A Message From Our Editor, Issue #62 – The Greater Power In Birth

The Greater Power in Birth

There comes a time when every woman in labor needs to “let go of the shore.” This is the time when we either realize that there is a greater power within us that we can go to for the rest of labor…or that the power within is too much, and is something that could overtake us.

In birth, this is usually the time when we ask for the epidural: “I can’t do this anymore, I need help, give me something.” Or, if we’re home and we can’t have an epidural, maybe we ask to go to the hospital. At this point we’re looking for something outside ourselves to save us—some greater authority to come along and be more powerful than our own autonomous being.

Today, I believe we’re all going through a birth. A birth in our social, religious, economic, legal, and healthcare systems, from an older paradigm to something new. At this time, it is very similar to labor, when we find ourselves holding on to the shore and won’t let go. A time when we’re insisting and begging for some outside authority to rescue us, to take over, to relieve us of our own autonomy, our own strength, and our own ability to make it through.

I see it again and again online: The past few years seem to have been so rough, so difficult, and so oppressive on people, bringing them to the brink of defeat. All I ask is that during this time we remember that every birth has these moments. Every birth has this potential for confrontation. Every birth has this critical time, where we can either ask for an authority to come and take over, or take a deep breath and let go of the shore, and let the power that animates the living world move us through the process.

For the raising of the consciousness, Jeanne Ohm, D.C.