Birth, Modern Life and Our Inner Wisdom

Last month, I joined one of APPPAH* Monday Live talks. I listened to Antonella Sansone's presentation “Prenatal psychology and indigenous wisdom: a global strategy for the human-earth connection and life sustainability”. It was about the Himba culture which is an indigenous culture of Northern Namibia.

The way she talked about how we lost our connection to each other and with nature because of our modern lives and how this community kept their traditions, rituals and what they got from their ancestors was so inspiring. We built our lives with fear and anxiety, trying to control everything. We are distant from nature and we are stressful.

So we lost the connection to our past and forgot to trust our instincts, our wisdom. That's what we are trying to rebuilt with my couples during our childbirth education classes: to trust your body, your baby and your intuition. 

Having a baby is both spiritual and physical. They believe the spirit of a child before conception and during pregnancy. Birth and breastfeeding are so natural for the culture because they are raised seeing women giving natural births and breastfeeding everyday. Therefore parents-to-be are mentally prepared to parenthood. It is a normal act of life. Women are half naked in this culture so babies can feed themselves whenever they want. 

There is always someone to take care of the babies even if the mother is not available. There is a collective sense of responsibility. Parents are more relaxed about taking care of their children. There is an African saying “It takes a village to raise a child” Yet we are trying to look after our children mostly holding a baby for the first time in our lives only as two parents in our busy lives. This babies are use to responsiveness and physical contact and it cultivates trust and confidence. There is no aggression in children and they are more resilient.

So, as Antonella says we can't give up our modern lives because there are lots of advantages that technology brought us but then can't we use this heritage without sacrificing what we have? That brings out the question:

HOW CAN WE INTEGRATE THEIR PRACTICES TO OUR MODERN LIVES?

-We can start by practicing some meditation and mindfulness exercise to get back to our center. The current modern family life, isolation, has and impact on our brain functions such as ability of empathy, compassion, emotional balance, body regulation…Mindfulness and secure attachment develops these functions. (Siegel, 2007)

-We can spend more time in nature, grounding and try to connect with mother earth. Let our children be more connected to nature as well. While in contact with nature, we know that we have better microbiomes and therefore have a stronger immune system.

-We can use the healing power of nature by using natural products and treatments to ourselves and to our babies. 

-We can learn about empathy and be more emphatic. You can watch the video in the link to know more about empathy. 

 -We don't have to be half naked to breastfeed naturally. Babies give signs, we just have to watch them. When we trust our instincts, it is more likely that we can understand their needs. We can provide physical contact starting with skin to skin contact and then babywearing. That would lead to secure attachment as in the indigenous cultures. 

 -We can raise our children by rituals, stories, songs and dances. You can even remember from your childhood. Haven't we raised by stories that had many aspects of our heritage? 

 These rituals and what we do affects the next generations by epigenetics so we can actually provide a better world for our children. 

*Association of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology & Health