Mama Dance meet-up
Join us in supportive sessions to connect to your body, bond with your baby, and prepare you both for a gentle and loving pregnancy and post-partum.
Having a baby is a beautiful experience that comes with many physical, mental, and emotional changes.
Taking your place in this circle of like-minded mamas will allow you to
- learn about your body and baby,
- reduce pregnancy-related pain, and
- share your experience with others.
You are never alone with your discomfort, worries, or questions.
You are free to move your body and have fun with your baby.
Yes - you can have a baby and a wonderful experience of it, too!
Learn about your body and your baby
PRACTICE SO YOU CAN LET GO
Your body is wise and capable. You are growing a life, producing milk to nourish that life, and your body knows how to give birth to it too.
When you have developed your intuition to recognise whatyour body’s changes are telling you, you trust your body to be able to give birth.
This trust and connection to your body is the most powerful tool for taking ownership of your birth experience.
In Mama Dance, we approach the changing body with curiosity rather than fear. We practice a variety of techniques such as movement, relaxation with breathing and voice, and meditation in connection with your baby.
This prepares you with a toolkit to support you both in each moment of labor so that you can let go and trust the body’s muscle memory and intuition.
REDUCE PREGNANCY-RELATED PAIN
Pain needs one of two things: rest or movement.
As you develop your relationship with your body, you will explore how to determine what your body needs and try different options to reduce discomfort. This practice can open up a connection to what your body needs in each moment, a precious connection during labour.
To prepare the body for labour...
we focus on strengthening the leg and bottom muscles to help you take contractions in more active positions, such as supported standing or on all fours. When you know how to turn your discomfort into easeful movement, you are confident in your body’s strength to support your needs in labour.
Share your experience
SUPPORT EACH OTHER
In pregnancy, we rush to get things done for work, prepare the baby room, finish this or that before the baby arrives. In Mama Dance, we take time to connect with our body and its innate wisdom, to pause and experience quiet and calm, and to connect with other moms on a similar journey.
We draw inspiration and affirmation cards to start a discussion about our thoughts and feelings. At the end of a class, we dance the “baby welcoming dance,” in which we hug ourselves and the baby as a ritual to express our love with words and movements.
These moments are the most precious during class, and all mamas feel grateful to have them.
Postpartum mamas anticipate the Mama Dance group with joy, as the highlight of their week!
The best part of it all is...
realising you are not alone in this.
You are a team with your baby and a member of a community. You don’t have to process this life-changing experience alone. Sometimes, we make more stable, open and authentic friendships from these classes than elsewhere in our lives. Because we connect with people with the same values and going through similar experiences. The power of sisterhood opens and lifts each and every woman.
And a cherry on top
during pregnancy you let go of stress and inhibitions. You enjoy the dance and connect to your baby in your belly.
After birth, you continue forming a nurturing bond with the baby in your arms. All of this within the group of loving and supportive mamas.
How it works?
Schedule
We meet up weekly on Fridays for 75 mins in the early evening (17:30-18:45). The class is ongoing and you can join any Friday.
Cost
You can buy a bundle of 5 sessions for 90,80 euros or a bundle of 10 sessions for 145,20 euros. You can use your sessions as you wish within a 4-month period (e.g. January-April 2024). If you prefer to buy single classes, then the cost is 24,20 euro per class.
Sign up
Before you sign up, you can come to the open trial class I do once per month. The trial clas is on the first Friday of the month and you can book it via the button below. I would be happy to answer any questions via WhatsApp, you can message me directly by clicking on the WhatsApp button below.
For little "bites of movement" in pregnancy and postpartum, you can follow me on Instagram or Facebook.
Community
After you come to your first group class, and if you wish so, you can be added to the WhatsApp group of Mama Dance, a community of kind, supportive, and empowering mamas.
Join mama dance meet-up!
Your first class is a free trial
Mama dance is the safe place where you can meet all the other moms, who are expecting, and you can have a safe and soft movement class together.
BIRGIT VESKIOJA-VROLIJK
INTERNATIONAL PSYCHOLOGIST VESKIOJA
Plus, you get very good tips as well how to prepare for birth and how to work with your mindset to have a safe and lovely birth experience.
BIRGIT VESKIOJA-VROLIJK
INTERNATIONAL PSYCHOLOGIST VESKIOJA
Hi, I'm Katerina!
I got to know my baby by his movement: when he moved, how much, and how I felt when he moved.
I realised that he was happy when I was happy, which was often after I had been moving or dancing. When I felt good, he was more content.
During postpartum, at difficult times when my baby wouldn’t sleep, my intuition guided me to dance him to sleep. To hum and to move. Sometimes with high energy, sometimes slowly, as I needed it.
The language of touch and closeness helped me feel closer to myself and to him. He was born small, and with our little dances, I could heal the fear I had in the first few weeks.
Fostering the mama-baby connection with dance was powerful in helping me to trust my baby, my body, and our bond. Tuning into what my body was already naturally doing – growing and caring for a baby – I could tap into my own wisdom, human nature, and gain trust in myself.
During labour, we were a team.
I felt an empowered conviction in the fact that I knew how my body and baby were doing better than any measuring device the doctors could consult.
In post-partum, I could trust in my own recovery process, learn to be gentle and accepting with myself,
and not feel pressured by societal norms about my body and the nourishment of my baby.
Mama Dance is open to moms from when they first find out they are carrying a baby to when they are holding the baby in their arms.
- I want you to feel relaxed and prepared for birth. To know your options and how to follow your intuition.
- I want you to feel supported and comfortable in a community of other women who accept you rather than isolated and alone.
- I want you to consciously enjoy your pregnancy, cherish the moments your baby needs you most, and not lose yourself in the dos and don’ts until you forget your own instincts.
Most of all, I want you to be able to make informed and courageous decisions on the birth and post-partum experience you want and need.
FAQs
FAQ 1
Do I need to have dance experience to join the mama dance practice?
Absolutely not. If you are in pregnancy or postpartum and you are willing to move your body to music you are perfectly prepared for mama dance.
FAQ 2
Is the Mama Dance practice safe for pregnancy?
Yes. I always give the option to modify an exercise or even rest for a bit. I am happy to have you join in from your first trimester, provided that you feel good in your body. In this class you will learn to follow the feeling of the body; come along as long as it feels good and take a break when it feels overwhelming. We do not force the body to move when it needs rest.
FAQ 3
How soon after birth can I come to Mama Dance?
A minimum of four weeks is advisable, but again I would like to ask you to feel inside the body and see what is possible and what not. We do not want to force recovery, we want to allow the body to heal and support it in this healing process. The breathing and relaxation techniques we practice in class are helping against muscle tensions and mental or psychological challenges during postpartum. Besides, dancing the same songs with your baby on the outside feels warm and fuzzy and helps bonding with them.
FAQ 4
Is this practice covered under mental health / physiotherapy expenses by my health care provider?
No, as far as I know. You could ask your healthcare provider to be sure. In the Netherlands it might depend on the additional packages you have on your healthcare agreement.
FAQ 5
Are the prices above with or without tax?
All amounts stated above are including 21% tax as charged in the Netherlands. Invoices to companies are also possible.
