Conscious Postpartum Caregiver Program
Inspired by the Ayurvedic Perspective on the Sacred Postpartum Window
Live Classes are happening all year...join us!
Get your Certification as a Conscious Postpartum Caregiver! Sign up for the Whole Path to add on a year of Professional Mentoring with the Sacred Window Internship Circle!
Choose your Start Date
September 6, 2023 | January 16, 2024 | February 27, 2024 | April 30, 2024
testimonials
What our beloved students say...
Above and beyond my expectations...
"Thank you so much for such a rich and fulfilling experience throughout this course. It is clear that so much thought and heart felt intention has gone into its manifestation. Every class, every facilitator, every input from all those who were sharing this journey, has been above and beyond my expectations, further igniting my passion for this work. I've thoroughly enjoyed every subject and am sincerely grateful to you, Ashlee, Julia and Charlotte, along with all the guest facilitators for your passion, love and dedication for this work. Thank you, thank you, thank you, A deep bow."
Carla Fraser, Fall 2021, Australia
Made me feel confident to go forward...
"LOVED the final projects. Completing them challenged me, and made me feel confident to go forward with offering this work to my community. The Foundations module helped me get clear on what my personal blocks were, and was a good reminder to apply the Universal Mother Principles to myself. The Resource Guide helped push me out of my comfort zone and gave me direction to reach out to a lot of people that have helped me connect with clients. The Cooking and Touch modules’ final projects helped me outline a menu I can adapt to many different clients’ needs, and gave me great hands-on and personal experience with the Abyhanga and cooking for myself and my family and friends.”
Kelsey Lea Pickard, Fall 2020 Student, Hawaii
I can offer this service...
"This program, and you, my teachers, have empowered me and given me the tools to feel like I can offer this service to new mothers. In such a short amount of time, I feel that this speaks volumes. What I found extremely helpful and I feel so grateful for is all of the documents and PDF's that you shared with us. For example, the client evaluation form, or the grocery shopping form, or the kitchen organization form etc. etc.. I can't express enough how grateful I am and how helpful all of these are. They are truly a gift for all of us students who are just beginning our practice, and these resources will help us start our practice with so much more ease."
Claudia Fernandez Barrigas, Fall 2020, Netherlands
Mind, body and spirit health...
"This program provided ancient Ayurvedic wisdom in such clear, wise, and empowering ways. Applying Ayurvedic wisdom to mothers, babies and their families is one of the best ways to support the great changes that occur to their mind, body and spirit health both in pregnancy and in the postpartum phases. This program allowed me to greatly deepen my understanding of mothers’ health, and how to help support their experiences during the Sacred Window so they can truly tap into the potential of this time through deep nourishment and care."
Soumya Kristin Renee, Spring 2019, California
About Our Program...
Experience a heartfelt, flexible, deeply transformative and thorough educational program that prepares you to give and receive conscious care for postpartum and beyond. We've evolved this program since 2018 and are forever growing its depth and application.
Christine Devlin Eck, Ashlee Sakaishi-Wilkin, Julia Fishman and Charlotte Senseney-Sternkind are the founding instructors of the Center for Sacred Window Studies.
We are hugely inspired by one another as a team. We love contributing to each other’s ideas, combining our perspectives, and envisioning how to best guide students who care as much about this path as we do.
We have lovingly created this program together step by step, thoughtfully crafting its curriculum, and always searching for ways to make it better. At the heart is its accessibility to individuals anywhere who cannot travel far distances to learn. With this in mind, we strive to design our program to build relationships while studying online and regular connection with students throughout the program.
Building community, growing the reach and availability of these services and changing the social structure for modern postpartum care are all paramount to the mission behind the Center for Sacred Window Studies.
Our programs are experiential and transformative on personal and professional development levels. From study to practice, we are there to support you the whole way.
Weekly Live Online Classes + Workshops
- Attend over 30 live class workshops, discovery hours and Guest Lectures per year or study independently at your own pace with the recorded live class sessions.
Student Websites
- Have all aspects of your program available on a beautiful and clearly organized student website. Follow the program session by session, and find resources for answering your questions throughout. Keep track of reading assignments, practicum and final projects, and valuable supplemental resources. Use our discussion boards to share your reflections and see those of your classmates!
Engage Your Way
- Instructors prompt inspiring discussion weekly throughout your program. Engage with your classmates while you explore the value and possibility of this contribution to women’s health postpartum. Gain invaluable resources from your peers and build community while you study! Through breakout study circles, online forums, one on one check ins and group classes - choose the engagement style that works for you.
Student + Alumni Continuing Support and Education
Students + alums receive a forever membership!
This is one way we continue to offer professional support and growth opportunities to our alumni. The Postpartum Care Collective is an online Professional Membership Community specifically for postpartum caregivers and anyone who works with new families. Features include:
- Public facing directory of caregivers
- Online membership hub filled to the brim with educational talks, professional resources and tools for you to access anytime
- Quarterly events to support professional growth such as case study circles and skill share workshops
What will I learn?
Growing your Practice
Learning caregiving skills is the first step. Planning how you will bring these skills into practical application is another. Your practice can be created around your preferences, sustainability needs and the needs of your community. Explore the various ways you can grow your practice!
Ayurvedic Touch for Postpartum
Warm oil massage is a pillar of an Ayurvedic routine, and the needs of postpartum are beautifully addressed through abhyanga, the application of warm oil on the body. Learn techniques for both birth giver and baby along with practical skills to help you teach and provide sacred touch for the postpartum window.
Postpartum Care Foundations
Understand the needs of the body, mind, spirit and senses during this time. Learn the foundation for offering effective care and begin building your toolbox of support resources.
Foundations of Ayurveda
Explore the principles of Ayurveda through the lens of the postpartum window. The sacred window is a time of rasayana, re-building, and not chikitsa, treatment. We are facilitating the body's own healing and creating the right environment for strength and balance to return.
Cooking for Postpartum
Food is our greatest medicine! Yet the wrong foods at the wrong time can create imbalance and struggle in healing. Learn the needs of the postpartum body nutritionally. Discover and practice amazing recipes and herbal support foods for nurturing the tender digestion of a new parent.
Tuition
Year of study
$
189/mo
12 month Payment Plan
or
$1897 in full
One Year of Study in the
Conscious Postpartum Caregiver Program
Whole Path
$
229/mo
12 month Payment Plan
or
$2799 in full
The Whole Path includes the Conscious Postpartum Caregiver Program followed by our Sacred Window Internship Circle for professional mentoring as you begin your work professionally.
Frequently Asked Questions
We teach caregiving skills for the first weeks after a baby is born. Our focus is on the mother or birth giver, and supporting a whole path to healing including the body, mind, spirit and senses. We honor this incredible life transition and all the ways that can look for families! Our caregiving skills include daily routine and support tools for managing common postpartum issues, cooking and herbal support food preparation specific to postpartum nutritional needs, therapeutic body care skills for mothers or birth givers and babies, and much more!
Yes! Hands on Training attendees get a special 42% discount on our online training and mentoring programs.
This is our Directory of postpartum caregivers along with our Membership Community. Students and Alumni are forever members of this Collective and it is open to anyone who practices. Features include a free directory listing, attendance to quarterly events such as Case Study Circles and Skill Share Workshops + a gorgeous Online Hub filled with exclusive learning content for postpartum professionals.
This is our professional mentoring program. It is open to any of our graduates or graduates of other programs in postpartum care. It is designed to give you support, accountability, and feedback as you build your professional practice and begin working with clients in your community. Learn more here! It can be bundled with the Conscious Postpartum Caregiver Program when you select the Whole Path.
There are 15 program sections. Each section is 2 weeks in length. The first week is your Live Class Workshop that is 2 hours in length. The live class workshops are designed to be interactive and participatory. Students will be given a checklist of recorded lectures and supplemental materials to review before coming to each class. We will base our activities and discussion directly on the course material from the checklist. Each section also has a weekly Discovery Hour. This is for personal application of the material in each section, conversation and student support. Students may schedule with an instructor anytime if the set instructor hours do not work for them. In addition, we host several Guest Instructors throughout and and the end of the program year. This offers students over 30 live classes throughout their year of study. There are no live classes during the months of July, August and December. The live classes are important to attend though waivers can be given to students on an individual basis and recordings will always be available for everyone on the student website. Waivers will be given for time zone conflicts and unavoidable circumstances. (We are extremely willing to work with your situation but we ask that you honor your studies and the commitment to participate.)
Engagement with instructors and other students as well as completion of 4 final projects. Each project is extremely doable and geared to be put into use as you begin practicing postpartum care with families. There are no exams.
Live class workshops are dynamic and will always include open conversation and discussion about key areas of the curriculum. They may include individual or small group activities, examples, case studies, special guests, workshop style learning and more. Students should come to the live classes prepared to engage and having reviewed the pre-class checklist of content to watch and read.
You can start anytime! We enroll students all year long. You do not have to begin at Section One of the program. This is a cyclical learning experience, and you may begin at the part of the cycle you enter at, and continue around the rotation of Course Sections. While many will begin with Section One in January (or at the beginning of the cycle), we allow students to come in and journey at their own pace and timing.
Once all requirements are met and tuition has been paid, students will receive a Certificate as a Conscious Postpartum Caregiver. Your hours and areas of study will be designated on your Certificate. The doula/caregiver field is not a licensed profession, therefore, professionals may call themselves by what resonates most with them within the non medical scope of the field. (ex. Ayurdoula, postpartum doula, postpartum caregiver, Ayurvedic postpartum doula, etc.)
Yes! Your Certificate will be sent once all above requirements are complete, and total tuition has been submitted.
We are accredited under IPHM, International Practitioners of Holistic Medicine based in the U.K. We are Organizational Members of the National Ayurvedic Medical Association.
We encourage students to set aside approximately 5 hours per week to devote to your studies. Students get the most out of their program when they are able to plan ahead for when these hours will happen, identify what support they need in order to have that time, and know how they wish to spend that time.
The live class meeting times run approximately 4 times per month for 1 year. There are no classes in July, August or December. Should a student wish to study ahead, all the teaching material is located on the student website and students may move at a faster pace if they choose. The requirements remain the same whether someone completes the program in one year, 6 months, or 2+ years. If a student needs additional time past the one year mark, they may purchase an extension or take advantage of our restart + re-energize opportunity.
Yes! If all final projects are completed, tuition paid and engagement in the program has been active, a student can complete the program early. Instructors will let students know if they need to schedule an exit interview in order to assess the student’s comprehension.
No, the Hands On Training Retreat is encouraged as a way to experience the cooking and herbal support practices as well as the postpartum body work we teach. It is an incredible retreat designed to have you experience sacred window care with all of your senses while you gain confidence in practicing the skills you will offer to others. We recognize that travel is not always accessible to students. The online training certification can stand alone. Students who attend our Hands On Training will receive an additional Certificate from the Center for Sacred Window Studies.
Forever! Once you enroll in the Conscious Postpartum Caregiver Program, you will maintain access to the student website after your program is complete.
We offer a Work Study Scholarship Program for our Certification and Internship programs. Scholarships are for ⅓ or ⅔ of tuition and students complete a checklist of projects to support the Center for Sacred Window Studies in exchange. Learn more about the Work Study Scholarship Program Here.
Yes! Should you wish to go through the live training again, alums have a special offer called the Restart + Re-energize fee, a HUGE discount and another opportunity to complete your Certification.
Our alums are very important to us! As a student of the Center for Sacred Window Studies, you are a forever member of the Postpartum Care Collective. We host member only events throughout the year such as Case Study Circles and Skill Share events. Members have access to a huge online portal with an archive of professional and educational talks related to postpartum. We highlight the practices of our members and give you paid speaking opportunities. Our alums are invited to attend live all Guest Lectures presented after they graduate. Alums can revisit their student website to access all the great material in your program.
You will have the foundational and practical knowledge to give hands on care to someone during the first weeks and months postpartum. This includes a toolbox of support measures and helpful routines, nutritional principles and cooking skills, herbal support foods and routines, bodywork practices for mothers, birth givers and babies, and much more. You are ready to practice!
Let's Connect!
I love meeting with people who are eager to learn more about postpartum care. Schedule a time with me and I'm happy to support your learning journey, answer any questions and find out if this path is right for you!
Take our Free Sacred Journey Email Course!
Learn the Fundamentals of Conscious Postpartum Care from the Ayurvedic Perspective in this series of 5 Emails with access to Videos and Supplemental Resources.