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Shining Light

Building empowerment, self-confidence and connection through candid education and compassionate advocacy for all families before, during and after pregnancy.

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“I didn’t know what I didn’t know.”

June 17, 2012 By Deena Leave a Comment

I hear this quite a bit from moms who are pregnant with their second or third child. I hear this from moms who didn’t take a childbirth preparation class. I also hear it from moms who took a childbirth prep class that focused on natural birth only and neglects to cover the reality of hospital birth in […]

Filed Under: Into the Light, Main Blog Page Tagged With: Birth, C-section, Childbirth Education Classes, Coping Skills, Decision making, Emotional State, Expectations, Fathers, Fear, Ideal Birth, Interventions, Labor, Lamaze, OB, Pittsburgh, Pregnancy, Traumatic Birth, Water breaking

Healing from Traumatic Birth, a video.

June 11, 2012 By Deena Leave a Comment

A little video of me, talking about my yoga workshop, Healing from Traumatic Birth. I offer this workshop quarterly at Shining Light Prenatal Education. For more information about the workshop and to sign up, please click here. This video was originally posted on Diary of a First Time Mom.

Filed Under: Into the Light, Main Blog Page Tagged With: Healing, In the Press, Pittsburgh, The Center, Traumatic Birth, Videos, yoga

It’s not the Method, it’s the Mother.

March 8, 2012 By Deena 5 Comments

Bradley, Hypnobabies, Brio Birth, Birthing from Within, Lamaze and so many others… Does it matter which flavor of childbirth education you take?  Maybe. Every method has its benefits.  However, every method is not for every mother.  Not every mother needs a method; not every method will work for an individual mother. I note that we […]

Filed Under: Featured Home Page, Into the Light, Main Blog Page Tagged With: Birthing from Within, Birthing Methods, Bradley Method, Brio Birth, Childbirth Education Classes, Communication, Coping Skills, Decision making, Emotional State, Expectations, Fear, Hypnobabies, Labor, Lamaze, Mothers, Pittsburgh, Sexual Abuse, Traumatic Birth, yoga

Integrating Yoga and Lamaze: How the Ethical Practice of the Yamas and Niyamas Relate to Pregnancy and Childbirth. Part 7 – Santosha

November 11, 2011 By Deena Leave a Comment

Santosha – Contentment or Satisfaction   “The opposite of such conditional happiness is unconditional happiness, a state that allows us to find contentment in any situation, whether we are uncomfortable in a yoga pose or stuck in a traffic jam. When we let go of our narrow idea of happiness and open ourselves to all […]

Filed Under: Into the Light, Main Blog Page Tagged With: Brains, Decision making, Emotional State, Expectations, Fear, Ideal Birth, Lamaze, Media, Non-Attachment, Traumatic Birth, Yamas and Niyamas, yoga

Perfection vs. Purpose OR the Birth Experience vs. Giving Birth

August 26, 2011 By Deena 3 Comments

To interrupt the series on “Integrating Yoga and Lamaze” for a moment…  I’ve had something nagging at me for a while…  I keep hearing the same theme from mothers who didn’t have the natural birth they wanted; the birth they were told they were *supposed* to have.  They feel like failures because their “birth experience” […]

Filed Under: Into the Light, Main Blog Page Tagged With: Birth Plan, C-section, Childbirth Education Classes, Communication, Decision making, Expectations, Fear, Labor, Non-Attachment, Orgasmic Birth, Pain, Traumatic Birth, VBAC

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About Shining Light

Building empowerment, self-confidence and connection through candid education and compassionate advocacy for all families before, during and after pregnancy since 2012.

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