The Power of Movement in Pregnancy
I’ve just returned from a fleeting trip to Western Australia to visit my sister and her growing family, offering support in the final days of her pregnancy. Being with her during her 38th and 39th weeks triggered some reflections on the profound impact that movement practice can have during pregnancy—and why this has become an area of expertise for me in the first place.
To give you some background to my passion for supporting women through the childbearing years, one of my earliest memories—perhaps when I was 10 or 11—is of minding a small group of babies in the corner of a community centre while my mum taught yoga to their mothers. This wasn’t her career, and I don’t recall it lasting long, but I remember the calm, the sense of connection between nurturing the babies and nurturing the mothers through movement.
I grew up in a somewhat non-traditional family. My mother was my father’s second wife, and his first wife—Janet Balaskas, founder of the Active Birth Movement—was a pioneering voice advocating for women’s right to be active during labour. I was surrounded by this culture and was at home when my mother gave birth to both of my younger sisters. This was my norm.
Fast forward—I finished school, travelled, completed a rather randomly chosen university degree, and quickly realised that I didn’t belong in an office. Instead, I fell in love with the way I felt when practicing Pilates at my local gym and retrained. That was the turning point.
As I began my career in movement, pregnant clients naturally gravitated towards me—and I to them and I went on to pursue specialised training to work with prenatal and postnatal women safely and effectively. Meanwhile, I started my own family and was fortunate to birth all three of my daughters at home, which for me felt to be the safest and most natural environment. During my first two pregnancies, I had attended weekly movement classes and Active Birth workshops with Janet, which instilled in me a profound trust in my body’s ability to birth. Because I was supported by the Home Birth midwifery team I received a wonderful continuity of care from familiar women throughout my pregnancy which is sadly rare these days.
These experiences, of facilitating women to feel good during their pregnancies through movement and of having my own positive experiences led me to train as a Doula; first with the renowned Paramanadoula team of Michel Odent and Liliana Lammers, and later with Maddie McMahon and Developing Doulas in Cambridge, where I now live. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, a doula is a person (usually a woman) who is not medically trained but is "experienced in childbirth [and] who provides continuous physical, emotional, and informational support to the mother before, during, and just after childbirth."
(Klaus, Kennell and Klaus, Mothering the Mother)
Having previously supported pregnant and postnatal women in my “general” practice, I decided when I moved to Cambridge to create something more dedicated. I deepened my experience and skillset and set up specialist community classes and as a Pilates course educator I also created workshops to share my knowledge with other Pilates teachers. Somewhere along the way, I began to really see the difference between women who were informed, supported, and empowered in their pregnancies—and those who felt underinformed, unheard, or unsupported by caregivers. My experience tells me that these disparities often shape whether a woman experiences pregnancy and birth as positive or negative experience.
Pregnancy and birth—no matter the setting—can bring challenges, both amongst the underdeveloped infrastructure of the developing world and in a highly medicalised first world. I am that person who shouts in frustration at the screen when film after film depicts a woman giving birth flat on her back in a hospital bed (just ask my husband!). But please don’t mistake my deep belief in the body’s ability to birth for blind ignorance—I am fully aware that medical interventions can be lifesaving, and I wholly support their necessity when required.
A decade ago, when I had my third daughter life became very busy. I was simultaneously caring for my family and growing the Cambridge Pilates studio and Osteopathic clinic I run with my husband. So sadly I had to close my community classes and channelled my passion into hands-on 1:1 teaching. I have missed the group dynamic of supporting women in their childbearing years but continued to search out methods to work specifically with prenatal and postnatal conditions such as Diastasis Recti. I now have a broad skillset and am achieving excellent results in this area with my clients which is hugely rewarding.
I have long held a dream though of being able to offer the support and spread the knowledge I have more widely and so am overjoyed to share that I have just launched my Specialist Prenatal & Postnatal Movement Libraries, including Birth Empowerment sessions, as part of my OnDemand platform, Movement with Bethia Hope-Rollins. So pregnant women nearly anywhere in the world can now access my movement classes and participate in some of the practises that enabled my positive pregnancy and birthing experiences.
So, what are the most important pieces of information I’d like to share here with movement teachers or pregnant women themselves?
Key Advice for Movement Teachers and Pregnant Women
1. Movement eases tension and reduces swellings
The physiological changes of pregnancy significantly impact a woman’s body. Many experience musculoskeletal tension and strain, partly due to the increased laxity in connective tissues (a natural adaptation) and the gradual increase in weight and fluid retention. These changes can contribute to postural shifts and altered proprioception. Movement practices such as Pilates and DNS (Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization), alongside manual therapies like massage and reflexology, can help distribute forces more evenly through the body, improve circulation, and reduce swelling.
2. Awareness of Sitting Position & Posture
Posture in the final six weeks of pregnancy can be critical in helping a baby get into the best position for an easier, gentler birth. This is known as Optimal Foetal Positioning. Sitting with the pelvis higher than the knees is key—this can be achieved by placing a cushion or two under the sitting bones, using a properly sized and inflated gym ball, or turning a dining chair around to sit facing the backrest, encouraging a slight forward lean. Incorporating these habits into both movement classes and everyday life greatly improves the chance of baby settling into an optimal position before they become too big.
3. Familiarity with Labour & Birth Positions
Building strength and awareness in positions that might be used in labour can be incredibly beneficial. Movement teachers can help clients explore:
All-fours movement – Gentle movements in this position create a hammock effect for the baby, supporting optimal positioning and relieving discomfort, as well as creating familiarity with a potentially effective birthing position.
Pelvic alignment & mobilisation – Understanding how to achieve an “open pelvis” and what it feels like teaches a woman how create space for the baby to descend more easily, particularly in early labour.
A-symmetrical positions – Differentiated quadruped (crawling), high kneeling with one leg forward or standing with foot elevated can subtly tilt the pelvis, increasing the internal pelvic space, which in turn gives room for baby to manoeuvre on its journey through.
4. Softening & Opening Through Breath & Sound
The tissues of the uterus and pelvis are designed to soften, expand, and open. Using breathwork, sound, and visualisation can help a woman experience the deep connection between her breathing diaphragm and pelvic diaphragm—as well as the relationship between her mouth, voice, and pelvic floor. This is hugely empowering. It also dispels fear, which is important because fear inhibits oxytocin, the key hormone that drives labour. Anything movement teachers and care givers can do to help pregnant women feel calm, safe, and heard is hugely beneficial to both her and the baby’s general well-being as well as being conducive towards their birthing experience.
5. Pregnancy is Not an Illness
Yes, some people have contraindications to exercise, just as they would outside of pregnancy and certain pregnancy-related conditions require careful consideration and modifications to be made, but fundamentally, pregnancy is a state of optimal health. Supporting women to thrive in this stage of life is a privilege, and movement is a powerful tool to nurture physical strength, facilitate systemic integration and support emotional wellbeing.
A Favourite Resource
I keep a mini-library of books that I share with or recommend to my clients. The 25-hour long journey between the UK and Western Australia to see and offer support to my pregnant sister gave me the time and headspace to reflect on my trainings and to re-read one of my favourites, "How Will I Be Born? What Babies Wish Their Mothers Knew" by midwife and birth educator Jean Sutton.
This beautifully simple book debunks the myth that a baby is a passive passenger during birth. Instead, it explains the physiological process of labour and birth, the anatomy involved, and a myriad of movements and positions that can support different birthing scenarios. It reconnects women with their primal instincts, offering knowledge that is both practical and intellectually empowering. If in my role as a movement teacher I can pass just some of this knowing on to the women that I have the privilege to support, if in some tiny way I can contribute to positive pregnancy and birth experiences then I can feel pride and purpose in my work.
If you, or someone you know, would like to know more then please click here for my membership page to find out about how to access the prerecorded classes.
