Learning to Birth | Pregnacy & Natural Birth Podcast: Recent Episodes

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Willma, birth activist and founder of International Home Birth Day is here to talk to us intimately about the process she went through to wake her inner birth goddess.

Willma observes that many women who go to her weekend workshops in Slovenia undergo a physical transformation. “In their body posture, you can see it. They just shine. They stand differently, they feel their belly differently.”

“You feel your identity inside yourself more deeply, more softly, more fierce — it’s deeper and wider. It fills all of the space you have.”

Willma is here today to explain how anyone can transform their beliefs about what is possible at birth. She knows, she did it!

Willma has experienced every gamut of birth from traumatic hospital birth to free birth to midwife birth to even orgasmic birth.

She observes how her mindset before each birth affected how her experience of birth played out.

Willma’s third birth was orgasmic. After this birth her path was clear. “There was no way I could do anything else except show the women we were born to give birth with this divine experience.”

“It’s not torture, it’s not pain, it’s not something you just need to go through — it’s a journey you can enjoy.”

Learning to Birth Podcast sponsored by www.yogapantstore.com

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If you were pregnant, would you want the father present at the birth? And if he was there, would he know what to do to support you?

Patrick M Houser is a grandfather and father of 2 sons. It was the birth of his first son which revealed to him the need to understand birth more fully.

We all have a subconscious memory of our birth says Patrick Houser. "We all have a navel. We've all be present at the birth. There are more brain cells pairing up than at any time in our life, and when brain cells pair up that's when memory occurs." ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Patrick’s second son’s arrival, in 1980, was the first documented waterbirth in the USA.
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"We ended up with a 90-minute labour, in a loving caring, supportive environment. I turned our garage into a big birthing room with a jacuzzi and I built a bed platform right next to it. It happened the way it wanted to. It was fabulous."⠀

This has informed his life's work and led him to nearly 25 years of passionate advocacy for birth choices.

Patrick talks to us about:
- What if a father feels anxiety during birth
- What do dads need to know about perceived pain and childbirth?
- What do dads need to know about the time childbirth might take?
- What if a dad doesn’t know if he wants to be a dad
- How can a dad make sure he is emotionally fit for
- How does becoming a father change you
- What do dads need to know about breastfeeding -
- How can a dad be present at birth

"My personal life mission is to be truly helpful. Whether I am going to the mailbox, dealing with a client, or writing my book. That's my north star."⠀⠀⠀⠀

When Patrick first heard a friend say that he wanted to find a way to support dads through birth, he says:

"When that came out of his mouth, every cell in my body woke up. After that gathering, I went out and grabbed him by the collar and said 'We gotta do this!'"⠀

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How much do you remember about your birth? Or about your time in your mother's womb?

Our guest today is Nicole Moore, from Birth into Being.

The broad mission of Birth Into Being is conscious evolution. "Our species needs to retain the ability to love," says Nicole Moore in her interview.

"Western culture has evolved in a separatist way. It takes a village to raise a child," says Nicole, "But how hard is it to find your village?"

"And how hard is it to maintain the village once you've found it? All of these things are related to our neural programming that begins at conception - or even earlier."

Nicole believes that pregnancy and birth create an imprint that carries on throughout our lives. When we understand that and put positive input into healing our imprint, that is a form of conscious evolution, says Nicole.

During her interview, Nicole discusses:

• What is a birth limbic imprint
• How to understand our own birth imprint
• How to retell our life stories for healing
• Reclaiming lost aspects of the self
• The theory behind the Birth Into Being Method
• Conscious conception and co-creation
• Preparing for the shock of motherhood
• Gathering support networks around us
• Aligning our nervous systems with our intentions

"Birth is more about a state of being, how you feel about it, than the specific birth outcomes of how the baby comes out."

"It's about shining a light on the importance of birth - for life."

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Mechell Turner, today's guest, comes from a line of midwives and traditional healers that won't put up with any nonsense.

She tells the story of how her great grandmother, the local midwife, was pregnant with her grandmother when she shot back at the local sheriff when he shot at her home deep in the night.

Her own mother was born when her grandmother was only 14, after she and her husband-to-be had to lie about their ages even to get married - but stayed married for another 60 years.

The most important wisdom that the Native American traditions have to give the world of birthing, says Mechell, is that birth is sacred.

And that many things in life are a new birth - like a business or a podcast!

Podcast sponsored by www.yogapantstore.com

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Many of the guests on Learning to Birth have been forging their own paths, following their calling as birth keepers.

One such guest is Cori Nielson. Cori is a Reiki Master of 23 years and founder of Sacred Childbirth with Reiki.

"After my first baby I was really sad and I felt like I had missed something really, really important, and I didn't even know what that was. But I had a longing inside of me, that I couldn't fill."

Cori describes the end goal of birth as not just healthy babies, but for birthing parents to feel empowered. "For me to feel like I could trust my body, my body knew how to do it, and I could work with my body."

After a pain-free second childbirth aged almost 40 using hypnobirthing techniques, Cori begged her teacher to show her how to teach others. Rather than being accepted as a new practitioner student, her former teacher's response was "You can do that with Reiki"

She excitedly hung up the phone, determined to teach Reiki to aspiring mothers - only to realise she had no idea how.

"The Reiki masters and the universe conspired to show me how," says Cori.

Reiki is better as something to be experienced than explained if you've never felt a Reiki channelling before. I did ask Cori though to explain Reiki for listeners who'd never felt it in their bodies before and she said:

"Reiki is an ancient system of healing, it was rediscovered in Japan. It takes the body into a very deep place of relaxation. You will feel a very warm heat coming through."

Cori regards Reiki as being a perfect match with birth because it takes you that deep place where healing can spontaneously happen, and our bodies can bring themselves into balance when we are stress-free.

Discover how she guides birthing parents and their support people to access the healing wisdom of Reiki for their births.

Podcast sponsored by www.yogapantstore.com

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If you were thinking about homebirth, would you be brave enough to do it with your first birth?

That's something that Talise Xavier did - and not just for her first birth - but five times!

But wait, she's mother to six...

Yes, it was a surprise for Talise too! One of her births was an unknown twin birth - and breach twin birth at that.

Talise has become so passionate about letting mothers know that birth isn't a condition, it's a celebration, that she's written her first book available on Amazon "Home is Where the Birth Is"

Her dream is to tour the country - and the world - educating birthing parents about how they can feel brave enough to birth at home, too.

Podcast sponsored by www.yogapantstore.com

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Cori Gentry, today's guest, is an unquenchable trend-setter.

Curious about the stories of birth trauma that the parents at her childcare centre told her, she set out on her own path of rediscovering the elements of a positive birth story.

Birth isn't an outcome, Cori tells us, it's the journey. And, as a birth educator, Cori feels it's her responsibility not just to give us one tool to make birth more comfortable, but the whole tool shed.

The light that Cori shines on what makes a positive birth journey is contagious. The most important thing, says Cori, is that we consider ourselves the decision-maker.

As a parent of five babies, she brings unparalleled wisdom and realism to birth education - equipping her students with how to navigate real-world scenarios of medications and interventions whilst retaining their sense of agency and self-sovereignty.

Cori sees herself as an inadvertent creator of a birth class curriculum. "I was not begging to write a curriculum. But I was at a phenomenal training on supporting LGBTQ families. I asked the people doing the training, do you know of any childbirth ed curriculums out there right now that are totally gender-inclusive? They said no."

"I was put in the position that if I want to teach a gender-inclusive curriculum, that is evidence-based, I have to write it."

Podcast sponsored by www.yogapantstore.com

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We have something very special for you. An interview with someone who birthed a baby for SIX years!

In her interview, Amy compares entrepreneurship to childbirth. “I tell people I’ve been in labour six years. Prodromal labour, start and stop labour for about five of those.”

When she got to the point of pitching, she sees that as active labour, or what’s known as the second stage. “When we were beta testing, we were pushing.”

“Right before we launched, I had that moment, like I was crowning, and I was like 'I’m not ready to be a parent, I don’t know what I’m doing!'”

Amy’s reaction to launching surprised her. “I launched November 5, and then I cried for a week.”

Amy discusses:
- How technology is changing informed consent

• How technology can be used to build relationships

• The difference between a birth plan and Amy’s app

• Her journey from mother to doula to founder

• How being a startup founder is like birthing another baby

• The hurdles she’s faced in the tech world

• Positions for birth.

Amy says “If you are to boil down what I’m really passionate about, its education and communication and also an informed choice. What I’m really interested in is childbirth education and doulas are only half of the equation. I’m really passionate about working on the other side of the equation, care providers, birth teams and health care systems.”

Amy believes that, as it stands, “Informed choice is at best very inconsistent. At worst it’s absent or manipulative.”

Podcast sponsored by www.yogapantstore.com

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Would you be willing to breastfeed until age 8? Or how about giving birth at home at age 46?
Maha Al Musa, EmbodyBirth™ Founder and Mentor, Award-Winning Author and International Speaker shares a powerful story with us.

The interview with Maha reveals how the path of seeking her mother after being kidnapped from her at 6 months of age transformed her from a place of loss and longing to profound connectedness with the sisterhood, the Earth, and her own higher self.

“I don’t use the words empowering. I use the words inspiring or liberating. Because I don’t carry anyone’s power. You carry your own power and you find that power within yourself.”

Maha has an unparalleled reputation as being an advocate for the transformational power of birth, as well as physiological normal breastfeeding. Birthing her daughter at age 46, she breastfed until 54 years of age!

Maha discusses:

• Using movement, sound, and breath, to connect to our bodies and babies

• The sacredness of birth as an emotional journey of transcendence

• The power of birth for evolving our consciousness

• What it really means when labor stops or fails to progress

• The meaning of feeling rooted in the earth and the connectedness of sisterhood

• Unfurling the layers of past emotional trauma to reveal our inner power

• What the world is really being robbed of when we numb and silence women

“You cannot choreograph birth. There are no steps that we all walk on this path… It’s as unique and personal as your thumbprint.”

Podcast sponsored by www.yogapantstore.com