Pregnancy Yoga Teacher Training

The duration and depth of YogaBirth training prepares teachers to respond to the individual needs of every mother.

Why train with YogaBirth?

YogaBirth has over 20 years of experience teaching yoga to pregnant women and accompanying and supporting women on their personal journey through pregnancy, birth and into motherhood. Our training course provides an opportunity to study with highly specialised yoga teachers and childbirth educators and to learn to teach a unique form of perinatal yoga, rooted in the body’s own intelligence and intuition.

The YogaBirth 300-hour pregnancy yoga teacher training runs over 12 months and is the most comprehensive training of its kind. It is designed for those passionate about this work: who are seeking an extensive, informed and in-depth learning journey, who want to grow and absorb knowledge and skill. 

Who can apply?

YogaBirth welcomes anyone who has a deep commitment to working with pregnant women and who can demonstrate a regular yoga practice of at least 12 months. Participants often include yoga teachers, midwives, doulas, childbirth educators, physiotherapists, hypnotherapists, Hypnobirthing practitioners and complementary therapists.

Teacher Training

What will the training cover?

The Yogabirth Teacher Training provides high-quality training to enable students to become competent pregnancy yoga teachers with specialist childbirth education.

The YogaBirth approach to yoga is inspired by the work of Vanda Scaravelli. This is the ideal yoga for pregnant women: gentle yet powerful, working with the breath and with gravity, and with attention to natural movement that supports the dynamic structure and state of the body.

The course focuses on how yoga and childbirth education can be integrated for health and well-being, through the different stages of pregnancy. We teach how to teach safe and appropriate yoga for all stages of pregnancy and as preparation for labour and birth.

Through the processes of discussion, experiential work, assignments and yoga practice, students will learn to support and empower pregnant women on their path to motherhood.

Teacher Training

 Our Teacher Training also incorporates:

  • Comprehensive study of the physiology of pregnancy, labour and birth, breastfeeding and the immediate postpartum period
  • Exploration of the social, spiritual and emotional experience at this stage of a woman’s life cycle
  • Physical and emotional preparation for childbirth
  • Unique teaching skills that embody our person-centred, inclusive approach
  • Focus on facilitating, holding and leading groups
  • Awareness and safety issues in yoga
  • Individual mentoring for each student throughout the training from an experienced YogaBirth tutor
  • Continued mentor support whilst setting up classes
Teacher Training

What is the course qualification?

Upon successful completion of the course, the YogaBirth Teacher’s Certificate will be awarded with the entitlement to become a full member of YogaBirth. Membership gives access to the YogaBirth community of teachers, its special insurance, inspirational and high quality professional CPD events, listing on the YogaBirth website and benefit from YogaBirth marketing.

How is the course run and where does it take place?

The course is comprised of:

  • 8 weekends (All day Saturday and Sunday)
  • 8 weekday evening sessions (delivered virtually – one between each course weekend)
  • the annual YogaBirth CPD weekend* for the full organisation.

Attendance at all course sessions is mandatory, other than in truly exceptional circumstances. The course may be held completely online or may combine a combination of online and in-person meetings at a physical venue in North London.

All course weekends will include training to teach yoga for pregnancy and also education in physiological, medical and emotional aspects of pregnancy, labour/ birth and the early postnatal period. Every weekend will contain teaching practice and the exploration and discussion of pre-recorded online talks, lectures and yoga content, which students will have watched in preparation.

During the training students will have access to:

  • online learning material and resources
  • individual mentoring sessions
  • 3 months continued mentoring after the end of the course as participants establish themselves and start their YogaBirth teaching business.
  • Student membership to YogaBirth during the year of the training course (which includes access to all YogaBirth’s exceptional C.P.D. events).
  • Attendance of the YogaBirth annual CPD weekend that falls within the course.
  • Students will be expected to prepare assignments in advance of each weekend.
  • Observation and teaching experience are gained by sitting in on a minimum of 16 YogaBirth classes
  • Students must attend a regular weekly yoga class with a Scaravelli-inspired teacher (or equivalent in workshop time) and establish a consistent practice.

 *Course participants are required to attend the annual YogaBirth study weekend. This is a meeting of the entire YogaBirth membership, with a full weekend of yoga and lectures for our continuing personal and professional development. These CPD events are essential to us as YogaBirth teachers and members. They are informative, inspiring and of the highest quality. They are sometimes virtual and can also be residential and may be anywhere in the UK. They are announced in good time for people to organise their personal plans. Students find attending this event fires them up and excites them even more about doing this work.

When is the next training?

The next training will start on the 7th of September 2022 and will complete on the 10th of September 2023.

How do I apply to train as a YogaBirth Teacher?

To apply to train as a YogaBirth teacher, to receive our training prospectus or for more information:

Please contact Julie Krausz by clicking the button below. 

YogaBirth Teacher Training

Both students and tutors were all fantastic and there was a real sense of community, of wanting to support one another, appreciation of our different approaches etc. The tutors where phenomenally inspiring, thoughtful and sensitive to our needs. It really is a very special, magical course and I would highly recommend it to anyone considering learning to teach pregnancy yoga.

The Yoga Birth training is…

The most thorough out there. With emphasis on both the scientific and the humanistic aspects of pregnancy and birth, it is a holistic course. I love the non prescriptive and deeply personal approach.

Each pregnant woman will be experiencing their pregnancy differently and is encouraged to listen to their own body. Active listening in Yoga birth teachers is strongly encouraged in order to find out personal needs and support each woman without judgment, rather than give generalised advice. It was something I hadn’t found in my previous courses.

Another fantastic thing about the training is the range of highly experienced and diverse tutors…each bringing their own unique expertise and outlook, which was invaluable. Discussions were very rounded and balanced as a result. I found it to be a precious circle of supportive women.

-Etta

YogaBirth Teaching Faculty


Jill Benjoya Miller
Co-Director and Lead Tutor

Jill is an Active Birth and YogaBirth teacher, birth doula and mother of three. For nearly twenty-five years she has taught YogaBirth, postnatal yoga, Active Birth preparation, as well as professional training courses for midwives, doulas and childbirth educators. Jill has worked closely with the Active Birth Centre and the pioneering Birth Unit of the Hospital of Saint John and Saint Elizabeth. She has presented workshops to midwives throughout the UK and contributed to books and written articles for the midwifery press. Jill’s doula work grew organically over the years as she accompanied women from her classes and wider local community. With Birth Companions charity, she supports vulnerable mothers in the community and in prison. As co-founder and perinatal lead for the Happy Baby Community, she supports refugee mothers with young children in London. She is deeply committed to nurturing women and advocating for their rights through pregnancy, birth and the transition to parenthood, and to working with midwives.


Ruth Polden
Co-Director and Lead Tutor

Ruth has been following her passion supporting and empowering women on their motherhood journey for over 30 years. She is a Feldenkrais practitioner, yoga teacher, YogaBirth teacher and Playing Big facilitator. Ruth trained with Janet Balaskas, Lolly Stirk and Yvonne Moore in 1991. She founded Motherwise The Israel Natural Childbirth Centre in Tel Aviv, Israel (where she lived for 20 years). As a catalyst for change and choice for women in Israel. She co-created The Bliss Space, an online community supporting mothers to celebrate their motherhood experience. Ruth teaches on the London Yoga Teachers Training course, training and mentoring yoga teachers of the future and The South East Alexander School for Alexander Technique practitioners.


Lola Alcaraz-Perez
Co-Director and Lead Tutor

Lola is a Childbirth Educator, Active Birth and YogaBirth teacher, Doula and Baby Massage teacher. Lola has been around birthing women for nearly 30 years and knows that preparation for labour with yoga during pregnancy helps women birth their babies in a more peaceful and more instinctual way. Lola believes that every woman has the potential to birth her baby with her own natural hormones. She has attended many home births and birthed her 5 children at home. Lola has supported women in hospital birth Centre’s and labour wards, with mothers having water births, VBAC, breech birth. Lola teaches Pregnancy Yoga in Enfield, where she lives, and has worked along the years with pregnant mothers in Children’s Centre’s, prisons, private hospitals and the general community.


Julie Krausz
Co-Director and Lead Tutor

Julie’s passionate interest in birth began in 1982. In 1988 she trained with Janet, Yvonne and Lolly to teach Active Birth and then completed a 2 year yoga training with John Stirk, Mary Stewart and Sophy Hoare. In 2011 Julie gained a British Wheel of Yoga Diploma via an Integration course. Julie is a KG Hypnobirthing teacher. She holds Diploma’s in Remedial Massage, Source Breathwork and the Unicef Breastfeeding certificate. Julie teaches Prenatal and Postnatal yoga, Birth Preparation, Massage for Pregnancy & Labour, Baby massage and Scaravelli style yoga. Julie’s two sons were both born at home. Julie has a keen interest in complementary medicine, particularly where it is relevant to pregnancy and labour. She lives in NW London.


Lolly Stirk YogaBirth Special Tutor EmeritaLolly Stirk
YogaBirth Special Tutor Emerita

Lolly Stirk is a pioneer of pregnancy and postnatal yoga. Her career which has spanned more than four decades is dedicated to creating and developing the ideal yoga practice for pregnancy, labour, birth and beyond.

As a founding member of the Active Birth Movement she campaigned for the rights of women to move freely during the births of their babies, contributing to a global movement towards natural births which resulted in many changes in policy, establishing birth centres in many major hospitals.

The passion for her work led her to train many teachers in the UK and abroad. She was Yoga Director of the Active Birth Teachers Training Course during the 1980s and 90s joining forces with Janet Balaskas to train scores of Active Birth teachers. Some of these teachers are now the tutors on the YogaBirth Teacher Training Course. Lolly joins them as Special YogaBirth Teacher – Emerita.

She has attended hundreds of births as a doula, trained and qualified as a Hypnobirther with Kathryn Graves, trained as an NCT Teacher, and is responsible for coining the word ‘Hypnobreathing’ an essential practise which she passes on in her classes and in training.


Judy Cameron YogaBirth Special TutorJudy Cameron
YogaBirth Special Tutor

As a mother, retired midwife, and yoga teacher since 1995, Judy has maintained a deep interest in birth and motherhood. Her practice is with her always – through movement and breath, contemplation and presence.

Judy heads the Edinburgh Yoga Scotland Teacher Diploma, BWY Pregnancy, and Postnatal Modules. In 2005 she established the YogaBirth Teacher Training course which she co-directed until 2020. Having lived in Bhutan for 6 years, she now lives with her husband in the Scottish Highlands – at the foot of a mountain overlooking a loch.


Arlene Dunkley-Wood YogaBirth Special TutorArlene Dunkley-Wood
YogaBirth Special Tutor

Arlene became passionate about birth in 1989 after the birth of her daughter. She has been in the birth world for 32 years. She trained in 1990 as an Active Birth Teacher, with Janet, Lolly and Yvonne. She trained in 2000 with John Stirk, Peter Blackbey and Sophie Hoare as an Independent Yoga Practitioner and in 2015 Arlene gained the British Wheel of Yoga Diploma via their Integration Course. Arlene also holds diplomas as a BACP Counsellor/Psychotherapist, Craniosacral Therapy, Massage Practitioner, Mizan Therapist and Pilates Teacher (mat & reformer).

Arlene teaches Scaravelli Inspired Yoga, Prenatal Yoga, Birth Preparation Courses and is a Birth Doula. She runs a thriving Massage for all, Mizan and Craniosacral practice from her home clinic in Walthamstow. She is also a keen beekeeper. Arlene gave birth to her three children at home. She now lives in NE London.


Lauren Irving YogaBirth Special TutorLauren Irving
YogaBirth Special Tutor

Lauren lives in Chester with her partner and two young boys. She has been a Yogabirth pregnancy yoga teacher for 6 years. Lauren is a practising Midwife and Midwifery Lecturer at Bangor University.

She is passionate about optimising the childbirth experience and enabling women to harness their inner strength and intuition during pregnancy and labour. She believes pregnancy yoga allows women to create a beautiful fusion between knowledge of their physical strength and psychological power. Lauren feels “… honoured to be teaching on the YogaBirth teacher training course as Yogabirth is a highly accredited and inspirational organisation”.


In addition guest speakers on racial and ethnic diversity and social justice, LGBTQ inclusion.