Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephanie Sorensen. Them and their team share their story with us below:
In 2013, Stephanie found herself pregnant with her third babysitting in a yoga teacher training flooded with insight and connection. Yoga seemed to provide all the missing tools she had been looking for to support and improve her birthing experiences.
What started as a personal birth experience evolved into a prenatal yoga class, then a couple’s workshop, and eventually the comprehensive Bhava Birth course. In this one-of-a-kind approach, Stephanie weaves together modern research, movement, metaphor, philosophy, art, mindset coaching, breath, emotional processing, and all things birth. It is the product of thousands of hours of training and expertise in yoga, birth, doula work, and emotional processing.
Along with hosting childbirth retreats for expectant couples, Stephanie is also a personal mentor, doula, and yoga teacher. She loves where all of these specialties intersect and is committed to helping families find empowerment in their birthing experiences. She works side by side with her husband, Nicolas, in their joint business Embody Wellness Center, located in the heart of Orem, Utah.
Together they provide a wide array of wellness services, including massage therapy, Thai Partner Yoga, mentoring, Bio-Meridian scanning, and infrared sauna. You can join in the community meditation night, weekly Men’s Group, or Tai Chi. Do come to visit them in the basement suite of Sound Corrections Chiropractic.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Nic and Steph had no idea what the self-employed path would have in store for them. They didn’t go to business school, knew very little about entrepreneurship, and had no wealthy benefactors to help them launch their businesses.
Self-employment, for them, turned out to be a fast track for self-development. Trying to be “successful” in business was like having a mirror held up to them, revealing their insecurities, self-doubt, and inner critics. Hundreds of times they wondered, “Why are we doing this? Why are we trying so hard only to hit more obstacles?” The only things they had to see them through the following decade of highs and lows were passion and grit (and some maxed-out credit cards).
Somehow they managed to feed their children, pay their bills, and belt-strap two businesses. It has been a wild ride, full of victories and defeats, and yet they keep going, determined to make a living doing what they love and helping others do the same.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
There are many doulas and childbirth educators out there, all of them offering something vital and unique to the childbirth community. Stephanie brings her own expertise in the form of emotional readiness and personal development—she sees birth as a rite of passage that is deserving of introspection and celebration.
Birth can be a healing and transformative event so long as you have adequate support and someone showing you the way. Stephanie is just that person; she is a passionate advocate for birthers, both prenatally and postpartum, helping them integrate all the “messiness” of birth into their new identity.
Her multidisciplinary approach incorporates mindset coaching, emotional processing, movement, somatic release, and so much more. She is most known for her Thai Partner Yoga, postpartum mentoring after birth trauma, and hosting the Bhava Birth retreats.
What matters most to you? Why?
Bodily autonomy and consent are two core values that inform every aspect of the work that I do. I am a proud advocate and ally of all birthing individuals and believe that everyone is entitled to a supportive and empowering birth experience.
Contact Info:
- Email: stephanie@bhavabirth.com
- Website: bhavabirth.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bhava_birth/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bhavabirth
Image Credits
Xan Contla, Lindsey Rivera, and Born Birth Stories
