Jewish Life & Learning

Prenatal Movement and Jewish Wisdom Cohort

Name: Prenatal Movement and Jewish Wisdom Cohort
Start: 2024-08-07T18:30:00-04:00
End: 2024-08-07T20:00:00-04:00
Location: Edlavitch DCJCC

Adults (18+), Young Professionals (21-45)

Date : Wednesday, Aug 07

Time : 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm

Location : Edlavitch DCJCC
1529 Sixteenth Street, NW, Washington, DC

Join a warm community of other pregnant people focused on safe prenatal movement and discussions based in Jewish wisdom. Each session will be divided between a group movement class and a facilitated, community-building conversation jumping off Jewish wisdom.

This class has been cancelled. Please click here to see more upcoming classes coming up for parents and parents-to-be.

Join a warm community of other pregnant people focused on safe prenatal movement and discussions based in Jewish wisdom. Each of these six sessions will be divided between a group movement class and a facilitated, community-building conversation jumping off Jewish wisdom. The cohort will be facilitated by yoga, Pilates, and fitness teacher Natalie Clark and Rabbi Atara Cohen, Director of Jewish Life and Learning at the EDCJCC.

This class will be held on Wednesday evenings, August 7-September 11, in person at the EDCJCC, from 6:30-8:00 PM. If you have any questions about this cohort, please reach out to Rabbi Atara at acohen@edcjcc.org.

About the Class:

The goal of the movement portion of this series is to help prepare your mind, body, breath, heart and spirit for a strong, confident, comfortable, energizing and embodied pregnancy, as well as an empowering, functional and intentional birth, followed by a smooth and practical recovery. You will learn how to modify everyday movements as well as yoga poses to alleviate common aches, pains and discomforts that can occur during pregnancy; how to align and strengthen your body to prepare for a functional and efficient birth; and breathwork techniques to regulate the nervous system, encourage rest and relaxation, and to help facilitate a better birth experience.

The discussion portion of the series will be warm spaces in which we can explore and share what is in our hearts and minds during this period of change. We will explore topics such as baby-welcoming ceremonies, being a pregnant person in community, and what it means to be a Jewish parent, with space reserved for discussions based in participant interest. These rich conversations will be welcoming and appropriate for participants of all Jewish learning backgrounds, with the goal of fostering an intentional and supportive community.

About the Facilitators:

Natalie (she/her) is a yoga, Pilates, and fitness teacher, as well as a meditation guide, Reiki healer, and grief worker. As a teacher, guide, mentor, activist, and intersectional feminist, Natalie views holding space for her students, their changing body and choice to grow their family as an act of community care, sacred work and intergenerational healing. She is a kind, intuitive, and spiritual human, as well as a caring, inclusive, and supportive teacher whose classes emphasize body positivity, freedom of movement, and the joy of learning in community. Natalie was voted 2nd Place for DC’s Best Yoga Teacher by Washington City Paper in 2023 and a Finalist in 2020 & 2022!

Rabbi Atara Cohen serves as the Director of Jewish Life and Learning at the EDCJCC in Washington DC, where she cultivates innovative and diverse communities around Jewish values and practice. Rabbi Atara has a Bachelor of Arts in Religion from Princeton University and was granted Orthodox ordination by Yeshivat Maharat. Atara brings several years of experience fostering pluralistic Jewish communities in New York City, including serving as part of the Congregation Beit Simchat Torah clergy team, teaching Judaics at Heschel Middle School, and leading Base Manhattan. Trained in traditional Yeshiva contexts, Atara is dedicated to translating the complexity of tradition into approachable content for manifold contexts with extensive experience teaching and writing curricula for students of all ages and backgrounds.