Meet Laura
Meet Laura
Meet Laura Lundegard, one of our Whole Mama Yoga Collective Members
Tell us about the work you do outside of teaching yoga?
Apart from teaching, I work as a birth and loss doula supporting families in the RTP area, I serve as a placenta encapsulator with Restoring Balance, LLC, and work part-time at UNC as a trained behavioral activation (BA) therapist for the SUMMIT Study which supports mamas during pregnancy and postpartum.
What draws you to work with birthing people?
I began my journey working with mamas during pregnancy and postpartum about 5 years ago at UNC at the Center for Women's Mood Disorders. I served as a manager of multiple neuroimaging clinical trials, looking at how hormones impacted mood. For years in that role I heard countless stories of traumatic births, and felt a deep inner calling that I needed to be on the preventative side of things, as a doula. I especially felt called to this work, because my own mother struggled with intense birth trauma and loss following a high risk pregnancy, and gave birth to me at 27.5 weeks. She had always wished she had a doula to help her navigate that journey with me living the first 3 months of my life in the NICU. After I attended my first birth following my training in 2022, I felt a deep sense of inner knowing that doula work was what I was born to do.
What brings you joy in your work?
Oh my goodness, so much of my work brings me joy. But I really love getting to witness families' first moments together. I feel so honored to hold space during vulnerable and sacred moments of birth. I love getting to witness a mother's reaction to her baby's umbilical cord keepsake or placenta print, something that she will be able to cherish and look back on the capacity and strength of her body and its ability to sustain and nurture another life.
What do you find challenging about your work?
“At times [birth] can feel difficult to navigate when we have certain expectations and the reality doesn’t always match up.
Which is its own continual practice of letting go, being able to let go and let be.”
Every birth is incredibly different, and everyone's experience in pregnancy is different too. I think the most challenging for me, is specific situations that can arise, or unexpected complications that have arisen in the past. At times it can feel difficult to navigate when we have certain expectations and the reality doesn't always match up. Which is its own continual practice of letting go, being able to let go and let be. This is also why when I support clients prenatally and we review or create birth preferences together we talk about all the "what ifs" so that we can be prepared and to make sure that the whole birth team is on the same page.
Do you see any connections between your work in yoga? What are they?
Absolutely! That's one of the reasons I love teaching and being a doula, both involve holding space for another being, being able to be present and observe cues in the body, understanding movement, positioning, body mechanics, hands-on touch and support are used throughout my work in both roles. So much of the subtle body cues that I use in my yoga classes I also use while supporting someone in labor.
I've had multiple clients in the past that I've met through yoga as well, whether it was someone who had taken my class, or a fellow yoga teacher that I met while chanting in community together. With those clients who have an existing chanting or yoga practice, I've OMed with them through contractions to encourage them to keep their vocal tone low and in control. Which has felt incredibly powerful to facilitate and witness, especially as someone who chants in many of the classes I teach, and in my own personal practice. So much of our vocal energy is connected to our pelvic floor, which is why you may see women moaning or vocalizing throughout their labor.
How can folks find out more about working with you?
Feel free to follow me on IG to stay connected @sacred.birthing.doula or visit my website www.sacredbirthingdoula.com if you'd like to book a consultation or learn more about my offerings!
Practice with Laura
Join Laura in class at Global Breath Studio in Durham. Although she is not currently teaching a prenatal or postnatal specific yoga class, she has suggested that her Friday Vinyasa Flow Class would be wonderful for postpartum folks & parents, and that her Sunday Rest & Restore class would be great for pregnant folks. Register for either class here! You can find out more about Laura’s teaching & register for classes on her website!