Eutokia workshops for AT teachers

These workshops on the application of the AT to pregnancy and childbirth are designed for AT teachers and third-year students who wish to expand their work in this exciting field. They are based on The Alexander Technique Birth Book, which I co-authored with Angela and Jonathan Drake (for details, click on ‘Publications’ in the Navigation bar). The course is practical and theoretical, covering a range of topics relevant to pregnancy and birth. Participants learn to apply their AT skills to the special needs of expecting mothers. They train to conduct small antenatal classes in which women and their partners are prepared for childbirth using AT principles. They also learn how to be a birth companion (doula). The course is recognized by Doula UK.

A workshop runs for five consecutive days, or on five Sundays over several months.

Dates

The next eutokia workshop will be residential. It will be held near Barcelona, Spain, in Summer 2009, and will be run by Manoli Garcia.

Watch this space!

Syllabus of the workshop

• Physical and emotional changes during pregnancy
• Vulnerability of the pregnant woman; ways of coping with it and restoring confidence
• Encouraging the baby to settle in the optimal position for birth
• Physiology of the labour process
• Common difficulties in normal labour
• Labour pain and how to cope with it
• Importance of good use and movement in preventing or alleviating dystocia and tension
• Pharmacological methods of pain relief; their side effects
• Medical-technological intervention in labour; its possible side effects
• Refraining from advising on medical matters
• Home and hospital birth
• Water birth
• Postnatal AT work

Floating topic: enthusiasm for natural childbirth backed by use of AT principles.

Daily schedule

The practical work each day relates to the current topic of discussion and includes movements I teach in my eutokia classes.

Recommended reading

I strongly recommend:

• Michel Odent’s Birth Reborn, Fontana, 1986
• Sheila Kitzinger’s Pregnancy and Childbirth, Penguin, the latest edition

The following list is a small selection of good books that are relevant to our work:

• Murray Enkin & others, Effective care in pregnancy and childbirth, (3rd ed) OUP, 2000
• Caroline Flint, Sensitive Midwifery, Heinemann, 1986
• Ina May Gaskin, Spiritual Midwifery, The Farm, Tennessee, 1990
• A Miller & others, Obstetrics Illustrated, Churchill Livingstone: latest edition
• Mary Renfrew, Chloe Fisher & Suzanne Arms, Breastfeeding: Getting Breastfeeding Right for You (2nd ed), Celestial Arts, 2000
• Penny Simkin & Ruth Ancheta, The Labour Progress Handbook, Blackwell, 2000
• Marjory Tew, Safer Childbirth? Chapman & Hall, 1990
• Marsden Wagner, Pursuing the Birth Machine, ACE Graphic Publications, 1994

My e-book, The Alexander Technique Birth Stories, can be downloaded.

Recommended preparation

Participants are advised to try to arrange to be present at a birth before coming to the workshop. This can be a very useful experience.

I also recommend attending (as a visitor) an antenatal class organized by a local hospital, clinic, childbirth educational organization — such as the National Childbirth Trust (NCT). This should not be too difficult.