Dar a Luz: The Wisdom of Humility in Childbirth

Every time I teach a Childbirth class, especially after a short crash course, I can't help but feel that there is so much more I can offer, so much more for people to learn and process. Also, I know that there is not much intellectual knowledge I can share with families that will prepare them for the mental and spiritual challenge of giving birth. That is an entirely different practice. One that I encourage all my families to explore. I love how breathwork, body awareness, and rituals prepare the parent for this beautiful event. This sharing comes from the intention of giving you mothers a little guidance on the mental and spiritual wisdom and preparation that is needed.

"Dar a Luz" is the term used in the Spanish language for birthing. I love that term as it carries the gesture of the energetics of birth. From the nourishing darkness of the womb, from "nothingness," from the void, the individual is born into the human experience. "Dar a Luz" means to give light. Is it to give light to the child's life? Is it to become the light the child needs for their life? Is it to allow oneself to become the channel from which the baby goes from a dark space to the light? Maybe it is that the mother doing the work of bringing forth life has to, at some level, go through the same process as her child; become nothingness, become the nourishing darkness of the womb herself, become the void, and then move toward the light to complete her work.

More and more I am relating to my work as a Midwife through nature observation and traditional systems that I have learned along the way. In Vitalist Herbalism, and in many traditional practices, I lean on this principle: the vital force in the body seeks balance, and healing often mirrors the very pattern of the disturbance. This connects to the Hermetic idea "as above, so below," one of the philosophical roots Vitalism draws from, and to the Law of Similars in Homeopathic Medicine, which says that something that can cause certain symptoms in a healthy person can also help resolve that same pattern in someone who feels unwell. These are not the same law, but they rhyme, each pointing to healing as a mirroring of the pattern it moves through. Within this perspective, what the baby is going through in the womb might just be what the mother has to go through on the outside.

I learned through traditional indigenous elders, books, and personal practices, that the mother goes to the underworld to bring her baby with her. This is not to be compared with the Western belief system of punishment or reward of heaven and hell, nor to the "in pain you shall give birth" biblical seeds of fear. Instead, this comes from a deep understanding of nature and the cycles of life. It is nourished by the power of deep connection and observation of the natural world. It becomes wisdom when it comes from the lived experiences of Medicine women in ceremony who have learned to grow as a seed in the darkness of the compost pile. It is related to the deconstruction of the self to become anew as a parent.

What does that mean in terms of preparing for childbirth? What kind of teaching do I need to offer families to help them prepare to go to the underworld and bring forth their babies? Positions? Nutrition? Phases of labor? When to call the Midwife? In all honesty, they all seem to carry a trivial priority when it comes to preparing for an event that mostly requires knowing how to navigate in and out of the "underworld."

I am also a big proponent of leaning into the lightness of this deep deconstruction by finding comfort in knowing thousands of women are literally birthing at the same time every day, just like thousands of women are entering their monthly Moon time, eating their breakfast, going for walks, etc. It is part of who we are.

I guess what I am trying to express is that "going to the underworld" can be a daily practice in many ways, and become a big event when it is required by the nature of the physical and emotional demand.

I do not have a perfect recipe for a Childbirth class. But more and more I see a great benefit in helping families understand that the work is in the ability to navigate the nervous system of labor with great flexibility. It is very important to understand how to become the channel or tunnel, by connecting to the position of the baby in relationship with the womb, pelvis, and birth canal. It is deeply needed for a person who is going to be birthing to connect, at a physical level, with their bodies inside out, so that when it is time to move the baby through, they know how to move their bodies as it is dictated in that moment.