First Day of ICSM birth servant Course

I am on such a high right now! I have just returned from my first day of The International College of Spiritual Midwifery birth servant course. It was held in the most perfect location for such a journey; The Centre For Human Transformation. To get there you have to go off-road and up a winding dirt track, paved with a bush of tall trees, and then atop of a hill are a collection of buildings. The course was held in one of the temples, which is hexagonal shaped, with windows for walls two thirds of the way around, and a wood fire inside.

There are thirteen women in our class and two experienced birth servants running it. We spent the day (aside from the lunch break and when we watched a short DVD) in a circle on the floor in the temple together. We exchanged birth stories, which also involved exchanging laughter and tears. We talked about what a birth servant's job is and what "doula" means to each of us.

One of the best parts of the day that made me really appreciate how suited this course is to me was when one of the experienced birth servants spoke about "unconscious agendas" and how they are dangerous for birth servants to have and to bring into a woman's birth space. She then went on to talk about how she does have a natural birth agenda, but she is up front about it with the women she supports and meets, so there's no confusion or illusion about what she brings to the birth space. I really loved that! Usually when I read/hear about birth servant courses they focus on stamping out any agenda you have as an individual, or getting you to hide it deep down, and that never sat comfortably with me. She said that having an agenda as a birth servant is fine so long as you don't push it, don't hide it and be aware of the challenge that in can pose when supporting a birthing woman.

And the cherry on top was that both experienced birth servants/course leaders felt that birth servants should be free to support women who want to homebirth without midwives.

We finished the day off by pairing-up and each pair acts as a buddy to one another. The very last thing we did before saying good-bye was give and receive massages from our buddy.

In the next month we are to write a two thousand words about how we see ourselves as birth servants.

One of the temples at The Centre For Human Transformation