Yogi Mama Duluth

“I didn’t teach my membranes how to rupture, or my uterus how to contract, or my oxytocin how to rise...
No doctor commanded my relaxin to peak, or my cervix to dilate, or my sacral promontory to shift anterior-inferior, or my pelvis to translate laterally...
No one taught my baby how to extend her thorax when her spinal galant reflex was activated as my birth canal squeezed her right. No intellectual handed her a roadmap to guide her occiput-anterior as she crowned. She didn’t practice her cry before she breathed her first breath. She took no course on how to feed.
Yet here we are.
Our bodies did the dance.
Together.
A design so intricate
Each step a puzzle piece
The intelligence innate
not once did it cease.
Let go of the shore
Your body, it knows.
Each waves of contraction
Brings her closer to home.”
-

Here at Home Birth Aotearoa, we believe that birth is a natural and physiological process that can safely and effectively happen at home, without unnecessary interventions and fear.
We have a dedicated and passionate team waiting to answer your questions. We offer a multitude of free and koha based evidence-based and backed research. Check us out at homebirth.org.nz or on social media at

Photo of incredible birthing woman - .n.cub

You are RELAXED✨
And your baby is, too! 🙌

Until the age of 3, our little ones rely on the nervous systems of their primary caregivers to regulate their own. And studies have proven that co-regulation naturally happens while in community - our heart and breathing rates even naturally sync up. So cool.

Join us for our weekly yoga and sharing circles. More info in bio and to rsvp.

“Where do we go, when we're lost – when the humans around us (much as we love them) can't seem to help us?

We go where we've been taught to forget to go. Where our ancestors have always gone. To the woods and the old ways. To the hedgelands and edgelands; to the threshold places and liminal zones.

We go looking for the Others who dwell there; we go listening for the murmurs of the dreaming land. We go looking for a wisdom that's wilder and wiser than our own.”

~ Sharon Blackie, author of “If Women Rose Rooted”
www.sharonblackie.net

Art by Ruth Evans Art
www.ruthevansart.com

Birthing at home is not a trend. It’s traditional.

Some people believe that women are hopping onto this “new trend” of birthing at home and that it will eventually fade or be “out of style”. But really, birthing at the hospital is the new trend.

There can be lots of factors to think about when choosing to birth in a hospital, will you know the birth team, will you feel safe in a new and unfamiliar environment, what are the intervention rates and guidelines? All things to consider especially with national caeserean rates now sitting at or above 30%.

At Home Birth Aotearoa we have a dedicated and passionate team waiting to answer your questions. We offer a multitude of free and koha based evidence-based and backed research. Check us out at homebirth.org.nz or on social media at

Date and location are set! First meet-up is April 4 6-8pm at Spirit of the Lake Community Arts. La Leche League-Duluth, MN is a free support group for breastfeeding and lactating families. It is led by 2 mothers, Lacey Parr and Rosalyn Horn, who both breastfed their own children. This is a great opportunity to air your concerns, get support and ideas for troubleshooting breastfeeding issues and meet other families in the same phase of life. Can't wait to connect with you!

“In my heart I hold the memories of tangled sheets and limbs,
of the warmth of their bodies either side of mine—
tree trunk arms, the belly that gave me life—
a nest of comfort, of knowing I belong here,
right now I am all I need to be.

So now, when my children seek closeness,
my baby nestles her head into the nook in my chest,
my son climbs in, lost and stumbling in the dark,
we wrap them into the folds of our love,
tuck promises around their sleep-heavy bodies,
rest weary hands on peaceful brows,
blanket them in the knowing
that this will always be their home.”

Beautiful artwork by .ch.r

📌Tips for a relaxed birth-
Ok so there’s no fast track to an easy birth. But as with any other challenge in life, we can find ways to prep for a better outcome. And finding a state of calm + relaxation for birth creates a far better setting for physiological birth to unfold.

Spoiler Alert ‼️ You can’t just show up to birth with these tricks in your bag and hope they work out!

One tip I share with my clients is slowly stacking these practices into their mindful birth prep.

Build your breath work into your routine of an evening bath so your brain and body recognizes the water as a safe and calming environment.

Practice holding that comb with an ice cube in one hand or a clothes pin on your ear so you can breathe through something uncomfortable and distracting.

Listen to that playlist while doing those figure 8’s and evening stretches to prepare your body and mind together.

🤍🤍Share with us below ⬇️ what techniques helped you remain relaxed during your birth?

🌔☀️SPRING EQUINOX☀️🌔
Here in Northern MN/WI we are relishing in the joyous arrival of the spring - vernal - equinox.

☀️Balance is returning.

☀️The Sun is exactly above the equator and day and night are of equal length.

☀️Physically we are experiencing more light right now. We may also begin to experience more life force energy building within our bodies and minds.

⭐️This Saturday, March 23 we will celebrate the arrival of spring with a special ✨joyous✨ sharing circle and flow.

Please RSVP as space is limited.
More info in link in bio.

“In ceremony and ritual, the circle offers a boundary for consecrated space.

It may be used to mark the territory of the magical or spiritual realm, for healing, meditation, or to protect those within it from negative or threatening outside forces.

We’ve also seen the circle described in myth, fairy tales and countless stories.

Energetically, circles, cycles, and spirals connect us to the realm of transformation.”

~ Kristen Roderick
The spirit that moves me
www.bio.site/thespiritthatmovesme

Art by Julia Jeffrey
Stonemaiden Art
www.stonemaiden-art.com

One of the best things you can do to advance labor is to remain upright and active.

Here’s why:

When you choose to give birth standing up, you’re enlisting the help of gravity. The natural force is going to aid your baby in making their grand entrance. It’s also going to help make your uterus way more efficient. The contractions are going to be stronger while helping your baby to move into position.

So, what can you be doing during this time to remain active?

First and foremost, squats! That magical exercise, especially combined with standing and kneeling, is going to get things moving while making sure gravity gets to work!

These movements are also what makes prenatal yoga so beneficial. Through practicing these movements ahead of time and increasing your stamina and flexibility, you’ll be able to have more strength to get through labor!

By taking charge of your body, you’ll see a big difference in your labor.

They told you about the contractions, but did they tell you about the expansion ?
Did they tell you how your body would open to make way for the whole universe to pass through ?
Did they tell you how your heart would explode with a love bigger than anything you’ve ever known as you pulled your baby to your chest?

They told you about the ring of fire but did they tell you about the crown of stars ?
Did they mention that there’s a moment when your baby enters the world and you leave your body and touch the heavens and become the light of a million galaxies ?
Did they tell you how the pain of stretching to receive your child would be more exquisite than any sensation you've felt ?

They told you would scream but did they tell you about how would you roar ?
Did they tell you about the power that would rise up from your belly as you called your baby forth with your mighty voice ?
Did they tell you how you would embody the wild woman within you as breathe fire with your song ?

They told you would bleed, but did they tell you how that sacred blood wouldn't scare you ?
How you would feel grateful for that magical liquid of life as it trickled down your leg - how you would honour its flow and how it would help you heal a lifetime of hating your body's bleeding cycle.

They told these stories and taught you to fear birth, to fear your power, to fear yourself.
But you are stronger and wiser than that mama.
You know that birth is your divine dance, your soul's song, your moment with God, and you walk fearlessly into her open arms.

( ✍️ Catie from Spirit Y Sol )

Art : Amanda Greavette

My religion is other women.
This isn’t tongue in cheek.

My religion congregates around a fire,
in a cramped room we booked to talk,
in an idling car for way too long,
in someone’s living room,
in the cold,
because there’s more to say and hear.

There is a spark of divinity I know to look for
when she says something
she’s never said out loud before.

There is a spiritual rumble
in the dehydrated voices of women
who aren’t used to saying so much.

When I hear another woman articulate
something I’ve never been able to,
that’s the voice of my god speaking to me.

It's ancient, forbidden knowledge,
and it fills my body with my self.

There’s power in our warm red blood.

~ Lane Lloyd
www.female-husband.tumblr.com

Art by Dorrie Joy Artist
www.dorriejoy.co.uk

We laugh
✨
We cry
✨
We breathe
✨
We circle
✨
We connect

Every Saturday we meet to meditate, move and mother.
In a shared space where ALL parts of us are welcome. 🌟

Open to all pregnant people, new, veteran, and aspiring mamas (new babies welcome too). Click on the link in my bio to rsvp.

PS I’ll be offering fun birth art sessions soon🎨Follow for more info🤍

Birth is a rite of passage. When it is treated as a medical problem when there is none, when women are infantilized, coerced, or disrespected, When anxious hands and fearful minds of others disrupt the biological and spiritual processes of the mother and infant, women are robbed. I stopped doulaing because I could not bear to see this thievery anymore. But my hope is that my art will do what I no longer can. Support. Teach. Inspire change. We deserve physiological birth.

Need a gift idea for Someone So Special??!✨

We got you.💝

Give the gift of yoga and community🧘🏼‍♀️simply DM me for more details or order from the link in my bio.

Our Yoga and Sharing Circle meets every Saturday 9-11am at the UUC Duluth. Aspiring, expectant, new and veteran mamas welcome, along with new babes.

god is a mother
and with that
sentence
the world stops

the world always stops
when woman and
divine
commingle

as if the
feminine
dilutes the
miraculous
when in reality
it embodies it

when jesus turns water
to wine
they clap
but when women turn breasts
to milk
they cringe

a broken man’s body
is celebrated each sunday
while a broken woman’s body
is just hidden away

and it’s no wonder
that mother is a word
used by men
to demonize those
who don’t claim the name
and weaponized to shame
those who step out of line
because
their ideal
woman
plays the role of nurturer
and silencer
in pews
built and led by them

but
when god
becomes mother
she is neither quiet
or compliant
she leads confidently
she questions authority
she commands respect
which might be the problem

for mother god
did not gather us up
carelessly
but took her time with it
she fed us milk
birthed our souls
and broke her body
and the permanence
can be uncomfortable

and to disentangle god
from motherhood
is impossible
but
to disentangle god
from womanhood
is sinful

because seeing god as mother
is one step closer
to seeing god in me
and it’s in that
i am truly
born again

~ Kaitlin Hardy Shetler
Kaitlin Shetler Poetry
www.skeptileptic.blogspot.com/p/poems-for-resistance.html

Art by Harmonia Rosales
Harmony Rosales
www.harmoniarosales.art

I see you mama
Dismantling
Violent constructs
By teaching gente words
And choosing patience
In the midst of meltdowns
I see you
Disrupting the systems
(So long as it does not disrupt nap time)
I see you mama
In the fight for justice
When you talk through
Arguments over block towers and train tracks
I see you
Creating new paths to peace
As you speak your heart
As you crouch, to eye level
To see the tiny human you are guiding into this
Wild world
To witness
And hold space
For the magnitude of emotions
Of navigating life
As a new soul
On this ancient planet, spinning in infinity

It feels so small
I know
You are wiping noses and changing diapers
Serving snacks
And folding laundry
While the world rages and roars
Debating our existence
And what it means to share space
On this galactic globe

While others march in the street
You are
Ankle deep in bath water
Knees on the carpet
Picking up puzzle pieces and cracker crumbs

Hard to believe that there is room in the revolution
For those sweeping cheerios off the floor

But mama
You are the center of the this movement
Of every movement
You are the essence of life on this planet
You are why we roar
Why we rise

Mama-you hold the future in your arms
Leaders and peacemakers resting heavy on your hip
You nourish tomorrow at your breast
Whispering prayers of peace
Lullabies of liberation
Over blessed beings
Who will carry this work forward

It is not hard to believe in a brighter future
When you look into their wide, shiny eyes
It is not hard to believe in healing
When you know the power of a mother’s love

So- don’t let the roar of this moment make you feel small, mama
I know you feel it within
I know you rage and weep and grieve
While the pasta water boils

Because
motherhood
is love
Is life
Is hope
Is freedom
Is this movement
Is this moment

You mama-
In the messy trenches, burdened with the blessing of babies
You guide us forward
You tether us to humanity
You are our universal voice

Roar on.
In that gentle way we do as mamas.

~ Catie Atkinson

www.linktr.ee/spiritysol

Lacey Parr is excited to bring this offering to our community!🙏

https://duluth.ce.eleyo.com/course/1080/fall-2023/creating-a-supported-lactation-and-postpartum-experience?fbclid=IwAR09N0NgrZ-_rDwG5QQQuoDlKiI9H7_WsNaX-w_CuOZnB5mUOMWKcMclJe0_aem_AQhrN-MBXLiIX2lmrwmOvv4LJX5oASVQw7mIo-_Rhlgpw04GPf9UY3LnlRLjvEhoCYs&mibextid=Zxz2cZ

Do you have a new baby and are looking for community and connections?
Join us for this new parent meet up in the Green Room at the main library TOMORROW 10:30am - 11:30am
In the future we will meet 11am - noon every 2nd and 4th Thursday in the Gold room.

“I Am The Labyrinth” is a 24x36” acrylic painting on canvas that depicts the labyrinth of being a being an embodied woman. It is an ever-winding path as we move from one stage to the next, week by week, or decade by decade. Our hormones, our guide. Our intuition, always whispering. I will be ordering prints of this piece this week. If you’d like one, send me a DM.

✨✨Weekly Circle RETURNS!!✨✨

I’m so excited to announce that we’ll be meeting this Saturday, September 9 from 9-11am in a NEW location: the UUC of Duluth (near UMD - St. Scholastica - Chester Park)

I searched the Twin Ports for a space that fit all of our needs and I feel it important to share that I had hesitations about bringing the circle to a ‘place of worship.’ But, the UUC is unique and this place feels open, diverse and inclusive; their values also align with those of this circle. An excerpt from their website:

“We are Diverse Thinkers. We need not think alike to love alike. We are people of many beliefs and backgrounds: people with a religious background, people with none, people who believe in a God, people who don’t, and people who just let the mystery be. We seek to welcome you just as you are: your whole self, with all your truths and your doubts, your fears and your hopes.”

Thanks for reading and sharing in my excitement! I am so grateful to Margo for opening up her beautiful home to us for the past 2 1/2 years. She was the driving force behind us starting this circle! Please send her wishes of peace and happiness as her and her awesome kiddos start fresh in a new home🌈

RSVP by DM to ensure your spot and for important details. 🙏