The Beyond Birthing Method

This week will welcome you into the beyond birthing method, introduce you to key practices and mindsets to get the most out of this course, and explore what is truly possible for your labor and delivery experience.

In this week you will:

• learn the keys to creating a successful birthing mindset for a positive birth experience.
• clarify your intentions for the course.
• experience a deep relaxation meditation to open and set the sacred space and welcome deep support for your intentions.
• begin to unearth your beliefs and fears around childbirth, to open up the possibility for natural momentum and progression forward through your labor and delivery.
• receive suggestions for supplemental reading and resources to support your further exploration.

This week deconstructs the sources of fear and expectation in labor and delivery and how these beliefs can hinder your body's natural ability to painlessly birth your baby.

We will cover:

• how your birthing muscles work in perfect harmony to birth your baby painlessly and smoothly.
• how to steer clear of the typical path of pain and overwhelm often associated with birth.
• fear release techniques including Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT).
• processing past birth trauma for a safer, more peaceful, & blissful birth.
• Meditations for healing and processing past birth experiences to create positive space and momentum for your current birth.

This week you will:

• learn about the arc of labor through a narrative lens to move through the process of labor and delivery with confidence and clarity.
• intuitively know exactly where you are and what to do as you progress through the phases. 
• practice breathing techniques appropriate to each phase of labor to promote relaxation and encourage your baby's progression through the birth canal.
• learn a special technique to condition your mind and body to respond to labor with intentionally chosen responses.
• address the impact of generational birth patterns on the birth experience to create more spaciousness for the birth you desire.
• deepen your connection with your body and your baby so that you can tune into and respond to labor signals in a supportive and empowering manner.

One of the elements that sets Beyond Birthing’s birth preparation apart from other natural and traditional courses and programs is your dream birth vision. When we know where we are going we can take decisive and confident action to get there.

This transformative week will guide you to bring together the knowledge, practice, and new beliefs developed over the previous weeks to create a unique vision for your dream birth. Through guided exercises, you will find expansive possibilities to reach for an experience of birth you may never have thought possible. We will then take your vision even further to create a powerful tool for your birth, the magic element for a completely different birth experience, which will help you prepare at the deepest subconscious level for your dream birth. Beyond Birthing mothers have cited this tool as the ultimate game-changer in their births!

This week you will:

• create a detailed vision of your dream birth to ignite the manifestation field and bring this experience into reality.
• learn effective labor positions for each phase of the journey.
• practice physical exercises to prepare your body for the intensity and endurance of labor.
• continue to clear out fears and receive deeper coaching.
• explore aspects of your life that may require some attention or alignment to fully surrender to the experience of giving birth.
• create a powerful tool for your birth!

This is where the rubber meets the road in changing the birth experience. The prior weeks will prepare you with the knowledge, practice, and mindset necessary to navigate birth with confidence, peace, and ease. This week will arm you with the clarity of what you are about to encounter and the sacred power each woman holds over her own birth. There are far more choices in birth than most women ever come to know; this week dives into many of these decision points while instilling self-trust and the strength to speak up for what you desire. Armed with evidence-based resources, an extensive list of options for birth, and examples of mothers who have both listened to their instincts and those who haven’t, you will be prepared to lead your support circle with clear decisions and authority.

This week you will:

• strengthen your voice & self-advocacy.
• learn your options, typical interventions, & create a clear birth plan to share with your team.
• reclaim your authority to lead your labor and delivery with confidence.
• build a powerful tool to condition your subconscious to expect and proactively manifest a positive birth experience.

One of our most beloved and unexpected sessions in the Beyond Birthing Program, this week brings couples and birthing partners together to create space for clarifying and sharing each person’s hopes and priorities for birth. Through guided exercises mamas will have the opportunity to express what they need for support at every level, and for partners to be clear about what they are and not willing or able to do. With this clarity, we will create a plan that meets the needs of each partner both strengthening confidence in your ability to work as a team and enhancing your bond. Many women are surprised by the priorities and hopes of their partners with these exercises and practices often clearing up misunderstandings, easing tension, and allowing greater closeness and intimacy to arise. Partners will gain a great deal of confidence and a stronger sense of participation. We will also be learning supportive relaxation techniques such as hand massages, squat support, counterpressure, and other useful practices for labor and delivery.

Bring your partner to learn supportive techniques, tools, & roles.

• clearly define and share the ways in which you would like your partner to support you in labor.
• create strong communication channels between yourself and your partner so that you can flow together as a team during labor.
• practice two different types of hand massage and other techniques your partner can use to help you relax during labor.
• create space for your partner to share their expectations and desires for labor and the ways they hope to and can support you 
• explore bonding exercises with your partner to strengthen your connection and create positive emotions and amplify endorphins for your birth!

This week addresses the most intense and difficult aspect of giving birth: surrendering to the process. The secret that we attempt to push away with intervention and control is that birth is meant to push a woman past her limits and ability to cope within the constraints of her current self. This dissolution of self beckons us to be part of something greater, an unfathomable strength and presence within and without, in order to expand into the woman we are called to become for this next chapter of life. In addition to surrender, you will also learn how to recognize and handle emotional pain in labor, often confused with physical pain, to diffuse overwhelm and create a more peaceful birthing experience.

 This week you will:

• distinguish between physical and emotional pain and how to navigate emotional processing in labor. 
• discover how to surrender to the process of birth (or be dragged through the process)
• cultivate faith for a process that will test every part of your being and fortitude
• clarify your motivations and commitment to yourself and your baby as you embody and embrace the confidence of being a mother

Comprehensive birth preparation would not be complete without covering delivering the placenta as well as common circumstances such as inductions and cesarean sections. The postpartum period, including delivery of the placenta, can be surprising to mothers who have primarily focused on preparing for labor. This week offers tools to navigate postpartum with grace and joy as you get to know your new baby.

This week also provides both a clear road map to a successful, faster, and more comfortable induction and also explores the overuse of inductions in modern obstetrics, with evidence based research to support you in your decision-making. Lastly, women often feel limited by the surgical procedure of cesarean sections. This week offers a more holistic and satisfying path through surgery, providing a clear understanding of the process, mapping the phases from previous weeks into the flow, and includes relaxation techniques to ease anxiety and fear.

• inductions: the difference between preparing for a marathon versus an ultra-marathon with strategies and tips for a positive and successful experience.
• the psychosomatic causes of breech and processes to turn your baby.
• preparing to deliver your placenta, options, and possible interventions to look out for.
• healing after birth and expectations for recovery.

In this empowering postpartum one-on-one call, you will have the opportunity to walk through your birth experience from start to finish, being witnessed for the triumphs and challenges, while receiving deep coaching to process and integrate your experience. This intimate and nurturing session provides a safe space for you to reflect and integrate your labor and delivery experience. Sometimes in the midst of the process we can miss how truly amazing we are and the clarity with which we have fulfilled our hopes and intentions; the insights you will receive from this session will ground and strengthen your confidence and deepen your experience in a beautiful way!

Come back together in this supportive container one last time to celebrate and share birth stories and experiences within the group and reflect on the journey to deepen your integration and empower your path into motherhood.

We will meet live on Tuesdays beginning September 3rd at 1pm EST (10AM PST) (if you are due sooner or can't make this time, see below).