Yoga & Wellness for the Prenatal/Postnatal Experience
BYC is privileged to provide a variety of wellness offerings to support your growing family while honoring this deeply transformative time of life. Our aim is to invite healing into the space of mothering and celebrate community connection among expecting parents. Explore our weekly yoga classes & multi-week class series for both prenatal and postpartum stages, as well as perinatal workshops, retreats, and massage offerings below. We recommend booking spots early, as many of our classes & events tend to fill up quickly!
Weekly Prenatal & Postnatal Yoga
We offer 75-minute classes for both prenatal and postnatal stages on a weekly basis out of our cozy secondary studio space, the Annex. Learn more and book a class below or read full class descriptions here.
Prenatal Yoga
Join at any stage of your pregnancy journey to connect with your body, your baby, and other parents-to-be, as we move through mindfully curated sequences that involve movement, breath, and meditation while honoring the physiological processes of pregnancy.
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Thursdays @ the Annex
with Jacque Sweet
4:30 - 5:45 p.m.
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Sundays @ Granary Ave Studio
with Jenna Walenga
4:30 - 5:45 p.m.
Postnatal Yoga
This class offers a beautiful opportunity for women post-birth — whether returning to yoga or starting fresh, and up to a year or more after giving birth — to move and breathe mindfully alongside others with shared life experiences. Classes focus on safely reintegrating the core, building strength from the center out, reconnecting with body and breath, and providing dedicated time for restorative rest.
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Thursdays @ the Annex
with Jacque Sweet
6:00 - 7:15 p.m.
Several other class styles offered on our daily schedule may also be supportive during the prenatal and postpartum stages. If the times above don’t fit your schedule, or if you’d like to explore different approaches to perinatal practice, we recommend Therapeutic Yoga and Chair Yoga. Therapeutic Yoga is a gentle, somatic-based practice that can be especially helpful in restoring a sense of calm and building emotional resilience, while Chair Yoga offers an accessible, adaptable option that uses the stable support of a chair to reduce joint strain and improve balance & alignment.
Events & Class Series
Inspired Vitality: 3-Week Hands-On Postnatal Yoga Series
with Jacque Sweet and Caroline Snijder
October 5, 12 & 19
Sundays | 9:00 - 10:15 a.m.
@ The Annex
Reconnect with your body’s innate vitality in this three-part postnatal yoga series designed for all who have experienced pregnancy and childbirth. Through mindful movement, supportive breathwork, and optional hands-on assists, Jacque and Caroline weave their expertise as an experienced yoga educator and massage & bodywork therapist into practices that restore strength, grounding, and ease. Each week offers a chance to connect in community and leave feeling nourished and empowered.
Investment:
All (3) sessions — $85
Define Your Aspirations and Claim Your Agency: 4-Week Mindful Birthing Course
with Dr. Anna Dowling (MD) in collaboration with Jacque Sweet
October 22, 29 & November 5, 12
Wednesdays | 6:30 - 8:00 p.m.
@ The Annex
Join Dr. Anna Dowling, MD, of Birth Story Obstetrics, along with BYC prenatal teacher, Jacque Sweet, for a 4-week course focused on an empowered approach to birth. This series will equip you with essential mindfulness skills to navigate pregnancy and birth, including the pain-fear cycle, nervous system regulation, and building your care team. Each session combines Dr. Anna’s expertise with yoga postures, breathwork, and meditation to help you prepare for a mindful, transformative birth experience. Limited capacity! If you’d like to bring your partner, please pre-register them separately.
Investment:
$99 - $129 | Sliding scale pricing options are ‘per person’ for all (4) sessions
Peaceful Mama: Retreat to Joshua Tree
with Claire Zurbrugg
October 24 - 27
Joshua Tree, California
Waitlist Only! Escape for 3 nights with other moms to practice yoga, explore the breathtaking desert, eat nourishing rainbow colored meals, and deepen our support and friendship networks. This retreat is designed for mothers of young children and other parents who don’t conform to traditional binary roles, but have birthed children from their bodies, as well as foster/adoptive mothers. In this busy season of life where both deep love and exhaustion meet, we will gather together, build community and both see and be seen by one another.
Perinatal Massage
Whether you’re dealing with prenatal discomfort or navigating postpartum recovery, our experienced therapists are trained in perinatal massage and bodywork techniques, providing tailored treatments to bring you targeted relief throughout the entire process.
Massage during the perinatal period can help reduce stress, ease muscle aches and cramps, improve blood and lymph flow, manage swelling, alleviate stress on joints, support the immune system, reduce prenatal complications, and improve body awareness (which can be especially helpful during the birth process). Similarly, Post-natal massage can help you recover from birth, ease shoulder and neck tension from constantly holding that bundle of joy, and facilitate healing of injuries such as C-section scars, diastasis recti, and pelvic floor dysfunctions. A Restorative Perinatal Massage is a great way to ease discomfort and provide much-needed relaxation during this transformative time.
Restorative Perinatal Massage
$100 | 60-Minute
$145 | 90-Minute
Liesl Schwerin
(LMT)
Massage Therapy | Perinatal
If you’re looking for a comprehensive and holistic approach to prenatal care, consider a 90-minute Structural Integration session with Caroline. S.I. not only relaxes but also realigns your body’s structure, addressing the deeper layers of connective tissue and your nervous system to help you adapt to the physical changes of pregnancy with greater ease and balance. Learn more about S.I. therapy here.
Structural Integration for Perinatal Care
$160 | 90-Minute
Caroline Snijder van Wissenkerke
(BCSI, LMT)
Structural Integration | Perinatal | Partner Massage
Prenatal Yoga Teachers
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Claire Zurbrugg
E-RYT 500, YACEP, LMT // Prenatal Yoga, Hatha, Vinyasa, Chair Yoga
BYC Founder & Director of YogaA longtime yoga teacher and the founder of Bellingham Yoga Collective, Claire brings over 14 years of experience leading classes, retreats, and trainings across the US and abroad. As a mother of two young boys, Liam (6 months) and Henry (4 years), she understands firsthand the delicate balance of making space for yourself while caring for others. Through intentional movement and shared experience, Claire offers a practice that meets you where you are, creating space for mothers to reconnect with themselves in a supportive way.
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Jacque Sweet
E-RYT 500, Anusara-Inspired™ // Prenatal Yoga, Vinyasa, Hatha
Director of Student Experience of BYC Yoga SchoolJacque is a yoga instructor, a mentor, and a director and educator in yoga immersion and teacher training programs at BYC. Her teachings stem from her extensive study with Karen Sprute-Francovich in the Anusara Yoga Methodology. Her specialties include inspired theme-weaving, functional and fluid movement with refined language in principles of alignment and support in empowering one another.
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Jenna Walenga
RYT-200 // Prenatal Yoga, Vinyasa
Jenna believes yoga is a powerful tool with which we can meet ourselves and learn to listen to our own bodies. Her classes create a space in which students are encouraged to follow their own rhythms and callings and to deepen their connection with their intuition. She strives to offer inclusive practices without shying away from the alchemy of moving through challenge. She is trained in iRest Yoga Nidra, Pre/Postnatal Yoga, and Trauma-Informed Yoga, and and brings elements of meditation and dance into many of her classes.
Join Our Prenatal Yoga Mailing List!
Subscribe to our perinatal e-newsletter to stay informed about our upcoming prenatal & postnatal workshops, event series, class additions, and other special offers for perinatal wellness!