I first came to Yoga in my late teens, more than twenty five years ago now! My work with parents with their babies began when I was introduced to childbirth educator Nadine Edwards in 1995. I was already teaching Alexander Technique and had just started my training as a Yoga teacher (with the Scottish Yoga Teachers Association). We started working together and sharing ideas which opened up for me the whole world of pregnancy, birth and parenting from Nadine’s positive, respecting, and nurturing perspective. Our work together developed into what is now the Birth Resource Centre.
One of the areas Nadine and I worked on was running postnatal Yoga classes. We came up with a range of Yoga practices which could be adapted for use in a mother’s daily life with her baby. The idea was to help mothers to look after themselves and have fun with their babies at the same time. Later on, after the birth of my son, I took the Birthlight Diploma in Baby Yoga and Massage. Although this was also very much about the parent and baby together, the focus was more on the baby which complemented what I had been doing before. I felt this made my classes more varied and also more balanced in being equally for parents and babies. I now call my classes Parent and Baby Yoga as although it is almost always mothers who come with their babies, I feel it is important that fathers feel welcome and included, especially if they are the main carer for some of the time. And several fathers have come to the class, if only on an occasional basis so far, and seem to have enjoyed it!
I have always been comfortable around babies: I was fortunate to grow up with a baby always around, being older than my four siblings and all my cousins. I love seeing the babies and parents having such fun in the classes. I feel that our culture as a whole does not provide an adequate support structure for many families and I enjoy contributing in the way I can to help parents to help themselves through Yoga and/or Alexander Technique and through the Birth Resource Centre as a whole.
As well as my Parent & Baby Yoga classes, I also teach Yoga generally to anyone who's interested, usually one to one or in small groups of three. I taught Yoga on the last Scottish Birth Teachers Association course and I continue to be a part of the SBTA. Over the years I have developed my own style of Hatha Yoga based on my experience with the Alexander Technique, a style which continues to evolve in a way I find fascinating and refreshing. I continue to teach Alexander Technique and with this too I have a particular interest in working with women during pregnancy, in preparation for birth and in the postnatal period.
I live in Edinburgh with my husband Rob, who is also an Alexander Technique teacher, and our son Julien, now 5 years old.
Andrea is starting to a new yoga class for parents and children over 5 years old in April 2006. Younger siblings are welcome to come along too. Click here for more details.