Community Doula
& Preconception Course
18 Week Class
Hours in Class: 96 Tuition: $1,850.00 (plus $50 non-refundable registration/class supplies fee) 2023 Dates Location: Kaneohe, Oahu, Hawai'i title 0
ACCELERATED COURSE title 1
Winter 2023 WINTER 2023,
JANUARY-MAY January 13 to May 12, 2023 (18 Weeks) Friday mornings, from 9:00 to 1:00 Plus 2 weekend workshops: Heal Your Own Birth Workshop February 10 & 11, from 9:00 to 4:30 Energy Workshop April 14 & 15, from 9:00 to 4:30 Summer courses
ACCELERATED COURSES April 24 to June 2 2023 (6-week course) Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings from 9:00 to 1:00 Plus 2 weekend workshops Heal Your Own Birth May 5 and 6 9:00 to 4:30 Energy Workshop May 26 and 27 9:00 to 4:30 June 5 to July 14, 2023 (6 WEEKS) Monday, Wednesday, & Friday mornings, from 9:00 to 1:00 Plus 2 weekend workshops: Heal Your Own Birth Workshop June 16 & 17, from 9:00 to 4:30 Energy Workshop July 7 & 8, from 9:00 to 4:30 FALL 2023, AUGUST - DECEMBER
August 4 to December 8, 2023 (18 WEEKS) Friday mornings, from 9:00 to 1:00 Plus 2 weekend workshops: Heal Your Own Birth Workshop September 1 & 2, from 9:00 to 4:30 Energy Workshop November 3 & 4, from 9:00 to 4:30 
Barbara Essman (instructor) & student doulas
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Doula training prepares you to:
This Sacred Birthing Doula Course will share the joy and wonder of birth through stories and years of experience. Because this wisdom is inside us, this course reawakens your knowing about this amazing passage, and empowers you to be trusted by parents.
By re-experiencing your own birth, you will discover how your whole life is modeled from what happened at your birth. By seeing this yourself, you will KNOW that every baby is conscious at birth. And from this place, your presence as a doula can transform birth. Be a birthing sister.
Uncover your inner birth wisdom to take part in this new paradigm of birth. By becoming a Community Doula, you help birthing mamas and families, and are an integral part of our birthing community. Synopsis & class outline
There is innate awareness and birth wisdom in all our souls. This community doula course will help you, a Birthing Sister, get in touch with the knowledge that is already there waiting to be discovered. It is a personal journey to discover inner wisdom and knowledge that can be accessed when being with women and families in birth. It is a journey that embodies the spiritual as well as the physical and emotional places of conception, pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. Birthing Sisters represents love, compassion, and trust in both the sacred feminine and the sacred masculine that has been a part of the deep wisdom and knowledge that has been overlooked but not forgotten. We will be revealing this lost knowledge and beginning to change the emphasis of fear and pain around birthing to one of joy, pleasure and the pure power that is birth. This journey to becoming a Birthing Sister/Community Doula, includes becoming aware of your own birth and the impact this has on your life. How does your own birth influence your work as a doula? The journey also includes looking back at how you were parented, as this will influence how you apply your personal wisdom and knowledge to each birthing situation. How you were mothered will influence how you in turn mother others, be that your own children or a woman in labor and during the postpartum time. This Sacred Birthing Community Doula course will prepare you to bring love, guidance, and teamwork with nature and spirit back to childbirth. We will share and honor the birth stories of babies in many different birth environments. And, as we access our deepest knowing around birthing, the innate and pristine wonder of birth will be reclaimed. Course Outline The Sacred Birthing Doula course, created and presented by Barbara Essman, is a 92 hour experiential training program that prepares individuals inside and out to be present for the welcoming of babies to earth. Through group discussion, personal inquiry, and a variety of creative projects, Barbara walks the class through the curriculum so that each student arrives with the full understanding of what it means to be born and what is needed to insure that each baby has the opportunity to enter this world unharmed. Articles and films are also included to spark discussion and raise issues. The first five weeks of this course are the foundation, starting with the core values of Sacred Birthing and exploring Sacred Birthing Insights. Then discovering who you are and gaining an inner knowing of the beauty of you. This will allow you to be fully present with pregnant families, unencumbered with the past, fully present in the now, and ready to take the journey into the future. Session 1 – Introduction In this first session, students are introduced to the Sacred Birthing Vision of soft birth practices and the core principles that inform a sacred birth. We answer the questions ‘What is a doula?’ and ‘What makes a Sacred Birthing Doula different from other doulas?’ Birthing history from ancient times to present is introduced and the beginning of connecting with Spirit. Session 2 – The Sacred Birthing Insights Some of the 18 Sacred Birthing Insights will be explored in depth through discussion, art work and creative writing. These insights form the foundation for understanding the Sacred Birthing philosophy. Here are examples of these Insights; “First, do no harm”, “All birth is sacred” and “The baby’s soul is a conscious creator and participant in conception and birth.” Students can take these insights into their lives, their work and into the pregnancies and labors that they support. Session 3 – Food for the Soul and Body K Nourishment for pre-pregnant, pregnant and lactating mothers is the focus of this session. It takes more than food to care for a pregnant mom. We will also explore what she is “eating” emotional. Help take care of her by taking care of yourself. You are a role model. We’ll discuss how you nourish and care for yourself through exercise, food, quiet time, etc. Body kinesiology is introduced as a technique for getting in touch with our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual needs. Session 4 – Parenting and Your Birth Stories How you were parented affects how you will in turn mother a mother. Your birth story is your foundation and begins to shape who you are. Each birth story is important. We’ll learn to listen with love and compassion to each story including your own. Session 5 – Heal Your Own Birth This 2-day workshop gives you the opportunity to see your birth story in action and take responsibility for healing what needs to be healed and celebrating what needs to be celebrated about the day you were born. There will be time for integration and discussion as well as a re-experiencing of the birth itself. The next two weeks are a time to explore the divine in all of us – masculine and feminine – and reaching for the highest alliance with the divine spirit within. Session 6 – The Divine Feminine. We will explore the 13 archetypes of women, women at her full power, the heart beat of the womb and reclaiming the divine feminine. We will discuss the concept of the Divine Feminine and connect with the divine nature of the mother. Session 7 – Divine Masculine as Father The divine male seeks balance within himself with respect to the archetypes of warrior, magician, lover and king. A father’s role during preconception, conception, pregnancy, birth and beyond is very important and all aspects are explored. We will explore the questions “How do we support men? The next five weeks will take us deeply into exploring birth from the physical, emotional and spiritual levels. Session 8 – Pregnancy Care This includes nurturing the time of rapid growth of mother and baby physically, emotionally and spiritually, understanding pregnancy changes and how men and women experience these changes, and a look at modern pregnancy care under the midwifery model and the medical model. Session 9 – Holding space for the women in labor – Birth ways This includes a look at the anatomy and physiology of birthing, what is a soft birth and exploring the birthing environment. Session 10 – Birth Technology and valuing an unmediated labor Through role-playing and discussion we will learn about a doula’s role at birth. Value is placed on unmediated labor and ways a doula can help the mother stay on this path in a variety of settings and circumstances. This session also includes the power of touch. Session 11 – Working hand-in-hand with the magic of both the sacred and the modern medical technology. MAP and body kinesiology are called upon, as are monitors and tools of allopathic medicine to provide the best possible outcome for all involved. This session will include the risks and benefits of epidural use for mother, baby and father. Session 12 – Preventing birth trauma We will explore being with mother, baby and father if prevention is not enough. In this class we will discuss circumcision, miscarriage and being with women who have had abortions. The next three classes are about the baby, baby’s experiences, connecting with baby, and when a time to grieve is necessary. Session 13 – Baby Doula and Baby Whispering Interaction and communication with a newborn must be done with the utmost care to preserve the soul’s integrity and uphold the baby’s full potential. In this session we’ll discover how Baby Whispering can reduce the effects of any trauma that may have taken place during a birth. This class also includes the art of breastfeeding. Session 14 – Quantum Touch This two day workshop will help participants extend their energy work and move into the importance of holding space for birth. Session 15– A Time to Grieve When the family experiences a pregnancy loss through miscarriage, abortion, still birth or death after birth the doula can help and be more effective if she has taken time to understand her own grief. The next two weeks are the after care parts of the course – caring for the family and caring for the doula. Session 16 – Becoming a mother, becoming a father, becoming a family The birth, as a rite of passage, that turns woman into a mother and man into a father is a very profound and is an emotional experience leading to elevated states. Included in this session is caring for the family, the doula’s role, breastfeeding and creating an environment that supports the new mom to feed her baby around the clock. Session 17 – Celebration – Creating a community of doulas and caring for families. Community Doulas carry the responsibility of preserving the rituals surrounding birth, including blessing ways and placenta rituals. Suggesting, creating and encouraging these rituals with parents-to-be can enhance the birth experience for all involved and lead to bonding and friendship that will last a life time. Support of new parents is the goal. These are some thoughts about how the course will unfold. This unfolding, like birth, is unpredictable and may lead to some very surprising side trips. Come with an openness to witness your own birthing process as you step into the honor and joy of being with pregnant families through pregnancy, labor, birth and beyond. |
