The Beautiful Work Challenge: On Birth

A new podcast from catalysta

“Each of us can transform to meet the challenges facing humanity.”

What are the essentials of birth? Who broke maternity care? Is transformation possible? Empowerment, disempowerment, the health of babies & society all begin at birth. 
Have you thought about these questions? I am honored to be a part along with many of my mentors, colleagues and friends in this powerful discussion in The Beautiful Work Challenge: On Birth–a new podcast.
“What the heck can we do?” This podcast, video and collaborative series explore how professions, political and economic systems and each of us can transform to meet the challenges facing humanity.
The Beautiful Work Challenge addresses and assesses the work we do together as revealed by trailblazers whose stories are told in three parts: the essence of the topic, its current state-of-affairs, and the possibilities of transformation. We begin at birth.
I have never thoughts of myself as a trailblazer but I do love the term and as I sit reflecting I guess creating a documentary and co-authoring a book Orgasmic Birth – speaking and teaching about the best-kept secrets of pleasure, love, and sexuality in childbirth did blaze a trail.
To speak up and share my thoughts with so many others whose work set the foundation for my explorations both personally and professionally with birth – I am humbled.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts. We all make a difference as the personal is political and especially in the way we give birth and are born. We are learning that birth is not just another day in our lives, it’s one that shapes memories, contributes to our health and well-being for years to come and maybe for future generations. There is so much more to consider than what we know-how much we don’t know about the short and long term effects of the over-medicalization of childbirth.
I hope this series will inspire you as much as it does me.

The Essence

The Essence moves from preconception to attachment, bonding & post-partum with Debra Pascali-Bonaro (Orgasmic Birth), Phyllis Klaus (The Doula Book), Ina May Gaskin (Birth Matters), Thomas Verny (The Secret Life of the Unborn Child), David Chamberlain (Babies Remember Birth) and more.

The Currency

The Currency looks at the roots of disempowerment, the impact of media and contemporary inquisition as presented by Robbie Davis-Floyd (Birth as an American Rite of Passage), Penny Simkin (Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn: The Complete Guide), Betty-Ann Daviss (Birth Models That Work), Michael Klein (Dissident Doctor) and others.

The Transformational

The Transformational is about policy, practice, crisis and education through the experience of Ibu Robin Lim (Bumi Sehat Foundation), Angie Truesdale (Centering Health Care), Vicki Penwell (Mercy in Action), Karen Guilliland (New Zealand College of Midwives), Ashley Hill (Birthmark Doula Collective) and more.

Trimtabs: On Birth

A companion video series, Trimtabs: On Birth, shares the knowledge of five women with practical suggestions for transforming the field of birth. 
Watch my video below where I discuss International MotherBaby Childbirth Initiative and the launch of The International Childbirth Initiative, and then head on over to the Beautiful Work Challenge to watch more from Dana Walrath (Global Brain Health Institute, Trinity College, Dublin), Heather Clarke (Certified nurse-midwife, Frontier School of Nursing University), Karen Melton (Somatic practitioner in pre and perinatal psychology and health) and Nese Karabekir (Birth psychologist, co-founder of Birth With No Regret).

Watch all - Trimtabs: On Birth