Become a
Prenatal Massage Therapist

• Benefits & Precautions of Prenatal Massage

• Physiological changes and High Risk symptoms that impact your bodywork

• Postural Assessment and Realignment Possibilities

• Debunking all the MYTHS!

• Optimal Side lying, Prone, and Semi-Reclining Positions and Secure Draping

• Side lying Techniques that create length /space/ breath/unity

• BodyMechanics for your comfort and optimal client experience

• Assessing your client's needs

• Adaptations for your style of working

• Marketing Approaches and Networking

• Belly Massage & Diaphragm Release

• Client Intake and the Medical Release

• Specific Trimester concerns

• Pelvic Alignment Techniques, Sacro-Iliac Joint and Pelvic Floor Release

• Energy Assessment & Acupressure Flow

• Breast Massage for Pregnancy

• Birth Preparation Bodywork

Safety-based vs Fear-based: Certified Touch For Birth™ Practitioners learn the rationale for massage cautions and contraindications and do not perpetuate myths and rumors about the dangers of pregnancy massage. They learn contraindications of certain acupressure points, and also learn that massage over those very same areas does not pose a risk or danger. Unless a client has a specific risk factor that precludes certain types of bodywork (typically in high risk pregnancies) you’ll receive massage to your whole body, at the pressure you prefer, without concern of causing problems.

Certified Touch For Birth™ Practitioners learn integrative pelvic bodywork to support pelvic rebalancing, pelvic floor release, and pelvic mobility, relieving hip and pelvic pain, low back pain, and sciatica.

During the Prenatal Bodywork Certification, students learn bodywork techniques to support a mother in birth preparation and can offer sessions for women after 38 weeks gestation to help prepare for birthing.

Touch For Birth™ emphasizes principles of unity, length and space to help ease gravitational aches and strains of pregnancy. A Certified Touch for Birth™ Practitioner may use stretching and muscle resistance techniques to help increase comfort and relieve stressed muscles.

As the body grows, there is more compression toward the diaphragm, the ribs expand and pregnant people may have more difficulty with deep breathing. Touch For Birth™ techniques can relax the small muscles between the ribs, expand the side body, and release the diaphragm for easier breathing.

Attention to regions few address: A Certified Touch For Birth™ Practitioner may offer external muscle techniques that help relieve pelvic floor discomfort or pressure, hip pain, or round ligament strain. Gentle belly touch may support an emotional connection for a client after multiple miscarriages or previous traumatic birth experience.

Pregnant people’s bodies make dramatic adaptations during the months of pregnancy. A Certified Touch For Birth™ Practitioner makes adaptations for each trimester, choosing positions and bodywork techniques that best support these changes. The massage therapist understands the benefits and potential detriments of side lying and semi-reclining positioning, and the concerns about and options for prone positioning with special cushions.

Certified Touch For Birth™ Practitioners recognize that being pregnant is a natural and healthy condition of the body and that massage can enhance a woman’s comfort. Massage does not need to be superficial or ‘fluffy’ during a healthy pregnancy. A practitioner may offer deep tissue work as requested by the client, while still recognizing symptoms or risk factors that may preclude certain massage techniques.