Pre/PostNatal
Come move your body and enjoy meeting other mamas-to-be in a nurturing and supportive space.
Prenatal Yoga classes are specially designed for women in any stage of pregnancy. We begin with introductions to build community and continue with warm-ups, breathing, a standing flow, seated postures and a final guided deep relaxation. The rope wall is often used. You are encouraged to take the class at your own pace. Experience the nourishing and calming benefits of the prenatal yoga practice which promotes openness and strength and helps prepare the mind and body for the transformative journey through pregnancy and labor. Past students report having a more easeful pregnancy, increased confidence and stamina during their labors, and more efficient postpartum recoveries.
Eat something light before yoga, allowing about an hour to digest before class. Wear comfortable clothing that you can move freely in.
Baby & Me
Postpartum Class
Move, breathe and meet others in this fun and relaxed class with Ires Wilbanks, CD(DONA), Certified Pre and Post natal Yoga Instructor, and Certified Body, Ready, Method® Professional.
Class will begin with a short introduction. Sharing is optional but a nice way to build community and find connection with one another. We proceed with warm ups, breathing exercises, a free flow movement component, some standing and seated sequences, followed by a final guided relaxation and visualization.
The focus is on postpartum recovery, functional movement, stretching and strengthening. You may join anytime you are feeling ready to begin a gentle movement practice. No prior experience with yoga is necessary.
In addition, you will learn how to coordinate 3 dimensional breathing with movement and notice the calming effects on your nervous system and find better balance in your body.
Labor & Delivery
Workshop
Childbirth Prep Express Class
Knowledge is Power!
In this Intensive Workshop you will:
Learn How to improve your chances of a physiological birth.
Overcome Fear through breathing, vocalization and movement.
Gain Confidence in your body’s ability to give birth.
Discover Ways you might avoid unnecessary interventions.
Explore the Possibility of a joyful and ecstatic birth!
This is a 4 hour hands-on workshop. Please wear comfortable clothes. You may take this course at any point during your pregnancy.
If possible, watch the film “The Business of Being Born” prior to attending the workshop.
Prenatal Breastfeeding
Intensive
Empower yourself with what to expect when you’re having a baby.
~ Why Breastfeed?
~ Benefits for parents & baby
~ How Do breasts make milk
~ Various Stages of milk
~ Why is my milk not coming?
~ Key Things to look for after birth
~ 3 Biggest Questions parents have
~ Feeding Cues
~ Breastfeeding Positions
~ Tips for Latching Correctly
~ Self-Care
~ Nutrition Tips
~ Pumping & more…
Infant Massage
Workshop
For 2-week old babies up to 1 year and their caregiver(s), pregnant moms too!
Learn and Practice holistic and natural ways to:
~ Promote Infant Health
~ Improve Parenting Skills
~ Deepen Bonding
Infant Massage incorporates nurturing touch, massage and reflexology in a loving, fun, one-on-one interaction that provides nourishment for baby’s mind, body and spirit.
Questions: email Candice
Mothers, Partners, Grandparents and other caregivers encouraged to attend.
Pre/PostNatal Bodywork
with Debra Bernath, NY & NJ LMT
or Anna Winkler, NJ LMT
Doula Services
Ires Wilbanks
CD(DONA)
Ires began practicing yoga in 2000 and has been teaching prenatal yoga and yoga for labor and delivery since 2006. She received 3 certifications from Integral Yoga Institute in New York and taught there while living in NYC. She has been a student of many styles of yoga, but has primarily practiced Ashtanga Yoga and has studied with renowned teachers across the world. As she steps into wise womanhood, she has adjusted and scaled back her practice to serve and honor her changing body.
Ires is also a certified DONA International birth doula and has been attending births since 2011. Her philosophy on supporting families during this major life transition stems from her own birth experiences as well as taking radical responsibility for her own health and healing. She has spent the last 16 years taking a deep dive into many aspects of birth. She is a certified Body, Ready, Method® professional, a trained postpartum doula, a Certified Lactation Counselor, a recent graduate of the Radical Birth Keeper School, and student of traditional midwifery. She has travelled to Bali, India and Tennessee to be at the feet of wise elders. Ires’s goal is to offer a space where one can connect with others, find comfort and ease in pregnancy and be inspired and educated.
Ires is passionate about sharing what she has learned and is available for private childbirth education, prenatal yoga, prepared partner classes as well as many other a la carte doula services.
If you’re interested in talking to Ires about exploring doula services, contact her directly via her website www.ireswilbanks.com.
Teachers
Aliza Sternberg
Aliza is an international board certified lactation consultant (IBCLC), certified lactation counselor (CLC), a certified breastfeeding specialist (CBS) and a Doula. She is continuing her education with GOLD lactation conferences, and is a member of both the International Lactation Consultant Association and the New Jersey Breastfeeding Coalition.Aliza has a thriving private practice doing in-home, office and virtual consults. She also works part-time at WIC. She has worked at Hoboken and Christ Hospital and at Breastfeeding Medicine of NJ as a Lactation Consultant. Aliza also teaches prenatal breastfeeding classes in a group setting or privately.
As a birth doula Aliza helps families on their birth journey. She loves attending births and helping families feel supported and at ease during this most beautiful moment in their lives.
Aliza lives in New Jersey with her husband, three children, and two dogs. She is fluent in Spanish.
Candice Powell-Diaz
Candice is the proud mother of two beautiful wonderful children. She is a licensed massage therapist since 2006, servicing the Montclair area as an Exercise Physiologist at Hackensack UMC – Mountainside since 2003, and as a massage therapist since 2009 in a private office.
Candice has been an Infant Massage Instructor since 2013. She believes touch is healing. She believes in the importance of communicating with your child through loving touch. Touch can provide comfort and trust, allowing people to let down their defenses.
Candice cherishes the support infant massage classes provide for families.
Jennifer Dudek
Jennifer was first introduced to yoga while pursuing her BFA in theater at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. She fell in love with the connection of the breath to the movement and began teaching a yoga warm up for actors and crew before rehearsals and performances. Her formal hatha yoga teacher training began with Lex Gillan and Stan Hafner at the Yoga Institute of Houston. She completed her advanced teacher training in Allahabad, India with the Himalayan Institute under Rolf Sovik, Sandra Anderson, Mary Cardinal, DC Rao, and Pandit Rajmani Tigunait.
Jennifer is also certified to teach prenatal yoga, baby and me/postpartum yoga and exercise, children’s yoga for preschoolers, and Pilates mat. Her yoga classes are hatha based vinyasa with an emphasis on flow and her Pilates mat classes focus on finding length, balance, and stability.
The guiding mantra for all of Jennifer’s classes is “Let’s make the practice a moving meditation.”
When not teaching or practicing yoga and Pilates, she enjoys cooking, creative writing, traveling, and taking care of her three sons.