The life of a Well Mother pregnancy massage therapist in Australia

Natalie completed her Well Mother Pregnancy Massage in 2007, she now lives on the Sunshine Coast in Australia.

To download  her visualisations email her

Three years ago my partner, my 8month old daughter and I packed up and took a roadtrip around the east coast of Australia, looking for home. After 90 days of beaches, bbqs and balmy weather we found somewhere that felt right and began laying some roots.

With a young daughter I wasn’t ready to get back into work. So instead we focused on just hanging out, and working on our “Being” rather than our “Doing”.

After the fast paced, annoymous, and concrete kind of lifestyle we were used to in London, Australia was a bit of an adjustment. However it didn’t take long to get used to the slow daily beachwalks, the friendly hellos from anyone who crossed our paths, and the fresh sea air. For the first 4 months my partner and i were averaging 9 – 10 hours sleep a night – I think we were making up on the sleep debt we accumulated upon becoming parents!

While I wasn’t ready to work away from my daughter, I was missing doing something outside of the full-time job of parenting. So I decided to use the time to finally record some of the visualisations that I had taken to doing with clients when I was in the UK.

I have always been fascinated by the Mind-Body connection, and the power of the mind to engage in the healing of the body. My clients loved it when I included a short guided visualisation in a  massage and used to say “Oh that is so relaxing, I wish I had a recording of that and I could play it anytime!”. With my non-pregnant clients I just improvised in the moment. With my pregnant clients I was inspired by Suzanne’s water relaxation, and most often spent some time connecting them to their baby. Even just a simple “Breathing in and your baby has space to move, breathing out and your baby feels a reassuring hug from you” was reported as deeply connecting.

So I invested in a microphone and started playing around with making a soundproof space and doing some recordings. I created four 20min Guided Relaxations for pregnancy and birth preparation. I love affirmations and so I made corresponding affirmation recordings for each visualisation.

This led to recording all kinds of affirmations – from self-worth to sleeping well. I loved the idea that someone could pick and mix affirmations to make a playlist for their unique needs.

So three years and another child later I am back into massaging. I am building a lovely client base for my very part time work.

All my bodywork sessions start with some breath work, and a verbal invitation to surrender, relax and release, and to use the time to connect with themselves – and their babies if they are growing them. I sometimes end the sessions with guided relaxation, or just “talk them back to earth” – helping them to embody the experience consciously.

I sell CDs of the Pregnancy Relaxations at a Monthly Baby Market where I promote my Pregnancy Massage. The affirmations I recently made downloadable for free. I am noticing that more and more people are becoming open to things like affirmations and visualisations. I feel we are in exciting times. It is my wish that we start to truly trust the power of the mind, and to explore much further the Mind-Body connection.

Imagine if it were taught in schools…