About Robin
Robin Sale, CHT, CMT is a holistic childbirth educator, hypnotherapist
and yoga instructor who has specialized in childbirth preparation since
1978. She is the director of Whole Birth Resources and her Whole Birth®
audio CDs of prenatal yoga, meditation and holistic labor preparation
are sold internationally. The Whole Birth® Yoga teacher certification
training has attracted midwives, nurses, childbirth educators, doulas
and yoga instructors from across the US, Canada, Mexico and Europe who
bring the Whole Birth Yoga and Support classes to their own communities.
Robin is the author of the Whole Birth® Yoga Teachers Manual and her
articles on pregnancy and birth have been published in Mothering magazine,
The Doula and she is a frequent contributor to the monthly magazine, Growing
Up in Santa Cruz. Her prenatal yoga classes and holistic prenatal counseling
work have been filmed by Suzanne Arms for the film series, Birthing The
Future. She is currently working on her book, Whole Birth Wisdom.
She is a regular lecturer for the Birthwise doula certification training
at Twin Lakes College of the Healing Arts in Santa Cruz, CA. and has been
a featured speaker at the Women's Wisdom Conference (sponsored by Catholic
Healthcare West), The Alliance for the Transformation of Children Summit,
Birthing the Future Symposium and MANA (Midwives' Alliance of North America)
conference. She is a member of CAPPA (Childbirth and Postpartum Professional
Association), a founding board member of Birth Network of Santa Cruz County
and is on the professional advisory board for Birthing the Future.
Robin attended her first yoga and meditation classes over 35 years ago
and her ongoing practice in these disciplines has provided her with a
continual source of inspiration, both personally and professionally. Robin's
interest in helping others find the inner locus of self and healing available
in states of deep relaxation led her to become certified in polarity therapy,
shiatsu and other forms of body work in 1977 - 1980. During this time
she specialized in body work with pregnant woman and trained in infant
massage with a colleague of Frederick Leboyer to teach new parents the
art of infant massage.
In 1980, Robin also began to attend births as a labor assistant at home and in the hospital. And after giving birth to her son Aaron in 1985, Robin began attending births as a midwifery assistant with a local nurse-midwife.
In 1987, Robin started teach prenatal yoga and support classes through
the Dominican Santa Cruz Hospital Education Center -blending her long-time
practice of yoga with her growing knowledge of the needs of women during
pregnancy. These popular weekly classes have been a staple of the Santa
Cruz birth community. Over two thousand women have attended; many have
repeated the six-week series throughout the course of their pregnancies
and have returned for their 2nd, and 3rd pregnancies.
Wanting to better understand the disparity in women's experiences of birth
led Robin to seek out Gayle Peterson,
Ph.D., author, researcher and pioneer in holistic childbirth preparation,
with whom she completed a one-year internship and certification training
in Holistic Counseling and Body-Centered Hypnosis for Childbirth in 1989.
She continues to offer Prenatal Counseling and Hypnotherapy in Santa Cruz.
Between 1995 and 2000, Robin attended annual professional trainings with Jon Kabat-Zinn Ph.D., best selling author and founder of the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care and Society at the University of Massachussets. Robin credits these trainings with the inspiration that led her to integrate her experience and understanding into the Whole Birth Yoga and Support classes and training programs.
In 1999 Robin began offering the Whole Birth Yoga Teacher Training. There are now over a hundred Whole Birth Yoga and Support Classes being offered weekly around the world.
Robin's growing understanding of how yoga and mindfulness practice assist
in managing pain in labor as well as contributing to emotional, physical
and spiritual wellness in pregnancy, birth and parenting is her gift to
childbirth and parenting education. She and her husband, Saladin, live
in Santa Cruz, California and are the lucky parents to Aaron, now 21!
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Whole Birth Resources
Based in Santa Cruz, CA
info@wholebirth.com