Prenatal Yoga in Jerusalem at Parparim Ba Beten (פרפרים בבטן)

I wish this post existed when I was pregnant with my first, Ovadia, who is now 3. I was searching online in English for prenatal yoga in Jerusalem, as it’s common on the lifestyle/motherhood blogs I was reading from the U.S. to hear about the variety of benefits of prenatal yoga’s relaxation, breathing, and birthing techniques.

I found back then only one option (advertised as both prenatal and slow flow yoga), but after trying one of the classes, which was almost empty and available also for non-pregnant women, many of the positions I couldn’t do and the atmosphere wasn’t what I was looking for, even though the teacher was very sweet. Without any other options I could find in English, I kind of gave up on being able to enjoy this pregnant activity.

Until I ran into Noga (an Israeli), the wife of my husband’s friend, and when she saw my growing stomach she told me…you must go to Parparim Ba Beten’s prenatal yoga (Parparim Ba Beten/פרפרים בבטן translates to Butterflies in the Stomach) near Emek Refaim. Just go to their website and call them…Rachel is the teacher.

Easier said than done. At that time it was very hard for me to do searches and find things in Hebrew, so after telling her my insecurities, she took my phone and found me the website. We located the phone number together and I called Rachel the next day.

I started talking in my mediocre Hebrew about how my Hebrew wasn’t great and asking her if I would be able to follow the class…. until I heard a slight American accent in her voice….she speaks English? She kindly (she has a very soft voice!) told me I don’t need high-level Hebrew at all, and it is no problem if she needs to translate for me a word here and there. (As you see I was very insecure about this back then…now I am in a much better place).

It turns out Rachel is American, but here in Israel (I believe now) almost 20 years. She teaches the most relaxing and mind/body strengthening class which is called “Prenatal” Yoga, but is truly something special and different. I can’t explain until you go. The positions, moves and breathing techniques we did in the class got me through many of the challenges of both my pregnancies and births, and the various stretches I learned in the class I still do to this day. (In the class you learn many ways you can strengthen and relax all parts of your body throughout your life).

She also has a variety of seminars, is a doula, and got me into using Do Terra essential oils (more on that in another post).

Unfortunately, they still haven’t made their website in English yet, but here is the exact link to Parparim Ba Beten’s page about Prenatal Yoga. The phone number to call Rachel is right there on top.

If you live in Jerusalem and are pregnant, I highly recommend trying out her class.

B’sha Tova!

(*Photo above taken from Parparim Ba Beten’s website.)