I have a guest wisdom holder who is bringing a unique view of the pelvic floor and how the practice of grounding can be a powerful tool for pelvic floor function. My guest here is Jenn Lormand of the duo that is Tighten Your Tinkler, two women who are authors, researchers, and moms on a mission to help people live with functional pelvic floor health whether that's after having children or any other reason a person is living with an under-functioning pelvic floor. This conversation, as y...

Welcome to the last, but far from least, of the wisdom holder episodes I have for you so far this year. I have been eager for this episode to come out for you because it is so relevant and packed with insightful information from a courage coach named Brittany Wittig. Brittany and I met in a business program we both attended and after meeting her, I was so intrigued by her work I started listening to her podcast, called Coming Out of the Spiritual Closet. Then in October 2022, she released an ...

In this episode, my guest, Kristen Stevens of Discover Yoga and I talk about why the pelvic floor is so important, how it's so much more than just thinking about the cervix, and we'll share a bit about a workshop we will be hosting in June of 2023. If pelvic floor health is of interest to you, find the link to register below before June 4th, 2023. This is a live workshop with real feedback and time for Q&A from Kristen and myself, and because of that, space is limited, so reserve your...

Take a tour of the pelvic floor, learn why a reflexive pelvic floor is more important than a tight pelvic floor, and learn the first steps to increase the suppleness of scar tissue in this interview with wisdom holder Pauli Hannan, PT of @beyondthev.bypauli. This episode of the Unschooled Homebirth podcast will have you looking at your pelvic floor from a whole new perspective and Pauli has great explanations of the anatomy and physiology of our bodies. Plus, she covers a topic that few...

My dear friend Laura Otter of Birthing Mamas will be sharing stories of her forthcoming album, Birth and Beyond: Sacred Songs for Mother and Baby, she will share how this album came to be, how the songs came to her, how they are impacting the families she works with, her own birth stories and how they were the portal to the music, and how music is such an important tool for birth. If you are listening to this episode before April 25th, 2023, Laura and her team have a Kickstarter to help fund ...

My guest for this episode, Courtney, had two very different out-of-hospital births to share and each one brings so many lessons. Courtney's first birth is a beautiful story, that also taught her a lot about who she was, who she wanted to become, and what she needed to do to become that woman for herself, for her family, her new little daughter, and for her next birth when that time came. And between her first and second birth, she did the work and exploration and growth she needed...

Today I have an episode to share about a topic that I know is on the minds of just about every expecting mom, and that is the pelvic floor and postpartum recovery. Christina Walsh of Tighten Your Tinkler, will share her wisdom of functional pelvic floor health. This episode is definitely for you if you want to hear about why and how to use functional movement and non-invasive techniques to experience a holistic, restorative approach to postpartum pelvic floor health. Christina will share abou...

I am honored to share the birth story of one of my past students who had an extraordinary amount of growth and revelations of her own power and agency in her pregnancy and birth. This is one of those stories that really gets to the heart of the change I would love to see in our birth culture. In this story, you’ll hear my guest share: How she navigated a system where she wasn't feeling that her choices were being respectedHow she came to find the strength in herself to become fully awa...

I am so excited to bring you a guest expert episode today with on of my mentors in birth work, Rachael Jean of Elemental Birth Rites. This conversation was so much fun to record and I know if you've been a listener of this podcast, you are going to love what Rachael shares here. Rachael Jean is a midwife and wise woman birth keeper who offers birth teachings and awareness programs that take you inward, rather than outward. Within that context, she offers programs for families on t...

What happens when birth doesn't go as you planned, when things are more challenging than you expect? As a birth worker, one of the comments I hear frequently is about a birth experience that didn't unfold smoothly, maybe there was a stall in dilation or the baby had decelerations, or maybe mom and baby experience dystocia and hard decisions have to be made, and families always want to know what they could have done differently. As the parents in that situation during labor, it's difficult to ...

When it comes to homebirth, safety is always the number one question on everyone's mind. Today, I have a wisdom holder who is no stranger to the question of safety in birth, homebirth in particular. Dr. Stuart Fischbein is an obstetrician who left the conventional medical system decades ago after being exposed to the nature of the midwifery model of care. He went on to assist families and their midwives in homebirth to create a model for families with various presentation of birth...

There are probably few things, if any, that could be more of a blessing than a new baby being welcomed into the world. While we spend a lot of time focusing on what a blessing a baby is, I think it's important to remember that the experience of pregnancy and birth is seeped in blessing. I wanted to spend my time on today's episode talking about the blessing of birth, which might take, us into some interesting and unexpected places. In this episode, you will hear about: Why it's importan...

TLDR: Get the full Stillpoint Prenatal Breathwork Worshop Recording for free at NaturalBirthCompass.com/BreatheFree. As I've probably mentioned before, one of the most common things I'm asked about is how to breathe for labor and it's always a difficult question for me to answer because, when you're in labor you should breath in the way that feels most natural to you rather than be directed by someone. The problem I've come to realize is, most people aren't breathing properly before pregnanc...

I think it's time we asked the question, how can we continue improve the state of birth and prenatal care for families? I'll start by asking you the question, who are your prenatal visits for? When you set up your visit schedule with your midwife, who was that ultimately for? You, your baby, your midwife? I know this might sound like an odd question and you may not even be sure how to answer it and that's because we need to talk about your prenatal visit schedule. After this episode, I hope y...

Welcome to a birth story episode on the Unschooled Homebirth podcast. It's been awhile since we've had a birth story, but one of my students, Sarah, who is also a birth wisdom keeper herself, was so gracious to share her birth story with us and I was thrilled to bring this story on the podcast because Sarah had such a simple and straightforward birth. We don't hear a lot of simple birth stories out there today, so often there's big decisions and critical moments, and drama in birth, even in...

Today's episode is all about cervical dilation as we explore the energetics of expansion and openness, some of the most important aspects to understand for birth and a natural progression to last month's episode on transition. ______________________________ Further info & opportunities: Learn how to awaken the magic of homebirth with Circle Magic for Homebirth: A Mini-Birth Preparation Course Beyond the Ordinary. Learn about The Natural Birth Compass Online Childbirth P...

Transitions are abundant in birth in so many ways. The most obvious is the stage of the physical labor process referred to as transition, which is a stage that preoccupies many mothers in their preparation for birth. But what isn't talked about, what women aren't taught is why this is normal, why she feels this way, the significance of the intensity of what is happening here, and therefore how to be better prepared for this experience of the cycles of life. So instead many women fear transiti...

As May comes to an end, we are deep into spring energy, and I thought it might be time to talk the energetics of spring, of the East guiding direction, which is all about breath and all that uplifts us in life and for birth. Whether you have explored birth from the energetics of the cycle of nature or not, there is still a good chance you have at least explored the energetics of breath in regard to birth as breath and breathing patterns are one of the most commonly studied comfort techniques ...

Welcome to this quick update about the podcast. It's been a couple years since I started this podcast to create a space for sharing ideas about birth that were a little unconventional. While it has been a journey so far, I have recently been feeling called to rebrand this podcast to something that resonates more specifically with the range of concepts I talk about here, and I was struck with some inspiration for that, so what was the Journey to Homebirth podcast is now the Unschooled Homebirt...

Today’s episode is all about the cycles of birth and pregnancy, and life and parenting, because living and birthing naturally, the way Nature intended, is all about bringing these cycles into your awareness on a deep level so the magic of life comes alive and can be the center of your birth. This episode will explain how the magic of circles and cycles shows up in birth and the result of forgetting this ancestral knowledge and the impact it has had on birth, even homebirth. ___________...