"Active birth" is one of those terms that gets used a lot without much explanation. When we talk about it at Matre we mean staying upright, and mobile during labour - rather than lying flat on your back. As well as using gravity, movement, and position changes to work with your body rather than against it.
Why position matters during labour
Upright and forward-leaning positions can help open the pelvis, work with gravity, and give you more options as labour progresses. Positions like supported squatting, kneeling over a ball or bolster, hands-and-knees, and side-lying with support are common active birth positions.
Why practising them matters
This is really the heart of it: labour is not the moment to try a position for the first time. A body that has practiced getting into and out of a deep squat, or that knows what it feels like to rest fully into hands-and-knees with support, moves into that position far more easily under the intensity of a contraction. Muscle memory built on a mat translates directly into usefulness on the day.
What this looks like in a prenatal class
At Matre, active birth positions are woven through the movement portion of each class - not as a separate "birth prep" segment, but as part of how we build strength and hip mobility generally. By the time you're in your final weeks, these shapes should feel familiar, not foreign.
This is also where breathwork and active birth positions work together - the same slow exhale you've practiced becomes the thing you automatically go to once you're in an active birth position.
Want to build this kind of familiarity before your due date? Join our next sangha of mothers → booking page
