Prenatal Yoga & Empowered Birth Prep with Aria Morgan of Daily Downdog – SD Voyager Feature

Originally published on August 11, 2025 by SD Voyager

Today we’d like to introduce you to Aria Morgan.

Hi Aria, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.

In this interview, I’d like to focus on the prenatal, postnatal, and birth prep aspect of my work.

My journey into yoga and birthwork began long before I consciously realized it. I was introduced to yoga and qi gong in the late 1990s, and formally began teaching after completing my first teacher training in 2005. But it was my pregnancy in 2007 that catalyzed a deeper understanding of embodiment, intuition, and true choice.

Though I ultimately chose to birth my child at home with a midwife, I began within the hospital system—and was surprised by the assumptions and pressure I encountered from my then-OBGYN. Having spent a significant portion of my teen years in and out of hospitals after a life-altering car accident, I knew one thing for sure: hospitals do not feel healing or safe to me. That realization helped me begin to trust my body again—not just as a yogi, but as a pregnant woman, and eventually, a mother.

It also reinforced my unwavering belief in fully supporting a woman’s birth choices. I hold my clients’ paths in a space that is wholly theirs—free from my personal preferences—because I know that every person carries a unique history, and that history shapes the emotional parameters of what safety feels like. I believe that an empowered birth helps create a powerful mother and a well-supported child. Our physiology affects our psychology, and our birth experience inevitably shapes how we parent. The ability to stand in another’s shoes and see the world through their lens has become the cornerstone of my practice.

I felt equally disappointed in the prenatal yoga options available to me. None of the classes I tried met my desire to feel both strong and connected to my baby. During the final months of my pregnancy, I began sketching out the kind of prenatal yoga program I wished existed—one that honored a mama who liked to move.

Health, in general, requires movement. Our bodies need challenge and daily stimulation to maintain vitality—and pregnant women are no exception. Yet most prenatal yoga classes focused heavily on community and gentle stretching. My classes filled quickly because I wasn’t afraid to challenge pregnant women with strong standing poses, heart-opening backbends, balance work, and 90-second chair holds with a block. I believe we must move energy in order to reclaim agency in our beautiful, shifting, pregnant bodies. These early classes became the foundation of my prenatal teaching style.

What sets my approach apart is that I center all three aspects of the birth journey: the mother herself (birthing her new identity), the body (undergoing profound transformation), and the baby (a sovereign soul in form). I don’t see these as separate—they are intricately linked, and all three matter deeply.

And most importantly: I support all birth choices. Whether a woman chooses a scheduled C-section, a fully medicated hospital birth, an unmedicated home birth—or anything in between—what matters most is that she feels empowered, safe, and seen. No one else has the right to define that but her.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?

Nothing about this journey has been smooth—and I don’t think it’s meant to be. Life is full of unexpected twists, challenges, and wake-up calls that force us to grow.

Shortly after creating my prenatal program and partnering with a studio, I poured my heart into developing content, building community, and showing up fully for my students. Then, one Saturday, the studio abruptly shut its doors—without warning. I stood outside with 15 pregnant mamas, waiting in confusion. None of us had any idea what was happening.

So, I moved the practice to the park. We gathered under the open sky, donation-based, while I searched for a new home. A beautiful barre studio in Venice welcomed us in, and my business flourished there for two incredible years.

During that time, a yoga teacher friend offered me an incredible opportunity: to serve as the private prenatal yoga teacher for an A-list celebrity. Her doctor had recommended yoga during her second pregnancy, and while she admitted it “wasn’t really her thing,” she showed up with wholehearted commitment and a beautiful energy. We had a warm, professional relationship. But toward the end of our time together, I let someone else convince me to ask her for a social media shout-out—something she had done for her trainer. I felt uneasy about it but asked anyway. She declined. We finished the pregnancy together, but we never worked together again.

It’s possible she simply moved on. But it’s also possible that the request—though well-intended—shifted the energy. That experience taught me a lot about boundaries, instincts, and honoring what feels aligned.

Eventually, I found myself teaching prenatal yoga at three different studios and creating online content for one of them. On paper, everything looked amazing. I was fully booked as a doula, with so many inquiries I had to refer clients elsewhere. I was a dedicated teacher and a loving, present mother. But inside, I was crumbling.

I was quietly navigating the breakdown of my marriage. And in the emotional fog of divorce, I made a fear-based decision: I left the thriving barre studio and other studios for a smaller, quieter space, convinced it would better serve my clients. It wasn’t the right move. My business faltered. In hindsight, I wish I’d had a mentor to help me see through the overwhelm.

My biggest challenges haven’t come from the work itself—teaching, holding space, or serving others—but from the moments I ignored my own intuition or failed to seek support when I needed it most.

Still, I believe there’s wisdom in every experience. These moments have taught me patience, humility, and the importance of alignment. Life is a journey, not a destination.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Daily Downdog?

In the last year, I’ve slowly launched my new platform—Daily Downdog. Prior to that (and for over 20 years), I operated under Yoga with Aria, offering private sessions, public classes, teacher trainings, and birth support.

Daily Downdog began as an organic unfolding—not a brand strategy or business plan, but a response to real life. After years of teaching in studios, mentoring teachers, attending births, and working with people healing from illness or injury, I kept encountering the same truth: people didn’t need more information. They needed permission—to feel, to slow down, to move honestly and intuitively, to trust their bodies again.

I created Daily Downdog as a space where real life meets real practice. Where yoga isn’t about flexibility, perfection, or performance—but about presence. It’s a refuge for people who are healing, growing, mothering, aging, or starting over. A place where a new mom, a trauma survivor, or someone navigating chronic illness can reconnect with their breath, their strength, and their sense of wholeness.

Daily Downdog is about living a full, real life. It’s rooted in nearly three decades of personal practice and professional teaching. It’s informed by my own healing journey, my work as a birthworker, and my deep belief that your body is not the obstacle: it’s the path.

A huge part of my work, and one of my deepest callings, is prenatal yoga and childbirth preparation. I specialize in helping women feel strong, grounded, and connected during pregnancy—not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually. My deepest joy is helping a woman experience empowerment through childbirth. What makes a birth sacred isn’t the method—it’s the presence, the consent, the clarity, and the support a woman feels in that moment.

Imagine how different the world would be if every woman felt empowered, supported, and listened to during pregnancy and childbirth. Because when a woman is honored, she carries that power into motherhood. She parents not from trauma or inherited dysfunction, but from presence, peace, and deep strength. And that has the power to shift not only her life, but generations to come.

After having supported over 120 families in the birthing room as an on-call, in-person birth doula—and having supported hundreds more through private birth coaching and thousands through prenatal yoga classes—I’m now shifting my energy into creating a program for couples, one that will include prenatal yoga, meditation, and birth prep classes on my website. I may no longer be on-call or physically in the birthing room, but I still deeply love supporting women during this sacred time.

Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?

I see the future of the yoga, wellness, and birthwork space evolving in two parallel directions: one increasingly AI-driven, the other increasingly human-centered.

On the tech side, AI has the potential to provide beautifully customized support—especially during pregnancy. Imagine an AI companion trained to understand your birth preferences, speak your language (literally and metaphorically), and guide you with evidence-based tools tailored to your needs and values. I believe we’ll see the rise of personalized AI for pregnancy, offering on-demand guidance for breathwork, visualization, birth prep education, and emotional reassurance. That kind of support, used wisely, can be incredibly empowering.

But at the same time, nothing replaces human touch, intuitive presence, and in-person guidance—especially when it comes to childbirth. The physical, emotional, and energetic aspects of pregnancy and birth require more than algorithms. A compassionate human guide, a teacher who can read your body in real time, or a doula who knows when to say nothing and just hold your hand—these are irreplaceable.

So, I believe we’ll see the industry stretch in both directions:

Toward automated, tech-supported tools that are accessible and personalized, and toward a deeper return to the basics—slowing down, making intentional choices, and seeking out real human connection.

The challenge—and opportunity—will be to integrate both. The future isn’t one or the other. It’s both: wise technology paired with embodied, intuitive care.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.dailydowndog.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daily_downdog/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailydowndog
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dailydowndog/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@dailydowndog
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/yoga-with-aria-la-mesa-2
• Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/meditations-and-visualizations-yoga-with-aria/id451823654
• Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/3xbL1Mp3m0xMvYV9Z529aS?si=soSmxVKGT12JONmPYFMnyw