“Within the wild psyche are a woman’s fiercest instincts for survival. But, unless she practices her inner and outer freedoms regularly, submission, passivity, and time spent in captivity dull her innate gifts of vision, perception, confidence, and so forth, the ones she needs for standing on her own.” ~ Clarissa Pinkola Estés
Since the dawn of time up until only one or two generations ago, wimyn have been giving birth at home within their family and village. In fact, this is still the case in many parts of the world through indigineous and intact cultures, as well as by wimyn claiming their power all over the western world. Pregnancy and birth is a normal and healthy physiological process, which when honoured and revered, is the safest and most whole place for mother and baby to be.
Who Is The Instinctual Womyn?
The Instinctual Womyn is clear in her purpose and boundaries. She has the insight and prowess of the Jaguar, with the ability to understand the world from the view of the Eagle. She possesses the poise and confidence of the great Oak Tree, with the softness and attention to detail of the woodland Deer. She knows who to keep close and how to watch for predators. She protects her home, her baby and her children with a fierceness known to a great Mama Bear and is not afraid to release her fury when appropriate.
She is kind, not nice and has the wisdom to know the difference.
Pregnancy for the Instinctual Womyn is a continuation of her integrated way of being in the world. She eats nourishing foods regularly, takes rest when she tires, goes about her daily work and duties as normal, cares for those around her, meets with her sisters daily and spends time outdoors. She has her daily practices and doesn’t delay in meeting her own needs. She certainly doesn’t allow those she doesn’t know or trust near her body or baby and trusts in the divine mystery that is CREATION itself. She is a direct channel for the life force that surges through all living things, she is Mother Nature herself.
Self Led Prenatal Care
Prenatal Care at home means that a womyn meets all of her own needs, easily, with the support of wise wimyn around her.
Here are some key elements of a healthy home pregnancy:
Sisterhood & Community
Having other wimyn to connect to on a regular basis is a touchstone of prenatal health. In traditional cultures, wimyn meet everyday at the well to gather water or in the markets on their daily food runs or in the streets where the children play together freely. They know when so and so had a sleepless night or when their friend’s mother in law was being particularly annoying and so on. Sharing the ups and downs of daily life is what wimyn do!
In the absence of the physical village, we can recreate this by joining pregnancy groups, creating our own circle of friends to talk with daily, attend prenatal villages, prenatal classes and virtual chats and phone calls. We do what we can with what we have, we always have. Avoiding isolation and loneliness is so important to the instinctual nature.
Herbs
Traditional native plants have always been a potent source of vitamins, minerals and medicine for wimyn. The village midwives always knew this and this knowledge was passed to the pregnant mothers. Herbs and native plants contain bioavailable nutrients that far surpass any synthetic vitamins. Pregnant mothers knew to increase their intake of these herbs through teas, tinctures, and as additions to soups and cooked meals.
Here are a some particularly nutrient dense herbs for pregnancy that are delicious blended into a tea:
Nettle – This dark green plant grows abundantly in the Spring in our area and offers a plethora of rich vitamins and minerals.
Raspberry Leaf – Known as a uterine tonic and synonymous for wimym’s health, this plant is excellent to drink in abundance as a tea in the third trimester.
Oatstraw – Calming and soothing to the nervous system as well as an emollient.
Peppermint – Soothing to the digestive tract and a delicious addition to the above herbs as a tea blend.
Mix equal parts of the above dried plants for a delicious and nutrient dense daily tea.
Nourishing Foods
Healthy, whole foods are such a tremendous part of the Instinctual Womyn’s self led pregnancy. She must eat regularly and in small quantities to meet the growing demands of her increased energy output and growth of baby. Eating small meals regularly helps to combat blood sugar instability, regulates mood and energy levels, helps to keep nausea at bay in the first trimester and provides a steady stream of nutrients.
These days the challenge for a pregnant mother (especially one with other children) is to remember to feed herself first. Always have a basket of snacks and a few thermoses of drinks on hand.
In traditional cultures, a pregnant womyn would be fed by her midwife, mother, grandmother, sisters and other wimyn in her village. We can bring this into practice by always bringing an offering of healthy food to a womyn with child. She must be nourished.
This becomes increasingly important the more children she has and especially if she is breastfeeding another child. Every bite counts. There is no room for junk or processed foods as these lead to complications.
Foods that are easy to digest are important as the whole system slows down. Foods that are emollient so as to not cause constipation, an issue that can arise if a womyn is consuming too much dairy, animal fats, packed and processed foods.
Ideally, a mother would be consuming easy to digest nutrient dense soups and stews, an abundance of fresh greens, wild foods and herbs, in season fruits and vegetables, beans and grains as they work for her body, a small amount of animal foods if she chooses that, sprouted and roasted nuts and seeds, smoothies and fresh juices, bone broths and veggie broths, sea vegetables, fermented foods and dark chocolate.
She will know by how she feels and you will know by the vitality in her face and body. Is her colour good? How is her mood? Does she have energy to do her daily work and go for long walk everyday? How are her bowel movements and how often does she eliminate? How is she sleeping? What is her outlook on life? How does she feel in her body? Agile and strong or weighed down and lethargic? All of this and much more can be helped with food.
Every womyn is different. What works for one may not work for another. Each culture has a traditional diet and they all work, as long as they are natural.
Movement
Keeping a normal level of daily activity and increasing stamina as the pregnancy progresses is a good practice.
In Japan, after the first trimester pregnant wimyn carry on with daily household duties plus are encouraged to walk 5 miles per day. They also participate in group prenatal fitness classes weekly and swim as much as they can. The Indigineous wimyn in Guatemala walk to market each day to gather their daily foods, keep up with their homes and regularly take Temazcal, or sauna to sweat, relax and remove impurities from the body.
Walking, stretching, gardening, dancing, household chores, lifting other children are all examples of everyday, instinctual ways of moving that are so healthy for pregnancy. We never sat around in chairs or couches most of the day, a good thing to remember.
Ritual & Practice
The Instinctual Womyn has many practices that keep her connected to her spiritual nature.
Daily meditations and prayer, chanting, singing, affirmations, care of home altars, honouring nature and her cycles, saunas, journaling, talking with womb baby and dreamwork are all examples of bringing the sacred into the everyday.
Connecting to the divine keeps her faith and strength in the journey.
Time In Nature
We don’t all live in nature, but we can all access her one way or another. Wimyn in Hungary who lived in tiny flats in the city with no green space keep potted herbs and pepper plants outside the door and house plants crowding their windows.
When pregnant and living in a tiny flat in Denmark with two small children, I would paint pictures of gardens and trees and post them above my altar to look at each day. There is a way, but nature is our home and we must have a daily connection to her.
Ideally a pregnant womyn would be able to breathe fresh air, drink clean water, put her feet on the earth, walk for miles and howl at the moon!
Boundaries
Like the she wolf, her boundaries must be fierce and strong. She may have to limit contact with certain family members and friends with opinions or neighbours with advice. She certainly will need to curb her consumption of social media and generic entertainment in general. She is best to take up hobbies that encourage the instinctual nature to arise and connection to her clarity of mind, such as making art, handcrafts and creating beauty.
She is a temple of life itself, afterall!
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