Birthtellers: Healing Birth through Conscious Storytelling

by KaRa Maria Ananda

© 2011 Midwifery Today, Inc. All rights reserved.

[Editor’s note: This is an excerpt of an article which appears in Midwifery Today Issue 99, Autumn 2011. View other great articles and columns in the table of contents. To read the rest of this article, order your copy of Midwifery Today Issue 99.]
Photo provided by the author

Storytellers are the weavers of the imagination, bringing light to the collective consciousness, and giving rise to new thoughts and ideas for creative cultural shifts. Throughout time, people have gathered to hear the tales of storytellers, bards and sages, circling together to be fascinated, entertained and educated by stories of how life was and how it could be. The inspiration of courageous heroes, the lessons of foolish souls and the prophecies of times ahead shape the human psyche and cultural cosmology. Therapeutic storytelling is a skill that can amplify the effectiveness of conscious birth advocates in co-creating the new birth paradigm.

The most powerful stories of all may be birth stories. Stories—creation myths, the birth of the divine child, the stories women tell to each other privately—shape cultures, beliefs, choices and lives. Women used to learn about birth and mothering through the stories of their mothers, sisters, grandmothers, midwives and friends. Today, that knowledge is transmitted primarily through television, movies, peers and the Internet. Now is the time for the Birthtellers to arise and once again share our inspirational birth stories—both within our communities and globally through new media technology.

Birthtellers

Birthtellers can guide women to find courage and inspiration through positive birth stories and educate people about empowered birth. Mothers can heal their own birth trauma through sharing their stories to compassionate listeners, whether in a birth story circle or privately with a mentor or counselor. The power of a good birth story, regardless of how it is transmitted, is profound. Within our voices and stories is the power to change the culture of birth and bring healing.

My mother was a professional storyteller, teacher of therapeutic speech at a healing arts school and the owner of a children’s bookstore. I learned from her to adore a good story and how to tell one (or a few!). As a child, I watched my mother craft stories with rhythm, rhyme and movement. I witnessed how my mother would get together with her women friends to share stories in privacy, to process and heal. Thanks to her, I’ve been fascinated with the healing and transformative power of stories since childhood, and it has shaped my work in the healing and birthing arts. In the final times we spent together before she passed, my mother’s favorite stories to tell were those of the births of her children. I find it indicative of the importance of birth stories, for these to be the stories she shared before transitioning on.

KaRa Maria Ananda is a Conscious Birth Emissary and author of The Sacred Nature of Birth: Natural Wisdom for Conscious Birthing. She teaches Conscious Birth Emissary Training, a home study course to empower conscious birthing mentors, educators and advocates around the world. For more information visit her Web site at www.birthemissary.com.

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