The retreats will close with partner birth-preparation workshops that prepare the birthing couple to work together for the challenging miracle ahead, teaching targeted yoga, mindfulness, massage and relaxation techniques.

Retreats will also feature good food, outdoor actvities, local culture and pampering opportunities.

Why pregnancy yoga?

Yoga is an incredibly powerful tool to help a mother's body comfortably adjust to the accelerated changes experienced during pregnancy, as well as prepare for the physical challenges of the birthing process. Yoga's holistic approach, comprising physical exercises, breathing, meditation and relaxation practices leaves it uniquely placed to nourish both mother and baby's physical, mental and emotional wellbeing as they journey towards birthing and beyond. 

Breathwork in particular can powerfully centre a mother, and help her to connect to her birthing body, while yoga poses can provide a repetoire of positions for active birthing. By providing a number of gentle but targeted practices, yoga helps a mother to 'come into her body', 'to be lead by her heart' and 'follow her gut', thus opening her to a deep well of intuitive wisdom and mothering instincts that will empower her to actively choose her path through the transformation that is birth. 

Birth Partners

Up until relatively recently, fathers or birth partners, were actively discouraged from attending the birth of their child. Even today, they may frequently be invited to 'step outside for some air, or a cup of tea' in order to remove them from a situation where medical professionals are often anxious to take charge. The mother and her baby are about to meet one of the biggest challenges of ther lives however, so who better then her life partner and father of her child to advocate for them through these considerable challenges?
These retreats will include dedicated birth partner workshops to equip Dad with an essential suite of yoga skills to help Mum and Baby through this huge milestone in their family life.
See this nice AIMS article for more info for birth partners.

Why Adventure?

Adventure sports can be an amazing way to prepare for the challenge of being a calm and responsive birth partner. Psychologist Kelly McGonigle, writer of 'The Upside of Stress' says that through endurance activities "you are learning to see yourself as someone who can choose to engage in difficult things, get through them, and evolve in consequential ways..." This fosters "the natural human capacity to grow during times of stress.... The most toxic thing about stress is ... stress avoidance and the subsequent angst and rumination of always trying to avoid stress."

For many men the prospect of assisting at a birth is a scary one. The skillset required is a subtle but crucial one. In these retreats we will use both adventure and yoga to bring you strongly 'into the moment', where you can be your most responsive, tap into your inner resources, and steady yourself to be the rock of strength your partner and baby need in the upcoming birth experience. 

Read about Unique Ascent here. You won't believe your eyes. Iain is AMAZING.