortable with a range of movements and learn through practice rather than just reading books or looking at pictures. Changing positions can give you a sense of control by helping you focus and reducing the stress of feeling overwhelmed during labour.
While an active birth involves the freedom to move and use upright positions, it is more than just positioning. “An active birth is one in which the birthing mother is in charge of her choices and decisions, thus enabling her to enjoy a productive and mutually respectful partnership with her birth attendants.” (Janet Balaskas).
With this in mind, any birth, whether it is natural or assisted, may be regarded as an active birth.
How to prepare yourself for an Active Birth?
In every uninhibited labour, there is a marked restlessness: you may walk, stand, squat, kneel, lie down and move your body freely to find the most comfortable and appropriate position. It is the way a you behave when you are following your own instincts and the physiology of your body.
Preparation for an active birth involves:
developing comfort in upright positions;
practising deep relaxation skills for mind/body;
understanding the birth process & hormonal physiology;
preparation of the pelvic floor:
managing the fear/tension/pain syndrome; and
trusting in your innate ability to give birth.
How to prepare your birth partner/s for an Active Birth?
Your birth partner(s) is the guardian of the birth space, so teach them about the stages of labour and what to expect. Give them opportunities to learn how to use natural pain relief methods like breathing, massage, water, sound, and birthing positions. They are there to provide you with emotional and physical support during labour and assist you in making decisions when facing the unexpected.
How to Prepare Your Surroundings for an Active Birth?
choose a homely, private, warm, dimly lit environment that feels physically and emotionally safe for you.
If you are birthing in a hospital environment, take items from home to help create this environment for yourself.
support birth partners to protect and support you and your birth space, so you can labour comfortably and feel safe and supported without unwanted intrusions, distractions, or interruptions.
Activities to promote an Active Birth
Deep breathing
Conscious relaxation techniques
Massages
Acupressure
Warm water immersion, showering or hot compresses
Provision of sweetened foods or fluids
Stimulating the Oxytocin* hormone through skin-to-skin, hugging and kissing (in privacy)
Keeping distractions and side conversations to a minimum
Having a constant supportive presence in the birth space
Masking external noises with music or the shower to decrease disturbance
*Oxytocin creates efficient, strong contractions and is a calming and connection hormone. High endorphins help you become less responsive over time to the physical stress of labour. Both these hormones have an analgesic effect in your brain that helps you manage the increasingly arousing effects of adrenaline, the body’s natural way of priming the baby for adapting to life outside the womb.
“An active birth is a way a woman behaves when she is following her instincts and the physiological logic of her body."
- Active Birth Manifesto by Janet Balaskas -
Written by Suzanne Swan, founder of yogababy, Senior Yoga teacher and Childbirth Educator. www.yogababy.com.au. Suzanne can be contacted at info@yogababy.com.au