Meet Shana (She/Her)
Shana Celnicker-Chong is a Yoga and Childbirth Educator, trained Naturopathic doctor (ND) and midwife, Doula, Restore Your Core™ Pro teacher, Restorative Exercise Specialist, and Body Ready Method™ Pro.
Growing up in Madison, Wisconsin, Shana liked to write pretend diary entries as if she were a midwife traveling along the Oregon Trail. Already fascinated by birth and moving westward!
Later, on a trip through Oregon with a friend, Shana fell in love with the forests and weather (really) of Oregon. She knew she had to figure out a way to move there.
It was at the University of Oregon that Shana began her yoga exploration, attending a Kundalini yoga class while earning a BA in Political Science and Women’s Studies.
A Calling as a Birth worker
After college, she moved to San Francisco, where she discovered herbal medicine, realized that birth has a political side, and discovered a passion for attending births. Shana was always a “baby” person, but now she was devouring whatever she could learn!
In 1998 she moved to Portland, Oregon to attend the National University of Natural Medicine to become a Naturopathic doctor and a midwife. During this time, attending school and many births as a doula and a midwife's assistant, she fell in love with yoga completely. The practice was her time to be in the moment, moving her body and following her breath.
Further Training
In 2001, Shana attended a Pre-Natal Yoga teacher training with Collette Crawford at her Holistic Prenatal program in Seattle, WA, where she was taught the nuts and bolts of the special gifts of yoga to pregnant and post-partum women, but also about the importance of empowering her students.
Shortly before graduating from NUNM in 2003, Shana she gave birth to her first child. She soon discovered that the midwife life was not a good fit for her family. Teaching prenatal and postpartum yoga was where she poured her knowledge and passion. She knew that so much more than movement and meditation were happening in those classes. A community of parents were educating, supporting and empowering one another.
Since she began teaching yoga in 2001, Shana has worked with many hundreds of people in the Portland area as a prenatal and postpartum yoga and movement teacher, doula and childbirth educator.
The Core of Yoga and Movement
Anyone can teach poses, but as it is with any yoga class, it is what happens inside that matters most. Shana is dedicated to creating a space for pregnant people that is safe, supported, educational, empowered and community-based.
She has been teaching a Prenatal & Postpartum Yoga & Movement Teacher Training since 2014. She has recently joined forces with Margot Strauhull , LCSW and Megan Peterson, C-IYPT to develop the “Next Wave Birth” Prenatal & Postpartum Yoga & Movement Teacher Training (www.nextwavebirth.com).
Always a student
Shana has continued her education studies of yoga and movement as it affects fertility, pregnancy, postpartum and menopause. Some of these training include studying "Yoga for Fertility" with Lynn Jensen and “Pelvic Floor Yoga” with Leslie Howard and completing the Teacher Training program for Lauren Ohayon’s "Restore your Core®”- a method of retraining your core and pelvic floor muscles to be functional, reflexive, responsive, and supportive. She also became a Restorative Exercise Specialist after studying with Katy Bowman at Nutritious Movement. Most recently, Shana studied with Lindsay McCoy to become a Body Ready Method™ Pro, which is a whole-body approach to preparing the pregnant body for an optimal birth experience.
Shana lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and 2 teenagers. The births and parenting of her children have given her her greatest lessons and have helped her to see the importance of movement, stillness, and empowerment in a person's life in order to create the life they want to live.
Featured In the Media:
The Benefits of Prenatal Yoga
DALENE BARTON - CERTIFIED HERBALIST, BIRTH DOULA
A Look at the Benefits of Prenatal Yoga
RACHAEL RAFANELLI, KGW-8