A Blissful Mama's Retreat in Palawan

We have just wrapped up a wonderful gathering of birthkeepers (Mothers, Fathers, Women, Midwife and Doulas) in Bahay Kalipay, Puerto Princesa, Palawan. It was a beautiful weekend of sharing knowledge, age-old wisdom, latest evidence-based techniques and lots of tender love + care embracing womanhood! 

I admit that I'm a little bummed that we missed Ibu Robin Lim by a few days in this place! She came to Puerto Princesa to have a little vacation time and connect with kindred souls for a project in the works which I am hugely excited about!

She is definitely one of our main inspirations for the Gentle Birth Movement in the Philippines. I will never forget how much she helped manifest the dreamy birth of my daughter, Maya. Last year, I brought 3-month old Maya to Bumi Sehat, Bali as homage to a true light in the field of sacred birth!

My parents, Maya and I visit Ibu Robin Lim in her hOMe

Irina, my doula, thank you for your great motherly energy leading this batch of participants. Here she is explaining the Gentle Birth essentials in the breezy green space of BK.

teaching optimal fetal positioning

Teaching the Rebozo technique

Clarity, thank you for holding space and sharing your inuitive painting module with our participants. Another useful release-work tool for pregnancy and any stage in our lives!

 I shared pre-natal yoga asanas which women can use at any trimester during pregnancy. Here I am wearing my very favorite Birthing themed shirt which I bought from Bumi Sehat, Bali. "How do you stay human?" Ask yourself this question at the time of the birth of your child. Is it humane the conditions that we give for love and growth to happen? Ask yourself these questions as we raise our spiritual children.

Photo taken by Irina

Timing was absurdly perfect because a volunteer who came to Bahay Kalipay the same time we started the retreat was a midwife from Germany named Isabel. She shared her expertise with everyone with much lightness and humor that really gave the mothers much more confidence in their decision to birth differently.

Here is Isabel using a pinard horn after palpation for the exact location to check the baby's heartbeat. 

Daniw spoke about eating a wholistic diet is one of the ways that mirror our lifestyle which will greatgly impact the baby in utero. Here she is below demonstrating how to introduce superfoods and local green leafy vegetables into everyday food. El Kalinado, another healer and teacher brings to life amazing nutrient dense food for everyone. I am sad to have missed out on the Avocado Chocolate Cream because I was teaching a pre-natal yoga class! 

photo credits to Isa for the collage

For the Mother Blessing Ritual, we also had men and non-preggies join us and it was just a solid community of celebrating the goddesses within us.

Coming together as a tribe of positivity helped elevate our consciousness of what pregnancy and birth is. This time of 10 moon cycles is so sacred and we as a society should protect it from otherwise.

For those interested in future workshops, we will have a repeat for the Sacred Pregnancy & Conscious Birth on April 18 at Casa Natura, San Juan. 

We are also conducting SACRED POST-PARTUM: A Mother's Honoring Workshop this Saturday, March 7 in Casa Natura.

Please email me at monica.eleazar@gmail.com or Irina at consciousbirthmanila@gmail.com if you would like to register. Limited slots only.

The 1st Sacred Pregnancy + Conscious Birth Retreat

We've done it! My doula, Irina Otmakhova and I together with our midwife Deborah Gustafson of Shiphrah Birthing Home had the very first Sacred Pregnancy and Conscious retreat in The Little Farm House in Antipolo.

Four expecting couples came to join our first gathering or revolution for the Gentle Birth movement. We had 2 mothers who have had previous c-section deliveries and 2 first-time mothers. All of them are planning a natural birth, doing as much as they can to have the birth of their dreams. Attending this retreat is one of the ways they can gain more knowledge on the birthing business in the most natural sense possible.  

The couples together with the #SacredPregnancyConsciousBirthRetreat teachers and babies

Sharing with you more photos from the event

We set up this Magical Sacred Space! 

We unite and form a mandala in our venue filled with art pieces <3

We've asked the participants to bring a birthing ball for exercises they can practice everyday until the day of birth. Below, you see it being used as support for a mother in labor and her partner can put pressure / massage that will help relieve the waves when the time comes. In my own labor, I found it as one of the most useful tools in natural birth.

Pre-natal yoga is another essential for mother and baby's health all throughout pregnancy and beyond! I taught moms and dads yoga postures that they can use during labor to help baby get in optimum position. Here we are in Goddess Pose also known as the Victory Squat to help strengthen the leg muscles, activates the core muscles and integrates the upper and lower body's energetic pathways.

Irina taught Rebozo techniques to the couples. It is a traditional Mexican practice used to help and serve the woman's body during all phases of pregnancy. It was great to see the husbands and partners support the mothers and babies! If you've ever tried doing rebozo during your pregnancy, it feels divince to be supported of your baby's weight! This is definitely a must-learn that is so very useful especially during the last trimester of pregnancy.

We chose a venue that had greenery and fresh air because we wanted to increase prana of life forces in the body during this one-day retreat. In the hills of Antipolo away from the pollution of Manila, our couples had the luxury of pure, clean oxygen which is so very good for their babies!

Al fresco dining at the Bahay Kubo of HedCen for lunch and snacks

Irina demonstrates the forward leaning inversion to practice everyday for pregnant moms. Why?

"We want room for baby to settle head-down in the uterus and not only head down but crown of the head down (flexed) and on the left. The goal of repeating the forward-leaning inversion every day is to release the utero-sacral ligament and give baby the extra room. " -Spinning Babies

We briefly discussed the benefits of the Bengkung Belly binding, a Malaysian postpartum tradition. Made of pure cotton it offers 360 degree support to the mother prompting a faster postpartum recovery: uterus returning to size, minimises postpartum bleeding and swelling, encourages internal organs to migrate to their original place among other benefits. So honored to be part of the movement resurrecting the ancient traditions of caring for the new mothers.

Bengkung Belly Binded me!

*Since we received many inquiries about this practice. We have decided to create a separate event entirely for postpartum moms- whether you gave birth a few weeks ago or many years ago, we will be sharing many tools, rituals and information to help you physically close the body and on an emotional state bring closure to the birth (whether it was a positive or traumatic experience). 

Please save the date, Post Partum Honouring will be on March 7, Saturday. More details to follow on this blog!

We burned our FEARS that was getting in the way of our DREAMS!

Here are some of the treats and goodies each couple got to enjoy and bring home from our sacred sponsors :)

Healthy vegan cupcakes from Delicielo. I love the malunggay infused one!

Rawlicious green smoothies

Trio soap sample pack from BodyFoodAllNatural

Mosquito Repellent bottles from BodyFoodAllNatural

BodyFoodAllNatural Chamomile + Lavender Manzanilla

INDIGOBaby bath & body product giveaways

 Each couple also gets HALO Baby sleeping wear and Zalor Massage electronic GCs!

 For those wanting to join our next Sacred Pregnancy and Conscious Birth Retreat, we have our next one in Bahay Kalipay, Palawan, a Blissful Mama's Retreat! This is so very special because we are collaborating with our co-goddess, Daniw who is a Raw Food Chef and Healer that will incorporate Nutrition and Detox into our program.

For more details on Gentle Birth, Irina's doula services, prenatal and postnatal yoga, events and retreats, you may also check www.consciousbirthmanila.com.

Pregnancy and Birth Inspiration: Documenting It All

I came across this oh-so-beautiful video through the Gentle Birth Facebook group. If you haven't joined the online community yet, you should because we share a wealth of information on gentle birth and beyond among doulas, midwives, doctors and other mothers (& fathers!).

Please take time to watch this very inspiring video. It brought me to tears. There are many similar scenes with my own birth from birthing with waters intact to the lotus birthing. The look and feel of this creation is just brilliant! Who wouldn't want this birth experience?

I considered hiring a professional photographer for my home/waterbirth but changed my mind last minute because I realized I wanted utmost privacy and needed to limit my birth team. A part of me wished I had it documented but... it is what it is. My birth was dreamy and successful. In the end, that's what truly matters.

Would you document your whole pregnancy and birth in a video? I don't know of any professional videographers for pregnancy and birth but I do know a photographer who is passionate about her craft. Regina Hanh-Siy of My Story Photography was the person I was supposed to get to join my birth team. Perhaps she can join yours? :)

Part 2: Healthy Conception, Pregnancy & Babyhood

Now we move on to Part 2 of the previous post on How to Have a Healthy Conception, Pregnancy and the First 6 Months of Babyhood. Topics in this blog post are The Birthing Process and Vaccines.

The Birthing Process

A book on Waldorf Education and Child Development

In the Waldorf Schools, they tell the "Rainbow Bridge Birth Story" on the birthday of your child. See a personalized version for my son below:

Once upon a time there was a little child named Santiago who was still with the angles in heaven and he was very happy there. He looked at the beautiful colors and listened to the lovely music, and that was where he belonged. But one day the clouds parted in heaven and Santiago saw the beautiful green earth below with all the people happily playing and working and he suddenly longed to go there and see what it was like. He saw all the rainbow colors of the earth, He saw butterflies visiting flowers and birds flying in the air. They seemed to be beckoning him. He saw fish swimming in the sea and all the different plants that covered the earth. he saw children climbing trees running and jumping in the meadows and walking through sand and leaves. It was all so beautiful! So he said to his angel, ‘Please, may I go down to earth now?” But his angel looked at him and said, “No, it is too soon. You must wait a little while yet”. So the child went and was happy and soon forgot about the earth. Then one day again he saw a glimpse of the earth through the clouds again. He saw mother and fathers doing their work. He saw bakers and engineers and writers and farmers. He saw mothers and fathers loving their children. Then he saw a beautiful mother with love and longing in her heart for a child and he asked his angel now, “May I go to her?” The angel said, “You must go through the land of dreams first.” The next night the little child had a dream. He dreamed that he met and man and a woman and they stretched out their arms to him and asked him to come be their child. The child told his angel the dream. The angel said, “It is now time for you to go.” So the child asked, “So may I go now?” “You shall see.” Said the angel. That night the child went to sleep into dreamland and while ten moons waxed and waned he rocked in a little boat. And at the end of that time a beautiful rainbow bridge stretched from heaven to earth and on it came the child as a tiny baby and slid into his mother and father’s waiting arms. They looked in awe at this new life and said “We shall call him Santiago.

Now, isn't that just magical and beautiful? When I first read and heard that story, it brought tears to my eyes mainly because of how TRUTHFUL it is! Children are divine beings and parents should remember that. It is said that it is them who choose us, not the other way around. We will become parents when we are chosen. So, it is just proper that we be ready when the time comes. Preparation is essential and that is why it is good for couples to educate themselves on mindful parenting. It is also a gift that pregnancy takes 9 months (or more) so that we can really take time to transition, just like they are transitioning from heavenly beings into our world. We must remember that.

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"You must negotiate with your doctor or midwife" 

-Jake Tan on preparing & fighting for your birth plan

Jake Tan is a believer in gentle births. He says that many of our children's illnesses may be traced to birth traumas. And of course, our earliest impressions of life are critical.

During gestation, birth and early childhood, the limbic system registers all of our sensations and feelings, without translating it into the language of cortex, simply because it's not developed yet. That memory lives in the body through out the rest of our life whether we know of it or not. - Birth Into Being

Tan recommends delayed cord clamping (Yay!) because it will cut the essential distribution of baby's blood from the placenta. He read an article to us stating this fact which was written in 1969! My goodness! Why are many doctors still cutting the cords too early? Call it what it is - it is baby's blood not cord blood (in cord blood banking). Would you steal blood from your newborn child so that you can save stem cells for future illnesses he/she might not even have? Why are we feeding in to a fear based module of thinking?

What if, by cutting the cord too early, we created the exact conditions that stem cell research is trying to fix? And what if we just gave Mother Nature a chance, left the cord intact at least until it stops pulsating, and started gathering data on these newborns? As health care providers, “first do no harm” means little if we can’t acknowledge with humility that, yes, perhaps we got it wrong; we should be willing to learn from our mistakes and do our best to provide the next generation with what is its birthright: a cord full of rich blood. -Childbirth With Love

Have you read the story of my lotus birth here? (Where I did NOT cut the umbilical cord of my baby after birth and waited until it fell off naturally)

"Children are wanting to come into this world...to be cared for - not subject to stress" 

-Jake Tan

Think about that statement. Are we subjecting our children to unnecesary stress? Tan says that children cannot develop in a stressful environment. We all might be nodding our heads to agree but do we really know if we are doing our children good by exposing them to electronic media, television, advertisements (even billboards on EDSA). It is unappropriate for their age to be xposed to such stress factors when they must see the world to be GOOD, BEAUTIFUL and TRUE. These are words from Rudolph Steiner, the founder of Anthroposophy and Waldorf Education.

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Now this is the part where is gets controversial. Vaccinations.

Seven years ago I already had my doubts with pharmaceutical vaccinations. When I discussed my concerns with my husband, I wasn't prepared with research to back me up so we 'compromised' by giving my son some vaccinations which we spaced out in 4 months for the 3 separate jabs of the Dtap/IPV/HiB vaccine. The HepaB shot was administered at birth (I don't even remember giving the go signal for this) plus 2 more separate jabs within the next 8 months.

The Guardian writes an article on some of the side effects on these here. If only I could turn back time, I wouldn't have vaccinated my son.

Jake Tan supports my current view on vaccinations. It is unnecesary. Yes, you read right. Growing up, we've been told that vaccines saves lives so you might be shocked and even react violently on how seemingly selfish I am for choosing NOT to vaccinate my daughter but let me shed more light on the matter.

In Anthroposophic Medicine, it is believed that children will only use illnesses to release certain capacities. When your child gets a fever, it is encouraged to let the fever take its course so the body will learn how to manage and heal on its own. When we suppress this innate ability of our body to take charge, we are sabotaging the healing process. There is a beautiful article explaining these matters: Anthroposophy, Diseases and Vaccinations in one blog article here.

I was once a panic-stricken parent but slowly I have learned to trust in the inner body wisdom of my children AND personally take charge of their health, not leave it to the doctors and government. We as parents are responsible for keeping our children healthy. A healthy immune system depends primarily on lifestyle and diet. If your immune system is strong, you will not be vulnerable to viral outbreaks. It's really as simple as that.

"The most protected child (vaccinated) is the most sickly child"

-Jake Tan

"The recent epidemics are from fully vaccinated children" 

-Jake Tan

Contrary to popular belief, the recent 2014 measles outbreak in NYC was from a vaccinated woman! Read about it on Science Mag here. Why should I even bother to vaccinate when fully vaccinated children don't get immunity after all?

Have you read up on the active ingredients of vaccines? MSG, Formaldehyde, Monkey Kidney Tissue, Calf Serum are just some of the ingredients found in vaccines. Read the complete listing of ingredients from VaxTruth.Org here.

What about polio?

The children are being vaccinated for measles and polio, in spite of the fact that measles rates are very low and declining in the Philippines, and that there has not been a single case of polio in the Philippines since 1993. - Health Impact News

There is an interesting chart comparing vaccinated and unvaccinated children in Dr. Mercola's website here. Knowing that my child will be more susceptible to allergies, asthma, ADHD and Autism if given vaccines...again, why would I allow this?

Here's a very timely health documentary that will help open our eyes further.

The hidden story about vaccines, drugs and food… Three huge topics in one film. Why put all this in one movie? Because these issues are directly related, and we have an opportunity to harness the millions of us engaged in each of them to overcome the noise put out by the medical-industrial conglomerate. You peel back the layers and see what’s really driving our industrialized food, our vaccine expansion, and our dependence on pharmaceuticals – it’s the same culprit. Huge corporations funded by individual misery, one broken life at a time. These three story lines converge on Wall Street, but this story takes us beyond the problem to the inspiring and empowering role mothers are now taking in uniting to protect their families.

Link to the movie here: http://ykr.be/1mjafybyd6

I have interviewed several people on their thoughts and feelings about vaccinations and will share in a separate blog post soon.

This is my blog stating my personal opinions on the matter. If you believe otherwise for you and your children, I respect that. Let's continue to live in peace next to each other :)

Gentle Birth Forum with Ibu Robin Lim

When I was 3 months pregnant with Maya, divine intervention happened. I was in Baguio for a family vacation the same time Ibu Robin Lim spoke about midwifery, homebirth and lotus birth. Back then, I didn't even know who she was. Alas, the universe must have heard my prayers and the angels paved the way for me to meet such a gentle soul. That night sealed my decision to have a homebirth AND a lotus birth, too! These get togethers (talks, seminars, forums) with like-minded souls really give me the strength to stay in the 'road less traveled'!

Today was a special day for all the birth-keepers in Manila because 2011 CNN Hero of the Year awardee Ibu Robin Lim finally got to meet the group behind Gentle Birth in the Philippines as we tackled 'Gentle Birth' in a public forum.

A guest speaker before Ibu, Dr. Faye Cagayan, an OB-GYN at Philippine General Hospital taught a few SAYUNTIS (Sayaw Buntis) exercises and presented this slide. YES, YES, YES! My wish is for all doctors and nurses to respect a laboring mothers mobility to increase her chances for a natural childbirth!

Were you free to move as you wished when you gave birth?

Ibu centering before her talk with healer Olivier, husband of my friend Jhoanna. They did a peaceful waterbirth in Bali, Indonesia with their son, Tala :)

Ibu Robin sure knows how to make a grand entrance! If you've seen her videos on Youtube, you'll know that this is her usual re-enactment of what a natural birth and lotus birth is. Humor breaks the ice :)

Ibu Robin refers to the placenta, cord and baby trio as the Holy Trinity. This is the root, stem & fruit. Lotus Birth is leaving the cord intact until the placenta is born but waiting until the cord to fall off naturally on it's own is considered a full lotus birth. (Read about my full lotus birth here.)

After presenting powerful images of her humanitarian work in Bumi Wadah Foundation (Ibu Robin immediately sought action after typhoon Haiyan struck Leyte), she made us hold hands to unite energies for gentle births by starting with ourselves.

Photo by Velvet Roxas

Here I am with my birth mentor, Ibu Robin and my back up doctor Dr. Menefrida Reyes who was very supportive of my VBAC (she even spoke about it today!). My midwife, Deborah Gustafson should be in this photo but she couldn't make it. 

My awesome doula, Irina Otmakhova!!! If you want love and support before, during and after your birth, you MUST get in touch her! Here is her website for her services - www.consciousbirthmanila.com

I am so glad to be able to refer Irina (& Deborah!) to my little yogini friend, Aisa who is expecting baby W in a few weeks time! Blessings to your family, W's!!!

And here is another mother making a conscious birth-plan by reading up and attending today's event. Thank you for coming, Timi! 

Cheers to the organizing team for the Gentle Birth Forum, Bravo to all of you, ladies! Awesome work! Thank you, Pat for the photo.

Closing with a message from fellow birth-keeper, Cheryl Chan-Wong:

Hello fellow Gentle Birth Protectors,

For those you missed out Gentle Birth Philippine’s Open Forum with Ibu Robin Lim, you have another chance to see her and this time is by tune in to UNTV's Rise N Shine tomorrow morning, around 830am. Ibu Robin Lim will be on air to discuss the Gentle Birth and everything you need to know about “taking back” one’s birthing rights.

Thank you for all your support, and prayers for a successful guesting!

Local : Ch. UNTV 37
Home : Ch.33
Sky: Ch.58
Destiny and Dream : Ch.9
Signal : Ch.92
Cablelink : Ch. 99
*Thank you*

‪#‎gentlebirthforumph2014‬