My Experience
Senior yoga teacher with Yoga Australia and Yoga Alliance
Childbirth and Parenting Educator (CAPEA)
Bachelor (double major in psychology) and Postgraduate Degree in Psychology (UQ)
Postgraduate Diploma of Yoga for Pregnancy & Active Birth (Active Birth Centre)
+ 20 years principal teacher and founder of yogababy
+ 10 years Calmbirth practitioner
Trained in Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy
Graduate Certificate in Gestalt Therapy
Watch Suzanne Swan teaching Pregnancy Yoga and Childbirth Classes
Work with Suzanne Swan
Learn from one of Australia’s most experienced Pregnancy Yoga and Active Birth Teachers.
Suzanne’s teaching spans two decades. Her Childbirth classes are highly recommended by Midwives and Obstetricians. She is available for advice on fertility, pregnancy, childbirth, early parenting, and professional training.
“I found the breathing techniques to be an incredible help to me, and numerous staff commended me on my breathing and asked where I had learnt this. I was able to achieve the birth I wanted thanks to your help, as well as encouragement from my mum, with no pain relief needed and the confidence to actively be involved in decisions around my son’s birth, ultimately achieving a natural birth seemingly against the odds.”
How you can work with me
Pregnancy Yoga and Active Birth Yoga
Online Active Birth Yoga Class
Join from the privacy of your home, for all trimesters of pregnancy and to prepare you for an Active Birth. Postnatal yoga & baby yoga too!
Couple Active Birth
Come and explore with me the practical active birth skills that will assist you in achieving a physiological labour and birth. There is time also to process fears and previous birth experiences.
Fertility
I work one on one with women seeking to improve their reproductive health. The sessions provide both emotional and physical support through counseling, education, and your own personal yoga program.
Couples Counselling
My training in Gestalt Therapy and Attachment Parenting helps us explore your parenting and relationship distress. I support you as parents in exploring your attachment strategy and how this may impact your parenting styles.
Mentoring
As a Senior Yoga Teacher and Childbirth & Parenting Educator I provide training and supervision for yoga teachers and health professionals in the fields of pregnancy yoga, postnatal yoga, yoga for babies and Active Birth education.
Intimate Group work
Active Birth Workshops
In a small group setting, you can explore Active Birth skills. My teaching style is experiential and involves proven mind/body techniques to manage pain and optimise the release of hormones that help create safety and effectiveness.
Yoga Teacher Training
Bi-annually yoga teachers gather to increase their skills in teaching Pregnancy, Active Birth and Mums and Bubs yoga. You can join the teacher training program.
Testimonials
My story
Born in Melbourne in 1967, I spent my early years growing up in Darwin and Southeast Queensland. During my postgraduate studies in Psychology at the University of Queensland (1989), I was first introduced to Yoga. Moving to Fremantle, WA, in the early 1990s, I started my first yoga teacher training in the Iyengar Yoga tradition with teacher John Leebold. In the mid 1990s, I had the unique opportunity to do pregnancy and baby yoga with Sam and Sydel Weinstein at their Family Nurturing Centre in Swanbourne, WA, during my two pregnancies and homebirths (1994-1998).
In 1999, our family moved to Brisbane, where I began teaching Pregnancy Yoga for Jane Campbell-Kaye from Brisbane Active Birth & Yoga. After a three-year apprenticeship with Jane, I was certified as a Yoga for Pregnancy Teacher and Active Birth Educator with Brisbane Active Birth & Yoga (B.A.B.Y) and Janet Balaskas of the Active Birth Centre, London (2001). Janet Balaskas began the Active Birth Movement in the mid-'80s and has published many books on Active Birth. Janet was one of the first yoginis to combine Yoga and Birth education to empower women to give birth naturally using Yoga and breath. In 2001, I received Janet Balaskas's blessings to pass on this knowledge and practice.
In 2003, Yogababy was conceived, and I have taught over 10,000 women and their families. I have been awarded Senior Yoga Teacher status with Yoga Australia and Educator with Childbirth and Parenting Educators of Australia (CAPEA) in recognition of my studies and teaching.
I was inspired by attachment research and practice during my early parenting years (1995-2005). I studied with Aletha Solter and became a certified Aware Parenting Instructor, teaching 'Why do babies cry' workshops in Brisbane. From 2010, as my children grew into teenagers, I reached out to Paddy Wipfler and studied to become a hand-in-hand parenting instructor.
As a parent, I have always continued to practice Yoga regularly. Traveling internationally each year to South India, Italy, Bali, and Oregon to study with renowned teachers. My yoga practice has been dedicated to understanding how Yoga enhances hormonal balance and women's health. During the last thirty years, I have met and studied with some wonderful Yoginis such as Janet Balaskas, Geeta Iyengar, Swami Gurupremananda Sarawati, Judith Lasater, Donna Farhi, Ateeka, Tamara James, and Nikky Knoff.
Parallel to my yoga development, my studies in Childbirth Education continued as I attended conferences and training with Midwives, Doulas, and other Childbirth Educators. I have studied with author and lecturer Dr. Sarah Buckley, Childbirth educators Penny Simkin and Rhea Dempsey, Calmbirth founder Peter Jackson, and Spinning Babies founder Gail Tully.
Bi-annually, I offer Pregnancy, Active Birth and Baby Yoga teacher training. Over the years, I have offered specialised training programs for health professionals, physiotherapists, childbirth educators, and midwives.
I am completing a Master's in Gestalt Therapy and helping couples with relationship and parenting issues at our Clinic in Currumbin, Gold Coast. I travel monthly to Brisbane to teach the Active Birth Workshops and conduct teacher training. I am grateful to our team of experienced yoga teachers who offer specialised pregnancy and postnatal yoga.
Current teaching appointments:
Monthly Pregnancy Active Birth & Couples Active Birth Workshops;
Couples Counselling Sessions by appointment
Bi-annual Pre/Postnatal Yoga and Active Birth teacher training
