2018 is proving to be a practical year. Bringing on that practicality is confronting in such a good way. Personally, I’ve been seeking to take the paradigm of physiology deeper. Funny where the challenges lie, kindness to those close, sitting smart when full on working, taking morning time for breathing and “balancing” when workshop schedules begin early…
My soul seems busy with who am I really, and who was it that I wanted to be? Making myself so busy is for why? Promises that were quick to make prove time-consuming to provide. Progress seems to creep. While we wait, we find a chance to re-examine, refresh or reset, and if we do these honestly and bravely, renew.
What is working for you? What might you do for physiology in your body? Tonight, Tammy Ryan, myself and our friends living and working in Israel/Palestine shared a final meal with Australian midwife, Rachel Reed and her husband, Duncan. Tammy spoke of eating healthy and feeling so good here. You could say some of us live on the road, especially our busiest trainer. We both live where winters are long and find the sun here awakening. What would life inside feel like if we took more time to keep life, well, alive!?
Birth Tip: Jiggle!
If you hear me introduce the beautiful Mexican Manteada with the Rebozo scarf, you hear me say that all regions of the world have a variation of jiggling the birthing mother when the baby isn’t coming. Many places use helpers to lift and shake the birth giver… or should I say in this case, the one who longs by then to be the one giving birth. If only the baby would come!
We promote a gentle jiggle that might be comparable to a vibration. The Mexican Rebozo is a ceremonial woven scarf made by women for women. Practical uses are many, as well, and birth is the most inspiring. Jiggling the abdomen or hips are two ways we notice women turning inward towards their intuitive self after jiggling stimulates the parasympathetics and calms the mind and body.
This March I learned Bum Jiggling from Jenny Blyth and Fiona Hallinan while in Australia. We tried it with our 500+ participants in the Jerusalem YMCA at the Childbirth Today Conference put on by Rachelle Oseran and Amanda Goldberg. It was a wonderful example of how to use a simple bum jiggle method we call “Shake the Apple Tree” on a standing person in labor-or a standing conference attendee!
Enter the body more deeply. Feel more centered by increasing circulation and smooth muscle relaxation. We don’t have to be vigorous! We’re not trying to move baby, but rather, soften the muscles around the baby so baby can more easily make their own moves!
Try 3-20 minutes of jiggling all along the dips and ridges of the buttocks, hips, and sacrum.
A Beautiful Birth Story
A beautiful birth story came my way at the conference.
A grandmother tells how her daughter’s ultrasound in the last few weeks of pregnancy showed baby’s chin was so high that the baby’s face was dropping into the pelvis first. The doctor recommended a cesarean. Instead, the mother chose to do the Forward-leaning Inversion while her husband carefully wrapped a wide scarf over her raised bottom end and gave those glutes a steady jiggle.
Remember, being vigorous is not as useful as creating a confident vibratory action for 2.5 to 3 minutes. The soft tissues (muscle and fascia) lengthen and the baby can back out of the pelvis and rearrange themselves to lower in a better position. The grandmother said her daughter had a 4-hour labor, her most comfortable of her four births.
Meet Spinning Babies® Approved Trainer: Lorenza Holt
Lorenza is Executive Director of Boston Association For Childbirth Education (BACE-NMC), and the Nursing Mothers’ Council. She’s also the winner of the 2010 Womens’ Health Hero by Our Bodies Our Selves’ Collective in Boston. Lorenza has over 20 years of experience as a childbirth educator, birth doula, and trainer in a variety of women’s health topics.
“… I was really just blown away. I worked in the city as a teacher for 5 years and went to many full day workshops where I can honestly say I learned nothing. Yesterday I feel like I got a complete education on women’s physiology and how to approach labor from a whole new perspective.” – Kaitlin, one of Lorenza’s students
Lorenza entered the birth world as a homebirth VBAC Mother (a previous cesarean was due to placenta previa). She is surprised how little birth workers focus on the baby’s rotation. Lorenza’s work with Spinning Babies® will help birth workers understand the baby’s passage through the pelvis and support mothers’ ease of labor with fetal positioning. She says, “my passion is strengthening the workforce of maternal and child health community health workers.”
A NEW Spinning Babies® Workshop
Want to encourage and support laboring parents having easier labors and see greater success with your work?
Introducing Labor and Birth with Spinning Babies® – A brand new workshop focused entirely on labor and birth, tailored for L&D nurses, midwives, obstetricians, and family medicine doctors, who work with birthing families. Spinning Babies® teaches specific balancing techniques and how to define labor progress through the assessment of fetal position and station, rather than dilation. You will learn to know when to do what- and why – to help baby engage, descend and rotate through the pelvis and pelvic floor. You will practice techniques and an approach to solutions for when labor stalls due to lack of engagement, a cervical lip or transverse arrest. Nursing CEUs have been consistently applied for and approved of for this workshop.
Lorenza’s Upcoming Workshops
July Parent Educator Training
Do you want to teach Spinning Babies®? Childbirth educators, certified birth doulas whose training involved a childbirth component and registered RYPT prenatal yoga instructors can now become certified to teach Spinning Babies to pregnant parents! Spinning Babies preparation and labor progress positions may transform your students’ birth experiences with more comfort in pregnancy and easier birth.
Here’s what participants of our very first training had to say about their experience:
“What an amazing opportunity to meet AND be taught by Gail Tully herself! She is none other than the founder of Spinning Babies! Not only did I get to soak up her wisdom, but also from other amazing instructors… Thank you all so much for being a part of my journey to be a better doula and Spinning Babies teacher!” – Jenny K.
Kimberly and Gail at first Parent Educator Training
“My heart is full! It has been the honor of a lifetime to learn from this woman, and many others, over the last 4 days. I am inspired and eager to help change birth on earth.” – Kimberly H.
Amy with Phyllis Klaus and Gail.
“It was a tiring training weekend but so full of love and goodness. From belly mapping with Gail to meeting Phyllis Klaus and having her whisper sweet things to my baby. I just can’t even. ? My Birth geek cup is filled. ??” – Amy K.
How to Register for Parent Educator Training
Now accepting registrations for:
- July 20 – 22, 2018 in St. Paul, Minnesota *Limited spots left! Registration ends soon!
- Sept. 10 – 12, 2018 in São Paulo, Brazil *Early Bird ends JUNE 16!
- Oct. 25 – 28, 2018 in Boston, MA USA *Early Bird ends JULY 15!
- November 8 – 11, 2018 in Birmingham, UK *Early Bird ends AUGUST 1!
Stay tuned to our Spinning Babies® Certified Parent Educator page, where you can learn more about the training and get the latest on upcoming training locations and dates.
Spinning Babies® Approved Trainers Were Busy in May
Tammy Ryan and Rachel Shapiro presented with Gail Tully in Jerusalem at the Childbirth Today Conference founded by Rachelle Oseran and Amanda Goldberg.
Photo: Birthing Abroad
Midwives and birth workers from the diverse cultures of met together in the inviting intercultural setting of the Jerusalem YMCA. Gail arrived in Istanbul with Hakan çoker June 2.
Spinning Babies® Approved Trainer, Jennifer Walker co-organized the Expanding Normal conference for Europe with Milli Hill and Anna Marie Rossetti at the Doula Nederland.
Tammy Ryan arrives in Kenya will present Spinning Babies with longtime sponsors from Lamaze in Nairobi on June 8.
Nicole Morales supported the Spinning Babies® Aware Practitioner bodywork workshop in San Diego, and Lorenza Holt expanded her New England outreach while completing the Quality Improvement initiative with nurses and midwives from Newton Wellesley Hospital in Boston.
Upcoming Spinning Babies® Workshops & Events
JUNE
8 – Nairobi, Kenya – Spinning Babies® Workshop with Tammy Ryan
9 –Auckland, New Zealand – Spinning Babies® Workshop SOLD OUT
16 – Perth, Western Australia – Spinning Babies® Workshop
17 –Sydney, Australia – Spinning Babies® Workshop SOLD OUT
18 – Canberra, Australia – Spinning Babies Workshop® CANCELLED
19 – Adelaide, Australia – Spinning Babies® Workshop SOLD OUT
20 – Adelaide, Australia – Spinning Babies® Workshop
21 – Tasmania, Australia – Spinning Babies® Workshop
23 – Melbourne, Australia – Spinning Babies® Workshop SOLD OUT
23 – Halifax, NS, Canada – Spinning Babies® Workshop with Tammy Ryan
23 – Orange County, CA – Spinning Babies® Workshop with Nicole Morales
26 – Norwood, MA – Labor and Birth with Spinning Babies® with Lorenza Holt
30 – Ottawa, ON, Canada – Spinning Babies® Workshop with Tammy Ryan
30 – Herzogenbuchsee, Switzerland – Spinning Babies® Workshop with Jennifer Walker
30 – San Diego, CA – Spinning Babies® Workshop with Nicole Morales
JULY
5 – Amsterdam, Nederlandstalig – Spinning Babies® Workshop met Jennifer Walker
7 – Boston, MA – Spinning Babies® Workshop with Lorenza Holt
8 – Little Rock, AR – Spinning Babies® Workshop with Tammy Ryan
14 – Melbourne, FL – Spinning Babies® Workshop with Tammy Ryan
16 – Boston, MA – Labor and Birth with Spinning Babies® with Lorenza Holt
19 – St. Paul, MN – Spinning Babies® “Integration” Workshop with Gail Tully
20-22 – St. Paul, MN – Spinning Babies® Certified Parent Educator Training with Gail Tully & Jennifer Walker
21 – Hammond, LA – Spinning Babies® Workshop with Tammy Ryan
27 – Sioux Falls, SD – Spinning Babies® Workshop with Tammy Ryan
SEPTEMBER
4-9 – ACTIVE PATIENCE – Various Spinning Babies® Workshops at our SIAParto-Spinning Babies® 2018 World Conference in São Paulo, Brazil!
10-12 – Formação Spinning Babies® para Educadores Perinatais – São Paulo, SP – Brasil
22 – Skaneateles, NY – Spinning Babies® Workshop with Tammy Ryan
29 – Greensboro, NC – Spinning Babies® Workshop with Tammy Ryan
29 – Singapore – Spinning Babies® Workshop
OCTOBER
1 – Detroit, MI – Spinning Babies® Workshop with Tammy Ryan
5 – 9 – Tacoma, WA – Spinning Babies® Workshops with Gail Tully
7 – Singapore – Spinning Babies® Workshop
11 – Norwood, MA – Labor and Birth with Spinning Babies® with Lorenza Holt
20 – Brisbane, Australia – Spinning Babies® Workshop
20 – Chicago, IL – Spinning Babies® Workshop with Tammy Ryan
24 – סדנא ספינינג בייביס
25-28 – Boston, MA – Spinning Babies® Certified Parent Educator Training
27 – Dallas, TX – Spinning Babies® Workshop with Tammy Ryan
28 – Dallas, TX – Spinning Babies® Workshop with Tammy Ryan
NOVEMBER
8-11 – Birmingham, UK – Spinning Babies® Parent Educator Training –
9 – Grand Rapids, MI – Spinning Babies® Workshop with Tammy Ryan
10 – Grand Rapids, MI – Spinning Babies® Workshop with Tammy Ryan
17 – Gilbert, AZ – Spinning Babies® Workshop with Tammy Ryan
18 – Singapore – Spinning Babies® Workshop
25 – Singapore – Spinning Babies® Workshop
27 – Boulder, CO – Spinning Babies® Workshop with Tammy Ryan
JUNE 2019
24 – Lago d’Orta, Italy – Birth with Love & Spinning Babies® Doula Retreat with Jennifer Walker
See all upcoming events on our calendar here.