Labour & Positioning Online Course(s) & Continuing Education

Stephanie Larson is the visionary creator and founder of Dancing For Birth™―the powerful class which combines prenatal/postnatal fitness, childbirth education, and sacred celebration and has become a global sensation as the ‘trifecta’ of birth preparation. Over 20 years ago Stephanie instinctively ‘danced-out’ her first child in an empowering and euphoric four-hour birth. Upon hearing her peers’ stories of their traumatic births, she felt called to change the status-quo and bring a radically different birth method to parents and the professionals that serve them. Now, Certified Dancing For Birth™ Instructors on four continents educate and mentor parents on an ongoing weekly basis from pre-conception through postpartum (including baby). With each dancing labor, and the resulting connection to body, baby and bliss, birth is being transformed from fear, pain and trauma to power and pleasure.

A world-renowned expert on utilizing movement, instinct and gravity to support easier birth, Stephanie’s appearances include LAMAZE, ICAN, DONA, CAPPA, CIMS, ICEA, AWHONN, CBS, NBC, Fox and ABC. She was voted USA’s National Birth Hero by the birth community (One World Birth Award). Stephanie is the executive producer of the DVD “Prenatal Dance and Birth Wisdom.” She’s a mom of four who calls for an end to forced lithotomy position and a global shift to primal, powerful, euphoric birth and conscious parenting. Reach Stephanie at [email protected]

Cheri Grant RN, ICCE, CLC, ICD, CLD, CD BDT(DONA). Is the Coordinator of LifeStart Program at St John Owasso Hospital. Childbirth Graphics named her “The Peanut Ball Lady” She is the founder and consultant for Premier Birth Tools a website that has resources for peanut balls and its mission is to get peanut balls in every hospital in the United States with resources for everyone in the world, and to teach how to use it correctly. She continues to guest lecture to OU, OSU residents and nurses on maternal and child health topics such as the "Secrets of Labor Support." She spoke on the peanut ball at the National LAMAZE convention “The Peanut Ball- New Tool for Your Doula Bag and Its Effect on Laboring Women “She has also published several an articles on the peanut ball including " The Peanut Ball: A Remarkable Labor Support Tool " in the DONA international magazine and the "Peanut Ball, Improving Options for Women Laboring with an Epidural" in Australian Midwifery News. She has recently been featured on the Podcast “How do Peanut Balls Support Labor? “ for Evidence Based Birth. She is an Authorized Peanut Ball Trainer and has developed many educational tools for the peanut ball. She also has given over 100 in-services on the peanut ball. She is the Founder of Tulsa Doulas Inc. Doulas of Northeastern Oklahoma which she started 25 years ago. She is a Birth DONA Doula Trainer her certificate number is #2 as a trainer for DONA. She is certified as a Doula through DONA, ICEA and CAPPA. She is an internationally certified childbirth educator through ICEA for over 30 years. Cheri is an author of “Labor Support Forms – A Guide to Doula Charting” which is in its Third edition and on the app Mobile Doula . Several of her articles have been published in ICEA and DONA Journals. She has lectured at DONA international conventions and AWHONN State conventions “. The Peanut Ball" and Implications for Women Health”. She also produced and directed a Video on “Comfort Measures for Labor.” She teaches and coordinates training workshops for Birth Doulas and nurses talking about the profession of doulas around the country. She previously was a lactation consultant IBCLC for over 10 years. She also maintains her lactation educator. Previously she was also AWHONN certified in-patient obstetrical nurse for many years. She was also featured on the front page of the Tulsa World for her 42 years of work with pregnant and laboring women. Teaching and speaking about how to correctly use the peanut ball is her passion.

Molly O’Brien is an experienced midwife, with more than 20 years of clinical practice and has attended over a thousand births. She is also a hypnobirth and birth preparation teacher, an associate university lecturer, has created courses for midwives, campaigned for midwife led birth units and been a passionate student and enabler of normal physiological birth. She has worked in all areas of midwifery. Her favorite work was in the home environment and a Midwife Led Birth Unit. It allowed her to attend hundreds of undisturbed physiological births. It also gave her the opportunity to make a systematic exploration of midwifery skills and observations that can help resolve long difficult labours caused by a suboptimal position. The techniques and strategies that emerged from this time helped her revolutionize her own practice. She began to regularly witness dramatic progress as she put them to use in “difficult labours”. Now she teaches the course she developed for Birth Professionals, ‘Biomechanics for Birth’. She also taught for a master's course at the City of London College and runs a 3000 strong Facebook group Biomechanics for Birth for birth and women’s health professionals that carries a lively and informed discussion on a wide range of women's health issues.

Tammy Ryan has been attending births since 2002. She is a birth doula trainer for DONA International, childbirth educator, midwifery assistant and one of six trainers world wide for Spinning Babies. Tammy has sat on the DONA International board of directors plus several other boards. She started working Internationally in 2008 when she went to DR Congo to train life saving skills in childbirth according to the World Health Organization. She has served in Haiti, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Kenya, Korea, Japan, India, Israel & Brazil. Tammy has presented childbirth information on several venues including international conferences, TV, radio, universities and to the Ministry of Health. She has been published in the quarterly International Doula and on several blogs. Tammy teaches When Survivors Give Birth as a way to help survivors and birth workers. Tammy has experienced first hand the barriers women face worldwide in getting adequate care in childbirth and postpartum.

Fiona has been a midwife for 32 years. She is also a registered nurse and maternal & child health nurse, a birth educator and bodyworker. She has worked in Melbourne public and private birthing hospitals and has supported many families with the birth of their babies at home and in hospital. Interwoven throughout her midwifery practice has been an involvement in midwifery education and the teaching of Birthwork Workshops. The focus of all birth related teaching is on the dynamic pelvis and how to make space for the baby. Fiona is also a Spinning Babies® Approved Trainer. When not teaching workshops, Fiona offers bodywork sessions to women in a 1:1 capacity, with particular emphasis on internal pelvic release work. She has been instrumental in establishing the Internal Pelvic Release Work Mentoring Program in Australia. Fiona’s drive to teach is fuelled by a desire to see childbearing women hold birth knowledge, learn to honour their pelvic treasures and work with their innate power and in so doing, eradicate birth trauma. Fiona lives in Melbourne, Australia.