Birth is an ancient ceremony gifted to us by our ancestors. Birth is physical, but it is also mental, emotional, and spiritual. I have been taught that childbirth it is a sacred time when the gateway between the spiritual world and physical world is open. Birth is a time for strengthening our bonds with our bodies, partners, family, community and ancestors. When our bodies birth, we connect to the wisdom and strength of our ancestors before us, and the ancestral knowledge that we carry within our bodies. It is an opportunity for birthing persons, their partners, families and communities to experience growth, healing, and empowerment, and to reclaim our body sovereignty and our traditional knowledge and practices.
Birth is safe. Our bodies have evolved for the physiological process of birth. As lifegivers, our bodies can shape-shift and transform. Birth is an opportunity to deepen our appreciation of our bodies and what we are capable of. Birth is a time of both strength and vulnerability. It is an intimate and tender time. It is a process that invites us to surrender and trust.
Birth is not linear. It ebbs and flows. There are many variations to birth that are normal and safe. There is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to birth.
Birth is a sacred journey that takes us to new depths, tests our limits, and allows us to walk to the edge of the spirit world and guide our babies here to the physical realm.
Birth is ceremony. The laughs, moans, prayers, sweat and tears that we release in birth are a sacred form of medicine that help us call the spirits of our ancestors to us to bless our birth.
Birth is ours, and sacred to each of us in its own way.