For Dumfries and Galloway is set to host one of the UK’s first pregnancy yoga and hypnobirthing retreats in September. The Peaceful Pregnancy wellness event at Craigbittern House, Sandyhills will offer expectant mums a weekend of pampering, including meditation and relaxation.
Co-organiser, and retreat leader, Moira Forsyth said: “Dumfries and Galloway is a beautiful, natural place. Pregnancy is a beautiful, natural time in a woman’s life. So, this retreat is a match made in heaven.
“There are lots of wellness retreats all over the UK, but little or nothing exclusively just for expectant mums. This is such a special time in a woman’s life and it is over in the blink of an eye so being able to take some time out to be with other women, in the most beautiful of surroundings, with nutritious and delicious food on offer seemed like the most natural thing for us to put in place.”
She will run it in conjunction with hypnobirthing specialist Catherine Jackson, from Moffat, who added: “There is a growing movement towards helping women during pregnancy and for the birth that is to come. Pregnancy yoga and hypnobirthing do not replace what is available on the NHS, they complement other services. What we are offering is unique – a whole weekend focussing on mum and baby, where they will gain tools and techniques which will help during the birth and beyond the birth into parenthood and life in general.”
The Peaceful Pregnancy partnership between Catherine and Moira began in 2012 and since then have been helping women to enjoy pregnancy and prepare for labour, birth and beyond. Moira has been practising yoga for over 15 years and teaching since 2011. She believes that during pregnancy and birth women experience great physical and emotional changes and that yoga can be used to help the body adapt, help get baby into the right position and prepare for the physical demands of labour and beyond. Catherine has been teaching hypnobirthing for 14 years since using the technique for the birth of both her children. By day she’s a speech and language therapist with expertise in early language development and attachment. And she believes hypnobirthing is the earliest introduction to language development as communication develops even before birth.
