Honestly, this is the kind of episode you can't write a description for. Our beautiful friend Ixchel Prisma talked with us today about the depths and beauty of her second trimester loss with her spirit baby, River Nova. This story goes back at least a decade to her initial connection with a baby spirit. Ixchel has spun lead into gold, experiencing death and grief in pregnancy as a profound portal to herself. To her own growth and connection to spirit. And to a greater understanding of the workin...
Aug 08, 2024•2 hr 10 min•Season 3Ep. 42
When asked about their postpartum plan, so many women say "Well, my husband is taking 3 weeks off work...". While thats great (although we'd be more into all fathers being given paid paternity leave for at least a month), that alone should not be your postpartum support in an ideal situation. We talk about: How we envision the ideal postpartum time to look and feel How sinking into this design can allow the blessing of a different time perception and brain wave state to come aboard. A delicious,...
Jul 16, 2024•45 min•Season 3Ep. 41
Postpartum care provider and educator, mother to 4, this postpartum was probably perfect, right? Beautifully, postpartum is an ever deepening, ever challenging, ever incredible spiral into yourself. With the opportunity for new lessons, new messages, and new challenges each time. Sara and I had a lovely walk and talk about her fourth postpartum after the birth of her son, Akiva. We talk about: She hosted her first nesting party at 36-ish weeks pregnant. (Highly recommend.) Boundary medicine in p...
May 21, 2024•59 min•Season 3Ep. 40
Agreements: - I am not obligated to do dishes - I will avoid lifting heavy things - I will be mindful of eye contact, and utilize tools of energetic protection - I will avoid heated discussion - most things that I think NEED TO BE TALKED ABOUT RIGHT NOW actually don't... - I give myself full permission to not cook if I don't feel like it - I will keep my body, especially my feet, head, and womb, warm and out of the wind. I also talk about: -How I've begun very organically scheduling my life arou...
May 08, 2024•46 min•Season 3Ep. 39
What if SOUND HEALING (insert feathers and crystal bowls here) didn't have to be a big complicated thing, but was actually woven into your every day life? What if you could be constantly working with frequency and vibration as tools for health and balancing in your body, mind, and spirit? Oh wait, YOU ALREADY DO! I loved our talk with Adrian DiMatteo; musician, author, sound healer, and genuine, down to earth, hilarious, and insightful human. We explore some of the ways sound shows up in our eve...
May 01, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Season 3Ep. 38
With all of the birthy support roles I am currently holding, it may be a surprise that I am not, and have no intention of being a birth doula. But once, long long ago (or at least that's how it feels!), I was! I thought that being a birth doula was path through which I wanted to serve women... at least until I started doing it. I talk about how: - The sister wound has made it's presence known in my business aspirations. I couldn't really serve women in this way if I din't really even want to be ...
Apr 19, 2024•28 min•Season 3Ep. 37
Out lovely friends Ashke and Ian join us today from the end of their sacred window to tell us the story of their son, Cedar's birth. It is such a joy to hear their story of conscious conception, Ashke's new adventure into studying birth education with Birthing From Within , how Ian's relationship with home birth interfaced with his job as an EMT (such a special crossover), culminating in a fast and healing birth. We talk about the difference between bypassing fear and choosing to face it head on...
Apr 10, 2024•1 hr 27 min•Season 3Ep. 36
Aiste Gazdar (and her husband Joel) are wellbeing pioneers, community magnetizers, conscious entrepreneurs and full spectrum alchemists leading a movement of transforming humanity’s relationship with nature, food, and ultimately, themselves. They are authors of the innovative plant based and wellbeing book “WILD: Plant Based Recipes & Rituals to Nourish your Wild Essence”. We talk with Aiste today about what it means to slow down, and step into self responsibility and deep connection and car...
Feb 29, 2024•1 hr•Season 3Ep. 35
We live in such a time based culture. We need numbers to validate everything. We need to "know" when babies are going to be born, when they need to nap, when we are allowed to eat our next meal. But what if this is all fake? Can we throw away the clock and just listen to the flow of our bodies? Lean in to the movements of the sun, of the seasons, of our baby's subtle (or not so subtle) communications. This reliance on clocks, dates, time, and numbers has such a profound impact on our birthing cu...
Feb 16, 2024•49 min•Season 3Ep. 34
Nikko Kennedy is a perinatal quantum biology practitioner and certified labor and postpartum doula. She has a B.S. in Biopsychology from the University of Oregon and is the creator of Brighter Days, Darker Nights, a Substack publication dedicated to promoting circadian rhythmicity and quantum wellness in pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. Nikko created a discount for you lovely listeners on her Substack subscription! Use this link for 15% off. You can find her on her website , or Instagram . You ...
Feb 07, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Season 3Ep. 33
We've talked a lot about how modern midwifery fall short of truly supporting the physiology of birth, and honoring the sacred aspect. You can hear my personal experience of this in my birth story (and here's part 2 ) . It's subtle, but after Olin's birth, I know I want something different next time. So I decided to think out loud for you today: why do I still want a midwife at my future births? You'll hear about: An update - including an exploration of my own views on my worth, and how I'm shift...
Jan 29, 2024•45 min•Season 3Ep. 32
We have a lovely guest today, Stacey Ramsower! Through somatics, Ayurveda, and depth psychology, Stacey helps women navigate the shadowlands of Motherhood. In this episode, we explore the archetypes of motherhood, our own personal relation with creating community and connecting with other women, and so much more. You can find more about Stacey and her work through her website , Instagram , and hear her podcast, the Sacred Body podcast . She also has a free Intro to the Dark Mother class coming u...
Jan 20, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Season 3Ep. 31
Learning about what optimal postpartum support looks and feels like can often leave women feeling overwhelmed and like it may be an unreachable goal. We are here today to break it down. We talk about how to logistically craft your plan, the wells of resource you can draw on that you may not have even considered, and how we structured our own postpartum support. We also go into the more energetic and emotional blocks to asking and receiving, and some things to consider as you orient yourself towa...
Dec 31, 2023•34 min•Season 2Ep. 30
We welcome Sara’s fourth baby, her third son, into the world with the story of his birth. A beautiful simple, yet powerful and profound story. The whole family gathered around to witness the incredible power of their mama in what is both an incredibly powerful and awesome experience and at the same time the most natural, every day thing: physiological birth. The way her midwife supported her gave me chills, and I am so excited to see the lessons that unfold from this birth for Sara. Her words me...
Dec 24, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Season 2Ep. 29
We’re diving in today on a subject we've been meaning to cover for quite some time. Join us as we go for a walk and discuss some considerations for a vegetarian pregnancy, and how Sara nourishes herself. We are coming from two different perspectives (I chose not to remain a vegetarian at around 6 months postpartum) and we recognize that this can be somewhat of a loaded topic. We hope you can remain open and committed to nourishing yourself and your child as best as you can, however that looks fo...
Dec 13, 2023•50 min•Season 2Ep. 28
Today's intentionally provocatively named solo-cast is about... well, exactly what the title says. I had a small revelation the other day where a series of stories led me to understand the conditions under which just picking a date and having surgery instead of experiencing the mystery of birth is a more appealing option. This is not a judgement on anyone's choices, but rather my discussion with myself on that moment of intense empathy. For women who are not educated about what their body's will...
Dec 06, 2023•45 min•Season 2Ep. 27
We've been meaning to record an episode on the topic of pain, sensations, whatever you want to call it in birth for quite a while. That's often one of the first thoughts/fears that someone who has never birthed before has "but what is it going to feel like? How much is it going to hurt? Will I be able to handle it?" We share a bit about our own birth stories and how sensations changed throughout, and talk more generally about what pain is and how we choose to perceive sensations. ***We had some ...
Nov 14, 2023•52 min•Season 2Ep. 26
Today is a very special episode - I got to sit down and talk with Nicole (@seedofjoy_) about... well, whatever came up! This was such a rich conversation on all the ways she knows this life can be FOR US. We talked about becoming more boundaried as a mother, how to create structure for a deeply restful, healing, and (dare we say) blissful postpartum time (this goes far beyond "freeze some soup, ask your sister in law to help with laundry"), and how to soften and open to receive every beautiful t...
Nov 09, 2023•1 hr 26 min•Season 2Ep. 25
Sara is back today! We wanted to share a bit about this deep mother-wisdom that we see activate in women when they are pregnant and become mothers, and that we ourselves have experienced. You could call it mother's intuition, spidey senses, just deeply knowing and noticing her children, or a mother's ability to tune into a universal wisdom of the feminine and specifically of motherhood. You'll hear about: Little ways to practice connection to body and it's subtle messages Taking tiny moments to ...
Oct 30, 2023•29 min•Season 2Ep. 24
Sara put together this list to get clear on her desires, values, and priorities for herself, her partner, and her midwife. Keep in mind that this is very individual, and you will probably want different things. We thought it might be helpful for people to see some things to consider discussing with a midwife in preparation for birth. Here's the list that we talk through in this episode: PLEASE DO: Speak/offer words of encouragement Remind me that there is a baby in there/to connect with the baby...
Oct 25, 2023•48 min•Season 2Ep. 23
Placentas! I was deep in placenta land after creating this free Powerful Placenta Guide and felt excited to record this episode on placentas. So often not thought about unless there’s a problem. Thrown away without a second thought. “Medically managed” because labor is over at that point so it doesn’t really matter how this part of the birth goes, right? Wrong! Traditional cultures have always known that placentas are magic! Both nourishing the baby inside, and spiritually protecting the baby fo...
Oct 10, 2023•48 min•Season 2Ep. 22
Today’s episode is a special one! Sara and I are back together to interview the lovely Ixchel. We talked with her and her partner during her pregnancy back in episode 4. Now, almost 2 years after their birth, we finally recorded their incredible birth story of their firecracker son, Makoa. This is the story of the "what ifs". But not "what if something goes wrong", instead it's "what if something goes right?" What if birth can be challenging, transformative, visionary, earth, shattering, and so ...
Sep 08, 2023•1 hr 24 min•Season 2Ep. 21
Did you know that birth is only one of the three parts that make up the rite of passage that is the childbearing year? When in first heard this concept spoken by Kimberly Ann Johnson in MotherCircle , I deeply knew this to be true even though I’d never heard it before. First articulated by anthropologist Arnold van Gennep in a book he published in 1908, these phases are separation, transition, and incorporation. The actual event of birth is only the transition phase of a rite of passage, and by ...
Aug 24, 2023•57 min•Season 2Ep. 20
Demystifying the nomenclature of the birth world! What is a midwife vs a doula vs a birthkeeper? Starting with obstetricians, we work our way through the “food chain” of people who attend birth; what their roles and responsibilities are; what they fundamental beliefs MAY be; and how they might practice. But don’t be fooled by labels! Each care provider comes with their own stories, backgrounds, beliefs, training, fears, and traumas that influence how they support women, meaning that just because...
Aug 10, 2023•50 min•Season 2Ep. 19
Feeling inspired by my recent launch of a postpartum cooking service for local mamas, I wanted to share a bit today about the underlying principles of postpartum cooking. There are some basic tenants across the world to help women ground and heal in this time, and food can be such a beautiful medicine for this period. It can set the tone for the start of a nourished motherhood, and give the body all the nutrients it needs to heal. You'll hear about: The concept of convalescence - how this idea o...
Apr 26, 2023•56 min•Season 2Ep. 18
Welcome to the second season of the Wise Birth Radio! I wanted to talk a bit today about some of the philosophical underpinnings of our work and philosophy here at Catskills Birth Collective. Sara and I feel really resonant with the Wise Woman model of care, as outlined by Susun Weed. I feel that wholly embodying it will be a lifelong process, but I am already grateful for the words that Susun Weed has put to this invisible, ancient tradition, to my teachers at Indie Birth and Sacred Window Stud...
Apr 11, 2023•53 min•Season 2Ep. 17
We recorded this episode back in late summer of 2022, when I was around 8 months postpartum. It took me a loooong time to get to editing, but here it is! It was so yummy and juicy to listen through this again! I loved my postpartum time, and I love teaching women about how healing and blissful it can be. In this episode we talk through what my support looked like, what I ate (it was a lot!), and just talking though the story of this transition to motherhood. We go over some helpful tips and sugg...
Apr 05, 2023•44 min•Season 1Ep. 16
I'm starting a mini series here in the podcast of poetry! For now I think it will be things I have written, but I might expand it to other people's writing as well. This is a poem I wrote to process/unravel an emotional process. Continually working with this rage has been a powerful meditation for my this past year. For more on female/mother rage, definitely read this blog post by Rachelle Garcia Seliga. Stacey Ramsower is also an amazing resource. And Stacey and Rachelle did a podcast episode t...
Mar 19, 2023•13 min•Season 1Ep. 15
Reflecting today as I walk about the energies and practice of receiving, particularly in the postpartum. We have seen it come up again and again with women we have worked with 1:1 and classes or workshops we have taught on the postpartum time: women feel reluctant to ask for help. Creating a nourishing, expansive, blissful, supported postpartum is totally possible, AND it requires asking for help! Laundry, dishes, childcare, cooking, healing touch, or just a sister to sit with you are not luxuri...
Mar 06, 2023•45 min•Season 1Ep. 14
Today is Olin's first birthday! In honor of the event, I talk today about a word that came up persistently throughout my pregnancy with him, and took on more subtle shades of deeper importance as I was integrating his birth story this past year: AUTONOMY I know this is a big word out there in the collective consciousness at the moment, and this episode is a short reflection on what it means to me. You'll hear about: - How his birth challenged my own perception on my ability to say no and stand i...
Jan 12, 2023•39 min•Season 1Ep. 13
