testimonials

Satyananda Yoga

I just wanted to write and say how fantastic yoga was on Monday. It has completely changed everything for me coming to your class on Mondays - thank you.
Olivia

I have had a really great year working with you...Thank you so much for your wonderful teaching.
Chrys

Many thanks for your beautiful teaching...I love the sessions. Thank-you so much for all the thought and integrity you put into them.
Lucyx

Thankyou, Frankie, for another year of yoga in its best possible shape!
Em & Alastair

Thank you for your classes and your calm and steady presence.
Jane

I would really like to thank you for such a great term of yoga lessons. It was fantastic to learn about the chakras in terms of the elements : to relate what is inside to what is outside and vice versa. It seems to help me experience both of them more deeply. It was also great to have a themed lesson each week, especially as each one built on the previous one as a series. I even had to re-arrange my life commitments at times because I just couldn’t miss a single one!
Clair

Thank you for all that you have done by introducing me into the world of yoga so skilfully.
Clare

We wanted to acknowledge how this past year of yoga with you has felt so transforming. Thank you.
Clare and John

I can’t thank you enough for all the support you’ve given me over the last couple of years on my own personal “journey”
Andy

Thank you for being so welcoming. I wish to say what wonderful inspiration your classes have given me ; physical, mental and spiritual inspiration.
Ali

Thank you for such lovely yoga classes
Em

Your yoga classes have been wonderful this year. Thank you
Marie

Many thanks for your lovely classes this year. I have really appreciated them.
Lucy

Workshops/Yoga Days
Thank you for last Saturday. It was a very good day – a stretch and some discipline and new things to learn – but not too much!
Erica

Beautifully crafted workshop as all your lessons! The slightly slower pace compared to lessons allowed us to explore slightly more in depth…lots of food for thought and to inspire me!

Clair

Long hip opening exercises excellent. Chanting lovely

Rachel

Really good to talk about the practices. Lovely day. Thank you I really enjoyed it and thought the teaching was fantastic.

Claire

I especially like these days as you have far more time to relax, consider things than normal.

Mary Anne

Good to have plenty of time for Yoga Nidra and liked the visualisation process. Lovely mix of practices and pacing suited me well. Felt very helpful to have a sense of plenty of time to do the practices.

Pregnancy yoga and birth preparation for couples

Our session with you was so valuable - I felt you brought such a special atmosphere to us all - thank you for your guidance and birth preparation - we loved it.
Abi and Vince (and baby Lila)

Dear Frankie
I just wanted to say thank you for your wonderful Pregnancy Yoga classes. Your knowledge was invaluable in supporting me through the end of my pregnancy. Attending the classes each week will be one of my special 'pregnancy memories'. I am very happy to be able to now be bringing Tobias to your Mother & Baby Yoga classes.
Anna

Frankie's ante natal yoga class was a great space for me to connect with my unborn baby. Frankie made it a special time, her yoga was relaxing, and it definitely helped me prepare physically and emotionally for the birth of my baby. Once you experience a supportive group led by someone such as Frankie you realise how special that time was once your baby is born. I especially valued the opportunity to come back to the class once my baby was born to discuss the birth.
Jackie

I really enjoyed the classes - they got me through the last few weeks!
Anna

Thanks so much for lots of helpful positions and breathing techniques and for several power naps...
Nina, Mike and Will

Yoga postures and breathing helped prepare me physically, mentally and spiritually for labour. I felt really empowered and was able to breathe through the enormous intensity of each surge, rather than get engulfed by them.
Nadia

Hello Frankie. I gave birth to our baby daughter on Tuesday. Used gas and air and spent hours in the bath (birthpool was broken! Otherwise very happy with St Michaels) all went well and straightforward. Daisy Sophia. She is beautiful, perfect and healthy. I’m fine. Recovering, enjoying breastfeeding. It’s amazing. Always enjoyed your class. You doing a brilliant job there. Thank you so much. Love and light.
Geli (by text)

Lovely lovely Frankie
I SO enjoyed yoga on Monday, it was perfect and blissful and peaceful and lovely to sit in a room of big fat pregnant ladies. So lovely to succumb to the pregnancy malarkey rather than spend my time chafe-ing against it and how being pregnant stops me doing what I want to... Thanks so much again.
Ilona

The yoga was undoubtedly a really important part of the preparation for me - as well as being really enjoyable - and the breathing techniques stood me in good stead through the labour. I'm also sure some of the positions we practised helped ensure I didn't tear at all this time.
Jane

It was lovely to come back to the yoga class the other week - it reminded me how lovely my pregnancy was and what a focus the class was for me over the months - and very grounding - so thank you....
Naomi

I have found your classes so very useful and will take your knowledge with me through to the end of this pregnancy and on to any more there may be.
Jenny

Dear Frankie
I wanted to let you know that Samuel was born on 22 April, 12 days overdue following my waters being broken as an induction. Despite my concerns about him lying back to back and my first born's emergency c-section, he turned during labour and i managed a normal birth in 4 hours from my waters being broken - much to my joy!
Thank you for the classes they were a much need time to relect on labour and the little person inside.
Sarah

Frankie created a peaceful safe space where I could focus on my growing and changing body, gently stretch, talk and listen to other mums-to-be about our thoughts and worries. It was really helpful to try out positions that could be useful for labour. I had the confidence in labour to get on all fours in a way I knew would be helpful. I don't believe I could have got that from even the best pregnancy book. Labouring for my second child was definately assisted by using breathing techniques I learned in yoga. The classes, for me, were also part of the rite of passage of growing a baby, starting the class with the smallest bump and growing week by week with all the other mums-to-be and wishing them well...And then another class when they weren't there. And then some of them came back with their babies to tell us all about it. It was a nice circle of sharing, to have known a few women in the same situation and share the journey with them. It felt a safe holding place in preparation for it being my turn. Highly recommended, for many reasons, not least Frankie's extensive knowledge of pregnancy and birth.
Jo

I can't tell you how much I feet that the breathing and exercises you taught helped me through my labour and birth which was at home and totally natural. My son Bodhi is placid and content, he sleeps and feeds well and rarely cries. I feel that practising yoga during my pregnancy has helped make him such a calm baby!
Emma

Hi Frankie, I just wanted to drop you a quick line to say that baby Noah was born yesterday at 1.30pm. It was by no means the yogic birth I hoped for - a LOT more painful than I anticipated and it went on for around 20 hours, plus there was meconium in my waters so I couldn't use the pool and I succumbed to the drugs! However I refused to be induced on the thursday and finally agreed they could on the saturday and labour started on the friday so I felt so vindicated - it was definitely right to let him come in his own time and although I used the drugs I felt it was my choice and not something that happened because they pushed me to be induced. So thank you very much for giving me the confidence to say no to being induced when I instinctively knew it was the right thing to do.
Thank you again for all the yoga sessions, I've enjoyed them so much and as an introduction to yoga it's something I know I want to carry on.
Nichola x

Hi Frankie
Just to give your our joyous news - we have a beautiful baby daughter, Ruby Eva, born on Easter Sunday. She is a lovely healthy size, 8lb. 11 and has only lost 3 oz. since birth. She is feeding really well!! Thank you for all your help - the yoga was an absolute god send, I just focused so much on the breathing and I know that was what helped me get through.
Jo

I really enjoyed the yoga throughout my pregnancy .... thank you for that; they were really enjoyable classes & helped me focus on my baby & the birth in a really positive way.
Chris

I would be happy to come to the class to share my experience of baby Hugo's birth - he was born by forceps at Southmead, which is far from what I planned, but I felt despite this it was a positive experience and the yoga/relaxation helped.
Clare

Thanks for all your support, I used lots of the breathing and yoga positions in early labour and it helped me to focus.
Love Jess xxx

Hi Frankie
It's Liz from your Monday class at the Relaxation Centre. I just thought I'd let you know that Isaac Thomas was born on Monday morning after a very short labour - 2 hours pretty much from start to finish. In fact so quick that he took us a bit by surprise and was delivered by his dad on the bathroom floor! He weighed in at a health 7lbs8oz and looks like his sister. We are all well and he is gorgeous. Thanks so much for the classes - I loved them.
Liz

Postnatal yoga for mums & babies, and sessions just for mums

I attended Frankie's ante-natal class for my firstborn and postnatally for both of my children. I found the post natal space one to be a safe, nurturing one in which I could explore my relationship with my postnatal body and my new babies with the support and quiet guidance of a superb teacher. Frankie's sense of calm, her sensitivity and her yogic teachings are rare and precious.
Julia

Hi Frankie
Just wanted to say thanks for a great session on Saturday last in Stroud.
Lisa

Thanks for the yoga sessions for mums - as ever, nourishing on many levels.
Jenny

I remember with great fondness our afternoons in your lovely yoga studio crying, wailing and generally being new mums and being greeted with affection, support and calm with NO judgement. Thank you!
Tamsyn

I have really appreciated your teaching and presence. Having started the classes so early on in Ingrid's life I really think that our attendance has significantly contributed to her lovely personality and has helped me to be relaxed and to physically recover from pregnancy and birth.
Helen

In this endlessly busy life of being a mother of two, yoga classes with Joe have been some of the most precious moments in his first six months.
Lucy

I attended both Frankies ante-natal (twice a week towards the end) and post natal classes and i have MUCH to thank her for! She provided a wonderfully soothing space where you felt totally relaxed and stretched and listened to..so very important during the very precious (and often exhausting!) time. I am still great friends with some mums I met through these groups.
Amy

I loved how the babies interacted with each other and were part of the class…being taught how to pick up and stand holding your baby was useful.
Celia

Great environment for my baby – different from any other – I shared some special moments with her in the classes. Very healing to use my voice – including singing/chanting – I now want to go and sing!

Kirsten

Pelvic floor exercises were fab.

Victoria

Perfect antedote to chaos in my house! 1½ hours here always makes me feel like a better mother and better person – thanks.

Colette

Very friendly and non-judgemental atmosphere – a space for sharing.

Jessica

Practices I particularly enjoyed – the cat – stretching – learning to relax – remembering time for me – learning to lift and stand properly with baby - learnt more through yoga classes than others - like ongoing support group.

Alison

Have enjoyed the variation and continuity from the prenatal yoga classes…I’ve loved this class, the support emotionally and physically and have always felt comfortable – I will really miss it.

Hannah

I came to ante-natal yoga almost too late – thrilled I’ve been able to do this.

Janet

Loved the songs with babies. Brilliant that felt able to transfer the skills to everyday life and play with Josh.

Lynn

When I started I had awful back pain due to poor feeding and carrying positions. Now I don’t hardly get it. Being shown how to hold Nia properly was great and the importance of looking after myself! It was better than I could of hoped for.

Sarah

SPARK article, Aug-Nov 2006

This is an article written by one of the mums who came to postnatal yoga classes over a period of several months.

Yoga for mums and babies - Nick Stonex

This class is designed for new mums who are feeling like moving again; for those who may feel isolated or for those who simply want to embrace and celebrate their new baby. The aim of the class is to help women recover postnatally. Sessions include strengthening yoga postures, rhymes that babies love and the chance to relax in a friendly and supportive space.

Each week we’d start by saying how we felt, how our week had been, with plenty of space for everyone to really listen and be supportive, and sometimes to offer advice. Then we’d have about an hour of yoga. This included breathing and pelvic floor exercises and stretches. We worked in a circle, with an inner circle of cushions for our babies to sit or lie on.

The yoga is for the mums, not the babies, the babies are there because you are, but the beauty of the sessions is finding way to involve your baby in the process.

Some of my favourite bits involved using rhymes and singing. One exercise had us clicking our fingers, another playing “Row, row, row your boat” with my baby. One great exercise is where we sat in a circle, with one knee raised, with our babies on that raised knee – they are all facing each other in the circle and we sing a song about jumping beans. Each baby in turn gets to be the biggest jumping bean and gets lifted high into the air – much fun and laughter! And other exercise involved holding the babies so they can look at each other as well as mums.

At the end we’d do relaxation and winding down exercises for about ten minutes, and Frankie would offer to take the baby if it was crying and you really needed to chill.

Although the yoga is definitely for the grown ups we were encouraged to watch our babies and look at how they move – how flexible they are and draw a bit of inspiration from them. A wonderful meeting of little bodies and big personalities!

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