I came to #birthwork because of my dedication to human #sustainability on this planet. I study #natural #birth because of my passion for #ecology as a framework for #wellness, fulfillment, and loving relationship with life and its processes - including natural, dignified death, yes.
There isn't one way to have your baby, but recognizing the evolutionary badassery of our particular mammalian capacity is foundational to what drives me.
According to more and more researchers in public #health, #anthropology, medicine and pathology, that capacity is more and more threatened by systemic stressors like racism, a "fast food nation" modern diet, and the hyper-medicalization of birth...not to mention sitting at our desks 8+ hours a day, the neurochemical implications of high-tech, low-touch socialization, and the simple truth that we just aren't as close to our physiology as we once were, when a 15 year old would have seen at least a few births and plenty of breastfeeding by the time they did it themselves.
Oh yeah - and capitalism. I exchange time, services and goods for dollars, I love an efficient time-hack, and I enjoy nice "things", so I won't say I don't practice it - but the elements of physiological birth and #postpartum life - particularly the concepts and practices of waiting, patience, slowness, constant change, intuition, wildness, mess, #trust/faith, grey area, spontaneity, vulnerability, and "loss" of control - simply do not fit into the high-efficiency, productivity-focused 9-to-5 expectations of our current conditioned #lifestyle.
It's complicated, because a low-risk #healthy person usually doesn't need much to have a #baby safely, without much intervention, and yet more and more people are put into high risk categories due to these issues, some for very good and valid reason, and too many for very preventable reasons...
Ten years ago, when I started studying birth, I was 21 and newly cognizant of how lucky I was to have healthy, willing, communally-supported #parents (even with economic challenges) - and how my #mother's #choices around her personal health, the #food in our house, and the way she practiced consumerism influenced the young adult I was becoming.
This is why I am a birth #educator. This is why I serve #families as a #doula. This is why I advocate - in my own life, with my own internal challenges, and publicly through #service and vocalization - over and over again - for a return to our animal, Earthly gifts. For a recognition of our inherent powers and capacity - if we choose it - as well as a recognition of the barriers that some of us face due to no fault of our own body, heart or mind, and what we can do individually and collectively to overcome them.
If any of this feels like what you've been circulating in your beautiful, worthy mind, please consider taking my class - designed FOR YOU, for US - on October 3rd. Please follow my page, share my #events, hire me and my colleagues - support the #birthworker #community - it's not just about cuteness, crunchy moms, or even something as important and universal as #informed #consent - it's quite literally about how we (re)produce the World, and thereby Consciousness, moment to moment, #family to family, on this #planet.
<3 always in all ways, and thanks for reading!
PS: Limited scholarships available, and I book remote private class sessions if you aren't local.