As a general guideline, modify yoga poses to accommodate the growing belly and choose variations that are gentler on the pregnant body. If you're unsure, focus on connecting with your baby by practising slow breathing rhythms and restorative poses during your class. Recommended poses include Child's Pose, Cat Pose, and Butterfly Pose.

Learn a simple, pregnancy-safe setup for Low Lunge (Anjaneyasana) to open the hips and lengthen the psoas. This small alignment shift creates more space for baby and supports a more comfortable, well-aligned body for birth.

Knowing that you are going to have a baby is a great joy. However, this joy is often accompanied by the discomforts of morning sickness, emotional ups and downs, and apprehension about the impending labour. Obstetricians and midwives recommend yoga to pregnant women to help promote a healthier, happier pregnancy. They notice that those women who have practised prenatal yoga throughout their pregnancy cope better with the challenges of labour.

Movies often focus on one dramatic moment in labour — the announcement that someone is “10 centimetres dilated!” But in reality, there’s another equally important part of the story: the baby’s station. In the Couples Active Birth Workshop with Suzanne Swan, you’ll learn how to use knowledge like this to make informed, confident decisions during labour. Together, you’ll explore how to ask the right questions in the birthing space

Research consistently shows that when someone feels involved in their birth decisions, they’re more likely to view their experience positively — regardless of how it unfolds. It’s not about achieving a “perfect” birth; it’s about feeling supported, respected, and part of the process.

Feeling confident and calm during birth starts with understanding your options and knowing how to support your body and mind through the process.

The last thing you want to do while you’re pushing your baby out is create extra tension in your pelvic floor.

One of the simplest yet most effective strategies for birth is learning to intentionally relax during the pauses between contractions. These brief rests are the body’s natural way of helping a birthing person reset and conserve energy.

Your birth is one special day — but your postpartum lasts for months and beyond.
Join a Yogababy Pregnancy Yoga course to prepare for both — your birth and the beautiful community that can carry you through the weeks after.

When labour intensifies, many women instinctively hold their breath or tense up. But sound can be a powerful tool.

Whether you birth vaginally, by cesarean, naturally, or with interventions, the practices of yoga are always there to support you. Prenatal yoga isn’t about how you give birth—it’s about how you feel as you move through it.

That’s the gift of prenatal yoga—it isn’t only about physical postures. It’s about preparing your mind, nervous system, and spirit for birth, however it unfolds.

When we think about preparing for birth, it’s easy to picture movements, stretches, and postures. But one of the most powerful tools we have isn’t physical at all—it’s our breath.

"Attending pregnancy yoga classes helps women come together to explore and celebrate the joys and challenges of this precious time in their lives, in a safe and comfortable environment," says yogababy teacher, Suzanne Swan. "Women find a lot of comfort in each other’s encouragement and many friendships are formed at class".

Watch a 40 min pregnancy yoga video with Suzanne Swan

Read Sarah Wickham’s overview of Rong et al (2020) research. The authors concluded that, "Prenatal yoga is an effective complementary medicine to improve delivery outcomes and not to increase the risk of fetus, which is worth recommending to pregnant women."

We all have the capacity to visualise. Did you know that conjuring up an image of your baby during labour can help you remember what the powerful sensations your experiencing are all about. Try this visualisation practice during your pregnancy to help create a deeper bond with your baby.

I would like to thank you for running the yogababy classes and for keeping on doing so during these strange times of self-isolation. It was very important for me to still be able to do it from home. I am sure the only reason why my pregnancy was so easy and delivery was fast (according to the midwife, my impression: it was way too long:) is due to yoga classes. I tried my best to use some of the yoga practices during labour and it helped to progress it. Our baby girl Emily arrived on term without any artificial stimulants.

The Calm Birth course my partner Brandon and I did in August with Suzanne Swan was such an amazing course, it gave us all the tools we needed and was quite honestly the best thing we did to prepare for the birth of our little boy! As luck would have it, on the day my midwife couldn't make it so we were able to use the birth plan we'd written up for our stand-in midwife. I ended up having a beautiful, empowering waterbirth