Author Biography

Rehana is the founder of MummyYoga, a specialist perinatal yoga service. 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 an active member 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 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).