“After MBCP, at my birth I was able to be in the moment, bear down and go through the motions. One moment at a time, doing my best! To communicate clearly, take my time, not judge and go with the flow. Everyone was surprised at how well I was coping.”
What happens in our birth classes?
Mindful Birth & Parenting Philadelphia is saddened by the closing of our class location, Lifecycle Wellness & Birth Center. We are immensely grateful for the unwavering support of Lifecycle over the last 10 years. From the bottom of our hearts, we send care and compassion to the Lifecycle staff, administration, and clients (past and present) as you navigate this loss.
Schedule for 2026
Spring/Summer 2026: MBCP Full Series. April 26 / May 3 / 11 / 18 / 25 / 31 June 8 / 15 / 21.
Fall 2026: MBCP Full Series. Dates TBD.
Scroll down for more information about these classes!
MBCP: Mindfulness-Based Childbirth Education
Spring 2026: MBCP Full Series. April 26 / May 3 / 11 / 18 / 25 / 31 June 8 / 15 / 21
Location of this class is both in person and online. We will have half the classes in person, and half online. We think this will be the best of both worlds; contact us to find out why!
In-person classes will be on April 26, May 3 / 25* / 31** and June 21.
In-person classes will be on Sundays, 4-7 PM.
However, *May 25th is a Monday, Memorial Day. Because many people go away for the long weekend, we thought this would accommodate people for that possibility.
** This class includes a longer retreat day, which will be held on May 31st from 10-4:30PM.
Online class will be held on Mondays, on Zoom, May 11 / 18 and June 8 / 15 from 6-9 PM.
Location: The Waldorf School of Philadelphia. 6000 Wayne Ave. Philadelphia, PA 19144.
Cost: sliding scale, $350 or $450 or $550 if you are attending as a birthing person and partner.
Our intention is to make this class available for all who are committed to our curriculum. To that end, we have transitioned to offering a sliding scale for our classes. We have been influenced by Alexis Cunningfolk’s model called the Green Bottle Method — check it out — and the sliding scale as a tool for economic justice.
We know that for some people, the $350 is still prohibitive; please read our statement on scholarships further down on this page.
We feel the other two options are still very competitive with what other MBCP teachers are charging in the country.
If you are attending without a birth partner or support person, or if your partnership involves more than two people, your tuition costs will be different. We will talk together about it!
If you are a birth worker and want to take the class to add to your skills set: Birth workers tuition is $350 per person. Visit our birth workers page for inspiration.
This class is good for late June or beyond. If your due date is close to the end of the class series (or even earlier) contact us.
Scroll down to read more about the classes, or visit our Frequently Asked Questions page.
How to Register: Contact us to let us know you’re interested. After we get an email from you, we will reach out. We always like to speak with people who want to take this class to make sure it’s the class you want. Once we’ve communicated, you’ll go to our Registration/Payment page to secure your spot.
MBCPI: MBCP Intensive — A Condensed Course
Want a shorter commitment, can’t make the longer course, or limited by your due date? The MBCPI curriculum is taught over a weekend (Friday evening / all day Saturday & Sunday — think mini-retreat) OR over a five-week period. Lately we’ve been offering the weekend version.
Our May 2026 MBCP Intensive has been cancelled due to loss of our venue with the closing of Lifecycle Wellness & Birth Center. We will be offering a late spring full series. Once we secure an adequate location for a weekend intensive, we will offer it again!
For more on the differences between MBCP & MBCPI, please visit our FAQ page.
If you are a birth worker and want to take the class to add to your skills set this class is great! Visit our birth workers page for inspiration.
About Scholarships:
Mindful Birth & Parenting Philadelphia is committed to equity and inclusion. We truly believe in the MBCP curriculum and its capacity to alleviate suffering and its potential for promoting health and equanimity. We subscribe to the practice of giving, or generosity, also called Dana. For more information about this practice, you can read here. If it were up to us, our classes would be supported wholly by the practice of Dana. But it’s difficult to translate the practice in this setting and economy.
With that introduction, here is what we really want to say: If the price of our class is too much, please do not hesitate to work with us on making it affordable for you. We have never turned anyone away for lack of funds. Ever.
And if you are reading this and want to help support our intention to provide scholarships, and you’d like to add to the fund by direct donation, you can go to our Registration/Payment page and either Venmo or Paypal us, putting “donation to scholarship fund” in the designation. Or buy some of our onesies, t-shirts and bags! See tab below. (Plus, they’re really awesome!)
Uncertain about which course to take? Read below & visit our FAQ page.
MBCP
Mindfulness Based Childbirth and Parenting - MBCP - is a course that meets weekly for 9 weeks. We begin by introducing mindfulness practice, and a foundational understanding of labor and birth through this lens. We spend weeks cultivating this practice, and using it to explore tools to support both pregnant and non-pregnant partners during labor and birth. Once, we spend the day together in the deepened practice of a mini-retreat. And finally, we wrap up with several sessions on postpartum life, living with a newborn, and breastfeeding.
The two months that we spend together give us a chance not only to talk and learn about pregnancy, birth, and parenting, but to build and support a mindfulness practice, both formal (through meditation) and informal (through living life), in community. With nine classes (+1 reunion class), we have time to inquire into experiences of pain/discomfort and fear, and to practice different ways of engaging the mind/body around them.
MBCPI
The MBCP Intensive is a 16-hour class experience drawing from the full MBCP curriculum, condensed for those who cannot commit to the long course. We will go over foundational pieces of the MBCP curriculum, but this class does not have time to include breastfeeding and postpartum. This class is taught over in a 2.5-day weekend intensive and occasionally in a five-week format. Didactic content missed from the longer series can be arranged, as requested and needed by class students.