Birthing is a spiritual and life changing journey. When you embark on one, you must do
your prep work beforehand. And luckily pregnancy lasts 9 months which
gives you enough time to do what it is you need to do. Here is my
pre-production work which granted me the birth I have always wanted,
the birth of my dreams <3
Spiritual Preps: 99 percent reality
I’ve been a student of Kabbalah for 2 years now. Kabbalah
is spiritual technology. You can be a Christian, Muslim or a Yogi like me and
practice Kabbalah tools to improve the quality of your life and bring light
into our world. What I am drawn to is that Kabbalah uses explanations from
Quantum Physics to make my rational mind comprehend spiritual concepts in an
earthly manner. I particularly like the blog articles of Kabbalah student and mentor, Billy Phillips here.
 |
| Some of the Kabbalah students and mentors I study with |
One of the teachings is that the world we know and perceive
is only 1% of total reality. The remaining 99% reality is beyond our five
senses. This means that in order for us to manifest something in our 1% world,
we must work primarily in the 99% realm because that is where energy comes
from. This is how all energies flow into the universe. Yes, it confirms all that we have known since childhood. Everything is from God or the Light.
After finding out I was pregnant, I was determined to have a
natural birth because I was traumatized with the c-section I had years ago (I’m
pretty sure my son was too). I started doing my spiritual work as taught to me
by my Kabbalah mentor. Here are some of the many things I did:
- I kept mum about my
pregnancy for 3 months, (ideally) keeping the pregnancy a secret between
me and my husband only. I know that we tried keeping it a secret for as
long as we could but Montri wanted to share the news with our family. It
is said that the first trimester is very critical because the energy of
the growing baby within you is so sensitive. It’s common for people to
announce to the whole world once they find out they’re pregnant. What they
do not know is that, other people’s consciousness may affect their baby in
utero. We are all made up of energy, after all. Energy can pass through
flesh and bones. So yes, negative or upsetting or jealous thoughts can
affect what’s inside of you. My mentor once said, “Many miscarriages can be saved if they followed this practice”.
And it’s an old tradition too. Many lolas
follow this. They keep their early pregnancy a secret to protect their
unborn child.
- As advised, I scheduled
for a reading with Ruthie, the official astrologer of the Kabbalah
community. I was in my first trimester then. Ruthie is gifted to see
beyond our physical world. She told me about my past lives and despite us
just having a chat over Skype, without any real introductions, she very
personal knew things about me and my family. She knew that I was pregnant
and that I had a son already. She knew about my parents and siblings. She
told me that the birth of my baby will be a “healing birth”. And that I
should work on forgiveness because I still had resentments from the past which
kept myself ‘closed’ when I want to be ‘open’ for the birth.
- Sometime in my 3rd-4th
month of pregnancy, I attended Rosh Hashanah in LA with my Kabbalah
community in Manila. Rosh Hashanah is considered a ‘new year’ holiday for
the Kabbalists because this is the time we plant seeds of consciousness to
be reaped throughout the rest of the year. During the event, I was given
the opportunity to meet Karen Berg, the current head of the international
community. She gave my baby a blessing saying “your baby will be healthy
and strong”. Since then, I had certainty that my pregnancy and birth will
be well.
- Wearing the Red String is another practice of Kabbalists to protect us from 'evil eye' or negative energies brought about from people who stare and feel emotions that are not healthy for you or baby in utero.
- Another tool that we
practice in Kabbalah is a cleansing tool called Mikveh. It’s submerging
your whole body in water while scanning and meditating on texts like the
72 Names of God. They say that it pierces through your klipot or negative shells and
washes you anew. It is good for pregnant women to do this daily. My mentor
would always ask me each time I would meet her over Skype, “When was the last time you did Mikveh?”
So I did mikveh weekly or monthly depending on my schedule. Although
daily is ideal especially in the last month of pregnancy. It is written
that this ensures a safe and fast labor and birth.
 |
| My friend's pool in L.A, one of the places I did mikveh in during my pregnancy |
Signs or Premonitions
- Looking back, my birth was
so surreal. I had dreamt about this event many many times during my
pregnancy. Prophetic dreams they surely were! The first of which was that
my natural birth was successful, fast & painless. That I had caught my
own baby. Then another dream about feeling the crowning of baby’s head during
birth. And in another dream, I had birthed with my waters fully intact, an
auspicious sign. And true enough, during my actual birth, my water membranes
only burst when she emerged. Irina (my doula) and Montri (my husband) both
saw it happening.
They depicted it so beautifully…
”As
her head came out, the waters turned pink and then a blue-ish membrane also
burst to the sides as the body slid gracefully out”, Montri recalls.
“I remember I kept watching in the
waters, but due to the dim lights and already red coloring I could not see
much for several minutes.....Until I saw it! The little head was emerging
slowly into the outer world now filled with water and motherly juices. Her
membranes were gently flipping on both side announcing the arrival of the new
soul into the world. And seconds later her entirely body slipped into the
microcosms confined to the intimacy of the birthing pool”, Irina writes in her email dedication
to Maya.
- Not only was I dreaming of my birth, my friends
and relatives were also dreaming of my birth! Kaye dreamt that I had
birthed successfully with my baby in arms. Noelle dreamt about birthing
twice; that moment of crowning at birth and another successful one
(although in one of her dreams, she dreamt that she was the one birthing).
Jeri dreamt of the gender of my child, that baby would be a girl version
of my son Santi. My cousin from the US dreamt that I gave birth so she
checked on me through Facebook but that was days prior to the birth.
When I think about these dreams and
how it relates to the what happened, I can’t help but confirm my personal (and
Kabbalistic) beliefs that time and space are illusions. Did this incident
already occur (as my dreams had shown?) Then time does bend for us to
experience. If you’ve seen the movie, “What
The Bleep Do We Know” then you’ll get my drift.
- Like my friend Daniw, I was constantly seeing these numbers
on the clock 1:11, 11:11. I read online that these numbers are signs that
angels are communicating with you. I’d like to believe that I was given
good graces early on by these celestial beings.
- Yes, that bird showing up on our roof pecking for
food and hanging out as if waiting for dear little Maya to come out during
my labor was a good omen. It is said that… “pigeons are determined creatures. They stay in an area as long as
there is food despite attempts of humans and other birds to chase them
away. A pigeon sighting can encourage you to be stubborn and hang in there,
regardless of what challenges are thrown in your path.” Perfect
message, although I didn’t know it then. But yeah, that’s exactly what
happened. I stayed resilient and didn’t allow doubts to creep in my head.
That’s how you become successful at any goal, “Just keep swimming”, says the fish in Finding Nemo, right?
They say that when you are pregnant there is a thin veil between
the spiritual and physical world because we are carrying an extra soul within
us which makes our instincts stronger. Did you have any dreams or premonitions
during your pregnancy? Aren’t preggies known to win the lottery? Hehe
Physical Preps: 1 percent reality
99 percent still doesn’t add up to 100 percent without the 1 percent so I also
did my 1 percent preparations in the physical plane which is the world we live and
perceive in.
The very first major preparation was to move houses. Since I
wanted to birth at home, I had to leave Quezon City because my midwives
informed me of the ordinance banning home births. My husband and I decided to
move to San Juan, back to the compound where I grew up. Here it is (still and
hopefully forever will be) legal to have the right to choose where to birth.
Good thing that we planned it early enough that construction finished a few
weeks before I was due.
My closest friends know that I’m BIG on research. I am a
voracious reader of books and online sources when I get into a topic. Born in
September, Virgos are super critical and I’ve found a good avenue to be very
detailed. When I found out I was pregnant, I sought out books that would support
my VBAC (vaginal birth after c-section) decision. I wanted to read all the
positive birthing stories so my mind can process these instead of fears.
These
are the titles I read throughout my pregnancy.
- Ina May’s Guide to
Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin
- Silent Knife: Ceasarian
Prevention and Vaginal Birth After Cesarean by Cohen & Estner
- The VBAC Companion: The
Expectant Mother’s Guide to Vaginal Birth After Cesearean by Diana Korte
- Active Birth by Janet
Balaskas
- Cut, Stapled and Mended by
Rosanna Rosewood
- Bountiful, Beautiful,
Blissful: Experience the Natural Power of Pregnancy & birth with
Kundalini Yoga and Meditation by Gurmukh
- Hypnobirthing: The Mongan
Method: A Natural approach to an easier, more comfortable birthing by
Marie Mongan
Thanks to Jenny Medina, Jenny Ong, Denise Bernardo and Irina Otmakhova for lending me these books. Knowledge is power!
I also watched videos: The Business of Being Born (an
awakening documentary!), Microbirth (an ongoing project that tackles birth in a
scientific manner- it will want you to pursue the most natural birth!),
Orgasmic Birth videos on Youtube and Daniw’s unassisted waterbirth video was so peaceful
and inspiring! Perhaps I was in such awe of her birth process that my mind manifested the same scenario with my birth as well!
Food & Drinks: I drank Organic Red Raspberry Tea Leaf from Healthy Options all throughout
my pregnancy. I read that this strengthens the uterus muscles and would keep my
waters intact. The reason why I rushed to the hospital 7 years ago was because
my waters broke early on even before any contractions started. The thing about
this happening is that hospitals put you on a timeline once your waters break –
they want your baby out of you in the next 12-24 hours. If there is no sign of
progress, medical interventions start. I’m so happy that my waters stayed
intact even if my labor went beyond 24 hours.
Moringana malunggay infused teas were also a staple during my pregnancy. Even now post partum I take this. These are available at 75php per box at flowsurfyogasamba@gmail.com
I ate Organic Medjool
Dates throughout my pregnancy.
Thanks to my thoughtful and generous friends from Dubai and Singapore for
sending me packages of dates. There has been research to prove that eating
dates all throughout the last month of pregnancy shortens time of labor and
increases dilation for delivery. Apparently, this ancient wisdom is also
written in the Quran. If you can, please buy organic medjool dates. Medjool
dates don’t spike blood sugar which is good to know if you’re diabetic. Someone
once told me that you can purchase dates from Santi’s deli. Might be good to
check it out!
 |
| Banana Dates smoothie |
The Blessingway: I
knew that intentions are powerful so I had asked some of my FO (far out)
friends (those that actually supported my birth choices) to organize a blessingway where they had wished me and baby well with
good intentions for the upcoming birth. I feel this helped me tremendously because there is power in numbers. I was not alone in this feat, people who loved me were also with me in this journey. And that made the difference.
 |
| My Blessingway spread prepared by loving friends |
Just a few days before the homebirth, I started wearing
a Baltic Amber necklace from
www.cutieverse.com. Baltic Amber has been used as a teething necklace to
relieve pain. This site says it stimulates the thyroid glands for many health and healing benefits. It might have been useful, too!
And of course, I can’t deny the fact that Yoga has helped me stay active
throughout my pregnancy, specifically Yin
Yoga and Pre-Natal Yoga. I only
stopped teaching Yoga a month before my due date (because I had to attend to
moving houses). I keep telling people that all the yoga poses I teach during
Pre-Natal Yoga are actually birthing poses. I did all of them during my labor
to ease my baby down the canal. I remember one teacher telling me that when you
are pregnant, you should practice Yin Yoga to soften and open the body. You
cannot let your baby out if you are stiff in the muscles. After birth, you can
focus on other yang styles of yoga to strengthen your body.
Interested in Pre-Natal, Post Natal and Yin Yoga? Email me
at monica@igobeyondyoga.com for private classes in your homes or join a class
at Beyond Yoga www.igobeyondyoga.com
What spiritual and/or physical preparations did you do for the births of your children? Please do share! I’d love to hear them.
Posting my awesome birthing playlist in the next entry! Oh
you know, music makes a whole lotta difference when you’re birthing a baby out
of you ;)
.jpg)
