Thursday, January 8, 2009
Vol. 2, Issue 1
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Another cold cloudy ethereal day dusted magical by a whiff of snowfall. I snuggle in our wood stove room, cradling my hot mug of tea in gratitude for the vital community of our small mountain town.
Not only do I know my neighbors, I socialize with them and we share in the significant passages of our lives. That includes the happy and also the tragic and sad.
In the inaugural ezine issue, I alluded to sharing more about blessingways. This first issue of 2009 provides a wonderful time to fulfill that promise.
Teresa
Blessingways
What is a blessingway?
A blessingway is a native American ritual celebrated during rites of passage.
Traditional passages can include:
- menarche – a young women’s first menstrual period;
- before a wedding;
- before the birth of a child; and
- in pregnancy, before giving birth.
I have also attended blessingways for friends–pre hysterectomy, or to mark their menopause passage.
I have heard of women also creating blessingway ceremonies as they chose to open up their lives to becoming a mother. This includes women choosing adoption as pathway to becoming a mother.
Some of these ceremonies have included men, the majority have been women-only gatherings.
You are probably saying, well a blessingway sounds a lot like a shower. It may sound like a shower but it is more than a shower.
Yes, in our culture we have showers to mark most of these occasions. I would describe a blessingway as a shower with a strong nourishing spiritual aspect, which fully engages each participant with her mind, body and spirit. Blessingways are one way to feed this deep need we all have as women to sit with each other and deeply connect.
It has always been my experience, that everyone who shares in such a gathering leaves feeling connected and fulfilled. There is an intrinsic gift in sharing your admiration and blessing to a friend within a small group. This witnessing within a safe container amplifies the sentiments, and all are nourished.
Having grown up on the East coast, this has not been my experience of attending showers.
When I got married, several lovely showers were hosted in my honor. One of these spontaneously morphed into a blessingway, when a friend brought fresh rose petals from her garden. As each woman shared her shower gift with me, she also showered me with a handful of these fragrant rose petals along with a verbal wish and blessing for me, my beloved, and our impending marriage.
This simple act shifted the entire celebration for everyone there into a more loving and nurturing experience. I later used the dried rose petals to bathe in on my wedding day. Bathing in all of those blessings and prayers, strengthened and calmed me before the ceremony.
The officially planned blessingway was a day-long gathering which included hot springs soaking, lunch, and a floral wreath for my head. This time hand, foot and scalp massages accompanied the additional prayers and blessings.
I loved both gatherings. The second one occurred just a few days away from the wedding. I felt it helped me to prepare energetically for being a conscious recipient of so much focused love and well wishes from so many people at one time. It was a great warm up for the wedding.
I have attended many blessingways for women as they prepared to give birth. Many were for clients whose birth I attended in our local hospital.
I had a powerful experience from attending both the blessingway and the home birth of a dear sister-friend. As she entered the transition phase of labor, I could perceive the blessingway circle of women energetically enter as witnesses and as a solid cone of support, into her living room where she was laboring. What a palpable testament to the power of prayer!
Another friend and colleague, Anna Stewart, has written a beautiful book about blessing way rituals called Mother Blessings: Honoring Women Becoming Mothers
I was blessed to attend her blessingway before she birthed her youngest child. For this blessingway, we were asked to bring supplies for a baby mobile that we created during the time we had gathered.
We also intricately combed and braided Anna’s hair with ribbons and beads.
In the blessingway I attended last summer in Telluride, we did a meditation and wrote a word from the meditation on a special piece of cloth that was then made into a labor prayer flag.
In other ceremonies, I have left with a candle to light for when the mom enters labor.
Another blessingway I attended, the mom asked everyone to bring positive pictures of women pregnant or birthing. She then placed them into a photo album to nourish herself with these positive images in preparation for her empowering home birth.
A blessingway does not have to be a big extravaganza event. It’s purpose is to help the woman,(mom), to feel and to really receive the love and nourishment radiating from her friends and family.
It also creates a meaningful vehicle for friends and family to connect with and to support this woman (mom) in a meaningful and spirit filled manner during an important transition in her life.
For many of us, New Years means making resolutions that we are often unable to keep or to maintain. Guilt ensues and so the cycle repeats itself.
I believe this happens because many of us haven’t examined and included our current underlying, often unconscious operating beliefs into the equation of our resolutions.
Without understanding and updating our belief system, our attempts to change, especially if it is motivated by fear is doomed to sputter and fail.
This issue’s meditation segment addresses the power of our beliefs.
Excerpted from Bruce Lipton’s book The Biology of Belief are the wise and powerful words from Mahatma Gandhi.
Your beliefs become your thought
Your thoughts become your words
Your words become your actions
Your actions become your habits
Your habits become your values
Your values become your destiny
This is a journal meditation exercise.
The key to this exercise is to write down the first words that come to your consciousness without judging or filtering them.
1. What are my beliefs about:
Money?
Sex?
Fertility?
Pregnancy?
Birth?
My weight?
My body?
Exercise?
Food/ Eating?
2. Whose beliefs are they, or where did I acquire this belief? (Example: mom, dad, culture)
3. Do I still consciously believe them? If not, what do I consciously believe?
4. Where do/does this belief/beliefs live in my body?
5. What new qualities would I like to update this belief with?
Resetting Beliefs
Next, imagine draining the obsolete beliefs out of the word. For example, imagine the word money, imagine draining off of that word any outdated beliefs. Example: I have to work hard for money.
Infuse into the word. For example, money with all of the new qualities or affirmations you would like to embrace, into a gold sun on top of your head. Example: Money flows with ease and effortless into my life.
Pop the bubble and allow all the new beliefs to flow into your body.
Take a breath and feel how it feels having this new belief in your system.
Observe and validate how your life changes.
Introduction: Before You Start Trying:
How to prepare your mind, body and spirit for Pregnancy
Free Teleseminar by Teresa Robertson. Click here to sign up.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009, 9 pm EST (6 pm PST / 7 pm MST / 8 pm CST)
60-minute introduction to Teresa’s new class. See below.______________________________________________________________
Introduction to Communicating with your Unborn Child
Free Teleseminar by Teresa Robertson. Click here to sign up.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009, 8 pm EST (5 pm PST / 6 pm MST / 7 pm CST)
1 hour: 45 minute discussion with 15 minute Q&AThis class will work well also for moms of pre verbal children.
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Before You Start Trying:
How to prepare your mind, body and spirit for Pregnancy – Part 1
Free class taught by Teresa Robertson. Click here to sign up.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009, 9 pm EST (6 pm PST / 7 pm MST / 8 pm CST)
1 hour: 45 minute class with 15 minutes Q&ABefore You Start Trying:
How to prepare your mind, body and spirit for Pregnancy – Part 2Free class taught by Teresa Robertson. Click here to sign up.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009, 9 pm EST (6 pm PST / 7 pm MST / 8 pm CST)
1 hour: 45 minute class with 15 minutes Q&AParticipate in these one-time only free teleclasses.
Come join us for this unique mind/body/spiritual approach to pregnancy preparation designed for both men and women. Before you get on the “trying” merry-go- round come to assess where you are individually and as a couple for this life changing and exciting step. Learn how you can start nourishing yourself in preparation and in anticipation of welcoming this new member of your family. Begin to create time and space for this new person into your life. Explore and understand the deeply rewarding, strengthening, and validating aspects of preparing for a pregnancy as opposed to just learning about what you have to begin to deprive yourself of in order to get pregnant.
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Local In-Person Class: Preparing for Pregnancy
Held at Belly Bliss in Denver, Colorado
Wednesday, February 18, 2009, from 7:15 PM – 9:15 PM
Come join us for this unique mind/body/spiritual approach to pregnancy preparation designed for both men and women. Before you get on the “trying” merry-go- round come to assess where you are individually and as a couple for this life changing and exciting step. Learn how you can start nourishing yourself in preparation and in anticipation of welcoming this new member of your family. Begin to create time and space for this new person into your life. Explore and understand the deeply rewarding, strengthening, and validating aspects of preparing for a pregnancy as opposed to just learning about what you have to begin to deprive yourself of in order to get pregnant. Create your own individualized belly creation plan.
$40 for a single or couple reservation.
Registration required. Visit: http://bellybliss.org/fertility-phases.htm
On January 13th, 2009, Hay House is releasing Dr. Wayne Dyer’s Newest Film – Ambition to Meaning, Finding Your Life’s Purpose.
In his first-ever movie, Wayne Dyer explores the spiritual journey during the second half of life when we long to find the purpose that is our unique contribution to the world.
From the creators of You Can Heal Your Life: The Movie comes a compelling portrait of three modern lives in need of new direction and meaning. Filmed on coastal California’s spectacular Monterey Peninsula,Ambition to Meaning captures every person’s mid-life longing for a more purposeful, soul-directed life.
Please take a moment to view the trailer of Ambition to Meaning at www.ambitiontomeaning.com, and check out the music video while you are there!
To order your copy: Ambition To Meaning Expanded DVD.
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Well it finally aired. The Orgasmic Birth episode aired on Friday January 2. For those of you who missed it, you can view the segment at http://abcnews.go.com/2020.
Teresa Robertson RN,MSN,Certified Nurse Midwife, has been involved in the realms of women’s health, birth, and alternative healing for the past 29 years. During the past 12 years, she has shared these integrative tools of healing and knowing with numerous groups of clients and professionals.
Visit Teresa at LivingIntuitive.com
Follow Teresa on Twitter: http://twitter.com/livingintuitive.
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Intuitive Reminders is written by Teresa Robertson. If you have any questions or comments, please send them to:Teresa@BirthIntuitive.com.
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