Our approach to pregnancy, birth, and parenting support is deeply rooted in the philosophy of Birthing From Within.
The Story of Birthing From Within
Based on Pam England and Rob Horowitz’s landmark book by the same name, Birthing From Within is both an organization and a innovative, compassionate, holistic approach to childbirth. Motivated by the traumatic experience of giving birth to her first child, midwife Pam England began to search for something missing in both mainstream and alternative childbirth movements: reliable resources to prevent and heal birth trauma.
Although she herself was a practicing home birth midwife, Pam had given birth by Cesarean—the outcome she most feared. Shocked by this turn of events, she asked herself, “What do all modern women need to know to give birth-in-awareness in a medicalized birth culture?” The answers she discovered became the basis of Birthing From Within, which has now grown into an international movement of childbirth educators, doulas, nurses, midwives, therapists, fathers, and mothers dedicated to revolutionizing childbirth.
The Philosophy Behind Birthing From Within
There are several distinguishing aspects of this life-changing approach that set it apart from other philosophies of childbirth preparation and labor support, such as:
- Seeing birth as a rite of passage rather than a medical event.
- Recognizing that it’s more compassionate to provide parents with realistic expectations of childbirth pain than it is to promise painlessness. As such, Birthing From Within teaches proven pain-coping techniques to help with the hard work of labor.
- Focusing on solutions rather than problems. Through viewing things in this light, challenges become opportunities for growth.
- Embracing parents’ fears, worries, and concerns as vital to childbirth preparation.
- Validating the fact that fathers and birth companions have their own unique experiences for which they need their own support. They are not “labor coaches” but rather loving partners.
- Instead of focusing on what to expect when you’re expecting, Birthing From Within invites parents to welcome the unexpected and discover what they can do when they don’t know what to do. The focus isn’t on planning for or achieving a specific outcome but rather on birthing in awareness of one’s experience, whatever the circumstances may be.
- Emphasizing childbirth preparation as a journey of self-discovery. Pregnancy is not just about gestating babies but also gestating parents; childbirth preparation is also about preparing for parenthood. In Birthing From Within, we honor this process of transformation through awareness, ritual, and celebration.
- Offering a creative, playful, hands-on approach to foster this transformation in ways that prepare the heart as much as the mind and body.
For more information about Birthing From Within, visit www.birthingfromwithin.com.
