Our Team
Rehana Jawadwala
Director & Co-Founder
Dr. Rehana Jawadwala is the founder of Mummy Yoga, a specialist pregnancy and postnatal yoga studio-based practice. Since its inception in 2015, she has worked with hundreds of pregnant and new mums and their partners to support their physical, mental and emotional preparation of their birth and parenting journey.
Rehana grew up in India and has lived in many diverse places as New York, Jeddah and Auckland. Rehana has spent the last 20+ years in the health and fitness industry internationally, both in the commercial setting and academia. She has a PhD in exercise physiology and nutrition. This rigorous scientific training has enabled her to see the ancient yoga practises through fresh updated scientifically evidenced information.
Rehana was invited as an industry expert by the Sector Skills Council, Skills Active in the recent development of National Occupation Standards for yoga teacher training across UK. She is also the chair of Maternity Voices Partnership at the Countess of Chester NHS trust.
Rehana is the creator of “Keep Me Close” babywearing yoga. A class specifically designed to address the subtleties of the emotional, physical and cultural impact of childbirth on women. She also trains health professionals in incorporating the principles of the class through her unique training courses accredited by FEDANT and endorsed by Attachment Parenting UK.
Rehana is a perinatal mental health champion and a House of Commons call on the topic led her to mobilise more than 300 local women to come forth with their experiences and create one of the strongest case for the need for support for mothers. Since then she has led her community to launch a Mothers’ Mental Health Matters Project (#MMhM), that conducts various events facilitating mental health through physical activity. Rehana helps co-curate the annual family and parenting festival at StoryHouse Chester.
Rehana lives in Chester with her three daughters, partner and two cats. She writes and speaks extensively on the importance of physical activity during the perinatal period. Her work is published within leading publications such as AIMS and Birthing magazine. She is currently writing a book for Pinter & Martin on the topic (out Autumn 2020).
You can read more on her speaking and press activities here.
“For me Yoga is not a practice, but a way of living, parenting and navigating the murky world of modern social and environmental pressures. I am passionate about encouraging women to find their own voices on their journey through motherhood without the reliance on supposed experts or dogma or succumbing to societal judgements. I strive towards empowering mothers in raising the next generation with the physical, mental and emotional resilience needed to thrive and coexist in our world following the ahimsa philosophy of tolerance, doing no harm and peace.”
Rees Wharton,
Head of Brand
Rees Wharton joined MummyYoga as a director in October 2017. Rees has several decades of design background. From his early days as a visual artist working mainly in print to his later years concentrating on web interfaces, he has been through almost every aspect of brand development. As part of larger teams he has worked with major commercial projects such as British Land. He is particularly excited to work in a startup environment so that he can influence the brand from inception to maturity.
Rees has been influential in designing all the elements of MummyYoga branding materials, from its logo to the overall look, website and all marketing materials. Unlike other brands who outsource their branding elements, we believe that without a strong identity and someone within the company who knows the brand intrinsically it is very difficult to create a strong presence in an overcrowded sector.
Sam Bull, Consultant Midwife
Sam qualified as a registered midwife in 2008. She has since been providing care to birthing women with expertise in water birth, twin vaginal birth, high risk birth, assisted deliveries with the obstetric teams and caesarean sections.
In 2012 worked in Australia for a while. Her skills of taking bloods and suturing, which the Australian midwives did not have inspired many Australian midwives to gain these skills with the support of workshops, obstetricians and Sam’s guidance. Sam currently continues to work as a community midwife in the U.K. offering local families compassionate, individualised care that is evidence based.
Sam founded ‘With Woman Therapies’ in 2018. This venture provides support for pregnant women and women who are struggling with menstrual complaints, gynaecological complaints, anxiety/depression, pregnancy loss and fertility issues. She uses specialist womb, sacrum and abdominal massage with guided meditation and Rebozo wrapping. Additionally, Sam has completed a hypnobirthing course to support women to birth confidently.
Sam has an impressive knowledge base in ‘Newborn Life Support’, ‘Baby Loss and Miscarriage Support’, ‘Postnatal Contraception’, ‘Maternal Mental Health’ ‘Mentorship for Student Midwives’, ‘Rebozo Techniques for Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Postnatal Period’, and ‘Creating Vision Boards’.
Sam Wiltshire,
Senior Teacher Trainer
Sam Wiltshire is an adult, child and teen yoga teacher, currently delivering a variety of classes in and around the Chester area. Originally qualifying in 2014 with The Comprehensive Yoga Fellowship she continues to develop her teaching practice via training that emphasises yoga becoming more accessible to everyone in society. She feels strongly that a yoga and mindfulness practice can be something that we all benefit from. In fact yoga and mindfulness can be the simple and effective tool we need to help us in our ever changing lives. Sam joined the MummyYoga teaching team this year and is particularly passionate about the unique style of yoga that Keep Me Close introduces. The emphasis on calm connection between mother and child during the practice is something that can so beautifully be taken out of the yoga class and into every day life.
