Pregnancy
Birth Preparation
The Gentle Birth Method offers a practical and effective week by week 360-degree mind-body programme that aims to support mothers to have an enjoyable pregnancy, a gentle birth and to recover quickly after birth. It also helps the baby feel safe within the womb.
The Gentle Birth Method is suitable for mothers who wish to have a home or hospital birth or who plan to have a C-section.
We invite you to take a leap of faith and embrace our programme that assist the amazing and subtle changes that are happening deep within your body and mind. We aim to give mothers the opportunity to express their natural physiological birthing reflex that is inherent in our genetic code and is more easily expressed when a mother is mentally conditioned and appropriately prepared physically to give birth.
The best way to get started is by booking a 90 minute consultation & treatment.
With Gowri: £300
With a Gentle Birth Method Practitioner: £150
When to start? Most GBM mothers start the programme between 16 to 20 weeks of pregnancy. However, mothers can enrol before 16 weeks to ease early pregnancy symptoms like nausea.
What are the core elements of the Gentle Birth Method?
FOR PHYSICAL PREPARATION:
Nutritional Guidelines, Herbs and Supplements
GBM Pregnancy Massage (Creative Healing). Also Pelvic Release with Bowen and Fascia Unwinding
Pregnancy Reflexology
Pregnancy Yoga with Micro-Movements for Pelvic Release. Alexander Technique Awareness. Weekly online class
Tummy wraps
Ayurveda:
Perineal & Vaginal Oiling and Self-Stretching
Rectal Oil Enema (Rectal Basti)
Warm Oil Back Packs
FOR MENTAL PREPARATION:
GBM Hypnobirth ‘The Gowri Way’ - Self-hypnosis and Visualisation 4 weekly online classes
Your practitioner will guide you through the programme. You will also receive the GBM Pregnancy Guidelines and summary chart and a couple of complementary GBM MP3s.
We recommend a minimum of nine treatments but find some of our mothers come every week as they enjoy and benefit from the treatments.
PHYSICAL AND MENTAL PREPARATION - FURTHER INFORMATION
Physical Preparation
Treatments
Each Gentle Birth Method treatment is designed with a distinct physiological purpose tailored to different stages of pregnancy. Your practitioner will concentrate on your digestive system at particular points in gestation while emphasizing muscle tone at others. These treatments are aimed at realigning joints and detoxifying muscles, allowing them to become soft and flexible in preparation for birth. Additionally, our therapies can help relieve common discomforts experienced during pregnancy, such as back pain, nausea, and fluid retention.
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Gentle Birth Method Pregnancy Massage with lymphatic drainage using Joseph B. Stephenson’s Creative Healing techniques. The treatment will commence with a lymphatic draining of the upper back and neck areas and then an abdominal toning and drainage and specific treatments on the pancreas that improves digestion and keeps your blood sugars balanced.
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Pregnancy Reflexology can benefit your whole body, help relieve pregnancy symptoms, reduce stress and induce calm, increase energy levels and cleanse the lymphatic system and the gut
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Bowen technique for pelvic release and fascia unwinding.
Ayurveda
Ayurveda is used in the Gentle Birth Method to support holistic well-being during pregnancy. Through personalised guidance on diet, herbal remedies, and lifestyle practices, Ayurveda helps balance the body and mind. It promotes relaxation, reduces stress, and enhances overall health, ensuring both mother and baby are nurtured and prepared for a positive birthing experience. Ayurvedic practices also encourage detoxification and support hormonal balance, helping to create a harmonious environment for pregnancy and birth.
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From 36 weeks, it is important to stretch and soften the lower vaginal tissues to prepare for the delivery of the baby's head. The use of Ayurvedic oil can aid in decongesting the cervix, facilitating easier dilation during the birthing process. Employing a self-stretching technique or utilizing an Epi-No vaginal balloon can be beneficial in this preparation phase.
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Beginning at 36 weeks, it alleviates edema in the rectal area, soothes the pelvic tissues, and enhances comfort during the second stage of labor.
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Warm oil back packs are designed to nourish and relax the lumbo-sacral muscles and joints, offering vital energy. They also help to sedate the pelvic and vaginal nerves, promoting comfort during the birthing process.
Tummy Wraps
The Gowri Wrap (Pre and Post Natal) - from 28 weeks
The Gowri Wrap offers vital support for your uterus while aiding your baby in attaining the optimal fetal position for a healthy pregnancy. This uniquely crafted wrap promotes enhanced comfort throughout your pregnancy journey and greatly contributes to postpartum recovery, making it an invaluable addition to your holistic prenatal and postnatal care regimen.
Pregnancy Yoga with Micro-Movements
Pregnancy Yoga with Micro-Movements for Pelvic Release: Alexander Technique Awareness
Experience a unique approach to pelvic muscle awareness through micro-movements combined with deep breathing techniques. These gentle movements are designed to release pelvic ligaments, facilitating optimal fetal positioning and aiding in the engagement of your baby’s head.
Details:
Location: Online Live Classes
Time: Wednesdays, 6 PM - 7:30 PM
Price: £15 per online class (Block booking discount available)
This session is also included in the 4-week GBM Hypnobirth ‘The Gowri Way’ course.
MENTAL PREPARATION
Mental preparation for a gentle birth requires the same commitment as physical preparation. Mothers often believe that labour is a painful experience and as such fear and anxiety get lodged in a mother’s mind, which causes her body to tense up, release adrenalin and have a difficult delivery. Our classes allow mothers to see that birth can be a gentle, relaxed, comfortable process, where labour is a dance between the mother and her baby, with the body instinctively knowing what to do. The Gentle Birth Method reconditions your mind so that you have confidence that your body can give birth easily and deepens the emotional bonding between mother, father and baby.
Gentle Birth Method Hypnobirth ‘The Gowri Way’ - 4-week live Zoom course
Gowri has devised this unique course for over 30 years and is proven to work. Mothers can attend by themselves or with their partners from 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Location: Online Zoom live classes
Time/Dates: Starts of the first Saturday of every month 10 am-11.30 am
Price: £350 for the 4-week course including weekly online yoga until birth.
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Deep muscle relaxation
Self-hypnosis techniques to help you manage the surges of birthing contractions.
Ways to take your mind away to your ‘Safe Place’
Visualisation of a normal pregnancy and birthing experience
Fear removal and installing confidence.
Birth rehearsals – so that when it comes to your actual birth your body and mind will believe that you have ‘done it all before beautifully’ and it is ‘routine’.
Partner’s massage, movements for birth (funny walks, micro yoga movements, Alexander Technique for Pregnancy), breathing techniques, pelvic preparation methods, nutritional advice, etc.
Complementary GBM MP3s to listen to daily at home
Weekly online pregnancy yoga until birth, which has 30 minutes of GBM Hypnobirth ‘The Gowri Way’ at the end of the yoga class.
