Pregnancy Yoga
Pregnancy Yoga all year round
Pregnancy Yoga has grown from decades of experience in supporting women through this tender time. It is a lovely affirmation of this work that midwife Hildur Ármannsdóttir gave Auður's courses special attention in her final thesis at the University of Iceland, where she explored how valuable this preparation is for birth.
Timetable
Teachers
Auður Bjarnadóttir, Arna Rín Ólafsdóttir, Ástrós Erla Benediktsdóttir, Brynja Gunnarsdóttir, Elva Rut midwife and yoga teacher, Guðrún Theódóra Hrafnsdóttir, Guðrún Ósk Maríasdóttir, Vera Snædal midwife and yoga teacher, Sunna María Schram midwife and yoga teacher.
Good to know
- Includes 3 Pregnancy Yoga classes a week, plus access to drop-in classes on the timetable. Please remember to book your place in advance, bookings open two days ahead.
- Please cancel in good time if you can't come, so another woman can take your place.
- Bring a yoga mat or towel, cozy blankets and cushions are here for you.
- Remember your water bottle
Pregnancy Yoga is a wonderful preparation for birth.
To inspire you, we have gathered a beautiful collection of birth stories from women who have prepared with us.
In class we focus on breath, stretching, strengthening exercises, meditation and relaxation, as deep breathing is one of the most important preparations for a good birth. Yoga helps you connect more deeply with your body, so intuition, safety and confidence grow, and each woman is encouraged to be active and creative in her own birth.
In the more than 25 years Jógasetrið has been open, thousands of women have found that yoga is one of the best preparations there is, and most midwives encourage it. In yoga a woman gives her pregnancy, herself and her baby her full and undivided attention.
Around week 14–16 is a lovely time to begin, but you are warmly welcome to start later. Most women come right up until birth, so it is never too late to begin while we have space.
Near the end of pregnancy it's easy to add single weeks. If you have practiced with us for 3 months or longer, you are our guest of honor from week 40 until birth, with our compliments.
We welcome you with open hearts and look forward to caring for you and your baby!
Prices
Sigrún H
There's no question that yoga is the best preparation you could imagine for birth, I used the breathing so much, and not least the mindset. I wasn't afraid for a single second and trusted my body 100% with this task. I look back on the birth with joy and warmth, it was a wonderful experience, and there's no better reward than the little mouse snoring beside me now in the bed she was born in. Thank you Auður for your lovely guidance during my pregnancy, I will share the secret behind a good birth and keep sending pregnant women to yoga with you.
Halla
I can hardly describe how good a preparation yoga turned out to be for my birth. The birth was tough and really demanding, but when I was close to giving up, all sorts of mantras "popped up" in my mind, kept me going and helped me see it through.
Eyrún
Yoga with Auður twice a week was a precious part of my life. More often than not I shed a tear during the mantras, almost always fell asleep in the relaxation, and sometimes woke up just as the Kundalini class was starting. I fell in love with everything to do with spiritual preparation.
Alda K.
What Auður and the yoga helped me with for the birth was that I felt so incredibly safe when it all began. I wasn't afraid of the contractions even though they were almost unbearable, I managed to breathe between them even when the pauses were short, and I knew the whole time that it would come to an end. I carried so much more confidence with me than the two times before. It is probably still the greatest challenge and effort a woman can go through. But bringing one little miracle into the world without any pain relief makes every woman incredibly proud, and having done it twice, I am sure that we women carry some amazing strength within us.
Alda Á.
My partner was with me through it all, just like last time. The difference is that then he was present, but this time he was a part of the birth. In some strange way it was simply an incredibly romantic, intimate and magical moment that was 100% ours together. Truly indescribably precious, and I sincerely hope you all get to experience a birth like the one I was so lucky to have.
Guðrún Jó
The moment I walked in, I felt a wonderful spirit with you and sensed lots of beautiful angels floating around. My body and my little baby told me it would do me good to give myself this time twice a week. You spoke about listening to the body, and my hips called out that this was the right thing, as they are so stiff.
Aldís
Dear Auður. I feel I have so much to thank you for, because my birth went so well thanks to "breathing my way through it", and the midwives were lost for words. Of course I told them you had taught us girls how to handle it, and that every pregnant woman should be encouraged to come to yoga with you.
Ingibjörg
After the birth I feel a bit like anything is possible, as if I've conquered the world, as if my confidence has jumped up a few levels! I wish everyone could feel this way after their birth, and without a doubt I owe it all to the classes with Auður, AND ESPECIALLY THE COUPLES EVENING. Good luck to you all!
Guðrún D.
Coming to yoga saved my pregnancy, and I was amazed at how incredibly much it helped me in the birth. I turned to so many of the exercises we did, and to the encouraging words about "owning" your birth. My experience of the birth (which really wasn't especially easy) was AMAZING, I felt in charge of everything and it felt like no big deal. THANK YOU!
Aldís
I'm now in the final stretch of my second pregnancy. I discovered pregnancy yoga with Auður during my first pregnancy, and the classes help me enormously, both in creating space for myself and in easing my anxiety about the birth. The movement keeps us supple and teaches us to relax, breathe and trust. Mantras and breathing prepare mind and body for the journey that pregnancy and birth are. The teachers are all different, and I experience that in a positive way, it's lovely to get different things out of the classes. Sometimes there's more focus on the yoga postures and sometimes on conversation or the spiritual side.
Many thanks!
Inga Steinunn
The midwife also asked me whether I had been doing yoga, saying she sees a big difference in how well yoga women manage to relax compared to others. At one point my husband popped out to the coffee room, where two midwives were apparently marvelling at how beautifully the girl in room 10 was relaxing between contractions! That was me.
