Mind-body birth classes for central NJ
Prepare your body for the work.
Prepare your mind for the unexpected.
Prepare your body for the physical work of birth, practice skills for coping with intensity, and build the resources to navigate the unexpected.
Birth prep is about more than writing a birth plan or practicing breathing techniques.
It’s also about meeting yourself: learning to work with your body, discovering who you are in intensity, and navigating the unexpected.
Birth is both physical work and a passage into the unknown. You may not be able to rehearse every moment or control every outcome, but you can prepare your body, practice your coping, and build the resources to meet whatever unfolds. Learn the skills to work with your body, cope with the intensity of birth, and navigate your care decisions.
What you’ll learn
❋ Understand how birth unfoldsBirth is a collaboration between your body, brain, and baby. Learn how these work together and how to support them, as well as the stages of labor and what you may experience.
❋ Work with your body in laborMovement and positioning both before and during birth can have a huge impact on how baby moves through the pelvis. Learn practical movements and positions for labor, and when to use them.
❋ Build a toolkit for birthPractice hands-on coping techniques, breathwork, counterpressure, and mindfulness to help you navigate contractions. You’ll leave class with a range of strategies to draw on as your needs change throughout labor.
❋ Prepare your partner to support youGive your birth partner practical ways to help, from positioning and physical comfort measures to communication and emotional support. Practice working together before you're in the intensity of labor.
❋ Understand your options & practice advocacyUnderstand your options for pain relief, common interventions, and the evidence behind your choices so you can determine what’s right for you. Practice asking questions and communicating your preferences before birth.
Topics covered
❋ How birth begins in the brain / hormones of birth
❋ The stages and phases of labor
❋ Creating a birth environment to support physiologic birth
❋ Optimal Fetal Positioning and how to help baby get in position
❋ Positions for where baby is in the pelvis
❋ What you can do to reduce the chance of tearing
❋ What you can do to reduce the likelihood of a cesarean
❋ Counterpressure and other coping tools
❋ Preparing for postpartum
… and more!
What makes this class different?
Many childbirth classes focus on information to learn and remember: the stages of labor, medical interventions, and how your baby moves through the pelvis. This class goes deeper, helping you put knowledge into practice through movement, hands-on techniques, and coping skills you can draw on when you're in the intensity of labor.
My approach brings together two important sides of birth preparation: the physical work of birth and the inner work of coping. Biomechanics can help us understand how movement, positioning, and pelvic mobility can support birth process. But birth will always involve unknowns, and preparating only our bodies can mean we miss out on cultivating key qualities of flexibility and resilience. Likewise, learning to cope with intensity, uncertainty, and change is essential, but it shouldn't mean overlooking the very real ways we can prepare our bodies and influence our experience.
We need both: the practical tools to work with the birth process and the emotional resources to meet what we cannot prepare for. This class helps you prepare deeply, hold your plans loosely, and meet birth with confidence, flexibility, and support.
Birth art (from Birthing from Within) is one of several tools we use to prepare for the inner work of labor.
Who is this class for?
This class is for expectant parents who want more than a checklist of labor tips. It's for those who want to understand the physical processes of birth, prepare their bodies through movement, practice concrete coping strategies, and explore the emotional dimensions of the transition into parenthood.
Whether you’re a new parent or ‘new again,’ whether you hope for an unmedicated birth or plan to use pain relief, these skills can help you approach labor with more knowledge and confidence.
Meet your instructor
I’m Sara, a childbirth educator, doula, and chaplain for the perinatal period.
My birth education is through some of the world’s leading birth organizations, including Birthing From Within, Spinning Babies, and the Body Ready Method.
I’m passionate about birth not just as a physiological process or a medical event, but as a process of initiation. Birth is a process of transformation: one in which a person becomes a parent or a couple becomes a family.
Register for the class
I lead two cohorts of my 5-week, 10-hour childbirth education classes per year. These classes are hands-on and spots are limited! Registration for my January/Februay 2027 cohort opens in November. Pricing is $800 per couple. Leave your email below to hear when registration opens!