https://www.pinkirisyoga.com/, https://www.pinkirisyoga.com/blissfulbirth

Pink Iris Yoga, Bangor (2025)

06/12/2025

Pregnancy and the early months after birth are meant to be transformative, but they can also feel isolating.

Many women step into this season without the support they need. A partner may be busy, family far away, friends caught up in their own lives.

Society tells new mums and mums-to-be to ‘bounce back,’ expecting women to ‘do it all,’ or ‘stay strong,’ while offering little real support, leaving many of us isolated, exhausted, and unsure if we’re doing it right.

This lack of support isn’t just emotionally tough it affects our bodies, our nervous systems, and even birth and postpartum outcomes.

Research shows that women with strong social support during pregnancy:

Are more likely to experience shorter labours

Have lower rates of postpartum depression

Report higher confidence in feeding and caring for their baby

Community helps regulate our nervous system, reduces stress hormones, and gives space to share the raw, vulnerable realities of motherhood. It can be:

Prenatal yoga or birth prep groups

Postnatal mother-and-baby classes

Local or online support circles

A trusted friend, doula, or mentor

Being held in community doesn’t just make the journey easier it literally supports healing, recovery, and adaptation.

It’s medicine because it:
✨ Eases stress and anxiety
✨ Builds confidence in your body and your baby care skills
✨ Creates belonging and reduces loneliness
✨ Provides practical guidance and emotional containment

We are not meant to do pregnancy or postpartum alone. You don’t have to figure it out in isolation. Finding, creating, or leaning into community is as essential as nutrition, sleep, and exercise.

💬 I’d love to hear from you: How has community helped you in pregnancy or postpartum? Or what kind of support do you wish you had? Share below, your experience might be the encouragement another mother needs today

04/12/2025

We prepare the nursery more than we prepare the mother for birth and postpartum and something needs to change.

Energy is poured into paint colours, tiny clothes, hospital bags, gadgets, monitor systems.

But so little time spent preparing you, your body, your nervous system, your mindset, your support.

And it isn’t your fault.

Our culture teaches women to get everything ready except the one thing that matters most: the mother herself.

Here’s what I want you to know:

1️⃣ Our culture gives almost no real support.
We’re conditioned to be independent and “keep going”, even late in pregnancy, while other cultures prioritise rest, slowness, and community.

2️⃣ Information overload ≠ preparation.
Most women are drowning in tips, podcasts, hospital lists, and Instagram posts…
But very few get embodied preparation: breathwork, movement, nervous-system tools, biomechanics, and emotional support.

3️⃣ Birth has become medicalised.
Not because women are “failing”…
But because the system is overstretched and risk-focused.
This leaves many women feeling unheard, or rushed.

4️⃣ When the mother is prepared, everything changes, including outcomes.

Research shows:
• Continuous support reduces caesareans by 25%
• Embodied tools like breath + prenatal yoga based movement shorten labour by 1–2 hours
• Prepared, supported mothers are 50% less likely to report traumatic birth symptoms

Preparation isn’t a luxury.
It’s foundational.

5️⃣ Preparing YOU is preparing your baby.
Your regulation, confidence, and connection create the safest birthing environment possible.

If this resonated, send me a 💛 I love hearing from you!

PS: If you want to learn how to prepare your body + nervous system practically (the way I wish I had), my 2 hour self-paced Blissful Birth Method course is £27 this month only (check out my bio)

02/12/2025

🔊 Audio on

Anxious days in pregnancy are more common than women often admit.

Your mind can spiral, your body can tighten, and sometimes you just don’t feel safe in the spaces you have to be in.

This simple practice, the Protective Egg, is something I teach in my Prenatal Yoga & Birth Prep sessions, and it’s one that women return to again and again.

Listen to this short audio and enjoy a quiet moment to connect with your baby and yourself.

It blends Ujjayi breathing with a visualisation that creates a felt sense of safety around you and your baby.

It’s not about “thinking positive.” It’s about giving your nervous system a place to land.

If you try this, let me know how it feels for you. And if you’d like more embodied tools like this for pregnancy, birth and the early postpartum, you’re always welcome to stay close here💛

👉 Save this for the days you need it
👉 Share with another pregnant mum who could use it today

29/11/2025

I’ve been reflecting on my first pregnancy lately… and all the things I wished I'd prepared for

When I was 7.5 months pregnant with my first child, I thought I had everything under control.

Looking back now, I realise how much I didn’t know, not because I didn’t have knowledge, but because I wasn't aware of how important it was to prepare both my body and my support system for birth and the weeks that followed.

Just 9 days before I had my first baby, I'd moved into my new home. I was so busy trying to move and settle into my new home that I didn’t give myself the space I needed to rest, learn, prepare for the birth I truly wanted (a home birth) and for postpartum.

Even though I had already trained as a prenatal yoga teacher, I hadn’t taken the time to embed what I’d learned into my own body.
And when labour came… I felt it.
My birth ended up being long, medicalised, and far from the calm home birth I’d hoped for.

Then postpartum hit and I realised I hadn’t built the community I needed either.

Once the initial visitors faded, I found myself at home with a colicky baby, in an unhealthy relationship and feeling more alone than I ever expected to.

These experiences changed me.
They shaped me.
And they’re a huge part of why I now support women through pregnancy, birth preparation, and postpartum recovery.

Every week I meet women who remind me of that past version of myself. Women who are doing their best with what they know and what they've learned and who blossom when they finally have the right tools, the right space, and the right community around them.

If any part of my story resonates, please know this:
You deserve support.
You deserve time to prepare.
You deserve to feel steady, informed, and held in pregnancy, through birth, and long after.

I’m here for you whether you’re preparing for birth, navigating new motherhood or busy with mum life.

💛 Helen

(And if you ever have questions about pregnancy, birth, or recovery, my inbox is always open, truly.)

29/11/2025

As we move towards January, I know so many women are thinking about how they want to feel going into birth and how they want to rebuild, rest and nourish themselves after having their baby.

If that’s you… I’ve opened two new series in Bangor, and I would love to welcome you in if it feels right.

💛 Prenatal Yoga + Birth Prep
Starts Thurs 8 Jan · 5:30pm
Suitable from 12+ weeks pregnancy

A calm, grounding space to move, breathe and practise embodied birth preparation.

We focus on nervous system support, labour positions, breathwork, deep relaxation, a birth rehearsal and building the instinctive tools you’ll actually use on the day and into the immediate postpartum.

💛 Postnatal Yoga (Mum & Baby)
Starts Fri 9 Jan · 10:30am
Suitable from 6-8+ weeks postpartum

A gentle, supportive class that helps you rebuild safely… physically and emotionally.

Expect strengthening yoga poses, tension release, pelvic floor & core support, rest, and a warm space to be with other mums. And for baby, there'll be time to join mum in some yoga and do baby engagement exercise and get a wee massage.

Both of these classes are designed to help you feel held, connected and more resourced, whether you’re preparing for birth or finding your feet in early motherhood.

If you’d like all the details or want to save your place, you can find everything via my bio.

Please so message me if you have any questions💛

28/11/2025

Birth is only half the story. Postpartum is a whole season, and it often arrives before we’re ready.

Many of us prepare for birth with classes, checklists, and scripts, but little attention is given to how to care for our body, mind, and nervous system after the baby arrives.

We’ve medicalised birth and commercialised preparation, pouring so much energy into the intensity of labour, but left postpartum as an after thought.

Our culture treats birth as an event, not a transition your whole being has to recover from and adjust to. The care our grandmothers knew, warmth, rest, nourishment, touch, guidance, community, has quietly disappeared, leaving mothers often carrying the weight alone.

The women who heal well postpartum aren’t “lucky.” They start preparing long before the baby comes. They practise embodied tools, plan for support, and nurture themselves intentionally creating space to recover, rebuild, and connect.

Here’s what that preparation can look like:

💛 Nourish your body now: rest, grounding, gentle rituals, and warmth to support your tissues and nervous system.
💛 Create a gentle postpartum plan: meals, rest, boundaries, recovery strategies, and emotional support.
💛 Build your village: even one trusted friend, a supportive circle, or a small community can make a huge difference.
💛 Learn how to care for your healing body: understand what your tissues, pelvic floor, and hormones need in the weeks after birth.
💛 Prepare for the mother you’re becoming: compassion, presence, and awareness matter more than perfection.

Even small, intentional steps now set the stage for a calmer, more supported postpartum experience.

💌 Would you like a deeper series on preparing for postpartum during pregnancy? Comment YES and I’ll share more.

P.S. If you're looking for this kind of support, my Prenatal Yoga & Birth Prep and Postnatal Yoga (Mum & Baby) Series starting in January are now up on my website. Would love to see you there if you're local to Bangor. ☺️

23/11/2025

The women who recover well postpartum don’t just hope they’ll bounce back.
They prepare for it long before the baby arrives.

Over the years, I’ve noticed something powerful:
The mums who feel emotionally steadier, physically stronger, and less overwhelmed in those early weeks, are often the ones who start laying the foundations during pregnancy.

Here’s what they do differently:

1. They plan for postpartum in their birth plan
Not just “the birth itself”…
but:
who will support them
how they’ll rest
how they’ll feed
how they’ll protect their nervous system
what boundaries they’ll set
They treat postpartum as a phase that needs preparation, not an afterthought.

2. They secure support early (in whatever form they have access to)
Not everyone has a big family or a ready-made village and that’s okay.
Support can look like:
a local mum & baby group
one close friend you can message at 2am
a class where you feel seen
booking in postnatal movement sessions
online community threads
professional support
It’s not about having a huge tribe it’s about not doing it alone.

3. They understand that recovery isn’t passive
Postpartum healing isn’t only rest.
It’s breath, gentle movement, reconnecting with your centre, and rebuilding your body in a way that feels kind and sustainable.
And the women who thrive know this:
your body remembers what you practised during pregnancy.
Your nervous system remembers too.

4. They practise embodied tools before they need them
Because when the hormones shift, the nights get long, and your body feels unfamiliar, you fall back on what you’ve already rehearsed not what you’ve read.

If you’re pregnant now it’s not too early.
If you’re postpartum it’s not too late.

And if you’d love helpful guidance, connection, and structured support, my next Postnatal Yoga (Mum & Baby) series starts in Bangor on 9 January. A friendly, welcoming space to move, connect, and heal with your baby right beside you.

If you'd like the details, check out my website via my bio or comment 'POSTNATAL' and I'll send you everything you need.

10/11/2025

To every pregnant or postpartum mother reading this:

You are being watched.
Not just by your children, but by the generations that follow.

Every time you breathe through fear.
Every time you soften into trust.
Every time you remember your body’s wisdom.

You are teaching them what power, surrender, and love really feel like.
You are showing them that strength is not loud or forceful, it’s quiet, embodied, and unwavering.

Birth is not just about bringing a baby into the world.
It’s about birthing yourself, reclaiming trust in your body, and stepping into the next chapter of your life.

Postpartum is not the end of that journey, it’s the continuation of birthing yourself, moment by moment, as you move, breathe, and heal.

💛 Tag a mum who needs to hear this reminder today.

P.S. If you’d love a space to connect with your body, restore strength, and bond with your little one, I still have a few spots left in my Postnatal Yoga: Mum & Baby series starting this Friday in Bangor. DM me or check out my bio to find out more 💛

Pink Iris Yoga

06/12/2025

04/12/2025

02/12/2025

29/11/2025

29/11/2025

28/11/2025

23/11/2025

10/11/2025

Address

Telephone

Website

Alerts

Contact The Practice

Shortcuts

Share

Category