Force as Physiology
Through the lens of physiological and undisturbed birth we may adopt a rigid ideology to always be hands-off: that being hands-off is “better.” And, when might our hands and body and tools help maintain birthing physiology with their force?
Fear As Sacred Visitor
As birthworkers we are the protectors of the psycho-neuro-endorcine experience of the birthing people we serve and work with. So it makes sense there is a strong message in the birth culture that fear in the birth space is bad. That fear is dangerous. And maybe even a sign that we are not doing our job as birthworkers if our clients are saying or showing that they are scared. But does fear really deserve such vilification in birth?
Trust and Birth
What exactly do we “trust” when we “trust birth?” How do we know to trust it?
Consent is Relationship
Embodied consent is a relationship. Informed consent is a dialog. It is not something that happens to or for someone, it is something that is participated in, a dynamic relational process. It is not a signed consent form, nor is it someone saying they consent to something with their words.
In Defense of High-Pitched Birth Sounds
Many of us as birth workers are dedicated to normalizing fierce embodied birth sounds from the clients we work with. Are we as birth workers perhaps inadvertently planting seeds of trauma in our clients when we prescribe a “right” way to make sounds in labor, either prenatally or during the process of labor itself?
Touch From Within: Birthing From Within and Bodywork
I am a bodyworker/massage therapist and educator. While I think I’m pretty good at the practical aspects of a bodywork session — do anything for a few decades and you probably get pretty good at it! — there’s something more to the work I do, something that comes from my Birthing From Within training.
Bodywork and Massage: What's in a name?
When I say “I practice prenatal bodywork” occasionally someone will ask if I do some kind of work on cars. More often they’ll simply ask if bodywork is like massage. I think it’s worth a little explanation because the language we use is important.