Bearing Witness Yoga and Doula Services

07/15/2023

Yoga Teacher bucket list accomplishment: in a not-actually-that-startling twist of ADHD magic, I realized today that an interview I did about a year ago was actually published in Yoga Journal in October. So yay for achieving career dreams! And for having the ability to laugh at myself for forgetting to check. It only took about 15 years of work, lol.

How to practice safely with a common pregnancy complication.

04/20/2023

I am beyond excited to announce the first offering of the childbirth immersion retreat that Anna Barr and I have been dreaming up. Hopefully the first of many! This inclusive course will not only offer essential childbirth and postpartum education from an anti-racist, body positive, trauma informed, and gender affirming lens, it will include movement, meditation, and ritual practices to support you through your birthing journey and beyond. Visit tinyurl.com/babyandbody to learn more and to register, and contact us at bearingwitnessbirthwork@proton.me for financial assistance information.

07/13/2022

Prenatal yoga is every Sunday from 5:30 p.m. to 6:45 p.m.

09/10/2020

Join me tomorrow from 6:30-7:45pm for a gentle and empowering prenatal class at Abide Yoga via Zoom. Pay what you can, DM the studio for codes

Balancing all of the parts of your life can be tricky, and I know that this time of year can really bring the busy-ness to the forefront. But let’s stop for a minute. Let’s remember that underneath all of the rush and expectation, you are human being with very real needs. Take care this week.
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Tuesday 9:30 am Yin w. Annie on Zoom
Tuesday 5:45 pm Powerful Flow w. Lyz in the backyard and on Zoom
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Wednesday 9 am Mindful Slow Flow w. Julia on Zoom
Wednesday 6:30 pm Vinyasa w. Emily in the backyard and on Zoom
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Thursday 9:30 am Slow Flow w. Hope on Zoom
Thursday 6:30 pm Prenatal w.
Caitlin on Zoom
Thursday 8 pm Slow & Low & Tarot w. Hayleigh on Zoom
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DM for codes💛

09/01/2020

Popping out of FB hiatus to share:
Prenatal Yoga returns to Abide via Zoom *this Thursday* 9/3 at 6:30 PM. I cannot imagine how stressful it must be going through pregnancy in the midst of all this societal uncertainty, but I've definitely got some tools that will help you hold protective, supportive, and nurturing space for yourselves.

It’s the return of Prenatal Practice with veteran prenatal yoga teacher, birth doula, and soon to be OTA
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Join Caitlin every Thursday at 6:30pm on Zoom. Class begins on 9/3! Pay what you can.
To sign up, hit the link in bio, or send a DM💛

01/23/2020

Prenatal yoga starts at Abide in just under an hour!

When you open yourself to the continually changing, impermanent, dynamic nature of your own being and of reality, you increase your capacity to love and care about other people and your capacity to not be afraid. You're able to keep your eyes open, your heart open, and your mind open. And you notice when you get caught up in prejudice, bias, and aggression. You develop an enthusiasm for no longer watering those negative seeds, from now until the day you die. And, you begin to think of your life as offering endless opportunities to start to do things differently.
-Pema Chodron
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Thursday at Abide:
9:30 Slow Flow w. Cami
10:35 Meditation w. Cami
5:15 Prenatal w. Caitlin
6:45 Vinyasa w. Emily
8:00 Slow & Low & Tarot w. Hayleigh 🍋🌼📷 by Hope at the Rockefeller Greenhouse

01/07/2020

I am delighted to announce that prenatal yoga returns to the regular schedule at Abide starting this Thursday from 5:15-6:30. Drop-in students and birth partners are always welcome to attend.

Join me for practices focused on creating and holding space for the physical and emotional changes of pregnancy, as well as techniques that will help prepare you for birth and parenting with heart-centered awareness. No level of yoga experience or physical fitness required. Classes are body positive, gender-affirming and trauma-aware, always.

Image by the incredible

11/19/2019

CW/TW: birth trauma, pregnancy and infant loss

“The NICU is like a war zone, except the battle takes place in your baby’s body. You can do some things that are truly helpful, like holding your infant against your bare skin (kangaroo care) — although there were so many tubes and wires, it felt as if I was holding a bundle of electronics. You can also pump breast milk, but for some of us that means trying not to feel guilty when your terribly sick body can’t produce milk, so you have to abandon the effort.

But mostly you just have to bear witness.”

Dr. Jen Gunter on why we need to start talking about the difficult aftermath of those long NICU stays and medical interventions.

11/08/2019

This space and this Larchmere community are the homes of my heart and I am so honored to be a part of them both 💗

10/16/2019

TW/CW: birth trauma

Yesterday, my kiddo turned 7.

Seven years ago yesterday, in the wee hours of the morning, my homebirth midwives and I were shocked to discover that the baby I was attempting to push out (magnificently, in an inflatable pool, in my 3rd floor apartment) was actually squeezing into the world led by a single butt cheek.

As a birthworker (even a currently-busily-birthing one), I knew that breech presentation was a variation of normal. But my heart dropped into my stomach with the acute awareness of how hard it was to make even a well-planned breech delivery happen in our area, let alone a surprise breech, without an incredible amount of advocacy and connections to the right providers. Emergency transferring to my local L&D at 2:30AM was unlikely to land us with any care providers willing and eager to let me attempt it.

My baby was born via emergency cesarean a few hours later. When we asked (as they performed an ultrasound whilst shaving my p***s for surgery), the staff told us they did not have anyone on shift that was trained to vaginally deliver a breech baby. I spent almost two hours fighting the urge to push.

I went into the experience very well-informed and knowledgeable about birth, having incredible support and resources at my disposal, and fully prepared to work the hardest I’ve ever worked at anything. Asserting my bodily autonomy through pregnancy was as jubilant as it was challenging. Ultimately, many of my choices got taken away, including the choice to trust my body to birth my baby. And it sucked. But we weathered it. And I’ve healed.

When I talk to my child about their birth story, and even my prenatal yoga students, I use this as an example of being capable of doing hard things. This article makes me want Med schools and OB/GYN students to use that same affirmation when they are considering accessibility of training in things like breech birth and abortion care. May these conversations help build a world where patient-centered reproductive healthcare blooms from the roots of full spectrum reproductive justice, and where we support autonomy and trust for our bodies in all care.

“But a strange thing happened: The pendulum never shifted back. Breech vaginal delivery never became the norm again. The widely accepted explanation is that it’s a problem of lost skills: An entire generation of obstetricians had been trained without the skills to perform breech delivery maneuvers. The reality is more complex. As a doctor, I believe it’s partly a problem of legal risk—i.e., obstetricians’ fears of being sued. As a woman, though, I believe it is, more than anything, a problem of trust.”

As a doctor, I knew the data. As a woman, I knew my body.

10/11/2019

When talking about reproduction, reproductive rights, and gynecological health, transgender folks deserve the same inclusive and affirming care as cisgender folks. That starts with language.

10/10/2019

October is pregnancy and infant loss awareness month. These stories are real, important, and incredibly common. Educating ourselves on how to hold space for loss as community members and care providers is *essential* reproductive justice work.

Losing a pregnancy might be the loneliest experience that millions of women have faced.

10/06/2019

Not only can you make your hospital bed work for you, knowing how to modify Prenatal yoga poses to meet your needs is the perfect way to practice finding these positions for comfort and mindfulness during active labor!

This is awesome. with
・・・
shares: "MAKE YOUR HOSPITAL ROOM WORK FOR YOU!! 💯 .
My friend and I wanted to show you some examples of ways that your hospital bed can transform and assist you with the progression of labor. 🛏
1. Throne/chair position. This is great for people who are laboring down with an epidural, or for people who just need to sit and take a quick break. (Some like to push their babies out sitting upward like this, leaning against the bed, or the lap of their partner sitting behind them).
2. Hands and knees. This is a great position for OP (posterior, and also big) babies/back labor. A lot of laboring patients find hands and knees more comfortable! (Alternating lunges with one leg up, foot on bed in front, creates even more space in the birth canal, and helps baby come down and out.)
3. Side lying with your leg resting in the stirrup. This position is great for opening up the pelvis and allowing the baby to move down. Quick note: I would not feel comfortable with my patient staying in this position/on one side for too long (so it is good to switch sides periodically). I also would be cautious in using this with patients who have an epidural because they may not feel sensations of discomfort if this position is not serving them.
4. Squatting with a squat bar attached. Many facilities have squat bars that attach to beds. Upright positions can help encourage stronger contractions and help move baby down. Quick note: I would have a support person remain at the bedside to ensure that the laboring person does not lose balance. .
Any other ways that you have utilized hospital beds to work FOR you? Let me know! I can think of several more.... 👇🏻👇🏻"

09/21/2019

What else are we not told about postpartum bodies?

🎨: .mead

09/12/2019

💗 The only thing I love more than having students return for subsequent pregnancies is when those students share experiences with utilizing things I’ve taught during their birth and postpartum experiences. I am so lucky and honored to teach you all, and so thrilled to be back holding space at Abide Yoga! 💗

09/05/2019

Tonight from 5:15-6:30 PM is the first class of my new Prenatal workshop series at Abide Yoga! Signup for the four-week series for $80 (drop-ins available, too!)
The class theme this evening is "sitting with discomfort." We'll discuss yoga perspectives on fluid energy and change, and I'll introduce the first of the four core breaths. Class will conclude with a deep, comfy Yoga Nidra

08/30/2019

There are still spots available for my upcoming 4-week prenatal series at Abide Yoga. Sessions are designed to cultivate space and offer support to pregnant individuals as they navigate the physical and emotional transitions from pregnancy, through birth, and on to parenting.

Bearing Witness for Birthwork: A Prenatal Yoga Series “The experiences of conception, gestation, and birth are remarkable events in [someone’s] life: they are simultaneously deeply visceral and intensely spiritual.”        -Dr. Uma Dinsmore Tuli, PhD, Yoni Shakt

08/29/2019

Among other implications, research suggests “bodies are weird 🤷‍♀️” as legit reasons for birth control failures. This is fascinating and so, so important:

“ ‘The biggest takeaway is that we’ve assumed for so long that if a woman taking birth control gets pregnant, then she must have done something wrong,’ says Aaron Lazorwitz, an ob-gyn and lead author on the study. ‘Instead, maybe we need to pay more attention as physicians to other things that might be going on, like genetics, so we can give better, more individualized treatment to women instead of just blindly adhering to the motto that if you just throw some hormones at it, that usually fixes the problem.’ ”

*Glares pointedly at anyone that has ever judged a pregnant person for an unplanned pregnancy. Especially you, healthcare system.*

All hormonal contraceptives sometimes fail, for unknown reasons. As genetics trickles into women's health, one study suggests a possible cause.