Dear Birth Peeps,
I am deeply moved by your responses this week. As I read each response, I could hear the songs--and imagined hearing them if I were weary in labor... I could feel the peace, the power, the healing.... and each one, each of you, opened my heart this morning.
Love Warriors "act," that is what distinguishes the archetypal Warrior from the Dreamer or the Victim who wishes things were different. Let us consider making a grass roots recording of the songs you mentioned, and maybe include the stories you shared along with them. I would like to make this available as a download... and maybe we could allow the download to "grow" as more people sing and contribute.
It is not a new idea. Maybe just put in the collective underworld for a while.
Thank you,
Pam
Thank you Pam for singing this one up onto your list of actions for change!
ReplyDeleteSinging and drumming have been a passion of mine for many years now. I went to my first womans song circle in the mid 90's and have been a part of and/or leading them ever since. I have had no formal training, nor did I ever consider myself a singer before having "an experience" with singing, particularly in groups. Singing these heart songs, as I call them, has the ability to transcend boundaries of all kinds and allow us to feel the resonating sameness rather than our differences with one another. Over the years I have become a song keeper, my song book now over 200 songs rich. I work with a group of doulas in Portland, OR called Mother Tree and we are coming together in early January to record a cd of labor and birth songs to share with our clients and others. I have been putting together a list of songs for this and would love to pass them onto the group. I can copy and paste them here or send you them as an attachment, just let me know. There are about 30 or so songs so far.
Singing these songs has changed my life! It has in many ways led me to the birth work that I do and to you and definitely to myself. And I have seen it work for others too as a modality of healing, opening, and surrender, especially in labor and birth! And we all know that opening our voice allows the cervix to also open more freely.
I know it can be difficult just reading the words and and not knowing how the rythm goes. I have many times received phone calls from friends asking how to sing a particular song! Copperwoman is a songstress who has several cd's out. I like ( and sing) her songs because many of them are easy to remember, repetitive or catchy verses that are easy to sing on your own. You can find her at www.copperwoman.com
Mother Song is a childrens multi cultural sing along that Copperwoman and some others created in Santa Cruz years ago. They have cd's, dvd's and free downloads on their site (www.mothersong.org), many of their songs are great for labor, birth and newborns. They encourage people to start their own Mother Song groups in their towns and tell you how to do it. It's easy and fun, I do one in Portland.
So lets sing our hearts out! Dive in and sing from your heart...like everyone is listening, because we are!
Christine in Portland