Families choosing to give birth at home are hoping for a calm and uncomplicated birth, but the main factor that causes disruptions to homebirth is the lack of ability to control the response to stress, whether it's from something internal like the fear of pain or something external from the environment or the birth team.

For decades, women have been told that ultimately, birth is out of their control so they need tools and comfort techniques to get through, tools like breathing techniques, labor positions, affirmations, or hypnosis, but what if it's these very tools that cause women to lose control of their birth?

Have you ever heard a birth story where a woman learned the techniques, spent months practicing hypnosis and still lost control of her birth, ending up with interventions or even a hospital transfer? Chances are you have heard a story like this since these scenarios happen all the time, because women are trying to control birth with tools and techniques.

The secret to balancing control and surrender is found in ancient practices that train your body and mind to drop into a stillpoint, a balance of the autonomic nervous system, where the opposing forces of the sympathetic and parasympathetic responses harmonize to create deep inner peace and quiet so you can be completely open to the process of birth, in control of your birth and simultaneously in surrender to the flow.

Achieving this state is how the very atoms that make up our being function. At the atomic level, atoms have negatively charged electrons, which are like the external state of our energy, positively charged protons, which are like the internal state of our energy, and finally, neutral neutrons, which are equivalent to our stillpoint through their role of controlling the interaction of protons (internal energy state), which would over-react without the neutralizing effect of neutrons, thereby providing stability in the atom and creating life, body-mind-spirit.

When you are able to drop in a stillpoint, you have optimized your hormone and neurotransmitter flow, creating healthy levels of adrenaline and epinephrine and serotonin, dopamine and oxytocin. In this state you access limitless potential to access your subconscious, release fears, tap into your intuition, feel peace and safety, all in your control while you surrender to the natural flow of your body's rhythms as you find harmony with the energetic flows of Heaven and Earth, this is stability and confidence.

• Fear of complications even though you feel confident in your choice to homebirth

• Worry about a hospital transfer and how you will navigate the system & decision making

• Fear of pain and whether you can do it, even though you are learning comfort techniques

• History of birth or other trauma that you worry might affect your ability to relax in birth

• Trying to control your birth even though you know birth is about surrender

• Overall sense of wellness in pregnancy

• Less stress and anxiety in general

• Less anxiety about birth

• Better sleep and energy

• More connection with their baby

• More awareness of their pelvic floor

• Less back and hip pain

• Less constricted breath

• Hormone regulation, including dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin, important hormones for pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding

• Immune system support for the health of you and your baby

• Better circulation, including common discomforts such as swelling and blood pressure challenges

• Improved connective tissue elasticity for better tissue response in birth, reduced risk of tearing when combined with proper birth awareness, and easier postpartum recovery

You could prepare with standard prenatal yoga and meditation and you will get the benefit of strength and flexibility, but many of today's Western approaches have forgotten how to reach the true stillpoint, which is the key for unlocking the subconscious and releasing fear to gain control over your nervous system while feeling confident in surrendering to the flow of birth. 

Further, the embodiment practitioners who work with stillpoint practices don't have the depth of training to feel confident in safely teaching stillpoint techniques in pregnancy. 

As a Chinese medicine practitioner with over 15 years of practice with prenatal clients and a certificate in Holistic Midwifery, it has become my passion to support pregnancy through these profound techniques safely and without sacrificing the experience.

•  A calm and peaceful undisturbed birth

• Confidently and comfortably surrendering to the flow of labor and birth

• Trust in your body to safely birth your baby

• Feeling more relaxed and comfortable for the duration of pregnancy

• Avoiding stress-related complications in pregnancy and birth