E M B O D I ED
Birth Skills
CHILDBIRTH EDUCATION
The Embodied Birth Skills course is a whole-systems approach to preparing you for the physical, mental and spiritual challenges of birth.
Do you believe that there is more to birth than what is portrayed in mass media?
Do you want to experience birth feeling empowered and embodied?
Are you confused or overwhelmed by all the different birth methods out there?
Is it about working on your body? Or your mindset? Or maybe all you need is your intuition?
Birth is so multi-faceted that there will never be just one silver bullet to getting your birth “right.”
Birth is an initiation. It is all-encompassing… body, mind, spirit, soul. Positions, movement, pleasure, nervous system, mindset, community…
You know that birth is going to require something extra of you, but you have no idea what that thing is. Or how to access it.
Do you know what skills it takes to birth without fear or share?
Do you know what skills it takes to birth with freedom of movement, choice and power?
The Embodied Birth Skills course is that multi-faceted approach that will take you from the meta level down to the actual, embodied skills for being in labor, transiting the void of birth and integrating the experience into motherhood.
Watch the free Birth Prep Class: Movement, Breath + Sound
Are you invested in your birth?
Do you understand the gravity of your preparation?
Listen up! I know your OBGYN has said they will do all the things that you want to do. But I’m sorry to say that you are going to need some real preparation for this experience!
The lens through which modern allopathic medicine sees birth is that it is a medical emergency to be managed every step of the way - including financially.
But you sense - or know - that there is something deeper, more sacred, hidden beneath the stories of “emergency C-sections”. Why is it that one third of American women “can’t” have un-medicated birth?
It would be easy to blame the problem on the medical industrial complex. But that’s actually way too simplistic. And the causes are as much our own responsibility as they are the systems’.
I’m not telling you that you just have to set your mind to positive thoughts and trust your intuition and everything will be fine. Though mind-set and intuition are vital to the process.
You have to understand what physiological birth is and how the hospital system actually disrupts that process. It is also important to know when true issues might arise that can be served by Western medicine.
If you desire an un-medicated birth, one free of intervention and an experience that supports your wellness, autonomy and value as a human, you need to understand the waters in which you are swimming.
The Embodied Birth Skills course is a whole-systems approach to preparing you for the physical, mental, spiritual and systemic challenges of birth.
You will learn - and practice in real time - the skills that will give you access to your unique and inherent body-wisdom.
You will learn to “read” your intuition and discern which of the gut reactions your body-mind habitually goes to for self preservation.
You - and your support person - will learn the true meanings of surrender, witnessing and power.
In this class you will learn:
How to feel safe and held in any location that labor and birth take place
Practical tools for comfort, safety and ease through labor
Just enough about the process of birth for you to trust birth. To trust pregnancy. To trust your body. To trust your intuition
The innate wildness inherent in your pregnant and birthing body. This wildness is what makes birth something that we were literally born to do. Not in the way that it is your destiny or duty as a person with a uterus, but in a way that is physiologically inherent to your anatomy.
The ways that being civilized, socialized humans impacts the natural blueprint of birth. And what you can do about that!
Tools and practices to embody your inherited power as a birthing person
The psychological shift in consciousness that occurs in labor and how to practice being in this numinous state
The phases of initiation that are inherent in birth and how to use those phases for an evolutionary experience
How to live your birth plan every day
What it is not:
There is so much talk around birthing in “freedom and power.” Of burning down the modern Western medical system to have a Freebirth in the woods alone. The words “sovereignty” “embodied” and “autonomy” are pretty cliched. If you have seen these things and thought… hmmm, yes I want to birth in freedom and power, but…
…I just don’t think I could do it alone - or even outside of the hospital
…something about those offerings just doesn’t sit right with me
…my partner/family member/doctor says its dangerous to birth outside the system
This course is not about spiritual bypassing the realities of birth - the complications, the challenges, the risks, the goals of the medical industrial complex and the systemic racism.
In fact, addressing these issues head-on is what leads to your power.
Course Details
Each chapter includes an anchor lecture class plus many skills practices.
On-Demand Course Format:
4 weeks/chapters of online content
4 lecture classes to lay the foundational framework
audio and video recordings of meditations, breath practices, skills and partner practices
supplemental PDF downloads and links to additional resources
Weekly Course Outline
Week 1: Birth as a Rite of Passage - Understand the archetypal journey of birth and the stages of a rite of passage - Partners learn how to hold space and be a witness
Week 2: Your Innate Wildness - Understand the physiological process of birth for your body and mind and for baby - Connect to your pelvis (bones, muscles, organs, genitals/intimate parts)
Week 3: Birthing in Captivity - Understand the medical system’s approach to birth and the choices you will be given - Understand how your nervous system works in birth and how your system might be affected by situations with care providers
Week 4: Embodying a Birth Plan + Fourth Trimester Planning - How to practice birth - Planning for your fourth trimester
Your Investment
For my first launch of the online class you will get the lowest price I will offer.
Embodied Birth Skills Course is for you if…
…you want to birth outside of the hospital
…the hospital is the best or safest option for you
…have taken other birth classes but still didn’t have the experience you hoped for
…know that birth is about way more than just your mind-set and the choices you are allowed to make (and you want to create the right mind-set and know what choices you will be given)
…know that the answers lie somewhere within you, but you want help accessing that ancient wisdom
…understand birth as a sacred time
…are ready to face the darkness and fears that are lurking in the back of your mind
…you’ve experienced trauma (in previous births or life) and you don’t want that to impact your birth
…want to prepare for birth in a way that acknowledges the challenges to birth from the medical system but is grounded in skills rather than spiritual bypass
…you just want to get the epidural or schedule the C-section
…feel like you “don’t have anything to prove by suffering through labor”
…are not willing to practice the skills and do the work of preparation
THIS COURSE IS NOT FOR YOU IF…
FAQs
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Yes! In the Embodied Birth Skills class you will learn to access your inherent wisdom and power for whatever kind of birth you dream of. And these skills will serve you in motherhood well before you hit the “terrible twos”.
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I generally recommend starting the course around 24 weeks or sometime in your second trimester. The hope is that you will take the 4 weeks to learn the content, and then still have plenty of time to continue to practice the skills and learn about your needs. Some of the practices you can use all throughout pregnancy. Some practices are more applicable as your get close to birth.
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Many childbirth classes are based on a specific technique (like Bradley Method or Hypnobirth or Lamaze or Birthing from Within...). All of these are useful in their own ways, but in many of them I felt a vital piece was missing: information about the nervous system, especially as it relates to the social nervous system, consent, and trauma. I created this course based on my unique experiences, skills and trainings including:
extensive yoga trainings including trauma-informed and perinatal yoga
birth doula training and attending births in the hospital and birth centers
trauma prevention and repair through Kimberly Johnson’s classes
my spiritual practices
birthing my 2 children at home
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This class will address many different angles of birth. A lot of classes will focus on one approach (the body, mindset, spirituality, etc). This class takes into account all of those things PLUS your nervous system, consent, pleasure and birth as a rite of passage.
Read More About Birth
Your Teacher
Dawn Leonard, ERYT-200, RPYT, Reiki Master Teacher, Birth Doula, MotherCircle Facilitator, Vaginal Steam Practitioner
Dawn is a yoga teacher, somatic womb practitioner, birth doula and childbirth educator, and facilitator of circles and ceremonies.
She specializes in helping women transit the initiation of birth with embodied skills, access to ancient wisdom and through community ritual and ceremonies. In her 1:1 work, Dawn facilitates healing through energetic/spiritual and somatic practices so that women can grow into positive relationship with their bodies and each other.
