Birthlight Postnatal Yoga Teacher Training

Ready to learn to teach a range of holistic progressive postnatal yoga practices from the early postpartum (the first days after birth) through the postnatal year?

Learn how to share specially adapted Yoga that will enhance all women’s health and wellbeing throughout pregnancy, helping to prepare mentally and physically for labour and birth and begin to restore balance and strength in the early postpartum period.

Nurture, calm strength, and balance are our priorities.

On this course you will learn to support postnatal students as they move, recover and pay attention to their bodies and inner world. These practices have been developed over several decades of teaching and observation and are equally accessible and appropriate to women new to yoga and those with an established personal yoga practice.

This course provides an ideal development for teachers who already give prenatal classes to follow on with specialised yoga after birth.

Teachers may use this course to go on to teach postnatal yoga classes in a range of settings including home visits, dedicated postnatal classes with or without babies present through the postnatal year, or integrated with baby massage or baby yoga classes.

What makes Birthlight’s Postnatal Yoga teacher training so effective?

Practices are taught within the context of postnatal anatomy and physiology and with respect for each woman’s individual experience of pregnancy, birth and her recovery journey. Birthlight practices acknowledge the fact that a good postnatal recovery, whatever the birth experience, contributes significantly to each mother’s long term health and well-being and to her ability to bond deeply with her baby over time.

Course Schedule:

This course takes place in 2 parts with time to study and practice in between. Coursework is ideally completed within 6 months of the training. All coursework is carefully read and commented on, helping you to further refine your teaching.

Part 1: 
17th, 18th, 19th October 2025

Part 2:
14th, 15th, 16th November 2025

All Live Online via Zoom, 9:00 to 13:00 UK time each day.

What will you learn on this course?

• How to use a holistic approach to creating deep pelvic floor tone, core strength, pelvic stability, and spinal alignment through Birthlight’s original micromovement practices.
• How to offer practices for indvidual needs (e.g. supporting women after caesarean births and those with pelvic floor damage).
• To guide women in respect to physical, emotional, hormonal and spiritual aspects of yoga to ensure a solid foundation for wellbeing.
• To progressively adapt asana so each each woman can recover at her pace through the postnatal year (from supine, raised sitting, all fours and prone positions, to classic sitting, kneeling and standing postures).
• Sharing ‘off the mat’ yoga practices that new mothers can use in their daily lives while caring for their babies.
• Learn fun interactive practices with babies (though the main focus is on the wellbeing of the mother).
• Gain confidence with simple therapeutic practices to alleviate common ailments that do not warrant medical treatment yet compromise day-to-day quality of life for many women.
• Get inspired to lead both gentle and restorative practices to dynamic flow sequences that work for women new to yoga as well as advanced yoga practitioners.

Who can join this course?

Birthlight trains both yoga teachers and maternity professionals who go on to offer successful regular Postnatal Yoga classes and workshops in a range of settings.

• Yoga Teachers with a 200hr+ general yoga teacher training
• Health professionals with a personal yoga practice but without a formal Yoga teacher training.

Course Resources:

• A comprehensive course manual
• Access to the Birthlight online learning platform
• Support from tutor and fellow students via online group and access to a dedicated members training website (learning resources, business and marketing resources, film clips, latest research)

Coursework and Assessment:

• Students will be sent some pre-course reading.
• Coursework will include reviewing some content (online learning platform).
• A practical teaching assessment will take place on day 3 of the course.
• Following the course, coursework will consist of a worksheet including 20 questions, one case study with either 1 group or one-to-one over a minimum of 3 sessions, a minimum of one observation of another postnatal class when possible and a book/DVD review.
• Coursework should be submitted within six months following the course in order to receive the full certificate.

Course attendance requirement:
 

Students must attend the course in full in order to get the qualification. If more than 2 hours of the course are missed, certification cannot be granted and arrangements will need to be discussed and agreed in order to complete.

Qualification:

The Postnatal certification is awarded after assessment of coursework. On successful completion of the training, teachers will be able to list themselves on the Birthlight international directory of qualified teachers.

Accreditation:

For those combining the Postnatal Yoga training with successful completion of Part 1 and 2 Pregnancy Yoga together create a comprehensive training of 8 days intensive, will be eligible to register as a Yoga Alliance Professionals (UK) Prenatal teacher.

Yogacampus Diversity and Accessibility Bursary

We are offering one bursary (50% off the full course price) to a dedicated yoga student with a demonstrated financial need and active involvement in a community that could benefit from yoga. This bursary is provided by Yogacampus – The Life Centre Education, a not-for-profit educational body committed to sharing knowledge and making yoga accessible to all.

Bursary places will be awarded to a teacher or trainee who has the ability and commitment to take the course teachings into a disadvantaged community and play their part in the drive to increase accessibility to these profoundly healing practices. Priority will be given to those who themselves are from marginalised or vulnerable groups or are from a minority ethnic background.

To apply, please complete our online form before the closing date of 31 August 2025. 

Meet the Teacher: Kirsteen Ruffell

Kirsteen Ruffell is the Co-ordinator for Birthlight’s land-based training courses and is one of our experienced Perinatal and Baby Yoga Tutors. She is a registered Senior Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance Professionals, has been teaching yoga since 1998 and began tutoring in 2008. Kirsteen is passionate about nurturing students’ professional development on every training course and enhancing their ability to use new understanding creatively to best serve the students in their own classes.

Within the sphere of Perinatal Yoga, Kirsteen has developed a particular interest in Postnatal Yoga and has worked closely with Birthlight founder and pioneer, Dr Françoise Freedman, to develop specific practices for the postnatal year. She continues to refine her practice and understanding through regular CPDs (Continuous Professional Development courses) and Birthlight Conferences. Her background is in Hatha Yoga (Sivananda) and Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga and she started teaching Birthlight Perinatal Yoga in 2002. She is also a trained Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapist (Karuna Institute).

Kirsteen is continually inspired by teaching Birthlight’s gentle and enjoyable yoga practices that work profoundly across languages and cultures to support women and babies around the world. She regularly leads Birthlight training courses in London, the Netherlands, China, Russia, Portugal, Belgium, and Germany