The Labor Practice - my new passion: integrating childbirth education and coaching concepts

If you know me personally, or professionally, you know I wear different hats: I am a childbirth educator and group facilitator, I am a  birth doula and  a doula mentor, and I practice life coaching and hypnosis. I feel like I always wear all of my hats, and it is just a shift of focus, a slight adjustment which I make in what gets more focus, or maybe you can see it as a shift between foreground and background. For example, when leading 
my student as a childbirth educator, I am always a coach and a group facilitator, but the context of childbirth education gets the focus. Sometimes I work as a coach, and I think  "wow, she would really benefit from hypnosis", and then I might suggest this client to try hypnotherapy in order to bring about the change in the area she is being coached.  I think my doula students are the ones that really gets to experience me wearing all my hats: As a doula mentor I am incorporating years of experience as a birth doula and as childbirth educator,  with my coaching skills. I coach my students around emerging issues and facilitate their growth into the position of the care-giver and birth doula. As part of the training they get to partially experience  hypnotherapy, as I lead them through relaxation and guided imagery, and teach them several visualization techniques to work with.  Since the training is in group sessions,  I do serve them as a group facilitator - creating safe and intimate container, encourage all-inclusive atmosphere, balancing the agenda with the group pace and with emerging issues of individuals who creates the group, taking an anecdote being shared by a group member and making it into a learning experience for all, being accountable to model nonjudgmental feedback, and more. 


As I keep integrating all my skills and areas of practice, my latest passion is the integration of childbirth education and coaching concepts. It has been about 6 months now since I began developing my new concept of childbirth class - The Labor Practice.  I have just finished writing an article which explains how I got to this concept and how it practically works. For many years we taught expectant moms that if they react to labor pains, the pain of contractions, the same way they react to other pains- with alert, concern, fear and rejection,  their habitual reaction is in the way of a good healthy and safe labor.  Labor tools are in support of the progress of birth as well as the ability to cope with the pain of contractions.  Labor tools are relating to the physiology and anatomy of birth, and when mothers do practice them,  they have better chances of having a healthy birth which progresses in a timely manner (Off course it takes some collaboration from your baby too). It is hard for me to accept philosophies of childbirth education which deny the presence of pain in labor. Contractions are strong cramps of our uterus, and when a muscle cramps, pain is present. 
So how are you being with that pain and what are you doing when you are in pain?  That is a question every mother needs to deal with, and is central in the doula practice. 


The Fear-Tansion-Pain syndrome  is used to describe our habitual reaction to any kind of pain. When it comes to birth, the set of physiological symptoms affiliated with fear and tension is inhibiting the progress of birth. In short, the uterus works on two kinds of “fuels” –oxytocin and oxygen, both are in charge of effective contractions. In the presence of high levels of adrenalin, due to tension, the release of oxytocin is inhibited, and our contractions are not becoming stronger and closer together, meaning- failure to progress.  In the lack of adequate amount of oxygen-  the uterus is not contracting effectively and therefore the result is the same- failure to progress.  

Going back to coaching- it takes a lot of practice to break a habit. It is not enough for mothers to just quire the labor tools  in childbirth class, they need opportunities to practice them. We need to learn the steps of the dance, and then practice them in order to perform. If we want mothers to rely on their birth tools, we need to create these opportunities for them. This is the goal of the Labor Practice- a drop in class, just like step or yoga, to allow mothers and their partners to practice their tools for labor an a weekly basis until the birth.
The classes are designed around topics: a class about using different balls, a class about different techniques of visualization, and a class about expansion of the body in birth, a class about the spiraling of our body in birth, and more. I always begin the class asking mothers what they wish to take that day, and I’ll do my best to meet my students’ needs. For example, sometimes I have 3 couples coming to the class around their due date, wishing to be reminded of their tools, and then I’ll practice with the group about 20 minutes of each phases of the birth reminding them of the different phases and different tools they choose for them. My goal is to give mothers and their partners the opportunity to practice the tools of labor on a weekly basis, so that they know the steps of the dance so well, on their birth day they will dance it. All it takes is practice, practice, practice.


If you want to read more about the Labor Practice, please click on the link to read the article on my website. 


  

Wow, I think I'm ready with two local groups

The last month was all about recruiting students to my upcoming birth doula training. One thing I have learned from the process is that you can no longer be a self employed or a small business and just focus on the service you are offering the world. Whether it is a service like mentoring, coaching, therapy or day-care, or you are selling products, the world has changed, and it is all about SEO- Search Engine Optimization. If Google search engine can not find me – I do not exist! Now imagine me - being a Taurus, big mama, gave birth three times vaginally and naturally, a birth doula, birth doula mentor, with preference for intimacy and eye-contact and lots of touch, having to learn all about attracting potential students via cyber space, and spending hours on key words density, tags, link building, site maps, duplicate content, free press releases, social networks and authority websites….OMG. I was so challenged. However, you can find me now much easier (You and Google spiders :)). By reading my blog right now you are taking part of this effort of telling the world about me and my extensive and amazing birth doula training. So thank you! A big Thank you is sent to the universe for bringing to my life my new friend and doula student Esther, who was so committed and patient in teaching me all the above, and coached me for becoming active, do the work and get results. I love you Esther!

The current results are that my website does come in a more visible and practical place when you search for “Birth doula training in San Jose/San Francisco Bay Area”, or “Becoming a doula”. The more exciting results are that there are amazing 8 students signed for my training, and there is still a month ahead of us, so I am hoping for 1 or 2 more. On my website there are already program schedules for two groups, isn’t it great! (If you are considering joining my training, I am recruiting now for group B). I am assuming this is also thanks to the raving testimonials my past students wrote me in different places, which might be the result of my investment and dedication to provide the most through birth doula training anybody could think of.

This year training has evolved so much. I have prepared more hand outs, I have developed information sheet of how to use the supervisions, and there are more coaching exercises included. The most exciting news is that the Birth doula training at Mama Center is now officially the only training in the USA with close supervision in L&D, as this year students will take shifts joining the midwives for their births. I can't wait to begin! How about you?

Doula Training 101: Wow, I think I am ready for two local Bay Area Dou...

Doula Training 101: Wow, I think I am ready for two local Bay Area Dou...: "The last month was all about recruiting students to my upcoming birth doula training. One thing I have learned from the process is that you ..."