Birth Healing & Integration

My Philosophy

My philosophy to birth integration is rooted in self-responsibility, accepting what is, and seeing how life is always happening for us. We may not always like what happened, but when we work with our birth stories and the residue from those experiences, we can orient to how the experience we had—exactly as it was—is actually guiding us to wake up to something important. It was entirely for us.

Through the Birth Integration process we will somatically explore the following inquiries:

• What is this experience calling forth in me?

• What is here for me to learn?

• How did I create this?

• What died and what is being born?

• Who was I and who am I becoming?

With my background in trauma healing and somatics, I believe the most powerful way to do birth healing work is through listening and connecting with the intelligence of the body. I do this by noticing the story the body is telling (which can be very different than the mind’s story) and by paying attention to how the body—the organism—is remembering what happened. By orienting to the body in this way, we can allow survival energies to dissipate, making way for more aliveness and flow in the system.

We also work with limiting beliefs, the stories that we’ve made up or meaning we’ve assigned to a birth experience. We may also look at how these are greater patterns in our lives. Often these stories become deeply internalized, and differentiating from these beliefs opens up a newfound freedom and flow throughout all of life.

What to Expect

Birth Integration sessions are offered in a series of 2 or 3 50-minute sessions, typically spaced 1 week apart. I work with families as soon as a few days after birth to several years after. Often families come to me in preparation for a subsequent birth, knowing there is residue to integrate before going into the birth portal again.

Working on a somatic level, we will explore what the body is remembering about the birth experience. It is not important that every detail about the birth is shared, that content is not always relevant or necessary in renegotiating the experience at the level of the nervous system. Often focusing too much on “what happened” can keep us stuck in a cognitive loop or block us from dropping into the body’s memory of what happened.

We will focus on the thoughts and feelings that are still haunting you from the birth. Sessions may open up a release of energy through tears, shaking, or uncomfortable sensations in the body. We will simply allow these to move through, remaining present and avoiding overwhelm of the system. We will slow down through difficult moments of the story, allowing the full experience to wash through and dissipate. When we discharge activation surrounding birth, bonding and instinct deepen and families come together in greater connection and resource. For birth workers, birth integration is a necessary ongoing practice to avoid carrying fears and residue into future experiences.

Who Is This For?

This work is for anyone present at birth or the early postpartum time. This work is certainly for mothers, but is also for partners and birth workers who carry their own unique experiences from witnessing or supporting a birth. The intensity of a birth experience for those supporting birth is not often acknowledged and can hold a massive and long-lasting charge—such as fear for their partner or baby’s life, powerlessness, or confusion.

If you are interested in getting support integrating a birth experience, please set up a free discovery call.