Movement Coaching
Your body is going to change in ways you never thought possible. You can choose whether to be repelled or to feel proud of your body’s magical properties. You can create a new person. That is an amazing thing.
​
Maddie McMahon, doula, author and breastfeeding counsellor
​
During my doula certification process, my personal project was to interview the best physical therapists, anatomists, osteopaths, nutritionists and psychologists I know about the changes in the body during pregnancy and postpartum.
​​
But while biology is consistent in many ways, how it plays out in people’s lives is unique and personal. During pregnancy and postpartum, our changing bodies often require a changing menu of movement as new possibilities and new limitations arise. My movement coaching services are 1:1, tailored to you and your individual needs and preferences, and generally take place in your home unless you prefer otherwise.
I am not a physical therapist or personal trainer; I have no agenda or goals for you beyond the ones you have for yourself. My focus is on your self-expression and enjoyment of movement, and helping you create joyful habits of body and mind that will support the long term health of you and your growing family.
​​​​​
This is an entirely bespoke service. We will discuss your individual needs before booking, but here are some ideas:
-
Online or in-person session to discuss how to safely create or reinvent your existing movement/exercise routines, so that they can support you rather than burden you
-
A movement session in the comfort of your own home, drawing on movements from dance, yoga and somatics, leaving you with a menu of ideas to try by yourself
-
A session with your partner, trying out movement to support you during labour and other movements you can do to relax and connect together before and after the baby is born
-
Gentle, playful sessions with your baby(ies), learning how to move and dance together from the early days, leaving you with a menu of ideas to connect and sooth you and your little one(s) during those early mornings, long afternoons, or even to get you through a long night!
Movement sessions are £55 for a one hour session, or £45 if added to an additional service. I offer a free, no-obligation 30 minute consultation before booking any of my services.
​
​
​
​​
“The idea in our culture of body solely as sculpture is wrong. Body is not marble. That is not its purpose. Its purpose is to protect, contain, support and fire the spirit within it, to be a repository for memory, to fill us with feeling.”
​
Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Author of Women Who Run With The Wolves
My approach to movement is informed by my dance training and 20 years of performance experience on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as my long-term process of questioning, unravelling and re-integrating that training through the support of many different movement modalities including yoga, Feldenkrais and study of traditional anatomy. When I was pregnant​ with my son, I performed until I was four months pregnant, and then had an overwhelming instinct to stop dancing as I knew it.
This led to a multi-year journey of unlearning a lot of what I had been told about my body from childhood authority figures, and relearning - through intuition, science, and wise teachers - what life can look and feel like when our bodies ARE the authority. To move not from the outside in, but the inside out.
Get in Touch
Email Laura at lauramcadamsdoula@gmail.com
​
Book a free, no-obligation 30 minute conversation here