For Modern Mothers: Empowering Women - Pregnancy, Birth & Motherhood
Here to support, inform and inspire you through pregnancy, birth & motherhood. Do get in touch for more information or to book onto any of my services.
With no BS Antenatal & Hypnobirthing courses, award winning Pregnancy Yoga, Mum & Baby Yoga,Baby Massage,Fertility Yoga, Birth Trauma Support,my Podcast & supportive community. Empowering mothers and mothers-to-be with *award winning* Pregnancy Yoga classes and retreats, Hypnobirthing & complete no BS Antenatal Courses which inform and empower you for a calm, confident and positive pregnancy and birth. As well as online programs:
~ The Online Pregnancy Yoga Program
~ What You Need to Know About your Pelvic Floor
~ Surviving The Fourth Trimester & Beyond
My classes and courses help eliminate worries and fears you have about birth and fill you with confidence in your body to have a positive birth experience - whatever labour throws at you and however you choose to birth. And after baby arrives there are supportive Mum & Baby Yoga classes and Baby Massage Courses too, and my online Calm & Empowered Motherhood course too. On the journey to having a baby I have specialist expertise and training in Fertility Yoga and Fertility Coaching too. I am also a Birth Trauma support and recovery practitioner, and offer services to help you after a difficult previous birth, antenatal or postnatal experience or a birth injury. AND I am a life coach - helping women find more joy, contentment and happiness in their lives. By choosing my hypnobirthing course as your complete antenatal preparation you really understand:
- How your amazing body works to birth your baby
- The scientific connection between mind and body
- How to stay calm and in control no matter what happens
- How your birth partner can be your ultimate birth supporter, so you become a 'birthing dream' team. The techniques you learn on my course really are skills for life too, and you'll both take them forward into amazing journey of parenthood. I add in MUCH more than a 'standard' hypnobirthing or antenatal course too - active birth & movement, aromatherapy, yoga techniques and more. And do check out the NEW For Modern Mothers Podcast too (available on all podcast providers, Just search for 'For Modern Mothers'). Basically I'm insanely passionate about helping all mothers and birthing people take control of their bodys, their minds, their lives & their goals. And I love questions, so do let me know what your are! warmest wishes
Susan
A reminder that it''s the LAST WEEK of this term, and no classes next week as it's half term and I'll be away on holiday with my own smalls :)
Any questions please just lemme know
Susan x
09/02/2026
Pregnancy What Ifs. What If My Baby Is Breech?
This is often mentioned in my pregnancy yoga classes, and it was again last week. So here's an article I wrote all about breech babies and what you might do and what your options are if you find yourself in this position later in your pregnancy.
This week in my pregnancy yoga class here in York a women has found out that her baby, at 36 weeks pregnant, is in a breech position. This is not ideal for a vaginal birth but there is lots you CAN do and we spoke about some of the things she might do to encourage baby into the more favourable head-
06/02/2026
The next Yoga & Book Club is on Sunday 1st March
So you’ve got plenty of time to read (or listen 🎧 to our book - it is really quite a beautiful one). The Booker Prize winning Orbital by Samantha Harvey.
Don’t forget you get 15 hours of free audio books with Spotify premium, make sure you use them!
The whole point of this yoga and book club is to help women connect in a relaxed space, and also help you carve out small bits of time for yourself to read too. ❤️
Also even though this time it’s a smaller book, don’t worry if you don’t finish before we meet.
Do come along to a chilled-out evening, where we’ll do a little gentle yoga, have a chat about the book, and then finish with a guided relaxation to end the evening.
Plus there will be tea and chocolate/treats.
These yoga & book club evenings are be relaxed and low pressure - part book club, part easing your body, part relaxation, part easy-going social event.
Details
~ late afternoon Sunday 1st March
~ Venue: York Pilates Studio, 53A Front Street , Acomb , York - it’s warm and cosy, and lots of free parking nearly too.
Hope you can make it. Any questions just let me know. And yes you can still come (of course) even if you don’t finish the whole book. This is a low pressure book club!
My aim is that leave the evening feeling the evening that you’ve had some time for yourself - both to read during the month, and to replenish yourself.
It’s important to make sure your birth ball is the correct size for you.
Use the image on this post as a guide.
Also to say that you can also use an exercise or Swiss ball - which are much less expensive than ones with the word ‘birth’ on the box.
I can’t tell you how helpful a ball can be..
* in pregnancy to help in positioning baby
* in pregnancy and to ease back aches discomfort, and gently mobilise your pelvis
* in labour and an ‘active birth’ support
* postnatally to rock and soothe a baby while sitting down
I’m planning on running another of my Active Birth Workshop in the spring, so watch out for the date.
We also practice lots of positions and movements to use to have an active labour and birth in my weekly Pregnancy Yoga classes too. Booking now for February to April classes now.
Balls can be a really invaluable piece of kit (definitely worth a tenner investment), but make sure you get one the right size!
Susan
x
birthknowledge h
23/01/2026
From the moment you share the news that you are pregnant it feels like everyone becomes an expert, and has an opinion to offer. Cries of ‘Did you see that headline?’ or ‘Did you hear that story on TV?’ ring out
In a world over saturated with information, with 24 news and clickbait headlines, and with so much research at your fingertips 24/7 it simply feels overwhelming. 😵💫
When you see the press launch whats seems like an attack on midwives, on home birth, on the NHS, on physiological birth, on womens bodies, on low-tech tools that we have used to support each other for hundreds or thousands of years - it can feel like your body is ‘not fit for purpose’. Don’t believe everything you read or see in the media about birth. There is always a bigger picture. But you have to know where to look.👀
Who do you trust? Who is telling the truth? And how do you know if what they are saying is right for you and your baby? Healthcare is not ‘one size fits all’
How to we find information and resources that are good quality, up to date and well, truthful. How do we spot the ‘fake news’? Press stories are often very one-sided. Relevant facts are left out. Data is cherry picked to suit the journalist’s or editor’s own views.
You need to be able to critique information, to sort the spin & politics from the facts & data.
Some good resources to help:
1) Informed Is Best by Professor Amy Brown (second slide). A book to help you evaluate info and evidence to decide what is right for YOU, YOUR BODY and YOUR BABY as individuals.
“Another extraordinarily good book from Amy Brown. For parents and anyone else wanting to understand the research around pregnancy, birth and babies including doctors and midwives. The conflicts of interest chapter is especially good.”Chris van Tulleken
Both know their subjects expertly, and work in research so understand its importance AND its limitations, and how it can be mis-used!
If you need any more resources, just let me know. I’m always happy to sign post. & resources
Susan x
23/01/2026
This is a wonderful read you may like, as all of her Substacks have been (IMHO)
This made me laugh at her lazyness, and then be in awe of her power as a woman and a mother...
"Both my babies were born at home. I cannot stress enough how much I did not think of myself as a homebirth person before being pregnant–the only reason I ever gave blood, a process that has never failed to make me faint, was because I so adore the matronly attention of NHS nurses. It had never occurred to me, in fact, until my booking-in midwife at my local GP told me that the homebirth team do all your pregnancy check-ups at home. My laziness led me that way; One of the more fortuitous forks in the road down which I have been ushered. Giving birth was the most empowering experience of my life. It made sense of every mystery in my body. Those long months wondering how it is a baby will know what to make of a ni**le, and there it goes, as Lessing says, life knowing exactly what it must do. The euphoria of giving birth was a surprise to me. For that moment, you are between two worlds–where the edge of life is found. It’s a subject loaded with the controversy of nuance, but I will endeavour to say this: birth is mystical; it is not possible to understand in data or statistics the dimension created by giving birth. It acquaints woman, a figure so frequently cast as vulnerable or adrift in the modern world, with the source of her power."
And this on parenting I found so true...
"Sometimes I just congratulate myself for a miraculous day of parenting, which, as many of you will be familiar, at times includes moments of such spectacular chaos that I’m amazed I don’t receive applause from strangers"
And a quote I shared with a few people recent, because we can all need to let go of thing, and this really resonated with me...
"What is mine has come to me; what is missed was never mine."
Read the whole thing here. Quiet beautiful
Birth stories, ambivalence-maxing and the the perfect excuse for being unambitious
20/01/2026
Baby Massage Courses
A lovely relaxed and gentle class for babies and their carers :) Such a beautiful class, a super supportive space, a place to land and connect both with your baby and with other new mothers too ❤️
I’ve been working with new mothers and babies for a decade now, so you and your baby are very experienced hands 😊
I’ll also be posting soon about postnatal and perimenopausal rage. So watch out for that 😡
Susan x
19/01/2026
TOMORROW! 🌟York parents — What do you want and need your local maternity services to look like? we want to hear from YOU! 🌟
The MNVP is proud to offer anonymous feedback, but we know some of you want reassurance that your voices reach the people who can make real change.
👶 We’re hosting a special listening event at York Explore Library with Sascha Wells-Monro, Director of Midwifery for York & Scarborough and Dawn Parkes, Chief Nurse for York & Scarborough.
Past, present and future maternity service users and relevant organisations are all welcome.
📝 We’ll have a space for you to ask questions about the future of York maternity services — all of which will be passed directly to Sascha and Dawn to answer during the session.
You will have the chance to speak with Sascha & Dawn in person. Helen from MNVP will also be joining the session.
💛 Your voice matters. Help shape the future of maternity and neonatal care.
📅 Monday 19th January
⏰ 11am to 12:30pm
📍At York Explore Library
💜 No need to book, just turn up ☺️
York & Scarborough Bumps 2 Babies
12/01/2026
Not much advance notice of this unfortunately (it's next Monday) BUT this is a super important event
If you cannot go but would like me to take your questions or feedback (I'll be going to the meeting), then please email me susan@susanbradley.co.uk
Details below....
York parents — What do you want and need your local maternity services to look like? we want to hear from YOU! 🌟
The MNVP is proud to offer anonymous feedback, but we know some of you want reassurance that your voices reach the people who can make real change.
👶 We’re hosting a special listening event at York Explore Library with Sascha Wells-Monroe, Director of Midwifery for York & Scarborough and Dawn Parkes, Chief Nurse for York & Scarborough.
Past, present and future maternity service users and relevant organisations are all welcome.
📝 We’ll have a space for you to ask questions about the future of York maternity services — all of which will be passed directly to Sascha and Dawn to answer during the session.
You will have the chance to speak with Sascha & Dawn in person. Helen from MNVP will also be joining the session.
💛 Your voice matters. Help shape the future of maternity and neonatal care.
📅 Monday 19th January
⏰ 11am to 12:30pm
📍At York Explore Library
🔗 Book your space by sending us a message or emailing us at yorkdistrictmvp@gmail.com
Kind Regards,
York & Scarborough Maternity & Neonatal Voices Partnership yorkdistrictMVP@gmail.com
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For Modern Mothers - for a positive and empowered pregnancy, birth and motherhood.
Hello and welcome! For Modern Mothers is dedicated to helping you have a positive pregnancy, labour, birth and motherhood experience. Founded by me, Susan (hello!), I simply want to help you FEEL BETTER in both body and mind, by learning amazing skills and practical techniques which really support you on your journey to motherhood and beyond. I teach Hypnobirthing & Complete Antenatal courses (all the antenatal and birth prep you need) and Pregnancy Yoga classes, workshops, retreats and private lessons, Mum & Baby Yoga classes and Baby Massage, as well as being a Doula - in and around York. I have taught hundreds of women and couples to prepare to meet their babies - so you are in very safe and experienced hands. My approach is unbiased, fact based, no BS antenatal education, and includes a complete and unique mind and body approach.
COVID-19 UPDATE: ALL my course and classes WILL continue to run. They will be LIVESTREAMED, in person (just virtually via Zoom from my home to yours). Still hugely social, meet other local parents to be, still the best techniques to stay calm, strong and relaxed, you still get all your individual questions and queries answered.
Hypnobirthing & Complete Antenatal Courses and private lessons. My program informs and empowers you for a calm, confident, positive and empowered pregnancy and birth. Helping both you and your partner to become a real 'birthing dream team'. Eliminating any fears you have about your birth and filling you with confidence to have a positive birth experience - whatever labour throws at you and however you choose to birth.
By choosing the For Modern Mothers hypnobirthing course as your complete antenatal preparation you really understand:
- How your amazing body works to birth your baby
- The scientific connection between mind and body
- How to stay calm and in control no matter what happens
- How your birth partner can be your ultimate birth supporter, so you become a birthing dream team.
You’ll learn a whole ‘toolbox’ of techniques (breathing, visualisation, active birth and movement massage, self-hypnosis, anchors, mindfulness, meditations, deep relaxation, aromatherapy) on my course that really are skills for life too, and you'll both take them forward into amazing journey of parenthood. We’ll also look at yoga movement and postures to benefit you during labour and birth, learn how you can help position your baby, active birth and also look at planning for the post natal period too. It’s a holistic approach of mind and body and finding a connection to your deep intuition.
Every pregnancy and birth is different, and whilst I can't promise you that hypnobirthing will give you your perfect birth I can assure you it will make a positive difference. I can also let you know that by the end of the course you will be feeling calmer, more positive and more prepared for the rest of your pregnancy and your birth.
Do get in touch for more information or to book onto my group, 1 to 1 or refresher Hypnobirthing & Birth Preparation courses, and also my Pregnancy Yoga classes, Mum & Baby Yoga, and Baby Massage Courses. And I love questions about birth, so do let me know what yours are!
And for tips, wisdom and inspiration on a daily basis simply join our tribe by ‘liking’ my page and you’ll get regular For Modern Mothers goodness every day.
warmest wishes
Susan x
