Pregnancy Yoga: A Pathway to an Empowered Birth
- Morgane Besins
- Jul 7
- 3 min read
As a woman who has experienced two healthy pregnancies and deeply empowering home births — and as a yoga teacher and trained doula — I’ve seen first-hand just how transformational pregnancy yoga can be.
It’s one of the most powerful tools I’ve witnessed for preparing the body, mind, and heart for birth. Not just in theory, but in real, lived experience.
Why Pregnancy Yoga Is Different
In our modern world, it’s easy to become disconnected from the body. We spend so much time in our heads, sitting in chairs, moving fast, and often exercising in ways that are linear and high-intensity — workouts that emphasise pushing rather than softening.
Pregnancy asks something entirely different of us. It’s an invitation to slow down, tune in, and move with awareness. Yes, we still need to build strength — perhaps more than ever — but in a softer, more integrated way.
Pregnancy yoga offers that. It helps build strength without strain, while also nurturing flexibility, breath, and presence — key foundations for labour and birth.
How It Prepares You for Labour
Through gentle, flowing movements, pregnancy yoga invites us to reconnect with our natural, feminine rhythms. These intuitive, circular motions aren’t just relaxing — they directly support the process of labour.
They help:
Create space in the pelvis
Soften surrounding tissues
Support strength without tension
Direct energy toward the womb space — the centre of creation
These are the same movements many women instinctively return to during labour. They offer relief, grounding, and release — between contractions, and sometimes even during them.
Reconnecting to Your Inner Wisdom
Pregnancy yoga also offers something we rarely get in today’s fast-paced world: the chance to truly listen to our bodies.
Each class is an invitation to:
Follow your own cues
Move intuitively
Rest when needed
Cultivate deep body awareness
This is the kind of wisdom that becomes invaluable during birth. Too often, women are told what’s happening to them in labour — rather than being trusted to feel it for themselves. Pregnancy yoga helps shift that dynamic. It builds confidence, connection, and trust in your body’s natural intelligence.
More Than Movement: Breath, Mindset & Trust
What I love most about teaching pregnancy yoga is that it goes far beyond movement. In my classes, I weave in:
Birth education and physiology
Mindset tools to manage fear
Visualisations to reduce anxiety
Breathing techniques for each stage of labour
The breath becomes a powerful anchor. A tool for staying present and grounded through both the intensity and beauty of birth.
A Personal Reflection from My Birth Journey
Pregnancy yoga was a cornerstone of both my births. It helped me feel grounded, supported, and deeply connected — not just to my body, but to the process of birth itself.
The approach I now teach blends everything I’ve learned from yoga, birth work, and motherhood into one empowering practice. Many women have told me it has completely changed how they feel about birth — and I
believe that’s one of the greatest gifts we can offer.
Want to Go Further?
If you're curious to explore this journey more deeply, we'd love to support you:
🌿 Visit Eleni's website: www.pathtomotherhood.com
🌿 Follow her along on Instagram: @eleni.pathtomotherhood
🌿 Enrol in her online course: Empowered Pregnancy — a self-paced journey to help you prepare for birth with knowledge, confidence, and calm.
✨ And if you’re not quite ready for a course, Eleni also offers a free 30-minute pregnancy yoga video on YouTube, designed to help you connect with your breath and body wherever you are: Watch it here
At FOUR MAMAS, we honour the journey from fertility to postpartum as a sacred, supported path — and pregnancy yoga is one of the many expert tools that can guide you through it with strength, softness, and trust.
✨ Wherever you are in your pregnancy, know this: your body was made for this.
Ready to explore pregnancy yoga? Book a 1:1 session or join one of our expert-led retreats to prepare your body and mind for a calmer, more confident birth.
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