Ecstatic Birth Preparation is a call to redefine our understanding of childbirth so as to transform the experience from something a woman has to endure into one that she can ENJOY.
Photography by Quentin Dubois
Our societal structures have trained us to abdicate all responsibility for our bodies and our care to our practitioners. When a woman deeply inhabits her body, she can find her power, confidence and wisdom within, without the need to rely on an outsider’s influence or authority. Her primary need, then, becomes the unconditional support from her loved ones, who help her fulfil her potential as a woman and a mother.
Ecstatic Birth Preparation honours women’s innate body wisdom.
When a birthing woman feels safe, unobserved and uninhibited, her body starts releasing a fine combination of hormones, including oxytocin and beta-endorphin, which lead her into an altered state or birth trance. This state is essential to the optimal unfolding of birth. Oxytocin, also known as the hormone of love and bonding, is also released during arousal and orgasm, stimulating that feeling of closeness to our partners. After birth, the body is flooded with the most amount of oxytocin a woman will ever experience in her life! This enables her to fall in love and bond deeply with her baby.
Childbirth can be the most ecstatic, transformational and empowering experience in a woman’s life.
Every module is designed to help you deepen your relationship with yourself, your innate body wisdom and your partner.
Module 1 - Introspection
- An opportunity for you and your partner to examine your conditioned beliefs about birth and how they may be informing your birth choices
- Envision and communicate your dream birth to your partner and birth team
- Begin to integrate pleasure and a positive birth culture into your daily life with my one-to-one support
- Process prior birth experiences with my one-to-one care and support
Module 2 - Birth Education
- Learn about the hormonal physiology of birth (what is actually happening in your body when you are giving birth) and how to create the conditions which are conducive to a positive and empowering birth experience. This will be followed by a one-to-one session with me (in person or online)
- Get evidence-based answers to your questions about birth and common birth interventions.
- Consider your birth choices with integrity and confidence
Module 3 - Disarming fears
- Disarm any fears and apprehensions you and your partner may have around pregnancy, birth and parenting through a 4 step process with my support.
Practices:
- Birth Affirmations
- The Six Healing Sounds (Taoist practice)
- Using sound to open up the body
Module 4 - Somatic Birth Preparation
- Get out of your mind and into your body through body sensation practices and an understanding of the value of a body-led approach to birth preparation.
Practices:
- Awaken to sensation
- Bonding with your baby in the womb
- Feeling your way through
- Pain and pleasure
- Your inner wisdom
Module 5 - Birth & Pleasure
- Discover the deep interrelationship between birth and sexuality
- Learn about the female anatomy of arousal and the anatomy of birth which are one and the same
- Create more space in your life for your emotional, physical and spiritual pleasure
- Learn practices to source pleasure both from the outside and from within and begin to plan your birth with your highest pleasure in mind
Module 6 - Dancing with the Unexpected
Birth is mysterious and unpredictable by nature. In this module you will learn how to navigate the unexpected in birth with openness and calmness.
Time to write your birth plan!
Module 7 - The Postnatal Journey
- Let’s talk about what happens after the birth of your baby (placenta, cord clamping, bonding, breastfeeding)
- Prepare a circle of support for your postnatal journey. Write a postnatal plan to ensure you can rest, nourish and bond with your baby.
- Intimacy, communication and sex after birth
“I feel absolutely blessed to have had Samara by my side accompanying me, my husband (and our baby!) throughout this beautiful journey. I came into pregnancy with many fears that were completely dissolved thanks to my work with Samara and which allowed me to have a pleasurable & calm birth experience which I didn’t know was even possible. Always respectful and non-judgmental, her knowledge of pregnancy & birth along with her wonderfully unique & peaceful energy make her, for me, a perfect doula.”