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One live session, two 1/2 hours.

Two five minute breaks.

Discussion and participation opportunities.

Recordings & transcripts will be sent to your email.

Welcome to Exploring the Labyrinth for Birth!

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Supplies

One piece of art paper Chalk pastels

Bowl of ice & cloth

Journal

Pen or pencil

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Introductions:

Name
Pronouns
Location
Role in birth world

Introductions

What called you here today?

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What does art making have to do with birth?

the experience of navigating the unknown

From

To

thinking parts brain

creative, intuitive parts of brian

outcome

process

outward knowing

inner knowing

A word about birth art… what does art making have to do with childbirth? (about 15 min.) Slide 6

Ask them what they think- ask a few people to share. Validate and offer these additional ideas if not already discussed:
Art making gives each parent the experience of moving from their neocortex (thinking brain) and into the creative, intuitive brain where they can begin to access deeper beliefs, insights, imagery, and solutions than they can in the ordinary state of alert consciousness.
Parents get a taste of the “Laborland” mindset as well as the unconscious mind's ability to generate unlimited possibilities and solutions for any issues that may arise.
Art making gives people an opportunity to experience navigating the unknown- which they will have to do in labor.
Focus is on the process, not the outcome. It doesn’t matter what shows up on the paper, it’s about what comes up in the experience.
Talk briefly about art supplies. We recommend chalk pastels and large art paper, if possible. In this class, whatever art supplies you have on hand will work fine.

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What if there was a map for labor?

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Common medical maps for labor

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How a labyrinth differs from a maze. A labyrinth consists of one unicursal path, the entrance and exit are the same, you only need to follow the path to arrive at the center and then back out again. A maze has a separate entrance and exit, dead ends, wrong ways. The external/medical map of birth is often maze-like, with dead ends and wrong choices; the internal experience follows the labyrinth. (Note that this distinction is not universal – it doesn’t exist in all languages. Even in English, it’s not absolutely incorrect to use the two words interchangeably. It’s a distinction that we are pointing out here because it’s useful for our understanding of birth.) Slide 12
Every kind of birth fits in this map: fast and slow, medicated and unmedicated, surgical and spontaneous, etc.
(You could also save this insight for the post-tracing discussion, when people have a more visceral sense of the labyrinth.)

Offer a 5 min break to gather art supplies

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Drawing Your Labyrinth

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Thresholds

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2. Guide participants to draw little footprints somewhere by the threshold marker. (You can tell them when they are working with parents, they can suggest to place their footprints as far away or close to the entrance of the labyrinth as they feel ready to enter their own labyrinthine journeys…)

Explain that the footprints can symbolize where they are now (Preparation phase), the fact that they came from somewhere, the fact that they are standing on the ground of everything they know before labor begins, a reminder that if they don’t know what to do next, all they need to do is look down at their feet and take the next step, etc.

VI. Walk the Labyrinth (about 15 min)

Before people begin walking their labyrinth, offer a moment of a settling process, like Breath Awareness. Instruct them to walk through to the center, pause for a breath or two and then turn around and come out, taking the time they want or need. Ring a chime or bell to signal the beginning.
After everyone has returned, explore what people noticed, and help them make connections from their experience to labor/birth/postpartum, “how might that be like labor?” Validate their responses.
Draw their attention to their own coping/problem-solving: “So what did you do next?” “How did you know to do that?”
If nobody brings it up in the dialogue, talk about the parts in the labyrinth that look further away from the center but are actually closer and the parts that look closer that are actually further away (how might that be like labor?), the parts of the labyrinth that are more spacious vs tight and narrow, the places where there are sharp corners that you cannot see around etc.
Tell them that in this metaphor, the path to the center represents labor, the center is the birth of the baby, however the baby may arrive, and the way back out represents postpartum.

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Just keep going!

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Next Steps

Access to course content- six months

Course survey & Certificate of Completion

Become a BfW member!

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Continue Learning with BfW

Continuing Education

Foundations of BfW: Heart of Mentoring

Enriching Your Prenatals: Practical Tools for Meaningful Sessions

Taming Fear: Supporting Parents in Pregnancy and Birth

Building a Coping Mindset

Birth Art Training

Mindful Postpartum Planning

Prenatal Bodywork: Touch from Within

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Continue Learning with BfW

Crossing

the Threshold

weekend, weekly series, virtual & in person

A guided retreat that creates space for intentional self-exploration, skill development, and new learning about birth with storytelling, art, ritual, dialogue, and community connection.

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Continue Learning with BfW

Doula & Childbirth Educator Training

A modern interpretation of childbirth preparation and support, tapping into ancient inner knowing in conjunction with evidence-based modern knowing, and teaching you to provide deep, meaningful guidance to those in their childbearing years.

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Land Acknowledgement

Birthing from Within recognizes the genocide and forcible dispossession of the indigenous peoples native to the lands upon which we run our business and hold our trainings, as well as the kidnapping and enslavement of African peoples that were an inextricable part of the founding of this country.

In the spirit of reparative action, for each course we hold, we will alternate between a donation to a native-led organization local to the facilitator leading the course and a donation to a Black-led birth justice organization.

We encourage you, our course participants, to join us by making a $1 (or more!) donation to a native-led organization local to your region and/or a Black-led birth justice organization.

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Guidelines for Mindful Engagement

Our Values

Our Guidelines

Self-reflection
Inclusivity
Dismantling White Supremacy
Dismantling other systems of oppression

Lean into challenges, while practicing self-care
Check in with yourself
Strive to use inclusive language
Don't make assumptions
Speak from your own experience
Don't make generalizations
Create space
Focus on impact vs. intention

Want to read more? Check out the full Mindful Engagement Document linked here or on your course landing page.

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