Suffolk Woman's Wellness Centre

Gentle yoga-based exercises and stretches to prepare you for birth. As well as classic yoga poses, you’ll focus on positions for labour, breathing and relaxation techniques. The class is suitable for you from 12 weeks pregnant all the way until you give birth, regardless of your fitness level. No experience of yoga is necessary. The class finishes with a wonderful relaxation and meditation session, helping you to connect with your baby and prepare your mind for your forthcoming birth.

You will tone muscles giving yourself the chance to get back to pre-pregnancy weight faster, and maintain your body and keep it injury free. You will learn how to work your core muscles around your tummy to manage carrying the baby in pregnancy and beyond, and have the chance to become strong to carry around all the baby paraphernalia and hold your baby whilst feeding without back and shoulder pain. It is an opportunity to have time for you. Better than that though, after the session your blood will be full of endorphins which make you and baby feel good. Your baby is shown to become fitter too when the mother exercises, a good reason for mummy-to-be time.

Are you aware of how your body is feeling? Have you taken the time to listen to what it may be telling you? Do you trust yourself? Do you feel stressed or have signs of tension in your body? Do you feel hyper alert unable to switch off? Or in shutdown? As a culture we are facing a health crisis from the effects of chronic stress. This can be relieved by learning how to better regulate your nervous system. Slow mindful yoga is as important to your health as cardiovascular exercise, the neuroscience behind it shows a regulation of metabolism, immune system, the pain response system and hormones, as well as improved energy. Slow is rare, valuable and precious, we savour the minutes, taking time to restore, and build up your resilience to adapt to stressors, develop greater patience and improve overall health. Mindful movements, breathing practices and meditations in class will engage the “rest and digest” or parasympathetic nervous system response. This is a function that is below the level of consciousness, for example overriding stress signals, and helping improve digestion. It is a foundation for healing, reducing inflammation, detoxifying and optimising all of the other systems in your body.

Aqua Blast essentially aerobic exercise in the water. It typically takes place in shallow water at a swimming pool and as part of an organised group session that lasts 45 minutes. Workouts usually comprise of routines familiar to those who have experienced land aerobics, and could include jumping jacks, cross-country skiing motion and walking and running backwards and forwards. Workouts also commonly feature such special water devices, such as foam tubes and dumbbell floats, which are used to aid flotation and resistance. For all ages and abilities. Great for rehab from hip and knee operations.

Giving you the confidence to exercise safely with experience and knowledge that you can trust. Taught by Midwife and Pregnancy Exercise Specialist Nina Parnham. Suitable for all levels of fitness, no previous experience necessary. This Functional Pregnancy Exercise programme gets you strong for the life you lead and ready for your birth.

Core focus exercises are aimed at strengthening your core abdominals and pelvic floor but also improving general trunk strength, upper limb and lower limb strength. You will notice an improvement in the ‘connection’ to your core, and feel stronger, have more stability and have the ability to manage daily tasks with more ease. Come and join a small friendly class where you will be closely monitored by a women’s fitness professional, and meet other fitness minded women. The class involves exercises using the swiss ball, plus other stability equipment such as bosu balls and wobble boards throughout for total body muscle sculpting. This class continuously challenges participants with exercises that use either body weight only or dumbbells.