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“There is power that comes to women when they give birth. They don’t ask for it, it simply invades them. Accumulates like clouds on the horizon and passes through, carrying the child with it.” – Sheryl Feldman

“If a doula were a drug, it would be unethical not to use it.” – John H. Kennell, MD

“If we want to find safe alternatives to obstetrics, we must rediscover midwifery. To rediscover midwifery is the same as giving back childbirth to women. And imagine the future if surgical teams were at the service of the midwives and the women instead of controlling them.” – Michel Odent, MD

“Being aware of our different states of consciousness gives us a useful tool when supporting birthing women. The states of consciousness are known individually as Beta (β) Alpha (α) Theta (θ) and Delta (Δ). It is often said that you cannot birth from your mind, that is because you must drift from active Beta into the gentle place of Alpha.” – Hazel Tree

“Midwives see birth as a miracle and only mess with it if there’s a problem; doctors see birth as a problem and if they don’t mess with it, it’s a miracle!” – Barbara Harper in Gentle Birth Choices

“Grapefruits are sectioned, pizza is delivered, women give birth.” – Unknown

“The major role that the body’s natural oxytocin plays in birth encourages the idea that birth is an experience of love… Birth is a spiritual experience simply because it is largely an act of love on the part of the body physiology and the indwelling spirit.” – Cathy Daub

“Experiences have clearly shown that an approach which ‘de-medicalizes’ birth, restores dignity and humanity to the process of childbirth, and returns control to the mother is also the safest approach.” Michel Odent, MD

“We have a secret in our culture, and it’s not that birth is painful. It’s that women are strong.” – Laura Stavoe Harm

“When I say painless, please understand, I don’t mean you will not feel anything. What you will feel is a lot of pressure; you will feel the might of creation move through you. Pain, however, is associated with something gone wrong. Childbirth is a lot of hard work, and the sensations that accompany it are very strong, but there is nothing wrong with labor.” – Giuditta Tornetta

“Asking your husband to be your sole guide through labor is like asking him to lead the way on a climb of Mt Everest. He may be smart and trustworthy, you may love him, but in the Himalayas you’d both be a lot better off with a Sherpa!” – Pam England

“The skill of being with women in pain in labour often rests in believing in women when they do not believe in themselves.” – Nicky Leaf

“The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new.” – Rajneesh

“When enough women realize that birth is a time of great opportunity to get in touch with their true power, and when they are willing to assume responsibility for this, we will reclaim the power of birth and help move technology where it belongs–in the service of birthing women, not their master.” – Christiane Northrup

“I think one of the best things we could do would be to help women/parents/families discover their own birth power, from within themselves. And to let them know it’s always been there, they just needed to tap into it.” – John H. Kennell, MD

“Birth is an opportunity to transcend. To rise above what we are accustomed to, reach deeper inside ourselves than we are familiar with, and to see not only what we are truly made of, but the strength we can access in and through birth.” – Marcie Macari

“So the question remains. Is childbirth painful? Yes. It can be, along with a thousand amazing sensations for which we have yet to find adequate language. Every birth is different, and every woman’s experience and telling of her story will be unique.” –Marcie Macari

“The instant of birth is exquisite. Pain and joy are one at this moment. Ever after, the dim recollection is so sweet that we speak to our children with a gratitude they never understand.” – Madline Tiger

“A woman in birth is at once her most powerful, and most vulnerable. But any woman who has birthed unhindered understands that we are stronger than we know.” – Marcie Macari

“Keeping active during labour and adopting natural, upright or crouching birth positions is the safest, most enjoyable, most economical and sensible way for the majority of women to give birth.” – Janet Balaskas

“The knowledge about how to give birth is born within every woman: women do not need to be taught how to give birth but rather to have more trust and faith in their own body knowledge.” – BirthWorks

“Birth matters. It brings us into being, on many levels.” – Ananda Lowe

“Giving birth is a transformation and it doesn’t matter whether you’ve had eight babies before. It’s still a transformation the next time you have another baby, because you are no longer the same woman you were before you had that baby.” – Penny Handford

“We must attempt to tell the whole truth about birth, the truth that includes the transformation, mastery, satisfaction, personal power and the difference between pain and suffering.” – Cheri van Hoover

“However much we know about birth in general, we know nothing about a particular birth. We must let it unfold with its own uniqueness.” – Elizabeth Noble

“Birth should not be a time in a woman’s life when she has to FIGHT for anything.” -Carla Hartley

“…Respecting the woman as an important and valuable human being and making certain that the woman’s experience while giving birth is fulfilling and empowering is not just a nice extra, it is absolutely essential as it makes the woman strong and therefore makes society strong. ” – Marsden Wagner

“Although the popularly desired outcome is ‘healthy mother, healthy baby,’ I think there is room in that equation for ‘happy, non-traumatized, empowered and elated mother and baby.’” – Midwifery Today

“The wisdom and compassion a woman can intuitively experience in childbirth can make her a source of healing and understanding for other women.” – Stephen Gaskin

“Mothers need to know that their care and their choices won’t be compromised by birth politics.” – Jennifer Rosenberg

“Only with trust, faith, and support can the woman allow the birth experience to enlighten and empower her.” – Annie Kennedy and Penny Simkin

“300,000 women will be giving birth with you today. Relax and breathe and do nothing else.” – Unknown

“Rain, after all is only rain; it is not bad weather. So, also, pain is only pain unless we resist it, then it becomes torment.” – I Ching

“I discovered I always have choices and sometimes it’s only a choice of attitude.” – Judith M. Knowlton

“If I don’t know my options, I don’t have any.” – Diana Korte

“To speak of birth, to touch people’s hearts and souls and to awaken that part of humankind that has forgotten that it matters enormously how a baby comes into the world – that is our task.” – Vicki Chan and Nick Edmondstone

“Childbirth is an experience in a woman’s life that holds the power to transform her forever. Passing through these powerful gates – in her own way – remembering all the generations of women who walk with her… She is never alone.” – Suzanne Arms

“A baby is like the beginning of all things: wonder, hope a dream of possibilities. In a world that is cutting down its trees to build highways, losing its earth to concrete, babies are almost the only remaining link in nature, with the natural world of living things from which we spring.” – Eda J. Leshan

“Labor is not about dilation. Your body knows how to give birth whether or not you ever have a pelvic exam during labor. Birthing women need encouragement to trust their bodies, and to be the stars of their own labors.” – The Doula Guide to Birth

“Women are strong, strong, terribly strong. We don’t know how strong until we’re pushing out our babies.” – Louise Erdrich

“Anything I’ve ever done that ultimately was worthwhile…initially scared me to death.” – Betty Bender

“You are a birth servant. Do good without show or fuss. If you must take the lead, lead so that the mother is helped, yet still free and in charge. When the baby is born, they will rightly say: ‘We did it ourselves!'” – Tao Te Ching

“Giving birth should be your greatest achievement not your greatest fear.” ~ Jane Weideman

“When you change the way you view birth, the way you birth will change.” ~Marie Mongan, Hypnobirthing

“There is a secret in our culture, and it’s not that birth is painful. It’s that women are strong.” ~ Laura Stavoe Harm

“You block your dream when you allow your fear to grow bigger than your faith.” – Mary Manin Morrissey

“Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood. “~Marie Curie

“The power and intensity of your contractions cannot be stronger than you, because it is you.” ~ Unknown

‎”Rain, after all is only rain; it is not bad weather. So also, pain is only pain; unless we resist it, then it becomes torment.” ~ the I Ching

“The same movements that get the baby in, get the baby out.” ~ From Birthing From Within

“A healthy woman who delivers spontaneously performs a job that cannot be improved upon.” ~Aidan MacFarlane author of The Psychology of Childbirth (1977)

“All natural birth has a purpose and a plan; who would think of tearing open the chrysalis as the butterfly is emerging? Who would break the shell to pull the chick out?” ~ Marie Mongon, Hypnobirthing

“It seems that many health professionals involved in antenatal care have not realized that one of their roles should be to protect the emotional state of pregnant women.” ~Michel Odent, M.D.

“The whole point of woman-centered birth is the knowledge that a woman is the birth power source. She may need, and deserve, help, but in essence, she always had, currently has, and will have the power.” ~Heather McCue

“The effort to separate the physical experience of childbirth from the mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of this event has served to disempower and violate women.” ~Mary Rucklos Hampton

“No other natural bodily function is painful and childbirth should not be an exception”. ~Grantley Dick-Read, M.D.

“Fear can be overcome only by Faith.” ~Grantly Dick-Read, M.D.

“Muscles send messages to each other. Clenched fists, a tight mouth, a furrowed brow, all send signals to the birth-passage muscles, the very ones that need to be loosened. Opening up to relax these upper-body parts relaxes the lower ones.” ~William and Martha Sears

‎”The wisdom and compassion a woman can intuitively experience in childbirth can make her a source of healing and understanding for other women.” ~Stephen Gaskin

‎”Part of birthing without fear is trusting your instincts!” ~Brande Holm, BWF mama

‎”My OB put it in perspective for me. He’s seen 1 uterine rupture in 29 years…and she had not previously had a c-section.” ~Vanessa Spahan (a BWF mama)

“It is not only that we want to bring about an easy labor, without risking injury to the mother or the child; we must go further. We must understand that childbirth is fundamentally a spiritual, as well as a physical, achievement. The birth of a child is the ultimate perfection of human love.” ~Dr. Grantly Dick-Read, 1953

“When you have come to the edge of all light that you know and are about to drop off into the darkness of the unknown, FAITH is knowing one of two things will happen: There will be something solid to stand on or you will be taught to fly” ~Patrick Overton

Quotes collated by Hazel Acland Tree; doula, author, childbirth educator & women’s circle facilitator.

Find her book ‘A Birth Path – stages & states of consciousness’ on Amazon HERE and audible HERE

reviews:

‘Small, accessible with language that is both easy to understand yet poetic and beautiful. Highly recommended for all pregnant women.’ – M.McMahon

‘I absolutely loved every single words of this little book! I recommend it to mamas, papas, birthkeepers, and really every one who wants to feel, understand and tune into the magical path of birth.’ – V.Vali

‘This a great book with a whole new perspective on giving birth. As a Birth doula, I’ll be lending this to my clients!’ – Ms Sheith

‘Soulful description of each stage of ‘being’ in labour and beautifully written’ – Ms. E. Greenslade

 Buy the book ‘A Birth Path’ by Hazel Tree via amazon HERE