Childbirth Prep Intensive 2-day: In-Person

The non-member rate for this 2-Day Intensive is $429 and the member rate is $343. Click here to purchase your membership today.

We strongly recommend that you complete your prenatal education no later than your 36th week of pregnancy. Starting this course between weeks 28-32 will allow you time to comfortably integrate the content into your birth preparation and further explore topics that spark your interest.

Note: Many classes fill up quickly! The earlier you register, the more options and flexibility you’ll have regarding class dates and times.

More than just a condensed version of our 5-week class, the 2-day intensive outlines the labor process and uses it as a guide for experiential learning while catering to parents who may not be able to meet for five consecutive weeks. Our intensive meets two times, rather than once, in order to give you time to absorb the information, come back with questions and create more lasting relationships with other parents. We also allow for some flexibility in the curriculum to better engage parents at their level of knowledge and interest in the given topics.

This course educates parents so they are able to make informed decisions around the birth of their child and maintain comfort during labor and birth. We draw from a variety of preparation methods to give a holistic and well-rounded approach. Parents get to experience what works best for them. While many of the pregnant people taking this class will go on to have unmedicated births, our real focus is on “normal” or physiologic birth. We define “normal birth” as birth with confidence and joy, rather than with fear guiding decisions or actions. Our goal is to create a nonjudgmental and safe environment where everyone feels welcome and can participate.

Aside from educating pregnant people and their partners on the physiology, hormones and emotions of birth, we practice a variety of comfort and relaxation techniques and positions which enhance the progression of labor. Our 11 hours of class time includes:

-Videos
-Discussion of informed choice
-Common interventions
-Pain relief options (pharmacological and non pharmacological)
-Hospital and home birth options.

Please Note:

-The Details tab holds specific information regarding each session in this series.
-The course fee includes a supplemental digital booklet filled with supporting information and resources.
-You may be eligible for full or partial reimbursement for this course through your insurance. Click here to view more details.
-This class is intended for pregnant people. If you are not pregnant or you are interested in attending as a professional please contact us at classes@ for more information.

The outline listed below is intended to serve as a loose guide for your class time pending the interests of each cohort. Our facilitators skillfully prepare for each cohort by reading through student submissions before the start of session 1. You will receive a welcome email 5 days prior to the Intensive with the link to the questionnaire.

Your facilitators welcome feedback throughout the course to ensure they are meeting student expectations while presenting accurate and up-to-date information.

Day 1: 9:30am-3:00pm

-Understanding the Anatomy and Physiology of Labor & Birth –Preparing in Pregnancy
-Stages of Labor Overview
-First Stage of Labor Positions Practice
-When to call your provider/go to the hospital
-Tips & Tools for Connection, Comfort and Making Choices
-Care provider roles and routines
-Birth Plans

Day 2: 9:30am-3:00pm

-Review of Material Covered
-2nd & 3rd Stages of Labor
-Pain Management Options
-Practices for Coping with Labor & Pain Management Options
-Cesarean Birth
-Your Newborn
-Newborn Routines
-Early Postpartum

Reise Tanner is a seasoned doula, educator, Certified Life Coach for moms, helpers and healers, Advanced Birthing From Within Mentor, Mindfulness Meditation Teacher and mother who has worked with hundreds of families on their birth journeys. She believes that each birth has the power to be transformative and meaningful for everyone involved and that those who support new parents deserve support, as well. Her mission is to change the world by shifting the culture around birth, making it friendlier to mothers, babies and the next generation.

She is currently completing a graduate degree in Depth Psychology and certification in Eco-Psychology, writing about birth and mothering, and facilitating new mom groupsincluding her signature programs: Wild Return and Wild & Rooted. She has attended many midwifery and birth-related trainings in the US and abroad, spoken publicly on several panels and presented to the medical community. She has also been a yoga instructor since 1997, a holistic women’s health practitioner certified in The Arvigo Techniques of Maya Abdominal Therapy and Craniosacral Therapy for pregnancy, postpartum and newborns, and a Lactation Counselor.

Reise first began birthwork after attending the Natural Resources doula training (just for fun) and is a longstanding member of the core education team. Her classes blend practical information, up-to-date research, fresh insight, traditional wisdom, story-telling and experiential learning that engages mind and body in a sacred and supportive space.

Lauren Miller Brown is a San Francisco Bay Area native who specializes in providing nurturing, connective, therapeutic massage, doula services and childbirth education classes. She has been a birth doula for since 2007 and feel very fortunate that she is so passionate about her work and that she found it at such a young age. Her work continues to inspire her to this day and she can’t imagine doing anything else.

Lauren’s road to birth work began after taking a Doulas of North America training in 2007. After completing her Doula certification she enrolled in Alive and Well! The Institute of Conscious Bodywork in Marin County. Lauren completed her massage training in 2008 and has been working as a bodyworker ever since. After massage school, Lauren worked as a massage therapist at The Mindful Body in San Francisco from 2009-2015, focusing on prenatal massage in particular, as well as with a wide variety of clients, including athletes, yogis, and San Francisco’s tech community.

Jewel Buchanan-Boone (also known as HoneyB) is a Renaissance woman living and loving in Oakland, California. A Full Spectrum Birthworker, Cultural Producer, Emcee, Community Sex-Birth-Health Educator, and Village Aunty, Jewel loves creating spaces for authentic expression and shared learning. A fierce reproductive justice advocate, Jewel has been featured in interviews with ATTN, Oaklandside, and the Oakland Better Birth Foundation. Her writing has been published in Birth Work As Care Work, Kearny Street Workshop’s Interdisciplinary Writers Lab 2021 Chapbook, and Liwanag Vol. 3. When she’s not teaching with Natural Resources, Jewel can be found advocating for birthing folks, teaching her Dance Baby Down workshops, making placenta art, or perched on the porch with her cat, B. For collaborations, workshop requests, or media requests contact her via email at [email protected].