Mother of three and Bliss Baby Yoga graduate, Nadia Parisi spoke to Bliss Baby Yoga about her professional journey in becoming a ‘one-stop-shop’ for women seeking to become pregnant, right through into the postpartum period.
Nadia had been teaching prenatal yoga for around six years when a number of women started asking for fertility yoga classes in her hometown Adelaide. She says that, at the time, there was absolutely nothing available.
Nadia had completed her prenatal yoga teacher training through Bliss Baby Yoga and it was therefore a natural progression for her to undertake the Bliss Baby Yoga Online Yoga for Fertility Teacher Training, especially as the online format allowed her to fit study in around her busy teaching schedule and caring for her family. In this way she was able to gain the necessary knowledge and confidence to start up fertility yoga classes.
That same year Nadia completed a Fertility Massage course with Claire Blake from the UK. She now combines the two modalities into one unique private class for her clients.
Her private clients start with a specialised massage and finish with some restorative yoga. And, Nadia tailors a yoga program for her clients to take home and practise at each unique stage of her cycle.
Many of these clients successfully fall pregnant and them move into Nadia’s prenatal yoga classes, and once their babies are born, into her postnatal and ‘mums n bubs’ yoga classes. This means that the women in Nadia’s Nourished Mum community enjoy a unique ‘continuity of care’ and this highlights Nadia’s passion for supporting women with yoga and massage throughout all the various phases of their lives.
‘It feels nice to be the missing link in the community,’ says Nadia.
We asked Nadia a few questions about her work in fertility yoga, which is an exciting, emerging field in women’s yoga.
What inspired you to work with women to support their fertility?
Personally I was initially quite naive. I never really understood the depth of how much fertility yoga was needed by the women that I encountered. I ran a fertility yoga workshop and the women who came along were really grateful and loved having somewhere they could share their story. I was inspired to continue this work by the women’s overwhelming response; how they felt so connected and supported in the women’s circle that we created.
What was your best take-away learning from the Bliss Baby Yoga Level 1 Online Fertility Yoga course and how has it helped you in running your fertility yoga classes?
The fertility course helped me move beyond just restorative yoga. It opened my eyes to the importance of honouring each stage of our cycle and learning how to move with the moon. This was a real ‘a-ha’ moment for me, and I fell in love with Ana Davis’s concepts of practising yoga in a more feminine way.
Now when I teach fertility yoga and provide a space for these women to step back into their femininity, even after a few classes, they begin to see some changes in their cycles.
The course was also really helpful in explaining what to do for a woman after miscarriage. It felt like the missing link for working with women in yoga.
What keeps you passionate about fertility yoga?
Having women who have really tried everything, from IVF to a fertility diet, and they can come to a class and they finally conceive—that’s my drive!
What would you say to someone considering the fertility yoga training?
I highly recommend it to any yoga instructor, even a male! It’s all about going back to basics and understanding what is good for a yoga class. And not causing harm to these women. Because, when something that’s supposed to be good for you is used the wrong way, it’s important to understand how this can be so bad for you!
I think that all yoga teachers should do this course, for the contraindications —it should be a module included in all general yoga courses!
Nadia is the founder of The Nourished Mum, with two locations across Adelaide, which specialises in holistic practices that aid fertility, pregnancy and postnatal recovery.
Connect with Nadia here: www.instagram.com/thenourishedmum/
Ana Davis, Founder and Director of Bliss Baby Yoga, has a passion for a feminine approach to yoga, and supporting women with yoga through all ages and stages of their life. Ana is the author of the popular book, “Moving with the Moon – Yoga, Movement and Meditation for Every Phase of Your Menstrual Cycle and Beyond”. Ana has collaborated with Bliss Baby Yoga fertility specialist yoga teacher Rosie Matheson to create our Online Level 1 Yoga for Fertility Teacher Training. She is also the lead trainer on our popular Online Prenatal & Postnatal Yoga Teacher Training Course and Online L1 & L2 Restorative Yoga Teacher Training courses, and offers private mentoring and yoga sessions online, and online yoga classes.
Further Reading related to this topic:
- Five Ways Yoga Can Support Fertility (and why its important) by Nadine O’Mara
- Chanting for Fertility by Rosie Matheson
- Understanding Fertility Yoga by Tanya Neate
- On Fertile Ground: Yoga for Fertility (with Womb Meditation Script) by Ana Davis & Rosie Matheson
- So you want to become a Fertility Yoga Teacher by Tanya Neate
Comments are closed.