Rethinking the Yoga Woman: A Conversation for Midwives
You’ve seen her.
She arrives with a carefully crafted birth plan. She breathes through contractions, swaying on a yoga mat.
Maybe she questions routine procedures.
Maybe she says things like “I’d really like to avoid induction unless absolutely necessary.”
And maybe, if you're honest, a part of you braces.
Not because you don’t care — but because you know how birth really goes.
Guidelines. Pressures. Emergencies.
The woman who wants “control” can sometimes feel like just another layer of resistance in an already overstretched system.
So let’s talk about her.
Let’s talk about what yoga really does — and who it's really for.
Not What You Think
The stereotype is easy: yoga is for the middle-class, hypnobirthing, essential-oil crowd.
But the evidence paints a different picture.
We’re seeing yoga support women who’ve faced trauma, anxiety, social isolation, or medical mistrust.
Not to make them more compliant — but to help them feel more steady inside themselves.
And when a woman feels steady, she doesn’t freeze. She doesn’t panic. She doesn’t fight every suggestion.
She breathes. She asks questions. She copes.
And that changes everything.
It’s Not About Trusting the System
Let’s be real.
Many women don’t trust the system right now.
With only 10% of guidle lines based on high quality evidence - continuity and case loading teams almost non existent, hospitals deemed unsafe, and not enough midwives for home births - do you?
Not to mention the changes to midwifery itself - removal of Supervisor of Midwives, low pay, long hours, and intense responsibility, blame culture and little thanks.
Yoga won’t magically change any of that.
What it can change is how they / we / you - respond to it.
Yoga doesn’t train women to be “difficult.”
It helps them stay grounded when fear rises.
It gives them tools to handle contractions without panic. It fosters body literacy and emotional regulation — things that make labour easier to support, not harder.
And that makes a difference for you, too.
A Different Kind of Partnership
When a woman arrives already in her body, already connected to her breath, your job doesn’t become harder — it becomes more aligned.
You’re not fighting her anxiety and her cervix.
You're meeting a woman who may still need reassurance, still need your guidance — but who’s starting from a place of calm, not chaos.
In a climate of constant pressure, that kind of start matters.
Let’s Keep the Conversation Going
This isn’t about promoting a trend. It’s about asking:
What actually helps — you, and her?
If yoga can be one of those tools, even for some women, isn’t it worth a closer look?