Create something bigger and stronger for the future of Women in Birth
By: Katherine Bramhall, CPM
I sat in my villa on a beautiful Bali Saturday with the sun luring me to the many beauties outside such as the pool, a great iced coffee at Three Monkeys, an invitation to the beach, etc… yet I resisted the seduction of Busy. Instead I drank instant coffee and sat quietly working all day, compelled to harvest all that just unfolded in the last week with 14 incredible birth workers from all walks of life and all stages of life. I didn’t want to miss the harvest.
As I sat, women came to my door to say goodbye to me with their eyes and hearts soft and wide and hearts generous, open and overflowing with awe and gratitude for the experiences they had just shared together and privately during their time at Eat Pray Doula.
Words like ‘transforming’ and ‘I could never have imagined’ and ‘like no other workshop I have EVER attended’ along with ‘sisterhood’ and ‘tribe’ were quietly offered. These feelings affirming that the effort and investment to come to Bali to study was more than worth the investment in Themselves and could never be quantified by words alone.
I understood, as the Group was one more of the Gathering of Women that comes together to create something bigger and stronger for the future of Women in Birth at Eat Pray Doula. As one of their teachers, I am humbled.
But with all their dreams of becoming and developing as the keepers of Birth, what I saw MOST in them over the week was this:
Compassion is necessary to work with families in birth, but it isn’t enough.
Kindness is also necessary, but even it isn’t enough.
Intelligence and a hunger for knowledge and knowing is essential in order to teach and empower families, but it isn’t enough.
Wit and humor for both our families and ourselves is so important, but also, not enough.
Certainly these things are all common denominators in women who work with families in birth.
But what I am basking in tonight as I look back at the close of yet another Eat Pray Doula workshop here in Bali is that the piece that feeds ALL of those things…the Essence that makes it all WORK is COMMUNITY.
Community with our Sisters ties all the other components together…holds us together so we can continue to evolve this Birth Movement backwards- back to the time when giving birth was seen as natural and normal and part of life. Community has always been a huge part of my work and I am forever grateful to you and all my sisters, all around the world, for the mutual support we have shared.
Join me for Eat Pray Doula: A Gentle Birth Evolution for All Birth Workers March 11 – 20, 2016 in Bali Indonesia
Midwifery student and aspiring doula trainer, Kate, shares about walking into the unknown with women and being respectful, kind, and honoring each other. She ask birth keepers if there is nurturing that can happen in your own life to enhance your work?
