Spirals of Joy: Inside Birthlight’s Pregnancy Yoga Training

Honouring transformation

Kirsteen Ruffell

Pregnancy brings change. The body shifts, the centre of gravity adjusts, and the way someone looks at the world often moves with it. For many, it’s a time that opens something new — not only physically, but emotionally and spiritually.

When Kirsteen Ruffell first started teaching yoga, she noticed more and more pregnant women joining her classes. She realised she needed more knowledge to support them with care and attention. “I wanted to be able to look after them better.” she shares. This led her to Birthlight in 2001, where she trained in an approach that speaks to the whole experience of pregnancy. Developed by anthropologist and yoga teacher Françoise Freedman, Birthlight integrates body awareness, movement, and breath with a deep respect for the emotional and spiritual process of becoming a parent.

The name Birthlight reflects the heart of this approach. It points to the possibility of meeting pregnancy and birth with lightness and support, whatever form that experience takes. It also speaks to the deeper process of bringing new life into the world — a transition that carries spiritual meaning for many women. That awareness is present throughout the practices Kirsteen shares in her training.

Through teaching, Kirsteen began to see how small shifts in practice could shape the experience of pregnancy and everything that follows. “Helping someone to find positions that can help them sleep more comfortably, get better rest... arrive at labour and birth, however that unfolds, in the best possible way.”  When those changes take root, they often continue through recovery and into early bonding with the baby. She describes this ripple effect as spirals of joy — a movement that flows outward into daily life, touching partners, family, and the people around.

Pregnancy yoga, as she shares it, creates space for everything that moves through this time, both seen and unseen.

The magic ingredient

There is something that moves quietly through Kirsteen’s teaching. It is not listed in the syllabus or measured by technique. It is felt in the way a room softens and in the shared ease that slowly grows among those present. She calls it the magic ingredient: a feeling of lightness, joy, and humour.

“This little magic ingredient that we need to add to our sessions happens when we’re not too serious about things and that we have also allowed ourselves to let go. That means even if it’s only for the length of the session, we’re going to drop the worries and be fully present in the here and now, which is very much, you know, what we want with our yoga practice anyway.”

The magic ingredient invites a softer way of being. It makes space for laughter to rise naturally and for worries to lift, even for a little while. In pregnancy, where emotions often sit close to the surface, this feeling offers gentle support. Since the pandemic, Kirsteen has seen how important it has become to weave this atmosphere into the practice. Many women arrive carrying more tension than before, often without realising how much they are holding. Creating a space where lightness can naturally arise has become even more essential, offering moments of ease that support both the body and the mind.

She encourages teachers to welcome it through small moments — a playful movement, a shared smile, a breath that lands more deeply. The magic ingredient moves through the practice quietly, helping to hold everything with a little more ease.

A training grounded in the Birthlight approach

The Pregnancy Yoga Teacher Training that Kirsteen tutors is rooted in the Birthlight methodology — a pioneering approach developed by Dr. Françoise Freedman that supports women through all stages of the perinatal journey. It combines physical practices with a deep awareness of the emotional and relational changes that can unfold during pregnancy.

The training is for those who want to explore this work with care and commitment. It asks for time and attention, both during the training days and in the reflection and teaching that follow.

At the end of the course, students often share how much they have learned through the process of studying and applying the work in real classes. Kirsteen says it is a joy to read their reflections and to see how their skills grow along the way.

The training offers a way to guide pregnancy yoga classes with steadiness, sensitivity, and trust in the unfolding process.