This time of year can bring a sense of magic and joy and at the same time, the holidays can also bring feelings of overwhelm and stress. This guided relaxation session is designed to help release the stress and strain you may be feeling during this time of year. It also helps you to gain a sense of clarity regarding what you value in your life as you enter into the New Year.

Midwife Elena Rosa shares with Michelle the history and benefits of Arvigo Techniques of Maya Abdominal Therapy. Together they discuss how each person's reproductive journey is their own, how the state of fight or flight affects the body, the connection between the heart and the uterus, deep healing, and following the lead of your heart.

Michelle and Kathy Bradley discuss the ways that a doula can reduce stress and fear during the childbearing year. Kathy explains what a doula is, the history of the profession, and the continuity of care doulas provide. She stresses the importance of taking into consideration a doula’s birth philosophy as it compares to your desires for your birth, as well as the value her years of experience can bring to you. Kathy shares a powerful technique to help release any negative and limiting beliefs someone may have regarding their ability to give birth.

Michelle and Lyndsey Sutherland, DNP, ARNP discuss the beauty of integrating both Eastern and Western medical practices when caring for our children, and how this holistic approach looks for the root of the problem versus simply treating the systems. In this proactive practice model, the provider is treating the whole child and supporting the whole family. Lyndsey shares what to look for when choosing a pediatric provider for your child. Together they stress the importance of finding a caregiver that creates an environment that promotes mutual communication, safety, and trust.

In this foundational interview for expecting parents, Susan Danscenzi and Michelle touch on what trauma is, explain how stress during pregnancy and birth can have an impact on the child, define trauma within birth, the importance of finding tools to mitigate stress, and practices to help support a new family.

Nazli Tezcur openly shares her story of motherhood, the trauma she endured from her cesareans with the medicalized births of her boys, and the grief of her miscarriages. As a linguist, Nazli reflects with Michelle upon how the language and culture around women's bodies strip women of their power creating guilt, shame, self-blame, silencing, and the accompanying loneliness that so many women experience. Together they discuss transformative power and the personal nature of birth, loss, motherhood, and the exploration of our emotions as women.

Cristen  Pascucci and Michelle continue their conversation regarding human rights in childbirth in part two of this replay episode. They delve into the fact that everyone brings their own background, biases, and trauma with them to the birth room. Cristen sagely points out that it is irrelevant whether or not birth is safe. If anything, the riskier it is, the more imperative that is that a person's autonomy is retained. Cristen shares why the environment in which someone decides to give birth is a huge determining factor in how the birth actually unfolds.

Have you ever wondered what your rights are during pregnancy and birth? Listen in to part one of this replay episode as Cristen Pascucci, founder of Birth Monopoly shares with Michelle how the experience of her son's birth provided the impetus that led her to become a leading voice for human rights in childbirth.

Michelle has a candid and vital conversation with Meg Folsom, a fellow birth guardian, about the importance of choosing your caregiver and place of birth as an expectant family. Meg shares her personal birth stories and how those experiences shaped her journey as a birth professional. Together, they want women to understand they have options in their maternity care, as well as rights and autonomy over their bodies and their babies. Meg stresses the importance of asking questions and requesting the pros and cons of a protocol or medical procedure. She counsels women to stop frightening and judging one another. People need to respect everyone’s right to choose what is best for their own family, regardless of their own preferences. The journey into motherhood forever changes a woman. Meg and Michelle advise women to learn to listen to and trust their babies, their bodies, and themselves.

Michelle honors Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness month and October 15th: Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day in this special episode. She has created a guided relaxation recording geared towards parents grieving the loss of a baby or a child. However, it can be helpful for anyone walking through the journey of grief especially since so many have lost someone they know due to the COVID pandemic. The intention is to help release some of the heaviness of our grief and to provide an opportunity to feel the love and connection that we have with our beloved child or loved one.