Community has always been a central part of the PYC methodology. We come together as a community to support one another through pregnancy and parenthood. Hearing the stories from friends, family, and community members can help dispel fears, normalize the variation of birth experiences, and create confidence in the process of childbirth.
In this episode of Yoga| Birth|Babies, I speak with yoga teacher, doula and my friend, Cat Acquaviva, about the birth of her second child. After a challenging first birth, Cat took a very different approach to preparing for her second and deeply committed to the Hypnobabies methodology. Cat openly and candidly shares how she faced her most difficult moments during birth and how she conquered them.
In this episode you will learn:
- Get to know Cat Acquaviva.
- A bit about Cat’s first birth and how she prepared for it.
- What Cat learned from her first birth and what she wanted to do differently the second time.
- Fears from her first birth that she acknowledged and worked to remove in preparation for her second birth.
- Taking a totally different approach for her second pregnancy and birth.
- The difference between hypo birth and hypo babies.
- The commitment to Hypnobabies preparations.
- Cat’s birth story!
- Facing the toughest, highest mountain and conquering it.
- The internal experience of birth and how it differs from what others see on the outside.
- Learning about what you can control in birth and using that as your through line to the end.
- How Cat’s first child is adapting to being a big sister.
- One tip/piece of advice Cat offers new or expectant parents.
- Where you can find Cat’s work.
Resources:
If you love what you’ve been listening to, please leave a rating and review! Yoga| Birth|Babies
Support Our Sponsors:
- You deserve to know what’s in your multivitamin. Get 10% off your first 3 moths of Ritual at ritual.com/ybb to start you ritual today!
- Over 85 million people around the world use Calm to take care of their minds and get better sleep. For listeners of Yoga| Birth |Babies, Calm is offering a special limited time promotion of 40% off a Calm Premium subscription at CALM.COM/YBB
About Cat:
For the past 10 years, Cat has been a yoga teacher in New York City and Los Angeles, specializing in vinyasa, prenatal, and postnatal yoga.
Cat taught and wrote the curriculum for 12 separate teacher training programs in her 10 years as a teacher, guiding students through intelligent sequencing and articulate pedagogy. This intrinsic interest led her to take two separate birth and postpartum doula certifications through DONA, Intl. and Doula Trainings International.
Cat also co-developed and co-led the advanced teacher training program at Roam Los Angeles and has become a sought-after resource on yoga asana. She is currently a faculty member in Yoga Vida NYC’s Yoga Alliance registered teacher training program and is a one-on-one teacher in their mentorship program. Her joy for teaching eager, budding new teachers is the reason she has so much experience in such little time, as teaching in this capacity is truly one of her passions.
Since Cat can remember, she has always been fascinated by pregnancy. Inspired by this interest, she completed two separate prenatal and postnatal yoga trainings with The Prenatal Yoga Center under Deb Flashenberg, and Anandamama Prenatal Yoga under Gina Menza and Jenny Lengbehn. Through her studies, she gleaned a wealth of knowledge about the pregnant body and the process of labor giving her a rich experience from which she teaches prenatal yoga. She also created the prenatal program at Yoga Vida NYC, growing it from one class a week, to four classes per week in the first year of its existence.
This intrinsic interest led her to take two separate birth and postpartum doula certifications through DONA, Intl. and Doula Trainings International. She looks forward to beginning her career as a full-spectrum doula in the Chicago area in 2021, acting as an advocate serving a diversity of families of all orientations.
To connect with Deb and the PYC Community:
Instagram & Facebook: @prenatalyogacenter
Youtube: Prenatal Yoga Center
