‘Birthing From Within’ Birth Preparation Classes with Edwina Cheng LLB ACA MRSS LCA
'Passionate about empowering women and their birth partners with the emotional, mental and physical tools to enable them to experience pregnancy, labour and the birth of their children as the unique, special journey that nature has gifted'.
Would you like to build trust in birth, your body, your baby, each other and in your capacity to work with whatever challenges your birth journey may present to you without fear, anxiety or self-judgement?
Would your birth partner find it helpful to discover practical ways to be a true support to you during labour?
Who are these classes for? These Childbirth Classes will be invaluable whether you are expecting your first child, or would like to enhance a subsequent birth experience. They are ideal for parents who want to gain practical knowledge as well as explore the emotional aspects of birth and parenting. They can be taken as an alternative to or complement NCT or NHS antenatal classes. You are welcome to start the classes as early or late as feels right for you. To enable you to integrate all that you will learn, it is recommended that you complete the classes or workshop by your 36th week, if possible.
What Classes or Workshops are offered?
The following classes /workshops can be taken as a group or privately.
• 'Birthing from Within' Taster Session
• 'Birthing from Within' Childbirth Preparation Course
• Pain Coping Practices Workshop
• Dealing with Fears Workshop
• Postnatal Preparation Workshop
For course information, dates and cost, please see www.birth-illuminessence.com
Group Antenatal Classes Classes and workshops are limited to a maximum of 5 couples to allow space for introspection and interesting dialogue. Each participants need is unique and will be respected. Classes are constantly evolving, as will you be during our time together. Core aspects will be covered but the needs, anxieties, hopes and feedback you bring will influence the focus and flavour of our time together.
Private Antenatal Classes These private sessions are specifically designed to meet your needs. If there are certain aspects that you would like to explore more deeply and others you are happy to have more of an overview or skip altogether this can be accommodated when we plan your bespoke Birth Preparation Sessions.
What are classes like? In addition to giving you practical information and pain coping practices, you will also participate in a series of guided multi-sensory, creative processes that will enable you to connect with your own inner resources and strength. This is ultimately what you will tap into and have at your disposal when you are in the middle of labour, as parents and in life!
Great importance is placed on facing and dealing with your fears (real or imagined) before they potentially rear up during labour. You will have space to explore your personal beliefs, anxieties and hopes about birth and parenthood. These will be different for everyone and so although there are certain core topics that will be covered, your personal concerns will flavour the focus of our sessions together.
You will discover ways to prepare and cope with the unexpected (our birth journeys can lead us to places we never imagined)
Multi-sensory, creative approaches may include visualisation, drawing, role play and story telling. These processes are an excellent tool for learning more about our self and enabling us to see things with a new perspective. They allow us to bypass our logical thinking and access our intuition and subconscious where we’ll often find our own answers to the questions that come up for us. Don’t worry – you don’t need to be good at art or acting to be able to participate fully. It’s not about the end product (you don’t need to share your art!) as much as the process (thoughts, emotions, revelations) that you went through whilst being in that creative space.
Is this a natural birth class? The focus of classes is not to achieve a specific birth outcome (natural or otherwise) but to prepare you to live and give ‘birth in awareness’ – to be able to sense moment by moment what is called for and simply doing the best you can.
Sessions are non-judgmental and you will be supported in whatever birth option feels right for you. However, classes offer a balanced perspective on how to work with a birth experience that may be different from your original vision
You will gain a deep understanding of the natural birth process and learn how to work with pain and the intensity of labour. Even if you are planning to take pain relief, at some stage of labour you may need to cope with the intensity of labour (possible delay in administering an epidural; labour may be too advanced to administer…) Therefore, it is always useful to have pain coping practices under your belt.
Epidurals are discussed from the framework of “wise and compassionate use,” and you will learn how to stay connected to your birth and baby should you need an epidural or give birth by caesarean.
Who am I? I am a 'Birthing From Within’ Childbirth Mentor and Life coach. I have trained with the internationally respected Obstetrician and author, Michel Odent and Pam England, midwife and author of ‘Birthing From Within’. I have been helping couples prepare for birth since 2002.
A registered Shiatu practitioner with the Shiastu Society (UK) I have practiced Shiatsu since 1996. I completed Level 1 – 3 of an extensive Diploma course in ‘Shiatsu for Maternity’ in 2002 having studied with Suzanne Yates of 'Well Mother' who pioneered the use of Shiatsu in pregnancy and Childbirth in Europe.
I have worked in a number of places offering Birth Preparation or Shiatsu, including The Active Birth Centre, The Immune Development Trust and Greenwich Natural Therapy Centre.
The home births of my two girls were amazing, positive experiences, which I feel was primarily due to the comprehensive birth preparation I did beforehand.
The sense of empowerment I felt during both my labours (even when I ended up having to go to hospital for a retained placenta!) overflowed through to my confidence as a mother. I often didn’t know whether I was doing things ‘right’ (is there a ‘right’?) but fell back on trusting my instincts just as I did during birth. The sense of achievement in birthing my children ‘my way’ has enhanced my sense of self and what I can achieve if my attitude, thoughts and emotions are aligned.
My hope for all birthing women is that they have the opportunity to experience this time as best they can; to feel empowered and in touch with their inner strength and intuition that naturally lies within each of us, whatever unfolds during their birth journey.
Contact For more information or bookings, please contact me directly on 07931 861 522 or edwina@thesunflowercentre.co.uk You are welcome to take a look at my website at http://birth-illuminessence.com
