Who We Are

I have two beautiful sons and it was during my own pregnancies that I attended Active Birth classes and found it so helpful, inspiring and empowering. This sent me on a path of wanting to pass on the techniques and the loving support to other women and their partners during the transformative life event of giving birth and become parents. I qualified as a Doula in 1998 and a Natural Active Birth and Parenting (NAPAB) teacher in 1999. I have been teaching classes since January 2001 and to this day continue to feel passionate about teaching and promoting positive birth.

I teach Active Birth with Yoga classes, Active Birth for Couples (workshops and 1-2-1’s) and hold monthly Motherhood Gatherings. I offer Pregnancy Massage and Zero Balancing and I really enjoy supporting women in motherhood while they reflect, heal and integrate their experiences physically and emotionally and support them to stay centred in themselves through all the challenges motherhood may bring. I joined Doula UK in June 2015 and am a recognised birth doula. Since then I’ve had had the great pleasure of supporting many couples in my doula role.

I am a qualified nurse, Massage Therapist and Zero Balancer. Together with my husband, Richard, I run The Natural Health Practice on Spicer Road in Exeter. Since qualifying with NABAP, I have done further training with Jean Sutton, Michel Odent, Gail Tully, Mary Cronk, Suzanne Colson, Jane Mackarness, Lyndsey Hookway, Alex Heath, Molly O’Brien and other leading specialists in the maternity field. I have been an associate member of The Active Birth Centre in London since qualifying and I am authorised by Janet Balaskas to teach her Active Birth workshop, which is FEDANT approved.

Alongside Richard I have over the years developed and taught Zero Balancing in Pregnancy to other qualified Zero Balancers. Zero Balancing is a wonderful therapy for supporting women through the whole process of conception, pregnancy, birth and postnatal recovery.

I love yoga and have been committed to practising Iyengar yoga since 2003. I am originally from Denmark and have lived in Devon since 1992.

After a fairly clinical yet normal first birth, I regretted not being better informed and prepared, so throughout my second pregnancy on my midwife’s advice I attended Active Birth and Pregnancy Yoga classes. The classes completely opened my eyes and provided me with all the tools I needed to enable me to have a positive, empowering and satisfying second birth. Having experienced birth as it’s meant to be, I felt a burning desire to pass on that knowledge, support and wisdom and trained as an Active Birth Yoga teacher (2004) and Doula (2001).

As well as my weekly Pregnancy Yoga and Active Birth classes, I provide Active Birth intensive workshops for couples or 1-2-1 workshops. I also offer 1-2-1 sessions to help with baby positioning issues, and post-natal motherhood offerings.

Most of my “real” learning about birth has come first-hand via the many women I have had the enormous privilege of supporting as a Doula, but here are my official qualifications:

I am a qualified Doula, recognized by Doula UK (2001)
Advanced Natural Active Birth & Parenting C. Clemens (2004)
Teaching Active Birth-Janet Balaskas (2007) Fedant approved
Birthing from Within-Pam England (2007
British Wheel of Yoga Teaching Diploma (2006-2008)
BWY Meditation module (2008)
Michel Odent CPD (2009)
Spinning Babies -Gail Tully (2012)
Practical skills to prevent malpresentation (2013)
Pregnancy Yoga teacher training refresher workshop (2013)
Janet Balaskas-Active Birth Workshop (2014)
Wrapped in love-Rebozo Workshop (2015)
Body Massage training (1997) Updated (2016)
Pelvic Diaphragmatic release (2012) Updated (2015)
Myofascial Release-foundation level (2017)
Infant sleep-Lyndsey Hookway (2019)
October 2021 completed Birth Story Medicine Parts 1,2 & 3 with Pam England
September 2023 Molly O’Brien’s Biomechanics for birth workshop
December 2023 Trauma Informed Listening Skills for Perinatal Professionals with Alex Heath
February 2024 Birthing awareness 3 step process with Mark Harris

My introduction to the benefits of placentophagy (ingesting the placenta) came in 2001 when I trained in Natural Nutrition. Since then I have studied with Barefoot Birthing and Soul Treefruits, read all that I can find relating to placentas and trained as a Placenta Encapsulation Specialist with Placenta Benefits. My greatest understanding of placentas though has come through having my 3 children.

As a mother I have first-hand experience of delayed cord clamping, partial lotus birth, cord burning, burying the placenta, placenta smoothies and, of course, placenta encapsulation!

Having not managed to prepare my placenta in time the first time around in the hubbub and excitement of new parenthood I can recommend outsourcing this job. I hadn’t guessed just how busy one beautiful, tiny, mostly sleeping person could make me. Disappointed as I was not to consume that first placenta it has given me a useful comparison as I took placenta capsules after my other births. I know that in my body placentophagy brings more stable milk production, significantly less lochia, better mood, increased energy and calm.

I call placenta encapsulation my oxytocin work as every placenta brings with it a buzz of that love hormone as it briefly visits my home. I feel very fortunate to be asked to do this work.

When I was pregnant with my first child, I started to question common beliefs and practices in pregnancy, childbirth and (early) parenting, which led me to adopt an approach as natural as possible.

I see my role as a doula to support you to birth and parent your way, with encouragement and without judgement. I am not here to advise or draw conclusions. What I will do is assist you to explore information, evidence and options so you can make informed decisions, which are right for you and your baby.

I believe that childbirth is a natural process, not a disaster waiting to happen – women have been giving birth since the beginning of time.

Qualifications:

I am a qualified holistic childbirth educator, birth and postnatal doula and trained with Birthing Wisdom.

I am a qualified breastfeeding peer supporter with Action for Children; providing mother-to-mother support and information to breastfeeding mothers and mothers-to-be who are interested in breastfeeding.

I hold a Certificate in Counselling awarded by the Iron Mill Institute.

I hold an advanced DBS disclosure.

I offer Information as well as continuous physical, emotional and practical support before, during and after birth

Hello! I live in a big old farmhouse in beautiful East Devon with my husband and our little tribe of three boys. We have a very wild garden with a very tall tree house. I love to observe people and their families and tell their stores through photos. I care passionately about positive birth and beginnings for all families and take everything I learnt in my years as a doula into my photography work. Birth never fails to completely blow my mind and I still cry every time. It's the best thing in the world to witness and even better to capture!

I have been practicing yoga for over 25 years, when I started hatha yoga to cope with IBS and stress. I qualified in Integrated Yoga in 2005 and have been teaching ever since. I am further certified in prenatal and postnatal yoga. My yoga babies classes, which I’ve been teaching since my own children were babies, are based on the relationship between parent and baby, incorporating baby stretches and relaxation, as well as relaxed holding and carrying, inspired by Birthlight baby yoga and Una Dinsmore-Tuli’s teaching at Sitaram yoga. I’m also qualified to offer baby sleep consultancy and offer this as a bespoke, individual service, as well as running regular sleep workshops.

Since completing the Yoga Bugs teacher training in 2006, I have been teaching children’s yoga in schools, colleges and nurseries across Devon. As a qualified secondary teacher and tutor, I’m particularly passionate about working with young adults, to relieve stress and address anxiety-related issues and to encourage a healthy relationship with themselves. I currently teach yoga and mindfulness to students and staff at Exeter College. I also run staff training in colleges and schools, exploring how to bring yoga and mindfulness techniques into the classroom. As a creative writing teacher, I like to incorporate journaling and writing into my workshops. I’m also on a long journey studying for a diploma in narrative therapy.

As my daily yoga practice, I practise Ashtanga yoga and other forms, depending on the day. I teach several styles of yoga and my aim is to make yoga as accessible to as many people as possible. I also have a regular meditation practice, and have qualified with the Saraswati Yoga Studios to teach meditation and mindfulness. I’ve also completed the wonderful Michael Stone’s certificate in teaching meditation with YogaCampus. More than anything I value the deep transformative effect of meditation and its ability to create steadiness in the face of life’s challenges.

In my teaching, I aim to offer a creative and playful approach, focusing on the relationship between teacher and student to come to an understanding of each student’s needs. Having taught for a long time, I feel that the most important aspect of my teaching is in ensuring that I always remain a student, in beginner’s mind, open to learning.

Your pregnancy, birth and postpartum period is a time of great change and transformation in your life. Therefore it is vitally important that you are cared for, supported nourished and nurtured so that you are able to offer the same to your new baby from a place of health, vitality and healing.

Over the past twenty years I have specialised in working with pregnant and postpartum women, babies and families. In Auckland, New Zealand I founded the Bella Mama Pregnancy Spa and Wellness Centre where for 15 years, my team and I cared for over 10,000 women and families. More recently I have settled back in the beautiful Devon countryside where I offer Pregnancy and Postpartum massage and Postpartum Doula support to families.

Along with this I have also established the ’Slow Postpartum Movement’ an international movement that seeks to educate and inspire as to the important benefits of honouring the weeks following birth as a time when new mothers, parents and babies deserve to be nurtured, supported and celebrated.

As a peri-natal doula and care specialist my role is to ‘mother the mother’, caring for you and your family with a range of nourishing traditions including:

• Specialist pregnancy and postpartum massages & reflexology
• Postpartum belly binding
• Baby massage lessons
• Yoga and deep relaxation exercises
• Breastfeeding support
• Nourishing home cooked food & postpartum nutritional advice
• Help to 'build your village'
• Practical and emotional support
• Herbal remedies

If you would love my help to experience a happy, healthy and supported pregnancy and postpartum I would love to support you.

The first time I gave birth was in a birth pool in hospital. It was a fairly disempowering experience and I just felt relieved not to have had any complications. When pregnant with my second child, my midwife suggested home birth and this set me on a life-changing path. I had not been aware of the potential choices within birth, and as I began to discover more about options such as Active Birth, Hypnobirthing, home birth and having the support of a Doula, I realised the importance of sharing this as widely as possible. I have since had three calm, positive water births at home and my passion for empowering oth-ers to learn more about their bodies and birth has grown.

In 2008, I trained as a Doula and Childbirth Educator with Olivia Seck of Birthing Wisdom, and in 2011 I completed Olivia’s Hypnobirthing training. I believe that Hypnobirthing has many useful tools to offer families preparing for birth and works well alongside Active Birth preparation. As part of my training, I learned to work with Birth Art in preparing for birth and overcoming birth trauma and I have found this to be another very helpful tool for families.

In 2011, I set up Exeter Home Birth Group with a colleague and helped to run the group for eight years. This space enables families to explore their options and learn more about all aspects of birthing and parenting. The births I attended during this time taught me many amazing lessons. I also ran Exeter Sling Library, working with many new parents in the postnatal stage, helping to ease the transition into family life.

Yoga is an essential part of my daily life and I believe the benefits of yoga during pregnancy, birth and the postnatal months are profound. I have practised for more than twenty years and trained with the Devon School of Yoga (500 hours), as well as taking a decolonising yoga course with Sofya Ansari in 2020 and further training in yoga for pregnancy. In 2023 I trained in Biomechanics for Birth with Molly O’Brien

I am delighted to be part of Birthwise, offering weekly Active Birth and Yoga classes, couples workshops and postnatal groups.

I also run women’s circles and yoga workshops that combine gentle, restorative yoga with delicious, nutritious food.

My Facebook page: facebook.com/soulyogadevon

Instagram: instagram.com/soulyogadevon

Hello, my name is Bara. I'm a certified placenta specialist, doula, and massage therapist, based in Dartington. I cover the South Hams and South Devon area.

As part of my commitment to support natural and positive birth experiences and the wellbeing of new mothers, I trained with Independent Placenta Encapsulation Network (IPEN) in 2013 and have been offering this beautiful, unique service to new mothers ever since.

Turning the raw placenta into a more palatable and readily available form offers a gentle, convenient, and personal way to replenish some vital nutrients which are beneficial for postpartum recovery.

Iron, protein, vitamins, hormones, stem cells, amino acids and essential fats help to prevent postpartum anaemia, reduce postpartum bleeding, promote healing, reduce inflammation, and prevent postpartum depression.

The reported benefits include; increased energy levels, earlier lactation, increased milk production, quicker overall recovery from birth, as well as improved mood and emotional well-being.

The Placenta is also an excellent skin tonic and can be an aid to skin conditions for mum and baby.

How it works.

If you decide to work with me I would meet you at home or hospital soon after the birth of your baby. I collect the placenta and make a range of remedies depending on your preference, which can include capsules, placenta tinctures, creams, balm or oil, homeopathy, smoothies and prints as a keepsake. Once I’ve made the remedies I will deliver them to you with instructions on how to use etc.

I hold certificates in Level 2 Food Safety for Manufacturing and Infection Control for Healthcare UK.

Please check out my website for further information about the services I offer.

Postpartum Doula, Postpartum Nutrition and Placenta Remedies

Hello, I’m Maria. When my children were born I learned first hand how undervalued and neglected the postnatal period is. This led me to rediscover the traditional approach to postpartum care and help parents through the first weeks and months following the birth of their baby. I trained as a postnatal doula in 2021. Since then I have broadened my offerings into holistic postpartum care including postpartum nutrition and meal plans, baby care support, breastfeeding support, birth recovery and gentle trauma release.

In 2023 I qualified as a Placenta Remedies Specialist with IPEN (Independent Placenta Encapsulation Network). I first discovered the benefits of placenta encapsulation when learning about nutrition and the principles of Chinese Traditional Medicine. I had my own placenta encapsulated after the birth of my second child to support my physical and mental recovery. I noticed a significant difference in my emotional health and general well-being compared to my first postnatal period. As part of my placenta remedies service I offer capsules, tinctures, essences and smoothies, I can also organise homeopathic placenta remedies.

I am based in East Devon. I cover Exeter, East and Mid Devon, West Somerset, and West Dorset. If you live further away please contact me, I would be delighted to help you or signpost you to another placenta specialist in your area.

Please check out my website for further information about the services I offer.