I had the joy and privilege of attending a birth this week. This was the mother's second birth, which was a first for me. Working with a woman who has already birthed makes my work easier since she already has a good idea of what she wants and doesn't want, and she was so confident and relaxed after baby arrived.

Have you heard what we as mothers are capable of: nurturing, intuitive, selfless, boundlessly loving women!? What incredible super-humans we mothers are! Except when this description does not fit how we actually feel.

How we live our lives, signals how we will birth. How we view our bodies in our daily lives informs how we view our ability to birth. Do you like your body? Do you trust your body? Does your body work for you? Or do you have animosity, anxiety or disdain for your body? Can you see how that will affect your birth?

A friend told me the other day that her son is old enough now that people are asking when she's going to have another baby. And she confided with me that she's not interested in sex anymore. Its a quiet death that many women experience after birth,

I've been on an intense spiritual journey this year and I've been blessed with a tribe of women and a family who have supported and guided me through an amazing time of awakening and growth. Its a journey that I would bless upon all humans in their own way, though I know not all are interested.

As you may have noticed, I talk a lot about empowerment in my discussion of fertility, pregnancy and childbirth. Recent conversations and articles have been pushing me to deeply examine what "empowered birth" really means, and how it affects women.

When women can birth freely, without fear and in the way that they choose, birth can be peaceful, providing the framework for peace and joy in the family and in the larger world. It really is that important and that far-reaching. It doesn't matter how she chooses to birth. What does matter is that SHE is the one who has made the educated decision.

There is a yogic principle regarding effort and surrender (the yogic terms are Tapas and Ishvara Pranidhana, and the words "effort" and "surrender" are two simple translations) that I believe applies directly to birth as well as to our larger life journeys.