Download or read book Spirituality and Childbirth written by Susan Crowther and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-09-13 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Highlighting aspects of birth often taken for granted, ignored or left silenced, this book questions the art and meaning of childbirth. Addressing spirituality in and around the start of life from a variety of thought-provoking perspectives, it examines the apparent paradox of impersonal biomedical-technocratic systems operating alongside the meaningful experiences encountered by those involved. Themes covered include: Notions of holism and spirituality, culture, religion and spirituality Childbirth significance at societal level Spiritual care in maternity care provision Birth environment, mood, space and place Spiritual experience of all those involved, including health professionals Spiritual experience when birth is complex and challenging When birth and death are juxtaposed. Although there is considerable literature on spirituality at the end of life, this is the only book that draws together a global and multidisciplinary selection of academic researchers and practitioners to reflect on spirituality at the start of life. Each chapter explores the relevant theoretical background and makes links to practice, using case studies from research and practice. The chapters conclude by discussing: how spiritual care is, and should be, provided in this context; what practice approaches are beneficial; cross-cultural perspectives; and future directions for research. It is an important read for all those interested in childbirth, maternity care, social science perspectives on health and illness, and spirituality.
Download or read book Reclaiming the Spirituality of Birth written by Benig Mauger and published by Inner Traditions / Bear & Co. This book was released on 2000-03 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A therapist and childbirth educator shows expectant mothers how to reconnect with the natural and spiritual worlds to make the birth experience unique and to build a spiritual connection with their children.
Download or read book Spiritual Pregnancy written by Shawn A. Tassone and published by Llewellyn Worldwide. This book was released on 2014-01-01 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Follow the Hero’s Journey from Pregnancy to Motherhood Filled with unique insights into the spiritual nature of pregnancy, this compassionate guide takes you, the expectant mother, and your loved ones along a “hero’s journey” of discovery. Each trimester correlates to a stage of the epic journey where emotional, spiritual, and physical connections heighten your awareness of yourself and your unborn child. Through these stages, the mundane and everyday are elevated to the sublime and transformative. With their extensive training and experience in allopathic wellness and integrative medicine, Shawn A. Tassone and Kathryn M. Landherr have created a book full of guided meditations, journaling exercises, and spiritual traditions from a variety of cultures. Spiritual Pregnancy also includes yoga postures created by popular doula and pregnant-fit yoga instructor Jennifer (Wolfe) More for specific times throughout pregnancy. Praise: "Spiritual Pregnancy presents birth as the spiritual initiation it truly is. I highly recommend this deeply moving book."—Christiane Northrup, MD, New York Times bestselling author of Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom and The Wisdom of Menopause “. . . the information shared by the authors will show future mothers how to unify the two lives within them during pregnancy.”—Bernie Siegel, MD, author of Love, Medicine and Miracles “Spiritual Pregnancy is the best guide I know on developing, nourishing, and sustaining [the mother-infant bond].”—Larry Dossey, MD, author of Healing Words “Expert integrative obstetricians, [the authors] guide you through the traditions of the ancients, and illuminate the vibrant path to your own heroine’s journey.” —Victoria Maizes, MD, Executive Director of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine “From the practical to the profound, I'm confident you will find what you are looking for within this book's pages. I highly recommend it.”—Tieraona Low Dog, MD, Fellowship Director at University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine “Spiritual Pregnancy does an incredible job at marrying the physical and the spiritual . . . It will be a great resource to anyone having a baby and it makes me proud to be an ob-gyn.” — Jeniffer Ashton, MD, leading medical correspondent for ABC and ob-gyn physician
Download or read book Supernatural Childbirth written by Jackie Mize and published by Destiny Image Publishers. This book was released on 2010-05-25 with total page 105 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pregnancy and childbirth are often depicted as a time of sickness and mood swings for women followed by twelve to twenty hours of pain and hard labor. Many women have been told they can never conceive. Others have suffered the pain of conceiving and miscarrying. Have you had enough of this picture? Supernatural Childbirth is a practical...
Download or read book Expecting Miracles written by Chana Weisberg and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Expecting Miracles" is a collection of refreshingly honest and inspiring interviews with traditionally observant Jewish mothers about their diverse experiences of pregnancy and childbearing. It is about the ways in which mothers have managed to make these important stages in their lives into a time for personal growth, spirituality and real-life miracles.
Download or read book Sacred Inception written by Marianne Delaporte and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2018-06-21 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edited volume explores the intersection of spirituality with childbirth from 1800 to the present day from a comparative perspective. It illustrates how over this time period in much of the world, traditional practices, home births, and midwives have been overshadowed and undermined by male dominated obstetrics, hospitalization, and ultimately the medicalization of the birthing process itself.
Download or read book Spiritual Childbirth written by Katrina Rasbold and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2014-04-09 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Spiritual Childbirth explores the reclaiming of the power of childbirth by women as their own birthright; a process that began in the 1960s, advanced in the 1980s, and continues through the current time. As women begin once again to take charge of their own pregnancies and labors, it is natural for their minds to turn to matters of spirit since birth is itself a very spiritual experience once the medical filter is pulled away. Many women are seeking to educate themselves beyond the physiological aspects of birth and to learn how their spirits and emotions come into play during pregnancy, labor, and delivery. Spiritual Childbirth covers not only physiological occurrences of the birthing process and routine medical procedures, but also explores the realms of the spirit and gives thoughtful homage to the inner working of the female mind and soul during this formative and unique experience.
Download or read book Blessed Events written by Pamela E. Klassen and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2001-10-07 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Blessed Events explores how women who give birth at home use religion to make sense of their births and in turn draw on their birthing experiences to bring meaning to their lives and families. Pamela Klassen introduces a surprisingly diverse group of women, in their own words, while also setting their birth stories within wider social, political, and economic contexts. In doing so, she emerges with a study that disrupts conventional views of both childbirth and religion by blurring assumed divisions between conservative and feminist women and by taking childbirth seriously as a religious act. Most American women who have a choice give birth in a hospital and request pain medication. Yet enough women choose and advocate unmedicated home birth--and do so for carefully articulated reasons, social resistance among them--to constitute a movement. Klassen investigates why women whose religious affiliations range from Old Order Amish to Reform Judaism to goddess-centered spirituality defy majority opinion, the medical establishment, and sometimes the law to have their babies at home. In considering their interpretations--including their critiques of the dominant medical model of childbirth and their views on labor pain--she examines the kinds of agency afforded to or denied women as they derive religious meanings from childbirth. Throughout, she identifies tensions and affinities between feminist and traditionalist appraisals of the symbolic meaning of birth and the power of women. What does home birth--a woman-centered movement working to return birth to women's control--mean in practice for women's gender and religious identities? Is this supreme valuing of procreation and motherhood constraining, or does it open up new realms of cultural and social power for women? By asking these questions while remaining cognizant of religion's significance, Blessed Events challenges both feminist and traditionalist accounts of childbearing while broadening our understanding of how religion is ''lived'' in contemporary America.
Download or read book Embodying the Sacred written by Peg Conway and published by Createspace Independent Pub. This book was released on 2012-09-01 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Embodying the Sacred presents an innovative approach to both birth and Christian spirituality. Drawing from the actual physical processes of pregnancy and birth, Peg Conway relates them to Catholic-inspired practices in a wise and empowering way. Reflections, prayer, activities, ritual, and creative expression organized around the three trimesters of pregnancy invite readers to assemble a “spiritual birth bag,” and in so doing, to inhabit and celebrate their bodies during this miraculous time. With its focus on the inner journey, this approach provides an ideal complement to other forms of birth preparation. The book also suggests a postpartum ritual format for telling birth stories and concludes with a reflection on birth history in America.
Download or read book Spiritual Midwifery written by Ina May Gaskin and published by Book Publishing Company (TN). This book was released on 1990 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The classic book on home birth. Stories of the experiences of parents and midwives during the birth process plus a technical manual for midwives, nurses, and doctors. Includes information on prenatal care and nutrition, labor, delivery techniques, care of the new baby, and breast-feeding.
Download or read book Nine Months with God and Your Baby written by Eline Landon and published by Sophia Institute Press. This book was released on 2019-02-05 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Amidst the doctor visits, the showers, and the physical and emotional changes that come with pregnancy, it's easy to forget to prepare yourself spiritually to welcome your newborn into the world. That's why Éline Landon crafted for you these maternal reflections and gathered these gentle Scripture passages — to help you prayerfully live each month of your pregnancy according to God's loving plan. As the birth of your child approaches, turn to these loving pages to refresh your soul, strengthen your faith, and gain inspiration from the example set by the many expectant couples in Scripture: From the Old Testament, Hannah will show you and your spouse how to wait patiently for the conception of the child you so desire. Tobias and Sarah will help you order your priorities in a way that produces a strong, stable family. Our Lady will teach you how to bear the uncertainties of pregnancy and prepare to raise a family without fear. The Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth will help you experience Christ's presence through the child you carry in your own womb. With the gifts of the Holy Spirit revealed here, you will learn to overcome discouragement. The Infant Jesus in the manger will teach you how to prepare interiorly for childbirth. And even Mary Magdalene will come to your aid, revealing to you certain crucial duties you have as a parent, in addition to caring for your baby. Whether you are hoping and praying for the conception of a child or are already expecting, this beautiful book will open your eyes and your heart to the grandeur of God's plan for your family and to the unfathomable love with which He cares for those who trust in Him.
Download or read book Magical Beginnings Enchanted Lives written by Deepak Chopra, M.D. and published by Harmony. This book was released on 2005-03-22 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A much-needed antidote to our modern, assembly-line approach to childbirth, this new book is designed as a guide for all who wish to participate in the wondrous process of bringing new life into the world. Its ideas derive from two sources: the ancient wisdom of Ayurveda, with its emphasis on body, mind, and spirit, and the latest Western scientific prenatal research. By integrating the best information from these two very different perspectives, this remarkable book gives readers the tools to ensure that our children are nourished by thoughts, words, and actions from the very moment of conception. Magical Beginnings, Enchanted Lives is rich in practical information, including strategies to help enliven the body intelligence of unborn babies by nourishing each of their five senses, as well as through Ayurvedically balanced nutrition and eating with awareness. Specific yoga poses and meditation techniques reduce the mother’s stress and improve the infant’s emotional environment, as do tips for conscious communication with a partner. Exercises prepare parents for the experience of childbirth itself, followed by natural approaches to dealing with the first weeks of parenting, from healing herbs to enhancing your milk supply to coping with postpartum depression. Inspiring, expansive, and remarkably informative, this unique book from acclaimed experts in mind-body medicine will profoundly enhance the experience of pregnancy and birth for both parents and baby.
Download or read book The Christian Childbirth Handbook written by Jennifer Vanderlaan and published by Birthing Naturally. This book was released on 2008 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Providing Christian expectant parents with the tools and information they need to plan for the arrival of their new baby. Applying Biblical principles to the process of giving birth while exploring the wide variety of options available to today's families allows parents to make the best decisions regardless of the circumstances surrounding their baby's birth.
Download or read book Your Vocation of Love written by Agnes M. Penny and published by TAN Books. This book was released on 2006-02 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Agnes M. Penny Your Vocation of Love is a book by the mother of four young children, who has written this little manual to encourage mothers of young children in their sublime vocation of motherhood and to assist them in this glorious role with scores of practical tips on what to do in the challenging situations that automatically arise in raising and educating a family. Here the author shares with her readers both the spiritual and the practical solutions she has found to the normal problems and struggles women typically experience with motherhood. And she covers these in 34 short but insightful chapters that make a quick read for mothers on the go-who often have only a few minutes reading time to gain some quick but much-needed inspiration. Agnes M. Penny, mother of five, was born the youngest of twelve children in Norwood, Massachusetts. In 1997 she graduated from Christendom College in Virginia, earning a degree in English literature. A year later she married Daniel, a teacher at Allentown Central Catholic High School. Agnes Penny is the author of two maternal-based books entitled Your Labor of Love and Your Vocation of Love. She and her family currently reside in Whitehall, Pennsylvania.
Download or read book Imagery Ritual and Birth written by Anna M. Hennessey and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2018-12-11 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Every human being is born and has gone through a process of birth. Yet the topic of birth remains deeply underrepresented in the humanities, overshadowed by a scholarly focus on death. This book explores how imagery is used ritualistically in religious, secular, and nonreligious ways during birth, through analysis of a wide variety of art, iconography, poetry, and material culture. Objects central to the book’s study include religious figurines, paintings about birth, and other items representative of pregnancy, crowning, or giving birth that have an historical or original meaning connected to religion. Contemporaryartists are also creating new art in which they represent birth and mothering as nonreligious events that are sacred or divine. Framed through the concept of social ontology, which examines the nature of the social world and studies how people create meaning out of the various objects, images, and processes that make up human social life, the book theorizes a social ontology of birth, focusing on how the meaning of imagery undergoes metamorphosis between the spheres of religion, secularity, nonreligion, and the sacred when used during birth as a rite of passage. Included in the study are more than thirty images of birth, some of which have never been written about before.
Download or read book Enlightenment Through Motherhood written by Astra Niedra and published by Voice Dialogue in Daily Life. This book was released on 2013-12-13 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Motherhood is misunderstood. Since time immemorial we've believed that when women become mothers they are taking time out from real work and serious personal growth, especially spiritual development. But we've got it all wrong. While heavily pregnant with her third child, personal growth writer Astra Niedra attempted a holiday in the tropical paradise of Australia's Far North with her husband and two young daughters in tow. During this ‘holiday’ (we need another word to describe 'an extended overnight excursion with young children) she discovered that the skills and abilities mothers are required to use each day as part of their job are the same as the practices prescribed for enlightenment seekers. Join Astra on her journey of discovery and feel inspired, entertained and spiritually uplifted, all the while becoming increasingly grounded in the unshakeable truth that there is far more to being a mother and raising children than conventional wisdom would have us believe. “Absolutely brilliant! This book is just what the world needs now as our planet continues to move towards political and ecological disaster while the patriarchal systems that still dominate our thinking continue to devalue everything traditionally – and biologically – female.” "In a most perfect balance of yin and yang, of logic and feeling, of humor and gravity, Astra Niedra reclaims for all human beings – not just women – a precious element of that which is truly sacred in life." “Her simple spellbinding stories, her keen intellect, and her unfailing humour make this book a pleasure to read. Here is a new way of thinking of spirituality, of valuing our humanity while living a spirit-infused life, and a fascinating (and novel) path to enlightenment! It's a consciousness changer and I loved it." – Dr Sidra Stone, author of Embracing Our Selves, Partnering, Embracing Your Inner Critic, and The Shadow King "I enjoyed this immensely... Definitely a fun and entertaining book while sharing a bit of spiritual goodness as well." – Katie "This book put into words just what, and how, I was feeling about my own spiritual journey. Women and men have such different experiences and this book beautifully articulates them." – Amanda "A great read for all mothers, I loved this book!" – Ann Shepich “Enlightenment indeed! I hope many women have the opportunity to read Astra’s book. Being pregnant, birthing and mothering are the most important jobs on earth. Honouring these roles is important for governments and society to appreciate and elevate to a much higher status. Astra’s journey is familiar, delightfully written and inspiring.” – Susan Ross, Midwife, Birth Educator and author of Birth Right
Download or read book Holy Labor written by Aubry G. Smith and published by Kirkdale Press. This book was released on 2016-09-21 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Women are valued for their ability to bear children in many cultures. The birth process, though supposedly the most painful experience of a woman’s life, is seen as a necessary evil to achieve the end goal of children and motherhood. And yet, in the face of a typically masculinized Christianity that nevertheless professes that women are equally created in the image of God, shouldn’t childbirth—a uniquely feminine experience—itself shape Christian women’s souls and teach them about the heart of the God they love and follow? Drawing on her own experience of giving birth and motherhood—and the conflicting assumptions attached to them, by Christians and the culture at large—Aubry G. Smith presents a richly scriptural exploration of common conceptions about pregnancy and childbirth that will not only help mothers and soon-to-be mothers understand how to think biblically about birth, but also walks them through how to put the ideas into practice in their own lives. Along the way, she shows all readers how to see God’s own experience of the birth process—and how childbirth leads to a deeper understanding of the gospel overall.
