In this fourth episode, Michelle has a conversation with Stephanie Smith, E-RYT, PRYT regarding the benefits of yoga for pregnancy, birth, postpartum, and beyond. Stephanie explains how yoga not only prepares the physical body for the stress and rigors of birth, but the emotional body as well. She explains the connection between our breath and reduction of the flight/flight stress response. Stephanie shares how her yoga practice helped her to set healthy boundaries with others during her pregnancy and keep a sense of ease and calm when her plans for daughter’s birth did not go as she had envisioned. We discuss how yoga can prepare, protect, and enhance the healing of our pelvic floor during the childbearing year. She also shares the benefits of a yoga nidra practice, which is especially vital after the baby’s birth as it invokes the relaxation response and turns on the parasympathetic nervous system—the rest and restore part of our nervous system.

“That is what the beauty of that yoga practice is, that deeper connection within, where you can just feel the experience, there’s no thinking at all that is required.” — Stephanie Smith

About Stephanie Smith, E-RYT, PRYT:

Stephanie is an Orlando based Yoga Instructor specializing in Pre and Postnatal Yoga. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Sports and Exercise Science from the University of Central Florida and is an E-RYT, PRYT Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance. Her love of Yoga and travel has taken her to Thailand numerous times where she has had the privilege of studying Yoga extensively at Centered Yoga. As a mother herself, Stephanie has an understanding of how the Yoga practice evolves both during pregnancy and postpartum. She strives to create an environment of support for fellow Mothers to know that they are not alone on the beautiful, yet sometimes rocky, journey that is motherhood.

Connect with Stephanie Smith:

Website: stephaniesmithyoga.com

Instagram: @thetravelingyogini

Facebook: Stephanie Smith

Connect with Michelle Smith:

Website: BirthEaseServices.com