Dear Friends,
Well… what a lovely weekend and book launch! I am feeling very blessed by all my lovely friends who came to celebrate the birth-day of my book The Art of Birth – Empower Yourself for Conception, Pregnancy and Birth www.theartofbirth.co.uk.
This is a brief story of the journey I went on to birth this book.
In 1998, on the recommendation of my sister, I made a Journey to Bali and fell in Love. I immediately felt at home in the warm, nurturing Feminine energy that permeates Bali. Initially I was struck by how they raise their children…so kind, patient and validating and as a result, the children are chilled and quietly confident.
The next exciting thing I discovered in Bali is that Artists are revered, as they believe artists are channelled by the gods. I felt very validated by their support, encouragement and celebration of the fact that I was an artist. Now, I had been drawing/painting since the age of 2.5…, I couldn’t rest until I had done at least 10 drawings (just ask my mother). In England, I always felt like art was to be kept as a hobby while you did a ‘proper job’ unless of course you were famous. There is no acknowledgement of the JOURNEY to get from the 2.5 year old girl to the famous adult artist. But in Bali, I found MYSELF through my ART.
I then extended my Love affair of Bali to a love affair with the father of my son, Bagus. One day, he told me his birth story which planted a very important seed and unbeknown to me, that was the catalyst. He said how his family placed him in a banana leaf filled with water, flower petals and all sang to him celebrating his birth. Wow, how beautiful!
For some reason I was totally captivated by the Balinese culture, religion, rituals, attention to detail and beauty that I researched it in depth from that time on.
In 1999 I became pregnant in Bali and it was easy, straightforward and beautiful and I felt very held by the positive cultural attitude towards pregnancy and birth. Motherhood is revered and women are raised on a pedestal.
Nevertheless, we came back to UK when I was 6 months pregnant and was met with a different story. Fear, danger, medical, hospital and an assumption that I would just passively go to all my checkups, scans, aim for the hospital birth, check out the theatre in case of caesarean and look into the different pain relief options!
It felt awful so I quickly looked for another way… and found so many great teachers, the first being the wonderful Binnie A Dansby (.com). She passed me onto Pat Bennaceur and then I stumbled upon Karel Ironside who does amazing childbirth in classes and was my Doula!
My birth experience was very profound, empowering and the best day of my life. I knew then that I wanted to give something back and so my journey began. Through my art, art therapy training, self development, working with clients and sheer determination, I finally found my voice in this book.
I truly hope it will be an Empowering resource for, particularly pregnant women, but really for everyone, as we ALL started life inside a woman’s body and we ALL experienced a birth.
Have a great week.
Warm wishes,
Alex xx
