Not Even a Little Bit Practical

And yet I've gone and purchased myself a spot at the Birthing From Within workshop, a three-day affair at the end of April.

I don't know, I don't know, I don't know--Birthing From Within is a bit airy-fairy for me. I much prefer the straightforward, no-nonsense Bradley method. None of this "draw a picture of your deepest fears and go on a Birth Tiger Safari (trademark sign)" baloney. And yet...

There is something mystical and magical about birth. There is. Or there can be. It isn't the transformative rite of passage in this culture that it could be. Maybe that's the medical folks' fault for replacing mystery and the metaphor with science and technology, or maybe it's just the way we are today--no heroes in the true sense of the word, no legends really, no true rites of passage for the culture as a whole. Not that doctors and hospitals are bad for birth. But the longer I live, and the more I read, the more convinced I am that modern obstetrics has missed something big, and in the process, women who give birth are missing it, too.

So off to Birthing from Within I go in April, to do all those La-La-land exercises that make me so uncomfortable. I can't see myself leading a Birth Tiger Safari, whatever those are, but you have to in order to be come a licensed BFW mentor (a Bear (experienced mentor), rather than a Mouse (novice/initiate)--see what I mean? I just don't know if I can go through with it). But maybe after the workshop I'll be a changed woman, and I'll want to.

Why am I doing this again? It's too late to go into it now, so all the thinking will have to appear in another post. In any case, the credit card number is in their database, so I'm committed.