Cristina Freniche is a trained YogaBellies teacher who offers classes in Guildford and shall be doing some blogging about fitness and health for you and your baby; this week giving tips on making friends in pregnancy and beyond. Christina is a young professional living in Guildford, although she is originally from Spain. Her passion is for all things pregnancy and baby related and partnered with her love for Yoga, it has culminated in her taking YogaBellies teacher training. YogaBellies offer authentic classes, therapies and workshops for women and children at every stage of their lives including pregnancy and birth; for post-partum mum and baby and now also, yoga for children. They offer yoga for women from menstruation to post-menopausal.
For many mums-to-be, especially those that are relatively new to an area, one of the biggest adjustments they find themselves going through is that of making new friends. You might find that you feel the need to meet people you can relate to, going through what you are at this special time and you’re not really up to talking to strangers in the street, so what are your options?
One relatively direct option is to try to make friends online, in pregnancy and motherhood forums. The upside is quite obvious: you’re making friends with people all over the world, so the likelihood of meeting alike people, or of having someone answer your questions, is much higher. On the flip side, we all like a cuppa and a natter face-to-face every now and again, don’t we?
You could also try to find local friends through Facebook or Meetup groups in your area. No matter where you live, you’ll be able to find one relatively close to you and they will almost certainly have regular meetings, usually at least once a month.
Alternatively, are you attending any pregnancy exercise classes? These can be the perfect places to meet other mums, as you already have a lot in common. Plus well-organized classes such as YogaBellies for Pregnancy will schedule time for all of you to chat after class and even organizes coffee mornings and lunches!
How about your birth preparation classes? Sometimes ladies prefer attending these in a private and intimate way, with only their birth partner and that is perfectly fine, but if you’d rather combine the learning with making friends, you’ll find these a great place to meet other mums too. Birth ROCKS classes are offered in both private and group settings.
After the baby comes, you might find it even easier to meet new mums because, in addition to the aforementioned online ways, there are many churches and organizations that run playgroups and coffee mornings. You might also want to join a Baby Massage group class or even a Mum and Baby Yoga class after your six-week check where you will meet many others and their little ones!
As you can see, there are many opportunities to make friends if you know where to look. Please leave a comment with any other ideas you might have!
Cristina Freniche
Image shows ladies practicing partner yoga in the Guildford pregnancy class; the posture is called the ‘Tree Pose’ or ‘Vrkasana’.