Giving birth and stepping into motherhood is a journey into the visceral unknown territory of the body, that takes us beyond the thinking mind and into our primal, animal nature.  The voice can be a powerful ally in connecting to and working with this non-cognitive part of being human.

Join us for six days over three moons to explore radical birth education, somatic tools for embodiment and primal voice exploration. Come home to your village of mamas and be held in a safe and supportive container while you journey through pregnancy or conscious conception and prepare for birth.

Day One: Saturday 16th March 

AM & PM Sessions: The Village Prenatal

Gathering around our birth altar, we will begin our journey together with a Village Prenatal. Devised by elder midwife Sister Morningstar the Village Prenatal is a chance to come together in ceremony, to share, connect and celebrate pregnancy and conscious conception. The day will include, song, prenatal yoga, earth connection, journaling and a birth story medicine circle.

Day Two: Sunday 17th March (Half Day) 

AM Session: Embodied Pregnancy - Somatic tools for Embodiment 

This session will introduce why being connected to our bodies can be helpful during the process of pregnancy, birth and beyond. We will look at the role of the nervous system (through the lens of polyvagal theory) and how the experience of personal safety and our ability to remain embodied are connected. We will touch in on the somatic experiencing principles of resource, grounding and orientation which support the process of exploring embodiment in a safe and manageable way. 

Day Three: Saturday 20th April 

AM Session: Radical Birth Education - Laying The Foundations For Birth In Power 

To understand and prepare for birth in the 21st century we must first delve into and learn about the history of women; or HERstory. Together we will explore how birth moved from the home and into the hospital and the origins of industrial prenatal care. What are the implications of this when we consider childbirth as a rites of passage? How can we craft authentic prenatal care? What does it mean to choose wild pregnancy, homebirth or freebirth? 

PM Session: Embodied Pregnancy - Somatic tools for Embodiment 

This session will explore how to connect with our bodies through felt sense to support the journey of staying present and inside the body during pregnancy, birth and beyond. We will use somatic movement techniques and trauma sensitive yoga practices to explore building nourishing, grounding, resourcing and self regulating embodied experiences for ourselves, that can be tapped into as needed. 

Day Four: Sunday 21st April 

AM & PM Sessions: Primal Voice Exploration 

Giving birth and stepping into motherhood is a journey into the visceral unknown territory of the body, that takes us beyond the thinking mind and into our primal, animal nature.  The voice can be a powerful ally in connecting to and working with this non-cognitive part of being human. In this session we will use fun and insightful exercises and games to explore our non-verbal selves and to practice following our bodies’  impulses using the breath and the voice.

Day Five: Saturday 11th May 

AM Session: Radical Birth Education - The Birth Dance 

What does a physiological undisturbed birth look like? And how can you make choices to truly support it?

In this session we will dive into the wisdom of the birthing body, looking at the hormonal matrix and the holistic stages of birth and immediate postpartum. We will discuss birth as a spiritual and energetic dance, exploring how to work with fear and pain and what this means in terms of your birth support; who do you really want in your space and why?

PM Session: Embodied Pregnancy - Somatic Tools for Embodiment 

In this session we will look at a few helpful movement patterns that can support the opening journey of the pelvis during birth and help to channel the energy and functionality of contractions/surges. We will also revisit and integrate what we have explored in the first two sessions. There will be plenty of time for questions and chat to support the individual needs of the group. 

Day Six: Sunday 19th May 

AM Session: Radical Birth Education - Into The Depths 

Let’s journey into the questions of safety, risk, responsibility and what they mean in the context of birth. We will look at the difference between variations of normal and emergencies, as well as cover the ‘what ifs’ and how to navigate them. 

This session will finish with a deep dive into all things postpartum; how to honour and prepare for the first forty days.

PM Session: Closing Celebration

Meet your teachers:

Emily Katsuno 

Emily is a trauma informed yoga therapist and has worked with pregnant women since 2015. She is a mother to three children and each pregnancy and birth have opened potent transformative doorways for her to grow and evolve. Emily has used the portal of birth to navigate fear and open into the depths of surrender. During this course, Emily will be sharing Embodied Pregnancy tools that draw from Somatic Experiencing Principles, Poly Vagal Theory, Trauma Informed Yoga and Foundational Embodiment Principles. These body based yoga and somatic tools are key to learning how to regulate the nervous system and can help find and maintain safety in the body. This is often a missing piece from birth education and something that greatly contributes to the hormonal matrix of birth being able to unfold with ease.

Esme Shea 

Esme is a mother and Birthkeeper, passionate about reclaiming the bliss and power of birthing our babies undisturbed. Esme grew up in a family where birth was deeply honoured and the intuitive wisdom of women celebrated. The gift of undisturbed birth was passed down her lineage, through the red thread of her mother line. Esme and her siblings were all born outside of the medical paradigm and at the age of nine she witnessed the beautiful home birth of her younger brother. 

Esme trained as a doula and went on to study with The Free Birth Society in their Radical Birth Keeper School. She supports women to remember the truth about birth and connect to the innate wisdom of their bodies. https://risingmoonbirthkeeping.co.uk/ 

Bella Lilley

Bella is a singer and voice teacher, and is passionate about re-connecting women with their wild and primal nature, their indigenous roots and the land.  Bella has 3 daughters and each birth was very different but always a powerful gateway.  She sees herself first and foremost as a mother and nurturer and brings the same qualities of care, compassion and holding into her work with the voice. Bella has spent a lot of time in West Africa where family, community, song and dance are all woven together as a natural part of living and this is a strong thread in her facilitation style. Bella has trained in ethnomusicology, Soul Midwifery and Vocal Improvisation, and will use some of the principles of Voice Movement Therapy on this course. https://www.bellalilley.com/

Further information:

Birthing the Wild Mama is open to pregnant mamas and women on their conception journeys. Birth partners will be invited to join for certain parts of the course. We will provide a delicious lunch to share for the opening and closing ceremonies. For the rest of the course please bring your own lunch. Drinks and snacks will be provided for the entire course 

Venue: 

This course will be held  in a beautiful yurt space set in the rolling hills of Devon: The Soma Shala The venue is ten minutes outside of Ashburton. Full travel instruction and course schedule will be sent out before we begin.

Cost: 

We are offering a sliding scale of fees for this course:

Bursary Price: £450

Standard Price: £550

Pay It Forward Price: £650

Booking: https://risingmoonbirthkeeping.co.uk/contact