Open Hand Birthing - Zug

20/08/2025

Educating and empowering women in pregnancy, birth and postnatally is so important to me but it is also important for me and the client that I continue to educate myself.

I’ve just completed a Birthing Bio Mechanics with . Shellie’s course is an opener of eyes, heart, legs and hips. With the knowledge she powerfully, amusingly and sometime rantily shares, I hope to help my clients even more on their journey.

It also made me realise we know so little about our bodies. In the age of doctor Google we have lost intuition and trust in ourselves to listen and react. Shellie has reinforced my belief that listening and observing the body will yield much more than unrequested intervention or a tap on the keyboard. It will also prove massively beneficial for motherhood.

04/06/2025

⛈️⛈️☔️ Weather isn’t playing ball, so we will be from 9:15 onwards. Looking forward to seeing you and also getting my caffeine fix from .cafe.zug

22/05/2025

Sssshhh! Speak quietly so the weather Gods don’t hear. 5th of June may well be our first Badi meet up of the year. 2025 babies and mamas (and pregnant Mamas) are welcome to join us for chats all things motherhood .zug . If it’s cold or wet, we will be .

If you want to join us, send us a DM or join the group of nearly 150 women over on FB 2025 Pregnant & New Mums Zug

08/05/2025

Is your view of birth skewed?

As a woman you were probably told from early teens “Don’t get pregnant”, “Having a baby now would ruin your opportunities” . These messages were on repeat until at least 18 year old if not until after Uni. Couple that with media images in print and on screen of screaming women, laying down, legs in stirrups, faces puce with pressure and it’s no wonder pregnant women are petrified of birth.

Understanding your own physiology and reframing birth in your brain is a way to bring calm to the birth room. Reading positive stories, watching positive videos all help with this reframing which is why I was thrilled that in the latest edition of The Calm Birth Method not only has my birth story remained in the book but TWO yes TWO of my clients stories have been included too. Knowing that I have played a small part in helping these women have positive second births gives me such joy.

Do you want to reframe how you see birth? Do you want to enter the birth room calm and empowered? If this is something you want, please drop me a DM to discuss how we can work together to achieve this.

01/05/2025

It was .ch PNM 25 May morning meet up today and what a morning. Oxytocin in abundance. These Mamas met up for a chat, a laugh and some much needed refreshment on what is going to be a scorcher ☀️Finding a community when navigating this period in your life is so vital particularly for your sanity. Connections are being made and friendships formed. and I love organising these meet ups and the women love it too. Thanks for the Halloe cuddles and for the opportunity to be a pram pusher again 🥰

Thanks also to .cafe.zug for the caffeine, iced coffees and the amazing cookies keeping our Mums fuelled for a few hours. And finally to for providing a space where all the buggies can be accommodated 💪🏻

🗓️Next meet is 14/5 at 18:15

13/04/2025

Abdominal Birth Awareness Month

C-Section and Caesarean section sound so medicalised, let’s face it they are heavily medicalised but this doesn’t take away from it being a BIRTH - a birth of a baby and a mama. In my course I always try to call it abdominal birth. It is important to me that the mama to be associates both vaginal and abdominal as valid ways to birth their child and that both can be positive when we feel in control, when we understand and when we feel listened to.

Nearly 10 years ago, I had an UNPLANNED ABDOMINAL BIRTH, see what I did there…… not an emergency c-section. The hypnobirthing classes I took back then and the course I now teach prepare for this eventuality. We felt prepared and calm going into it and knew we were about to meet our baby. I was able to use the calm breathing technique whilst laying on operating table which helped me stay focussed and calm because let’s face it, it’s a major operation cutting through 7 layers of your abdomen!! Matt also felt calm and knew the plan once the baby was born and that he could have skin to skin whilst I was in recovery.

AND hypnobirthing can also be useful for elective abdominal births too because course with me doesn’t just talk about vaginal births with no drugs. As I write to clients:

‘the course is NO JUDGEMENT - you want DRUGS, cool! You want an elective c-section, fine! You fancy birthing on Mount Rigi au naturel, GO GIRL. What i'm trying to say is my role is to educate you with evidence based information that helps you make the right decisions for you. There is only one you and your birth won't look like anyone else’s ’

So, if you want to talk BIRTH, want to educate and empower yourself and your birth partner, message me for course details.

09/04/2025

⭐️💥⭐️💥⭐️💥⭐️💥⭐️💥⭐️💥⭐️💥

“Thanks so much for the recommendation, I’m going to have a think and come back you”

“No thank you, i’d prefer to go this route - insert your plan”

“Thank you so much for your guidance, however I/we have decided to ###xx”

When was the last time you questioned your doctor? Asked for alternatives? Listened but declined the advice.

As a society we tend to become subservient and lose confidence in ourselves when we meet medical professionals. They are, of course, well educated people who devote hours, blood, sweat and tears to looking after us at our most vulnerable times. However, they didn’t study ME or YOU. They study humans , but so varied are we, that they don’t and never could have our gut feelings or our intimate knowledge of our bodies. They are there to give us our options but to be really happy with our care particularly but not limited to birth, we have to make the decisions for ourselves after assessing how we feel and what we are advised.

You can always say no!

You can always question the recommendations!

Be confident in yourself and own your s**t.

In your antenatal course, we cover so much information which will help you learn and thus feel empowered to tread your own path and feel happy in your decision making. Message me for me details or take a look at my website for the course outline.

06/04/2025

We all dream. We all envisage how big events in our life will transpire. Our working lives. Our romantic lives🥰. Our weddings👰‍♀️. And yes, you have already envisioned what sort of birth you want. But what if the birth takes a different path??

Setting expectations is generally a good thing, EXCEPT when those expectations become so narrow and fixed that all you can see is one thing. What happens when expectations are not met?

You’re disappointed😔.

Blaming yourself.
Blaming your care providers.
Blaming yourself again.

By looking at all different permutations of birth and understanding what happens in different versions of birth, your expectations are reset with a wider lens. You will feel more in control because you understand what is happening. You have prepared for it. Most importantly your 🧠 has prepared for it and won’t send your body in to stress mode, slowing the process of birth. Preparedness = Understanding = “Control” = Positive Experience

If you feel underprepared, if you feel that you want to learn more about how awesome you are and what your body can do and how it does it, DM me and learn more about the hypnobirthing ante natal course I offer.

01/04/2025

Our 2025 cohort will be meeting on Thursday Morning @ Latte Stories in Cham. Come and join other pregnant and new Mums from the area. We'd love to see you there. If you haven't joined the group already, there's a Facebook group and a WhatsApp chat where over 100 women are sharing their experiences and questions. Feel free to head on over 2025 Pregnant & New Mums Zug

01/04/2025

Will you be joining us?

Our 2025 cohort will be meeting on Thursday Morning @ Latte Stories in Cham. Come and join other pregnant and new Mums from the area. We'd love to see you there. If you haven't joined the group already, there's a Facebook group and a WhatsApp chat where over 100 women are sharing their experiences and questions. Feel free to head on over 2025 Pregnant & New Mums Zug

30/03/2025

Expecting in 2025🚼? You’ve chosen the cot. You’ve found the perfect stroller. You’ve started filling the drawer with teeny weeny clothes. You’ve notified your medical insurance & booked a midwife (hint, hint, hint!). BUT have you sat down and thought about your labour and birth? Are you avoiding thinking of it because it scares you? Have you got the perfect plan laid out and you’re sticking to it no matter what? Either way, understanding how your body and mind affect the labour and birthing process is key to you feeling comfortable with your 2020 special delivery. Taking a hypnobirthing ante natal course informs you about your choices so that you can OWN your birth story and feel happy with whatever twists and turns your birth journey takes.

It is a 4 week course covering all the below and more:

The science of birth – yes it’s really nerdy and super interesting
The Mind Body Connection
3 different breathing techniques
Visualisations & Affirmations (perhaps the ‘woo’ bit but actually scientific)
Birth Environment and the effects on a labouring Mama
Birth Preferences A, Birth Preferences B, Birth Preferences C
Role of the Birth Partner – tools for them to have an active role in the process
Special Circumstances and how to navigate them
Ongoing support during pregnancy and after birth

There is so much to this course and the aim is to educate you, empower you and by the end of it you will be so excited about not just meeting your baby but also the journey you take to get there. Get in touch if you’d like more information.

YOU’VE GOT THIS MAMA!

09/12/2024

Tomorrow, Tuesday 10th, is our last meet up of the year. Janet & I have had the joy of interacting with over 150 women in this group and it has been a joy. As this year closes, we look now to our work with the 2025 group. Creating these groups to help women navigate pregnancy & early motherhood as well as helping them feel part of the Zug community is super important to us. Tomorrow’s meet up isn’t just for 2024 group, so if you’re expecting in 2025, please feel free to come to this meet up and make some connections on this new journey.

10th December
2-4pmch in Cham- there’s parking and great OV connections - bus stop Lorzenpark.