A question that I encountered whilst working on a yoga teacher training assessment:
"Is it reasonable for women who haven't been pregnant, through all trimesters and the process of labour and birth, to teach pregnancy yoga?"
Yes, anyone can teach it (even men!), but no I do not believe it is reasonable, as this does not take into account the perspective of a mother who is looking for a holistic approach to embodying pregnancy.
As a practitioner and a student, when I fell pregnant with my first child 13 years ago, it was difficult to find pregnancy yoga classes in Auckland. When I did and attended, certain aspects of the classes did not sit right or meet my personal needs. One of them was that the instructors I encountered were not mothers themselves, or have never experienced pregnancy/labour/birth. I found it challenging to communicate with them and to express how I felt, simply because the space that they had offered was not too different from other asana-based yoga classes (set themes/routines, not taking into account the incredible energy the unborn children were bringing into the space). For me, it was not easy to form a trusting relationship with an instructor who had never fully experienced the embodiment of being pregnant.
That was my first calling. I self-practiced daily, meditated, breathing slowly & deeply, cultivating power, strength, and calmness within. I LOVED being in my pregnant body, staying in stillness or moving subtly & dynamically in ways that felt amazing for my changing body. Even at those moments when I felt nauseous, dizzy, sick, tired, breathless or light-headed, my yoga practice allowed me to remain connected to my body and my baby. I found containment, fluidity, balance, spaciousness and stability by modifying yoga asana, staying in restorative shapes, deeply resting whenever needed, and backing-off from stretching my limbs to the max. I learned to LISTEN to my body, to hear what it was telling me, and to truly HONOR that.
This was what I wanted to offer, to all pregnant women. An opportunity to "just" be pregnant with the unique individual growing inside the body, at that particular moment/stage in their life. Letting go of the do-s and don't-s, should-s and shouldn't-s, must-s and mustn't-s. Simply being in my pregnant body, allowing my presence to fully reside in this beautiful vessel that was gifted from my mother and all the mothers that came before me. When I gave myself permission to fully be the mother, the creator who is manifesting life, there was no space for thoughts/fears/worries. My mind and body became fully open to anything that was to come, free from judgement, comparisons and expectations.
This beautiful baby that once floated in my body, giving & receiving so much love and support to and from me, sadly was unable to see the light of this world.
However, the sense of guilt/shame/regret did not dominate my emotions for long, partly because of the culture that I was brought up in, which values so much on being present and being in the moment, and mainly from my yoga practice. The baby has been and always will be the greatest motivator for me to pursue a career specializing in pre/postnatal yoga.
I had subsequently given birth to two incredibly gorgeous humans, and their labour/birth-stories could not be any more different & unique from one another, or any other birth-story in that matter. The practice of yoga has enabled me to stay calm and grounded, as well as elevated and open. I try to stay true to myself when sharing this practice with pre and postnatal mamas in their own unique journeys.