I'm finally writing about the transformative experience I had at the Birthing From Within workshop in Santa Fe. It took me a while to process it all, and to give the experience words, and I still have my doubts that I could do it under pressure, say at a dinner party. Here I have time to think about it at least, and to edit out anything unintelligible. I felt like a bumbling idiot when I called my husband every night from my room. He'd ask how the day went, and my answers seemed to come out as "It...good."Well, it was good. And mind-blowing. And crazy. And probably the sanest thing I've ever done in my life. Pam England herself was at this one, and it appears to be the only one this year where she is listed as a facilitator. Her presence was invaluable. Virginia and Elizabeth also facilitated, and it was wonderful to have three perspectives, three sets of ideas, and three personalities.
The picture up top is of our group on the last day. That's me on the back row between the two ladders--the blond who just had to do a quarter-turn toward the camera, like my sister did back in her pageant days. I'm hypnotized by cameras and mirrors, but at least I'm conscious of it, eh?
I initially had reservations about going to such an important even in Santa Fe because my Pluto line runs right through. Astro-cartographers usually caution against traveling or living on the path that Pluto took on its way to your place of birth, because it has the connotation of death. Yikes! I have requalified this notion after this experience, however: Pluto's high road is transformation, and that's more what I felt.
While I was there, I howled, I breathed, I mock-contracted, I meditated, I twirled, I drew labyrinths, I played with pastels, I met some beautiful, beautiful people. I saw a BFW class in action, and I saw the parents transform. I discovered how to take mothers and fathers on journeys inside themselves. I found a home. I let go. I woke up.
But anyway, for anyone trying to choose among all the childbirth education / doula training programs out there, I highly recommend BFW. Why? Because its education is not education, but mentoring. Because it prepares a woman to be a mother on a soul level. Because its philosophy is that birthing a mother is just as important as birthing a baby. Because it respects a father's journey. Because it is not outcome-focused, but journey-focused. Because it rocks.
Posts
