Why Take A Heart of Birth Class?

Why take a childbirth preparation class? After all, there’s thousands of YouTube videos of birth, scores of websites on how labor works and what you can do during labor. Hospital classes are quick, easy and inexpensive, and the internet is a wealth of resources. Everything you could possible need to give birth is already available to you, right?

Then again, maybe not. Heart of Birth classes recognize that labor, birth and emerging into parenthood requires more than a crash course in labor prep, and test-cramming facts and figures before the big day. Birth is a profound, exciting Journey for parents to be- whether they’re birthing in their candlelit living room, or readying for a Cesarean delivery under bright lights.

Charlene does more than just filling you with information; her focus is on getting YOU ready, as a whole person. Self-exploration, self-discovery, focus on personal and interpersonal dynamics and expectations are all part of class. You are encouraged to explore your deepest questions, your heart-felt, core approach to labor & birth, and how your feelings and beliefs interact with the others at your birth.

The physical experience of birth is intense, and often overwhelming- many will experience pain at some point during their labor. But while ‘pain’ may be inevitable, ‘suffering’ absolutely is not. Classes take a hands-on approach to teaching pain coping, with practices that build on your body’s natural pain management system, draw on the skills you already have, and integrate into your daily life so that they become reflexive and ingrained, drawn on naturally as needed during labor.

These classes are not focused on getting a ‘natural birth’ or having a specific birth outcome. Instead of talking about avoidance and achieving an ideal, Charlene will bring the birthing person and their partners to a point where they can be in awareness: aware of themselves, of what they are feeling emotionally and physically, aware of needs and motivations, aware of how those impact and change the birth environment. When parents have that self-awareness, they are more focused inward, able to be gentle with themselves and others, and better prepared to meet the changing moments of labor and birth, however it unfolds.

Partners and other support people are an integral part of the classes. We don’t feel the need to train them up as coaches or cheerleaders, instead we see them as true partners in birth. Even though the laboring person will be doing the lion’s share of the ‘work’, the partner will also be experiencing intense emotional and physical feelings. Special time is taken to focus on the partners, not just as support person for the person in labor, but also to address their needs in the birth room, and their emergence as a parent or caregiver.

These aren’t the kind of things you can learn from a book or a video, or even from talking with other people who have given birth; they can only be experienced. Hands on, whole-hearted, dynamic classes go further, and dig deeper into the transformative heart of birth.