Rahel Kima
My personal journey into the world of birth began with my first pregnancy and birth. It had a profound impact on me as a young mother and led me on a path of exploration into the world of supporting women through life’s challenges, from birth and beyond.
I grew to understand that pregnancy, birth and the months following can incorporate the full spectrum of the human experience. It wasn’t either beautiful and spiritual or scary and painful – it was all of it, together. A messy, rich and eclectic experience which takes us to new highs and lows. I had experienced pregnancy and birth as an initiation, and I was forever changed by it. This is what I wanted to explore. In what ways are we able to connect to our deepest inner resources that will help us through the ordeal. I had found clues and now I needed a map.
My personal journey into the world of birth began with my first pregnancy and birth. It had a profound impact on me as a young mother and led me on a path of exploration into the world of supporting women through life’s challenges, from birth and beyond.
I grew to understand that pregnancy, birth and the months following can incorporate the full spectrum of the human experience. It wasn’t either beautiful and spiritual or scary and painful – it was all of it, together. A messy, rich and eclectic experience which takes us to new highs and lows. I had experienced pregnancy and birth as an initiation, and I was forever changed by it. This is what I wanted to explore. In what ways are we able to connect to our deepest inner resources that will help us through the ordeal. I had found clues and now I needed a map.
There were mentors along the way. Teachers who taught me the skills to feel, to listen, to ask, to touch, to move, to observe, to find and dare to lose balance. I was taught connection to body and breath through yoga with Chana Bachor (z’l). I was given the map of birth as a Hero’s Journey from the midwife, and creator of Birthing From Within, Pam England. I practiced cultivating my chi with Ayela Gracier and Tanya , my teachers of Qigong. Self expression through dance I learned with Nataly Dvir. Effortless movement and healing touch with Ilan Lev. I studied womens physiology and pregnancy bodywork with the midwife Rachel Shapiro. I learned about the secrets of the sphincters and of the body’s innate intelligence from the Paula Method with Cochava Bracha. The connecting thread for me, through all the different things I have studied and practiced, is awe and curiosity of the human experience in body and soul. How can we integrate all our experiences in a compassionate and non judgemental acceptance of ourselves and others? Both in the emotional and physical realm. Inspired by birth, I have been ever since on this path of discovery and growth.
Along the way, agendas were dropped. If birth is free to do what birth must do, then perhaps so is the woman who is experiencing it. We can not control it, but we can learn so much about ourselves. If we can soften the judgment and then add a little self-compassion, acceptance and trust, then like the ripple effect it can influence our mothering, our children, our world.
