Birthing From Within
SKU:
$200.00
$200.00
per item
Birthing From Within exists to inspire and teach expectant and new parents, and those who work with them, to:
- Prepare for birth as a Rite of Passage.
- Understand the power and life-long impact that "birthing from within" offers all participants in birth.
- Co-create holistic prenatal care that is informative, transformative, and builds a foundation for birthing in awareness in our birth culture, whatever the birth location or outcome or events of the birth.
- Prevent or minimize emotionally difficult births (for parents and professionals) through compassionate, honest preparation.
- Honor and use the power of Birth Story telling and listening.
Breath awareness and other mindfulness practices
Breath awareness and pain-coping practices are a cornerstone of Birthing From Within. Through continued practice, participants learn for themselves how their minds react to discomfort. Participants explore the difference between pain and suffering and develop a pain-coping mindset.
Know your story
Parents bring all kinds of beliefs and fears into their childbirth experience. These stories impact their decisions and their reactions to events. Art-making, labor theater and breath awareness are ways to directly explore these stories.
Normalize the experience of birth and its endless variations
Understanding the process of birth can help to reduce fear, and therefore pain, but knowing birth from the medical practitioner's point of view is not enough. The real suffering of birth may result not from pain, but from the unfamiliar and unexpected altered state of emotions, mental activity, perceptions of time and sense of self. Parents directly experience similar states through labyrinth-tracing, breath-awareness, and storytelling. We discuss the many variations of what is “normal” birth, including emotions, noises, movement, physical reactions, epidurals and cesarean birth.
Nutrition
So much of pregnancy and birth is unexpected and uncontrollable. Getting excellent nutrition is something that everyone can do to improve the health of their baby and reduce birth complications. It's important for the topic of nutrition to be empowering, rather than overwhelming or guilt-ridden. I meet parents where they are and help them to find ways that work for them to improve their diet.
Postpartum: the return journey
Childbirth preparation tends to focus on the birth of the baby as the end of the process. One of the contributing factors of postpartum depression is a lack of understanding of the physical, emotional and spiritual work that a mother has undergone and will continue to undergo in the months and years after birth. In Birthing From Within, birth is seen as the middle of the journey, the center of the labyrinth. A mother must re-trace her steps on her journey back to normal life in order for the process to be complete. We talk about postpartum expectations, identity changes, finding community.
Breath awareness and pain-coping practices are a cornerstone of Birthing From Within. Through continued practice, participants learn for themselves how their minds react to discomfort. Participants explore the difference between pain and suffering and develop a pain-coping mindset.
Know your story
Parents bring all kinds of beliefs and fears into their childbirth experience. These stories impact their decisions and their reactions to events. Art-making, labor theater and breath awareness are ways to directly explore these stories.
Normalize the experience of birth and its endless variations
Understanding the process of birth can help to reduce fear, and therefore pain, but knowing birth from the medical practitioner's point of view is not enough. The real suffering of birth may result not from pain, but from the unfamiliar and unexpected altered state of emotions, mental activity, perceptions of time and sense of self. Parents directly experience similar states through labyrinth-tracing, breath-awareness, and storytelling. We discuss the many variations of what is “normal” birth, including emotions, noises, movement, physical reactions, epidurals and cesarean birth.
Nutrition
So much of pregnancy and birth is unexpected and uncontrollable. Getting excellent nutrition is something that everyone can do to improve the health of their baby and reduce birth complications. It's important for the topic of nutrition to be empowering, rather than overwhelming or guilt-ridden. I meet parents where they are and help them to find ways that work for them to improve their diet.
Postpartum: the return journey
Childbirth preparation tends to focus on the birth of the baby as the end of the process. One of the contributing factors of postpartum depression is a lack of understanding of the physical, emotional and spiritual work that a mother has undergone and will continue to undergo in the months and years after birth. In Birthing From Within, birth is seen as the middle of the journey, the center of the labyrinth. A mother must re-trace her steps on her journey back to normal life in order for the process to be complete. We talk about postpartum expectations, identity changes, finding community.
