The body of work shared on the Dance of BirthSM Video grows directly out of the discoveries I made in my own healing process during the eight years between the births of my two daughters. Having embodied and mapped the journey from trauma to dynamic well-being, I transformed my basic prenatal birth story. Due to the magnitude of trauma on many different levels that I had experienced prior to bearing children, I knew very well how to open and expand, but I knew very little about how to contract, how to close and return after a threshold experience, like birth. My ingrained patterns for dealing with trauma became my primary navigating dynamic in the face of any intense situation. I knew how to open and simply leave my body. Disassociate. My healing involved building a strong internal core, a place to leave and come back to. Consciously developing pathways for making the journey of expansion and contraction became essential. Unlike how I birthed my first child, the practical body-centered tools I accessed during my second child?s birth, allowed me to stay present and connected. What was a series of survival tools for myself has now become a resource for others at major life passages, like birthing families. This video, thus, evolved from one woman?s story, my story. My intention is for it to speak to everybody?s story, to the urgent need for us to collectively return home to ourselves, to our hearths, to the place within where body, heart and soul are one. It is time for congruency between what we think, what we feel, and what we do. Imagine if we were attuned to the Spirit moving through us and thus able to be fully inspired in our creative deeds. The Dance of BirthSM is thus an invitation to kinesthetically connect through movement with the great mystery unfolding through all of us who are involved in acts of creation. This video is a movement experience, an opportunity to dance often with and through each of the special phases of early parenting.
~ Dance of BirthSM Details ~
Over these years of teaching this work I came to recognize key principles that, when embodied, consistently support a woman in her natural and empowered birthing and parenting experience. Specifically these principles are Grounding; Containment; Expression; Aliveness; and Connection to That which is greater than oneself. These keys are directly accessible throughout the 5 RhythmTM dance map developed by Gabrielle Roth and further integrated through a variety of other activities and practices. The following describes in greater detail the essence of this movement work for pregnant and postpartum families.
The opening dance in the video, greeting each of your body parts through gentle and organic movements, is a natural way to warm up. The practice can be done with your partner as you prepare to consciously conceive each of your children, opening your body and being to the Spirit? the breath that creates life through you. This exercise can also be done often during your pregnancy as a way of connecting with yourself and your partner. It helps you to open and stay limber. By attending to your body with interest, consistency and respect, you have the opportunity to give yourself the care many of us did not fully receive as babies, thus preparing you and your partner to be ever more healthy as parents. Greeting your body parts in early labor softens and mobilizes you for the work ahead. Once your baby is born, you continue to care for yourself by gently moving. Dance with and for your baby. Tenderly massage and move his or her awakening body. Before you know it, your whole family will be starting each new day dancing, warming up body parts while breakfast cooks, in the car on the way to the grocery store, or to the song of your toddler drumming on pots and pans. The options are limitless! The second dance in the video is an opportunity to invite breath fully into all of these parts? to be inspired. By consciously practicing this simple dance of breathing in and breathing out, your body discovers how to fully expand and contract. Conscious breath as a resource becomes ever more an automatic response to life. It helps you remember to breathe in time of fear or overwhelm, even in times of great excitement. Breath helps us befriend and sequence the strong sensations we call pain. Children learn initially through imitation. Modeling this practice can be a lifelong gift to your children. The next five dances in the Dance of BirthSM Video work together as a whole. Regardless of whether you are preparing to consciously create and conceive your children, whether you are pregnant and preparing to birth, or whether you have birthed and are now raising your family, these dances serve to awaken and integrate all of your capacities to meet the tasks at hand. The first dance in this series is the egging dance, similar to the energy of early labor and early parenting. Sensual and grounded, you practice rocking and opening in a fluid way. The second dance in this series invites you to embody the energy of the sperm, focused and directed, similar to the necessary warrior-like stance you take as labor progresses and to the protective gestures you make as parents. Regardless of your gender, you practice being clear and boundaried in simple ways. Every parent needs this capacity in order to healthfully guide your children and to discern the world around them. The third dance in this series, wild and breathy, encourages you to practice the sacred act of union, of surrender, of untamed expression. You learn to let go while staying connected to yourself and your senses. Staying present during major life thresholds, like conception, birth and amidst the chaos that inevitably arises during early parenting is empowering. The fourth dance in this series is a celebration, an opportunity to rejoice with your loved ones, with the miracle and gifts of new life. Sometimes the only sense of spaciousness and freedom you can find as new parents is within. It is precious and essential to breathe in deeply and remember who you truly are in the fullness of your adult lives. Expansion into your aliveness becomes a part of your practice. The final dance in this series is an opportunity to integrate, to return home, to rest in the wonder with your partner, to welcome the presence of new life. You are new yourselves. The dance connects you, over and over again, with the truth that you are upright, inspired, creative human beings. The closing movement experience is an opportunity to rest deeply into the stillness accessed through the prior dancing experience. Feel your rootedness with Mother Earth through every part of your body. Relax into the experience of being contained through your touch? and by something Great holding all of life. You may find yourself wanting to write, or sing or paint when you are complete with this video. Allow time for your creative expression. As you breathe and rest, feel your aliveness, the rich pallet of sensations moving through you. This is your birthright. Welcoming life by staying present and awake with the powerful truths within is a political act and a spiritual practice. Your children need to trust that you are truly connected, inwardly and outwardly. As you dance, please listen to your body and heart, honoring your daily changing needs. Move only in ways that feel harmonious to you, being quiet on some days, challenging yourself to dance more fully on others. Everyone has unique ways of moving. Allow the Dance of BirthSM images to inspire your special unfolding. Always move at your own pace. Allow yourself to be Danced.