I started teaching Pregnancy Yoga by mistake really. When I first opened the doors of my own yoga teaching business in 2006 it just so happened to be in one of those south-west suburbs of London where people go to raise families; leafy enough for family fun but still easily commutable to central London. I was oblivious to this at the time.
Over the course of my first twelve months in business my clients all seemed to be falling pregnant*. I was a fertility goddess. It was exciting to witness these miraculous changes in my students’ lives. And also, if I’m honest, it was kind of disruptive. You see there are so many postures and practices that need to be modified for pregnancy and sometimes I felt that I spent half my class running about giving alternatives to the expectant mums in the room. Nobody seemed to be getting my full attention. This wasn’t fair on the rest of the class and it certainly wasn’t fair on the expectant mums – especially those ones who hadn’t gone “public” with their pregnancies for whatever reason.
So I bit the bullet and did this Yoga for Pregnancy teacher training. It was expensive and I procrastinated for weeks trying to decide whether to spend the money or not but in the end I just did it. And it was awesome. It was the best £500+ I ever spent and it changed everything.
Within a month I started a new Saturday morning Pregnancy Yoga class. A month after that I was fully booked. A month after that I had a waiting list and then a second class. Everyone was pregnant and everyone wanted to do yoga. And I loved it. It didn’t take me very long to realise that I loved teaching these classes more than any others.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I love teaching any kind of yoga. Whoever you are, whatever you do I will teach you yoga and I will love it, even if you don’t! 
But this was something special.
You see readers, I’ve never been particularly secretive of the fact that I’m not very bendy. No really, I’m not. Some yoga teachers aren’t. And that’s OK. But there is an expectation sometimes that I “should” be able to get my leg behind my head and stand on my hands. And I can’t. With Pregnancy Yoga there is no expectation. There is an openness and and honesty in a room full of expectant mums that I’ve never come across anywhere else. As I said, I love it.
I haven’t taught Pregnancy Yoga for a year, not since I upped sticks and moved to Cambridge. Last night I opened new doors to a new term and a new wonderful group of expectant mums. I was nervous and excited in equal measures. And I loved it just as much as ever.
You may ask yourself why somebody who has made the decision not to have children has taken to this role as a Pregnancy Yoga teacher. I asked myself this question a lot as well. And I decided that it is my way of taking on the “mother” role in life. The feminine cycle of life is divided into three parts – maiden, mother and wise woman (I refuse to use the word “crone”, it’s horrible). To fulfil the “mother” aspect of our divine feminine doesn’t mean we have to have children of our own. For me it means having the opportunity to share this gift of yoga with a roomful of expectant mums, hopefully helping them with their pregnancies and giving them a safe place to let go of their fear and worry. To me that is enough, and I hope this is what I give.
* The female ones, obviously. I’d be a pretty awesome fertility goddess if the men were getting pregnant.
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I teach Pregnancy Yoga at St Andrew’s Hall, Cambridge, UK on Tuesday evenings. For more information go to http://exploringyoga.co.uk
