The YogaBellies® Method
Women’s Embodied Yoga for Life Transitions
YogaBellies® is a global women’s yoga school supporting women through the major stages of life.
For more than 20 years we’ve helped over 100,000 women and trained 200+ teachers worldwide in a specialist approach to yoga designed specifically for women.
Our work supports women through:
• the menstrual years
• pregnancy and birth
• postpartum and early motherhood
• perimenopause and menopause
YogaBellies School Is Accredited By:
Why YogaBellies®?
YogaBellies was created to honour the reality that women’s bodies move in cycles.
Traditional yoga systems were largely developed for male bodies and often overlook the hormonal, emotional and physical transitions women experience throughout life.
The YogaBellies Method supports women through these transitions with practices designed specifically for female bodies, hormones and life stages.
This is yoga that works with women, not against them.
A Global Community of Women
YogaBellies is a global village of women supporting women.
Our students and teachers come from many different backgrounds, but share a common goal: to live healthier, more balanced lives while supporting other women to do the same.
Everyone is welcome here, regardless of age, size, experience, sexuality, religion or background.
What We Offer At YogaBellies School
Yoga Teacher Training and Female Yoga & Wellness Programmes
Hi, I’m Cheryl MacDonald!
YogaBellies Founder E-RYT 500
Meet Cheryl MacDonald
Founder of YogaBellies®
Psychotherapist | Author | Yoga Teacher
YogaBellies was created by Cheryl MacDonald after she realised that traditional yoga practices often failed to meet the needs of women’s bodies.
Over the past 25 years she has taught yoga to women at every life stage and developed the YogaBellies Method — a specialist approach to embodied yoga for women.
Alongside YogaBellies, Cheryl works as a psychotherapist supporting women through emotional challenges and major life transitions, bringing deeper psychological insight to the YogaBellies approach.
Learn With YogaBellies
Explore our programmes:
• EMPOWER Women’s Yoga Teacher Training
• Specialist Women’s Yoga Courses
• Yoga Programmes for Home Practice
• YogaBellies Books & Resources
Join the YogaBellies Community
Join thousands of women around the world practising yoga designed specifically for women.
Learn more about YogaBellies Teacher Training and upcoming programmes .
- LuxLife Most Inspirational Women's Yoga Teacher 2021
- The Great British Entrepreneur Award 2019
- The Scottish Edge Award for Enterprise 2013
- Woman of the Year Award 2014
- Mumpreneur UK Award 2012
- 3 x What's On for Little Ones Awards 2014
- Working Mums Top Employer Award 2015
- Mums Club Top 100 Businesses 2012
You may also have seen me featured in:
- The Huffington Post - talking about my yoga journey and YogaBellies® beginnings
- As a winner of BBC Dragon's Den (watch us in the video below!) - the Dragon's loved the concept of YogaBellies®
- Appeared on ITV's This Morning - teaching yoga to women and children at various life stages
- All of the magazines, TV channels and publications you can see on this page, talking about yoga for women throughout life
- Been personal yoga teacher to celebrities such as Kimberley Walsh (Girls Aloud), Fearne Cotton and Catherine Tyldsley (check out some of the featured press below)
Some of Cheryl's Celebrity Yoga Clients and Press Testimonials
Our Senior Yoga Teachers and Guest Experts
A wealth of experience to guide your learning journey
What Is The YogaBellies® Sadhana?
and why it's core to our teachings
The YogaBellies Sadhana (practice) is based around 5 elements: Sense, Breathe, Move, Sleep and Circle and we embrace all of these things in our yoga practice, on and off the mat. Let me talk you through it...
Sense is about becoming mindful: Where are we at right now? What’s going on for us internally and in the environment around us? Becoming aware in all aspects of life.
Breathe is when we bring our attention to the breath and our yogic breathing (pranayama) practices. Not just during class, but learning to use the breath to find calm in everyday life too.
Move is our Asana (posture) practice or what happens on the yoga mat. This is the mindful use of 29 specifically chosen female-centric yoga postures to help you de-stress; tone and balance all aspects of your life, adapted for your life stage.
Sleep is where we learn to relax deeply and completely, often during Savasana (where you get to sleep) at the end of class. We combine yoga nidra and self-hypnosis to induce the deepest levels.
Circle is the part of yoga that’s often forgotten: The community. We believe that Sangha (community) is absolutely for essential at every life stage: Women need a safe space to share, support each other and embrace the physical and emotional transitions they’re experiencing.
The Sadhana is the foundation of all things YogaBellies.