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WHAT IS REBIRTHING?
"Rebirthing is a safe, powerful, and subtle breathing
process that helps you experience greater peace health and happiness--
especially during times of transition and potential stress.
In a typical session, your breathing is guided by a professional rebirther towards a full, free, and circular pattern.
This conscious connected form of breathing generates a universal
healing energy that both excites and relaxes you deeply, reducing stress
and releasing struggle, empowering you to create greater joy in your relationships
and success in your life. Rebirthing restores the mind, body, and Spirit
to their natural equilibrium".
Bob Mandel
Birth Constellations®
Awaken and discover the "Fourth World"
EUROPEAN REBIRTHING SCHOOL
Academy of professional formation to the Art and Science of Breath
Research Study Center of the effects of the Prenatal life on the human
behaviour
Our prenatal existence is the "fourth world" in which we become
simultaneously and equally aware of birth, maturity, and growing older.
In reality, this "fourth world" is the first, the origins of who we really are.
It is our deepest and most spiritual dimension, the soul born of the primordial sea of amniotic fluid, the consciousness of the soul with which we are always in contact.
The Birth Constellations course reveals this soul through the breathing
technique of Rebirthing, offering each participant a profound transformation.
Premise
"The first preventative work for the human being takes place in the womb." O. M. Aivanhov
Today it is less easy to be single and to be in a loving relationship; to be able and effective parents; to face the crucial changes of existence (youth, middle age, old age); to find meaning and satisfaction in our work; to look at illness as a message asking to be interpreted, as an opportunity to evolve rather than as a painful, senseless event.
The nature of disease is the lack of the integration of our "birth script", the constellation of the psychophysical elements of the experiences of conception, intrauterine life and birth itself.
Our prenatal experience is indelibly imprinted in our cell memory; these
are not simply memories or sensations but the real "content"
of the psyche, the basis of our behavior.
The primal forces that originate in the prenatal period continually manifest
themselves in our lives, unconsciously conditioning the choices for which
we have no rational explanation.
Non-integrated prenatal experience is the origin of the fragmentation of our interior unity and causes two problems:
· living in a sense of incompleteness and tearing that tends to
make us lose our natural connection with the circular rhythm of time
· the disappearance of spiritual value from our daily lives, thus
impoverishing each and every experience
Through the breathing technique of Rebirthing, an ancient breathing technique of Pranayama called Pranapanagati, we are able to rediscover and integrate our prenatal experience.
What is Rebirthing
"The breath of rebirthing is spiritual and intuitive, an inspiration
rather than a discipline. The secret is sensitivity and gentleness. To
experience in a conscious breath the unity of being at the physiological
level, the fusion of spirit with matter, that is what I call the biological
experience of God." Leonard Orr
Rebirthing is a breathing technique discovered in the 1970s by the American
researcher Leonard Orr; one of the most effective personal growth tools
known, its success is due to its simplicity and efficiency.
The method consists of deep yet unforced circular breathing at a certain tempo while lying in a relaxed position. The inhale is full and relaxed, the exhale spontaneous, with a natural relaxation of the ribcage, without force or control.
The metaphor: the rhythmic movement of waves gently and fluidly lapping onto the beach without pause.
Rebirthing means exactly what it says, in the sense of renovation and discovery of our inner selves, of the chance to relive the psychophysical and emotional experience of our Birth Constellation.
Effects of the Rebirthing breathing technique
"The brain, in certain states of consciousness, can modify the entire biology of the organism. During the state induced by rebirthing, a larger number of antibodies are formed and significantly reduce the correlated risks of psychosomatic illness.
Our conscious state, therefore, through the practice of rebirthing, constantly changes, through the brain, our living matter!" Dr. Richard Davidson, Chair or Psychology, University of Wisconsin.
The breathing of Rebirthing harmonizes the brain and the body, allowing us to master our relationship with the external world, improving our breathing capacity, and the vitality of the entire organism.
It strengthens the immune system and balances the neuro-psycho-endocrine system. It reduces tiredness and stress, frees blocked energies and increases mental awareness.
It also helps to detoxify the entire body: one study indicates that 70% of body toxins are eliminated through breathing.
Rebirthing activates the endorphin system, the happiness hormone, and reduces the presence of catecholamine, the stress hormone.
Rebirthing produces psycho-physical relaxation, a general state of well being, and induces an important sense of fullness and satisfaction.
The deep, full breathing of Rebirthing massages and tones the internal organs and abdominal muscles and primes neuro-motor activity.
In the spiritual dimension, the breath contributes to personal evolution, helping us to find the road to realization and to rediscover the meaning of life.
Why Rebirthing integrates prenatal experience
The circular breath of Rebirthing reproduces conditions in our brains
similar to those of gestation, when the placenta assures the fetus that
there will always be plenty of oxygen, and that waste will be removed
rapidly and consistently, in a circular rhythm.
Such breathing "opens" our sub-sensorial channels, inducing a conscious state of regression.
Once past the initial barrier of external consciousness, we enter a spontaneous phase in which earlier stages of our existence emerge through cell memory.
The prenatal state in which we approach the fundamental rhythms of life are linked to the rhythm of the breath and to the maternal heartbeat, the strongest sensorial stimulus that we perceived in the womb.
Unresolved elements in the birth constellation manifest themselves in adult life with:
· repetitive behavior
· the inability to realize one's potential
· defensive attitudes
· a tendency toward self-sabotage
· difficult relationships
Prenatal states of consciousness are found in a particular part of our unconscious, an area formed before the rational and verbal stages develop that is developed in sensorial conditions unlike anything experienced in adult life.
These states of consciousness are difficult to bring into consciousness; to explore the prenatal area, the foundation of our psychic and physical lives, we need different tools from those we use to investigate the successive stages of our being.
The breathing techniques of Rebirthing are the only method capable of overcoming the obstacles caused by the different way that we have had, as a fetus, to organize experiences and emotions in the absence of a logical structure.
To enter into the emotional world of the fetus, to contact the primal manifestation of life, we need the one instrument that is the direct expression of our life force: the Breath.
Only with Rebirthing can we relive the emotional and sensorial dimensions
of the "amniotic universe" of the fetus; the neuro-physiological
models transmitted by our mothers; the imprinting we received at the moment
of birth and that manifests itself in the psychosomatic constellations
conditioning our behavior.
"You cannot fly without roots"
If the runway (the prenatal stage) is not really solid, the airplane
(the human being) cannot take off, and therefore cannot fly.
Our roots will deepen and take their strength from our prenatal experience if it is stable and "cured".
Life is the expression of the thoughts, emotions and behavior that originate in prenatal existence; these are all reflected energetically in our breathing, conditioning the inevitable transformations each human being meets in the course of life, above all in moments of creation and planning (conception), of transformation and development (intrauterine life), and of change and autonomy (birth).
What is the Birth Constellations course
The Birth Constellations course presents a new path for personal growth through Rebirthing, offering the "knowledge" and experience necessary for an inner transformation. The course consists of:
· 3 seminars, or
·18 group sessions, or
·18 individual sessions
Birth Constellations proposes a model in which existence is considered
an incessant cycle of rebirth unraveling in ever-larger spirals as our
level of self-awareness evolves through the breathing technique of Rebirthing.
3 seminars:900 euro
18 group sessions:1620 euro
18 individual sessions:2520 euro
Info:
info.constellations@rebirthing-online.com
Course Content
· The art and science of Rebirthing
· The history, philosophy and spirituality of prenatal life and
of birth
· The moment of creation: the child as materialization of love
· The three levels of creation: behavioral, emotive, imaginative
· The unity of the "life project" that exists in us and
how to re-find it through conception
· Conception and its relationship to our projects, and the choices
we make
· The influence of conception on our sexuality
· Organic memory of conception: the energetic plan that contains
the definition of Self
· Intrauterine life and its relationship with our periods of transformation
and development
· Intrauterine symbiosis with our mother: the first model for our
relationships
· Birth and its influence on how we present ourselves to the world
· Birth and its influence on moments of change and autonomy
· Birth and its relationship to success
· Birth and Personality: various birth types and their effects
on behavior
· Postnatal feeding and its influence on our relationship with
food and money
· Studying and interpreting our birth constellation
· Rebirthing lab
· Fundamentals of Prenatal Psychology
· Prenatal psychogenesis: temperament, character and personality
· The psychodynamics of negation: pregnancy without maternity and
its psycho-social effects
· Life as a work of art: the freedom and capacity to change, notwithstanding
and thanks to the past
· A new culture for changing the world: a spiritual path for learning
about life from the moment of conception
The course on Birth Constellations thus deals with psychophysical and
spiritual dimensions from before birth by taking a holistic view of being.
Course tools
· Experiential, energetic, psychological and spiritual work through
Rebirthing
· The recent discoveries of Prenatal Psychology, and the new methods
for observing the fetus, on the neurological, psychic and emotive development
of the human being from conception through gestation to birth and the
period immediately following it
The themes covered show that the foundations for well-being are created in the womb.
The human embryo has an individual identify from the very beginning; it is a biological and psychical unit, and as a yet-to-be-born child it receives its first conditionings and can undergo traumas that manifest as:
· psychosomatic illness in the child
· unconscious wounds that cause personality problems in the adult
Our Birth Constellations also provide solutions to the problems involved in the passage from being children to being parents.
Breathing helps each partner to recall the experiences of the birth constellations, in which lie the parental models that, if not resolved, tend to reappear in the one's own life and in successive generations.
Who is it for
Birth Constellations is for anyone interested in their well-being, and who wants to deepen their path into a vision in which the Breath is the essence and metaphor of life.
Because the path is inspired by respect for human life, the course is recommended for young people, couples, and future parents who want to take responsibility for being parents, who want to become more aware of the sacredness of the female body, and who want to cultivate deeper trust in the future.
As for the world of work, the Birth Constellations course can be integrated into the professional approaches of:
teachers, educators, medical doctors, psychotherapists, social workers, psychomotricists, nurses, physiotherapists, obstetricians, alternative medicine practitioners, rebirthers.
The Birth Constellations course is also suitable for Medical Centers
and Women's Centers, where birthing training and family counseling are
offered.
For yourself
Comprehending how the prenatal stage influences our behavior;
Realizing the unity of the "life project" we can trace at the moment of conception;
Harmonizing interpersonal relationships, taking account of the strong and weak traits each of us receives from our birth type;
Listening to our inner child or "yet-to-be-born" inner child;
Seeing the roots of our personal history in order to liberate primal life energies;
Feeling the growth of our inner sensibility and accepting it in ourselves and others;
Overcoming trauma and obstacles, healing wounds and integrating experiences;
Transforming resentment and pain into serenity and peace through forgiveness;
For future parents
Healing birth trauma directly through the breathing technique of Rebirthing so that when a child is conceived, limiting fears, thoughts and emotions are not passed on to the fetus;
Living (for women) the experience of pregnancy with serenity and awareness, and labor with more ease and less pain;
Learning (for men) to support our partners better during pregnancy, and entering into deep communication with the yet-to-be-born child.
For teachers, educators and therapists
Supporting students and/or patients in valuing their talents and developing their potential by individuating the "life project" they will have after finding it in the energy of conception;
Learning as teachers and/or educators how to relate to students in the appropriate way and how to communicate with each of them through their birth scripts; (someone born with suction or forceps, for example, would have a negative reaction to a direct or preemptory approach, etc.);
Learning as therapists to use a new key for reading psychological and psychosomatic dis-ease, and helping clients to resolve them by tracing their origins in the prenatal universe.
For businesses and the world of work
Orienting oneself in one's work choices, taking into account the attitudes suggested by our prenatal investigations;
Choosing personnel by referring to the various types of compatible behaviors
suitable for the job or activity after discovering them through birth
constellations;
(If the duties required call for readiness and speed, it would be wise
to choose someone who was born cesarean; for work where reflection and
calm are needed, a person who had a slow birth would be ideal, etc.)
Instructor
Antonio Valmaggia
President, the European Rebirthing School of Milan and Rome
Rebirthing Instructor, R.B.I. Italy Training Institute, Centro Olistico Orion Fermo
Rebirthing Instructor, Training Institute of Catanzaro
Chair, National Association for Prenatal Psychology and Education of Varese;
Instructor," Educare Prima", National Association for Prenatal Psychology and Education of Italy;
Breathing Techniques Instructor, School for Psychomotricity at the Italian Center for Continuous Training
Rebirthing Instructor, ECM course in Pre- and Post-natal work with music therapy, Milan
Rebirthing Instructor, Formteam Training Institute, Gorizia
Member IBF (International Breathwork Foundation), world-wide association
for breath workers
Member, Academic Committee and National Secretary of CO.N.A.C.R.E.I.S. School of Holistic Studies
Birth Constellations draws on the following:
the Prenatal Psychological research by O. Rank, T. Verny, D. Chamberlain, G. Soldera, P. L. Righetti;
the works of C. G. Jung, R. Assagioli, A. H. Maslow, C. Rogers, A. Lowen;
the works of neo-Jungian authors such as K. Wilber, W. Reich;
the intuition of exponents of Transpersonal Psychology and Rebirthing,
that is, spiritual healing, such as S. Grof, O. M. Aivanhov, L. Orr, B.
Mandel, S. ray, B. Santos and P. Ellequain;
the holistic vision of the human being inspired by authors such as F.
Capra, M. Talbot
"Prenatal Education is wonderful and deserves research: in honoring a child in the womb, is not only for verifying and observing the child's physical growth and listening to the beating of its little heart, but also for investigating its emotions and recording the signs of its psychological growth. In this research there is an implicit tribute to respect for a person in which the immortal spirit is already beating and manifesting itself in the image of the Creator." Pope John Paul II (to participants at the 3rd OMAEP Convention on "Biological and Psychological Foundations of Prenatal Life", University of Rome "La Sapienza", Rome, 18-21 March 1998)
"There will never be peace on earth as long as children continue to be born in this way..." Dalai Lama
BABAJI
(by Sondra Ray)
Babaji, also named Sri Sri 1008 Bhagwan Herakhan Wale Baba, is an immortal
maha avatar and yogi master ("avatar" means 'descent of the
Divine into matter' without being born of a woman) babaji is an emanation
of Divine Light, who. out of compassion , manifested in human form on
earth to urge humanity to progress on the path of truth, simplicity, love
and service to mankind.
He is the power of the Eternal Father, Mother and Divine Child. He can assume any form He wishes and can change that form at any time.
He is known as the historical Sada Shiva in Hindu religious literature.
In fulfillment of ancient scriptural and prophetic predictions, He materialized a youthful body in a cave near the village of Hairakhan in the foothills of the Himalayas in l970.
There are Indian devotees who tell stories of this, and Yogananda wrote about him in the book Autobiography of a Yogi.
Babaji was accessible for 14 years on his last visit in that body.
And yet He has not left, because He does not come and go.
He was , and is omnipresent.
His form is limitless and beyond the scope of time.
He is the essence of all religions and transcends every belief.
He teaches through vibrations and direct experience in a way that words can not express.
To try to explain him on paper seems very inadequate.
To be with Him or experience Him answers all questions.
It is my humblest desire to make it known to you that he is just as available for you and for all as He is for me.
Babaji has been with us in form countless times since life began.
Some of his lifetimes are well known--Shiva, Ram, and Krishan for example.
In other lifetimes, he was known to relatively few. Jesus is said to have visited Babaji in Benares, during Jesus' travels and studies in the East.
It was there that Babaji shaved Jesus' head and blessed Him before Jesus started His ministry.
In many sacred texts it was written that, when righteousness declines, God creates for Himself a body and comes to live on Earth.
Since Babaji can assume any form he wishes and change that form anytime, it is no problem for him to bi locate and be in two places at the same time.
Shastriji, his high Priest, also told me Babaji can even take l08 different bodies at once.
Since He is the power of both the Eternal Father and Mother, he can also take a form of a female; and in l984 after having taken conscious samadhi, he appeared to me as a woman , walking on air! Since he is an Immortal Spirit Avatar, who has the ability to dematerialize and rematerialize, he can obviously turn his body into a ball of light and travel anywhere in the universe.
His physical body changes rapidly partly because he processes his devotees' karmas rapidly. He can also drop a body whenever he feels like for whatever purpose. He always has a sense of humor, and on Valentines Day l984, he said "I am going to explode my heart and give a piece to everyone" The last thing he said is "I am going to leave everything in the hands of the Divine Mother".
He has appeared to me several times since then, even when I was awake. to remind me that he was not dead... . If you see him in a dream, he actually came to you and gave you a darshan, as it is impossible to make it up.
For the present, life goes on as usual at his ashram in Haidakhan. His presence is everywhere, since it does not matter what form his presence takes.
As soon as we are mentally connected with a Supreme Power like Babaji, our mind is absorbed in God and we are filled with Divine Glory He taught that through the practice of Karma Yoga (work dedicated to God) man purifies and protects himself.
"Work is Worship" he said and "An Idle man is like a dead man" He always said that the simplest and most powerful method for bringing peace and understanding to the mind is through the sing of the mantra Om Namaha Shivai. ("I take refuge in God" or "I surrender to Shiva, that part of God that destroys my ignorance" . It also means "Infinite Spirit, Infinite Being, and Infinite Manifestation.")
Being around him in the body was very dramatic. However , one of his astounding Lilas is his power to bless and guide yogis and devotees all over the world without his actual presence.
While Babaji was physically present with us, and while we would be standing right there with him, he would also be busy all over the world at the exact same time! The glory of Him is so much greater than the mind can ever grasp.
At times when he walked, he left no footprints ; and if some picked him up he at times had no weight. Other times he could not be lifted at all. No scholar has ever been able to really say where Babaji comes from or where he goes.
From time to time certain symbols appeared on the soles of his feet, which are known in the Indian spiritual tradition as cosmic marks.
Over the years, the following marks have been identified: The sanskrit letter Om/the Shesh Nag or five hooded snake/conchshells/a Trident/head of a bull/a peacock/a lotus flower/a Chackra/the crescent moon/all signs of the Zodiac/the serpent representing wisdom and eternity/the sun/an octagon/an eagle/and the whole planetary system.
These cosmic marks fulfill the predictions delivered long ago that when Shiva was next to appear in human form, he would have the symbols and a scar on his lower right leg and upper left arm, (which he did have Babaji's spiritual significance has always been beyond comprehension.
"Shiva' means eternally happy and auspicious, the God without second who has been moving in this world in His form since Creation, watchful for eternity over the welfare of mankind and the universe.
He is described as ever pure, changeless, all pervading, eternal, the immortal essence of the universal Self, the self resplendent light of Lights, the embodiment of wisdom, capable of doing anything at any moment of whatever magnitude.
Babaji said:
"I am Bhole Baba, the Simple Father. I am nobody and nothing. I am only like a mirror in which you see yourself. I am like fire. Don't keep too far away or you will not get the warmth; but don't come too near, or you will burn yourself. Learn the right distance. My name is Maha Prabhuji, the Great Lord. I have come to give. Are you ready to receive? I give everything, but few ask for the real thing I have come to give. I am no one's guru, and yet the guru of gurus."
About Hiadakhan, he said:
"This is the holiest religious place in the world , holier even than Benares. The water is this river purifies you from all sins. It is the birthplace of all yogis and the deity of Yogis as the source of inspiration. By merely sitting here you reap the results of hundreds of lifetimes of penance. Those who live here for some time automatically get many kinds of yogic powers. Those who have darshan at this place will have all their wishes fulfilled. There will be assurance of complete success. But only he can come here in whose life a turning point has come, when the spiritual energy is rising."
If you want to make the annual trip with me, please see Journey to the Source information. If you want to visit the ashram in Colorado ., contact Ramloti 719 256- 4108 or email hua@amigo.net
Babaji said "My love is available, you can take it or not" I say "Why not?
We need all the help we can get right now." He helps to clear your karma, he helps you keep your ego in check, He helps you get off the birth-death cycle, He helps teach you spiritual mastery, He helps get you out of misery, He helps you to protect yourself, He helps you learn to clear your body and maintain health, He enhances your creativity, He arranges "lilas" for you that lead you to total liberation! You will never be the same! Of course the value you get will be determined by your own personal purification.
Bhole Baba Ki Jai! Love, Sondra Ray
Foetus life and psychobiological destiny
http://www.psicoanalisi.it/psicoanalisi/psicosomatica/articoli/psoma2ing.htm
.
Since 1972, thanks to Nicola Peluffo's, professor of Dynamic Psychology
at the University of Turin, pioneer studies, it has been supposed the
existence of a complex intra-uterine psychic life.
At the beginning his ideas have met a very strong opposition in the academic world. At last nowadays they have started to be unanimously accepted and they have also found experimental confirmation.
In his book "Micropsicoanalisi dei processi di trasformazione " (Micropsychanalysis of transforming processes) 1, Peluffo has analysed the complicated immune reactions that take place in mother-foetus unity and has tried to understand how becomes possible the only exception to the rule of istocompatibility.
As everybody knows our organism is protected from external aggressions by a complicated overseeing system, the immune system, which is due to avoid the invasion of genetically foreign matter.
Our body has a very sophisticated self representation and it is able to make comparison among the biological entity it gets in contact with. Whenever these entities contain istologicaly non compatible matter, the immune system reacts by destroying and eliminating the unknown entity.
It is well known that the foetus, since the cellular stage, contains genetic matter of father's origin, absolutely non compatible with mother's organism.
Nevertheless the mother is able to accept and harmonize the foreign matter carried by father's spermatozoa, while, for example, she would have a strong rejection reaction in case of transplantation of any other genetic matter of the same origin (father's origin).
N. Peluffo, in his pioneer work, stated that as regards the psychic elaboration, pregnancy provokes a somatopsychic unbalance which induces the appearance in the mother of oneiric or fantasy experience of bacterial invasion.
Such a reaction is the psychic representation of the somatic process: the immune reaction. Furthermore, according to what Peluffo affirms, in the involucre constituted by the foetus-mother unity there is a meeting, a speech, an interaction between mother's conscious, pre-conscious and unconscious psychic experience and the foetus.
They work as stimulus-phantasies which evoke in the future baby the arising of answer-phantasies existing in the hereditary potentiality.
Such a psychic dynamic, often characterized by the structuration of invasion or mutual phagocytement phantasies, takes the place of the somatic rejection reaction.
Consequently the conflict moves on the psychic elaboration level, leaving the somatic field.
Moreover, in perfect agreement with Silvio Fanti considerations, Peluffo has advanced the hypothesis that psychic events which take place in uterus, mark the psychism of the future baby by shaping the structuration of his psychism and having influence on his psychobiological destiny:" On the biological level war declaration accurs when mother's immune system breaks out against father's genetic invasor.
Thousands of spermatozoa, with their father's genetic war-head have died trying to get close to the ovule, the survivor unloads his material and from that moment on, the outcomming product, that will be the embryo-foetus, will have the war inside himself.
I believe that such fact puts the embryo-foetus in an everlasting precariousness condition.
A continuous perturbation of the inertia principle which will be perceived, when the psychobiological development will make it possible, as an experience of imminent end.
It is possible to find such psychic experience in children and adult dreams….How many anxiety dreams carry this feeling of imminent end, represented by the experience of breathing interruption or by it's contrary, the aspiration in an endless hole?".
In a different session I have described a clinical case of a young psychotic man whose delirious phantasies of body deformation perfectly corresponded to his mother's invasion experiences during pregnancy: psychobiological conflict had framed evident marks.
The psychotic who mainly lives in the primary process (on definition outside space and time and characterized by a free displacement of energy among representations), once he has grown-up, is still immersed in the foetus body shaping process, he can't successfully metabolize tension surplus.
With regards to intra-uterine life Manuel Tartari writes:" Let's try to imagine a human being all sensitivity and motility, who perceives rough chemical , sensorial changes, any mother's sharp movement, modifications of mother's heart-throbs, blood inflow, nourishment and adrenaline flow.
Probably he'll register such events as stop. These events will cause scars on the border between somatic functions (breathing, blood circulation, ecc.) and nervous functions; a pre psychic memory which contains tracks of the perturber event.
When the development will make possible a mental transformation of all this, there will be an unconscious nucleous of representations and affects that will try to elaborate the suffered perturbation, which means to shape it".
In each micropsychoanalysis in adults' analytic material, we can regularly find confirmation of intra-uterine traumatic experiences; length of the session ( on average three hours) allows a real recovery of such experiences, without the use of interpretation, during repeated dream interpretation.
However, recently new and original researches, based on the adaptation of infant Observation to ecographic registration of foetus activity, have brought experimental confirmations.
Alessandra Piontelli has described these studies saying:" My researches have put in light an important continuity on certain aspects of pre- and after-birth life.
Each foetus has individual development characteristics which…continue during after-birth life…Each observed foetus had a different personality…such that they were considered as children with a temperament that allowed prevision on their future".
It is very possible that in the near future, when iconic registration
techniques of foetus activity will reach the movie quality, it will be
possible to utilize such material as a very strong and incontrovertible
associating inductor during the analytic session.
Introduction to Life Before Birth
By David Chamberlain, Editor
Through many windows of observation, we can now see--for the first time in human history--what is actually happening in the womb. There is good news and bad news. We can no longer think that the placenta can protect the prenate from anything bad going on in the mother's body, or that the mother's body can protect the prenate from bad things going on in her world. Mother and baby face together the perils of air, water, and earth compromised by the toxic residues of modern chemistry and physics. Parents are perhaps the last ones to learn (and their children the first ones to suffer) these tragic realities of modern life.
Pollution has many sources, beginning with the physical environment surrounding the mother and father. Numerous chemicals loose in the environment reach them where they work or find them in the garage or in cleaning supplies in the kitchen. Solvents, metals, pesticides, preservatives, fumes, and various forms of radiation are capable of interfering with reproduction. Chemical pollution also reaches us in the medical system through prescribed drugs which may put the well-being of the prenate at risk. Some medicines, like aspirin are hazardous at birth, as are some powerful anesthetics. Not long ago, an antibacterial soap used widely in hospitals and dispensed in public areas was discovered--after years of use--to be neurotoxic.
Parents, too, can be a source of contamination and injury to the unborn baby as a consequence of their personal habits and lifestyle choices. Drugs thought to be harmless to adults can be harmful to babies because they are not able to handle these chemicals in adult doses. Nicotine, caffein, and aspirin, substances ubiquitous in adult life, can affect the course of growth and development of babies. The damaging effects of alcohol have been known for centuries and the most recent research (2005) warns that no level of alcohol in the pregnant mother is safe. Not so well known, and perhaps not yet even tested, are the toxic effects of experimental "street drugs" which damage parents as well as babies. All these discoveries are revealing the profound importance of very early parenting, beginning, not at the time of birth, but even before the time of conception when it is still possible to avoid a host of serious problems.
An additional reason for parents to begin active parenting at conception is the discovery that babies in the womb are also developing more rapidly than previously thought possible. From the second month of pregnancy, experiments and observations reveal an active prenate with a rapidly developing sensory system permitting exquisite sensitivity and responsiveness. Long before the development of advanced brain structures, prenates are seen interacting with each other and learning from experience. They seem especially interested in the larger environment provided by mother and father, and react to individual voices, stories, music, and even simple interaction games with parents. The quality of the uterine environment is determined principally by parents.
The opportunities for parents to form a relationship with the baby in
the womb are significant and remarkable. This contrasts sharply with the
previous view that prenates did not have the capacity to interact, remember,
learn, or put meaning to their experiences. Only a decade ago, doctors
typically told pregnant mothers and fathers that talking to a baby in
the womb was useless and unrealistic. Now there is mounting evidence for
memory and learning in utero and for precocious communication before the
stage of language. These abilities of unborn babies underlie the successes
reported in a series of scientific experiments with prenatal stimulation
and bonding. They are also a basis for the personal stories occasionally
shared by children and adults about their experiences before birth.
Prenatal Memory and Learning
By David B. Chamberlain, Editor
1995
Memory is the quintessence of human experience without which we cannot make progress, cannot learn from experience, and cannot develop a personal identity. Learning and memory are interlocked: learning depends on memory, and learning is evidence of memory.
Psychology traditionally placed the beginnings of memory at about age three because few people have conscious recall of events before that time. However, an accumulating volume of research demonstrates memory in the first years of life and in the prenatal period as well. Some children spontaneously recall birth events (even secrets) but expression of these memories is delayed until they can speak. Before they use words they can express their memories non-verbally by drawing pictures, acting out scenes using pantomime, pointing to body locations, and by providing authentic sound effects for equipment (like suction devices) used at the birth. These children warn us that early memory and learning are real.
The documentation of learning and memory months before birth is surprising. Some of this has been made possible by direct ultrasound observations of fetal behavior. Twins can be seen developing certain gestures and habits at twenty weeks gestational age which persist into their postnatal years. In one case, a brother and sister were seen playing cheek-to-cheek on either side of the dividing membrane. At one year of age, their favorite game was to take positions on opposite sides of a curtain, and begin to laugh and giggle as they touched each other and played through the curtain. Parents interested in prenatal communication have taught their prenates the "Kick Game." When babies kick, the parents touch the abdomen and say, "Kick, baby, kick!" When the baby kicks, they move to a different location and repeat the invitation. Babies soon oblige by kicking anywhere on cue.
In a famous experiment by Anthony DeCasper and colleagues at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, mothers read the Dr. Seuss story, The Cat In the Hat, at regular intervals before birth. At birth, babies were hooked up to recordings which they could select by sucking on a non-nutritive nipple. After a few trials, babies cleverly sucked at whatever speed was necessary to obtain their mother's voice reading "The Cat in the Hat. Similarly, in utero, musical passages repeated regularly--such as theme music for the British soap opera Neighbors or the bassoon passage from Peter and the Wolf--are identified and preferred immediately after birth. In a recent experiment, French mothers repeated a children's rhyme each day from week 33 to week 37 of gestation. At the end of this time (still inside the womb) the babies showed memory and learning for this particular rhyme as opposed to similar rhymes they had not heard.
Babies are leaning their native language before birth. This is made possible by the development of hearing as early as 16 weeks gestational age. A mother's voice reaches the uterus with very little distortion as the sound waves pass directly through her body. Acoustic spectroscopy, which makes possible elaborately detailed portraits of sound similar to fingerprints, has documented prenatal learning of the mother tongue. By 27 weeks of gestation, the cry of a baby already contains some of the speech features, rhythms, and voice characteristics of its mother. Newborn reactions to language are based on the sounds heard in utero: French babies prefer to look at persons speaking French while Russian babies prefer to watch people speaking Russian.
Unexpected evidence for prenatal learning and memory comes from studies of taste and olfaction (See The Fetal Senses). Until recently, olfaction was thought to require air, hence, learning of odors was not considered possible before birth. Current understanding, however, recognizes the complex interaction of chemosensory receptors in utero. Many chemical compounds, including those from the mother's diet, pass through the placenta and reach the baby in utero while others flow in the capillaries of the nasal mucosa. By breathing and swallowing amniotic fluid, a baby becomes familiar with the mother's diet, including things like garlic. Even before post-nasal exposure to breastmilk, babies already know and prefer their own mother's milk. Abrupt changes in her diet during the perinatal period can confuse babies and upset breastfeeding.
Traumatic events in neonatal intensive care are indelibly imprinted in memory and intrude on adult life, often in the form of fear. Edward, who was born prematurely and entered the NICU at 29 weeks, learned to fear the sound and sight of adhesive tape. He learned this from the experience of having sections of his skin accidentally pulled off during removal of monitor pads. When he was a young man, he still feared adhesive tape.
Babies can learn their mother's emotional state. Experiments in Australia revealed that unborn babies were participating in the emotional upset of their mothers watching a disturbing 20-minute segment of a Hollywood movie. When briefly re-exposed to this film up to three months after birth, they still showed recognition of the earlier experience. Studies of a thousand babies whose mothers had experienced various degrees of depression during pregnancy themselves displayed depression at birth and in proportion to the depression scores of their mothers.
An important message of these diverse findings is that memory and learning
seem to be a natural part of being human, including the first nine months
in the womb and the years of infancy, defined as the time before speech.
Perhaps the biggest surprise is that life in the womb is extremely active
and interactive and the womb is, in fact, a classroom.
Calendar of Events
January - February - March- April
21 January:Doglio Montecastello di Vibio- Perugia, "Rebirthing
in warm water"
27 January: Gorizia,
"Don't Worry Be Happy" - Management Rebirthing
18 March: Montecampano di Amelia - Terni "The
birth of the spirit..." Respiro, ed Educazione Prenatale
8 April: Locarno, "Beyond
the boundaries of time" - metafora o realtà?
23 April: Locarno,"The
Tantra Breath" - raggiungere il benessere trovando il piacere
sessuale
May - June - July - August
13 May: Locarno,"The
diet of forgiveness" - l'amore ti rende "alcalina",
le carezze abbassano il tuo colesterolo e il Respiro produce endorfine...
20 May: Varese, "The
perception of our bodily self through breath" Corso riservato
agli studenti del 1°, 2° e 3° anno della Scuola triennale
di Psicomotricità di Varese.
17 June : Varese, Professional
formation 2006 of Rebirthing
25 June: Fermo, "Rebirthing in cold water"
30 June ,1 e 2 luglio: Fermo,
"The Sacred Relationship"- un viaggio di profonda connessione
con la nostra fonte d'amore
3 July: Fermo, "Eros
e Psiche" - sessualità, piacere, pulsione di vita...
15 July: Paris,"Respirer" - séminaire réservé
aux médicins et psychologues
23 July: Amsterdam,"Breathwork" - cursus voor artsen en psychologen
8 August: "Il Respiro dello Sciamano" - Residenziale USA con
i nativi americani
September - October - November - December
2 September: Varese, "The
Breath in Psycho-motricity" Corso riservato agli studenti del
1°, 2° e 3° anno della Scuola triennale di Psicomotricità
di Varese.
30 September: Montecampano di Amelia - Terni "The
birth of the spirit..." Respiro, Psicologia ed Educazione Prenatale
11 November: Roma, "Rebirthing Clinico" - corso per operatori
professionisti
20 December: Courmayeur, Monte bianco
"The Breath of Solstiz"
Data da stabilirsi: Varese, "Corso ECM introduttivo alla medicina,
psicologia ed educazione prenatale"
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