About the Teachers
Ruth Armes
Ruth began her career in teaching with primary school children.
After having her first son, Ruth was drawn to working with pregnant women and their partners, to help them to have satisfying experiences of birth.
She trained for two years with the National Childbirth Trust, qualifying as an Antenatal Teacher, and began teaching Antenatal Classes for the NCT in 1994.
Her desire for a more holistic approach to birth led her to Janet Balaskas, and the Active Birth Centre in North London, where she undertook a further two year training, qualifying as an Active Birth Teacher in 1997.
Since then Ruth has been teaching Yoga for Pregnancy classes and Birth Preparation Courses for women and their birth partners, as an Active Birth and YogaBirth teacher (www.YogaBirth.org).
Ruth sees her Yoga for Pregnancy classes as a place where women can relax, stretch, talk, meet other pregnant women, gain confidence in their bodies and in their ability to give birth, connect with the joy and creativity of pregnancy, as well as receive support and understanding for the struggles.
Ruth's Birth Preparation Courses are where she brings together all of the knowledge and skills that a woman and her partner, together, can bring to the birth experience, to best enable and manage labour and birth.
Ruth has studied meditation with Marion Howells, a renowned Meditation Teacher and accredited Journey Practitioner, for 4½ years. She has completed various courses with Marion including Self Enquiry, Living in Abundance, and recently Group Facilitation using Meditation and Self-Awareness.
She has also benefited enormously from the work of Brandon Bays: The Journey, and has attended several courses and workshops.
Skeena Rathor
Skeena Rathor is a Body Control Pilates Trained Teacher and has been teaching for nine years. She holds advanced certificates in Pregnancy, Post Natal Pilates and Postural Pilates.
Skeena is a fully trained NCT Post Natal Leader and an LLPS Breastfeeding Consellor.
She has worked with some of the UK's leading physiotherapists at the Joy Walter Physiotherapy Clinic. She has studied the Alexander Technique and is currently researching other innovative movement therapies.
Skeena also works with Energy Medicine and Educational Kinesiology and integrates these principles into her classes. After her children were born she became fascinated with the workings of the minds and bodies of young children. She has done a number of courses in Brain Development, she is a Newborn Brazelton Consultant and a Montessori Teacher Trainer.
Natalie Meddings
Natalie Meddings has been an Active Birth Teacher since 2006. She trained with Janet Balaskas at the Active Birth Centre.
She has been a practising birth doula since 2004, training with pioneering French obstetrician Michel Odent.
She is also a qualified postnatal doula and is a member of DoulaUK.
She has 3 children of her own aged 7, 5 and 3. A former journalist, Natalie trained as a childbirth expert after the birth of her first child in water at the midwifery led NHS Edgware Birth Centre. Her second and third children were born at home with the support of a doula.
