Birth Art Training
Session Two Resources
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Explain the BfW birth art process: what it is and why it is potentially transformative.
Set up a space conducive for making birth art including gathering art materials for drawing assignments in the birth art process.
Describe two principles for choosing a particular birth art assignment for an individual or class.
Demonstrate how to give a birth art assignment clearly.
Develop an understanding for how to effectively offer a visualization for a Birth Art prompt.
Demonstrate how to coax the artists during the art-making process to “keep going” and state three keep going prompts.
State the reasons for transition-journaling and state three journaling prompts.
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Week Two Objectives
Upon completion of Lesson Two, you will be able to:
Explain the BfW birth art process: what it is and why it is potentially transformative.
Set up a space conducive for making birth art including gathering art materials for drawing assignments in the birth art process.
Describe two principles for choosing a particular birth art assignment for an individual or class.
Demonstrate how to give a birth art assignment clearly.
Develop an understanding for how to effectively offer a visualization for a Birth Art prompt.
Demonstrate how to coax the artists during the art-making process to “keep going” and state three keep going prompts.
State the reasons for transition-journaling and state three journaling prompts.
This Week: schedule several volunteers!
This week schedule at least one appointment with a volunteer (a pregnant or postpartum parent/couple/family, a birth-related professional, or even a friend who is not pregnant). While you are at it, schedule another session this week for next week (after our call), and one for the week after. Try to schedule two each week, so that if one volunteer cancels you still have one appointment for practice and to build learning-momentum other. Leading two sessions a week will help you get better at leading birth art sessions even faster. This can be done in-person or virtually.
Finding Parents to Practice With
Over the course of your training, you will be asked to begin practicing with people, ideally pregnant parents, right away. This may feel challenging, or vulnerable, so here are some thoughts to help guide you. It can feel awkward or even a little scary to put yourself out there, particularly when you’re new at something. It’s ok to feel uncomfortable. Ask yourself what you need in order to take the next step forward.
Put out as wide a range of feelers as possible:
Post in local pregnancy/parenting/birth worker listservs, Facebook groups, etc.
Post on your own social media accounts, and ask friends and family to share those posts
Talk to friends, family, colleagues, neighbors, etc. Lots of people know a pregnant person!
Reach out to other birth professionals in your area so they can keep your work in mind when making referrals.
In your posts/flyers/conversations, specify what you’re up to: you’re learning new skills, and you’re seeking pregnant folks who are interested in having a free creative/exploratory/mindful/fun (fill in your favorite words) childbirth preparation session.
Before meeting, briefly outline what you are going to do with them, about how long it will take, any needed supplies, the format for the meeting (in person, Zoom, phone, etc.), and any other pertinent details.
Be transparent. Let parents know that you are learning new skills, and that the session will be a casual, interesting learning experience for both of you.
Ancient and Modern Images of Pregnancy and Birth
Prehistoric people's awe at the mystery of pregnancy and birth is reflected in the exquisite form and power found in their birth art. One of the most beautiful images, the Goddess of Laussel (c.19,000 BCE), is carved on a limestone slab at the entrance to a rock shelter in Dordogne, France. She holds in her raised right hand a bison horn with 13 notches etched into it. The notches may represent lunar months. Her left hand is pointing to her vulva or resting on her swollen, pregnant belly. Traces of sacred red ochre, the color of menstruation and birth, are still visible on her body.
the Venus of Laussel, carved 18 to 20,000 years ago
Of the hundreds of Stone Age sculptures known to us, only five are male figures. The predominance and wide distribution of the Great Stone Age Mother throughout Eurasia during the first 200,000 years of human history is dramatic evidence of her significance in human development.
The most common images of the Goddess were headless, featureless, or with her head inclined toward the middle of the body. The icons are typically rounded vessels, with gigantic belly and breasts. Her arms are only suggested, huge thighs taper to thin legs, with no feet, or feet that were too fragile and small to have survived intact.
The Great Mothers still exude a quiet power and exemplify the ancient perception of pregnant people as big and strong. Anthropologists Sjoo and Mor remind us that two to three million years of human survival can be attributed to women’s physical strength, noting that “the human race couldn’t have survived. . . if women had been as physically weak and mentally dependent during those hard ages as we are supposed to be today.”*
Like Stone Age artists, many women (even though they may be unfamiliar with ancient Great Mother icons) draw pregnant parents or make sculptures that bear a striking similarity to Stone Age icons! The Pregnant Woman is portrayed as faceless, with full rounded bellies and breasts, and thin or absent extremities.
“She is faceless because I was thinking of the commonality among all women becoming mothers that breaks all bonds, there is no hierarchy. . .”--Mother-Artist
Many depict the pregnant body as just belly and breast—and independently have similar reactions, commenting that a “pregnant body is headless because the head doesn’t change when you’re pregnant. . . can’t tell if a woman is pregnant from her neck up. The focus is in her body.”
When Pam England researched birth art in preparation for writing her master’s thesis (1986), she was surprised to find there was little birth art in the west. She was not alone. In 1980, Judy Chicago, a feminist artist best known for The Dinner Party and The Birth Project, went to the library to see what images of birth she could find in preparation for her Birth Project. She was “struck dumb” when her research “turned up almost none. . .It was obvious that birth was a universal human experience and one that is central to people’s lives. Why then were there no images?”
“The Crowning” Judy Chicago
This online course focuses on visual art, primarily drawings. But birth art, like all art, must include every expression: sculpture, dance, poetry, writing, theater, and photography.
In 1991, pregnant Demi Moore created controversy with this photo of her during her pregnancy on the cover of "Vanity Fair": the human figure as art.
Vanity Fair, August 1991
Where Did All the Birth Art Go?
Beginning in the Middle Ages, women in the West were restricted from education, the practice of midwifery and medicine, and artistic expression. Even later, when active repression ended and the patriarchy “permitted” women to read and write, they had been devalued so long that they had come to believe that their lives were not worth painting or writing about.
Currently, our society values science over the arts. From education to religion, we have separated art and ritual from “reality” and science. This is evident in elementary schools where recess, art, music, industrial arts, and home economics are being eliminated at an alarming rate. It is evident in prenatal care, where the medical management of difficult labor is stripped of mythology and greater human meaning.
But it wasn’t, and perhaps isn’t, always this way. In traditional societies, art is related to personal and social ritual and ceremony. Art for indigenous people is not something to collect or view, it was and is incorporated into daily life. Images are etched, carved and woven into tools, pottery, doorways, and weavings.
Why Do Humans Make Art?
In her book What is Art For? Ellen Dissanayake points out that humans are the only species that make art. Why? Art is “self-rewarding play,” and humans play just to play, not to survive. This is evident when humans spend huge amounts of time immersed in enormous detail when making and mastering art or architecture.
What is the purpose or meaning of art making?
Dissanayake writes:
Even animals deprived of the opportunity to play when young do not develop normal adult social behavior; also, it appears that they require the experience of play in order to fine-tune, moderate, and integrate instinctive behaviors such as catching prey.
Indeed, play has been deemed essential in stimulating children to think, invent, adapt, create, even use their language fluently (Piaget, 1946). Play, by providing a ‘no risk’ arena where innovative behavior can be tried and mastered, may facilitate in all children . . . creative behavior. . .
This idea of playing or practicing in a ‘no risk’ arena—before having to perform “under pressure” in labor—captures one of the most powerful underlying principles of Birthing From Within childbirth preparation classes.
“After a frightening medical examination, a child may play the part of the doctor, but will make a picture of himself as helpless before a powerful figure.” (Kramer, 1979)
Art-making is a form of play. So, when we make art, we often glean the benefits of play. Art-making, more than the product itself, is the vehicle to self-discovery.
WHY Make Birth Art?
People who discount or dismiss the importance of art-making in prenatal preparation are probably people who feel uncomfortable making art themselves. They often argue that millions have given birth without ever having made any art during pregnancy. That is true, but it doesn't mean it is "right."
That the arts are not an integral part of prenatal preparation, of labor or postpartum, doesn’t seem unusual. It doesn’t concern most people because so few people make or even appreciate art, symbols, or mythology. In general, westerners think of art as indulgent, peripheral, entertaining, and something that “real” artists do, or a few of us do to amuse ourselves.
Birth Art is a vehicle that brings parents from their outside knowing to their inner knowing. It is an organic and enjoyable form of learning, unsurpassed by any other method.
Making art slows down fleeting images, allowing us to really see and know how we see things
If you lead a visualization, such as Opening in Labor, drawing afterward helps parents express and go deeper into what they envisioned or felt. The drawing process anchors the experience.
While drawing about a topic, parents feel rather than just think about what it means. Their focus shifts and their learning becomes personal and embodied.
The Birth Art Process can be fun and enjoyable. While that is not the point, it is relevant. On the other hand, even when it is a bit challenging to do something unfamiliar, it is preparation for being in the unknown of labor, because:
It allows the expression of feelings or images that might otherwise be censored in place of more rational ideas.
It integrates what we imagine, what we know, what we feel, no matter how contradictory or irrational these parts may be.
It makes classes more interactive, interesting and even fun.
Making art is sensory, it brings the artist into feeling.
We can talk rationally and objectively about "what to expect" when you’re expecting or laboring, but when we draw it, we draw our subjective point of view. We have all seen cervical dilation illustrations. But when a pregnant parent draws the feeling of opening in labor, it will not look like the cervical dilation images in textbooks. A scalpel can be an object or a symbol; when it becomes a symbol, it could be larger than life and neon green.
A teacher can accurately describe stages of labor, what to expect, and what to do. For parents, making art is the way to translate words and ideas into images, and, even more importantly, explore the meaning of those images for them, and how they feel about it. This is the key value of making birth art: the parent-artist will turn their attention and locus of control inward, instead of looking to experts and facts to tell them the "right" thing to do. Birth art cannot be done "wrong" as it is personal and subjective.
Making art is unpredictable; the artist benefits from coming to the place of not-knowing, or surprise.
Without the art-making process (and other processes) childbirth classes are reduced to learning facts. This is a fairly predictable, non-interactive process, and one that increasing numbers of parents are doing on their own. Meeting surprises and encountering not-knowing and figuring it out is one small step in preparation for meeting surprises in labor and postpartum.
One kind of learning comes from books or the internet. But the learning necessary for parents to participate completely in their birth must come from the parents. In making birth art or journaling, just bringing an image to light can be surprisingly revealing (and often healing).
After making the image, it is important for parents to listen; the art will speak if the parent listens. Then, in turn, the mentor listens to them.
Dreams, reverie, and art all carry messages from the unconscious. When exploring birth art, “We must,” as Carl Jung observed in his discussion of imagery, “take the consequences of messages received.”
An active, gentle exploration process not only brings overlooked resources and strengths to conscious awareness, but identifies obstacles and inhibitions that might prevent them from being used.
Birth art doesn’t have to be pretty, colorful or carefully planned. It is as raw, honest and spontaneous as birth itself. For example, Renata was surprised to learn from her drawing how angry she was that her doctor was not listening to her in prenatal appointments, and how worried she was that he would not listen to her wishes in labor. She realized she was feeling trapped and helpless. After exploring this drawing, she made a decision to hire a different birth attendant.
References:
Dissanayake, Ellen (1988). What is Art For?. Seattle: University of Washington Press. pp. 78, 79.
The Empty-Full Cup
Zen teachers are known for teaching through stories. Here is the story of "The Empty Cup” told to Pam England by a Zen teacher years ago:
In Japan, when an aspirant wanted to be accepted into a Zen monastery, he would knock on the door and ask to be admitted. The gatekeeper would tell the aspirant to sit outside the monastery and wait. And there he would sit and wait for an indefinite period of time. Through a small window, the monks would observe him, like checking soup in a cooking pot, to see when he was ready to be admitted. Until then, he sat on the steps, for an indefinite period of time. It could be hours, days, even weeks--waiting in the rain, snow, or heat. Some aspirants were impatient or discouraged and left before they were invited in. For those who showed signs of determination and receptivity, the door opened and they were invited in for an interview with the roshi (teacher).
There is a formal Zen tea ceremony one undergoes when meeting the teacher. The student sits on a zafu (a round meditation pillow), wears white socks, and brings a gift to the teacher (usually money or incense). Nothing is said or explained, not even in non-verbal gestures or facial expressions. Tea is served formally and silently in a meditation ceremony. The teacher pours tea into a small tea cup the novice monk holds in the palm of his hand. When as much tea as he desires is poured, the novice raises his other hand slightly, palm facing upward; with this subtle gesture he communicates, "Enough, stop pouring tea."
During this tea ceremony there is no eye contact between teacher and student, no words are spoken. There is only the activity of tea pouring, the activity of receiving tea, and the activity of drinking tea. There are no typical social, chatty exchanges such as, "Would you like tea?" or, "What kind of tea is it?" or, "No thank you, I don't like that kind. Do you have another flavor?" or "Oh, that tea smells so fragrant," or "I would like honey. I love honey in this kind of tea." This distracting, meaningless chatter allows the ego to maintain old patterns, therefore, it is not allowed.
When we arise as the "activity of drinking tea," we become the tea.
The sun-baked, rain-soaked applicant sitting by the gate in quiet mind is waiting to be admitted. In the tea room, he practices zazen in lotus position on a zafu. When the bell rings, he holds out his teacup as tea is poured; he makes the gesture signaling "stop," but the teacher keeps pouring tea. The student gestures again and again; it doesn't take long to fill a little teacup to overflowing. The tea is flowing over the brim of the cup and onto his robes. He breaks his silence! "Roshi, why do you keep pouring tea?"
The roshi answered, "Because when you came in here your cup was already full. There was no room for new tea." Roshi instructed him, "Empty your cup. Make room for new tea."
How is this story relative to childbirth mentoring and the birth art process?
When working with parents, you invite them to tell you what they want, or how they feel, or about their birth story. But, sometimes you are not really listening to them at all. You are listening to your story about their story, or what you plan to tell them they should do or know. You can see how their words or story, like the monk’s tea, is spilling over your half-full mind because there is not enough room for you to receive it.
This is a very deep teaching. It is not easy to "empty your cup." It is not cliche. It won't happen in a snap just because you like the Zen story. It may take years of committed practice. Maybe at first you will spill out a drop, and make room for a drop. This is an important first step.
When you are with someone who listens deeply, you have a rare experience to know your words were heard, held, deeply understood. You have experienced the power of being in the presence of someone with an empty cup. And you have also experienced being with someone with a cup already full, and your story spills over at their feet.
So you understand how important this is.
Don't confuse being an "empty cup" with "passive listening." Someone who listens without speaking, and nods their head from time to time, has often learned to masquerade as a deep listener, but in their minds, there is cacophony of chatter. They don't risk interrupting, but they also are not listening deeply.
A sage mentor is more like an "empty-full cup." They bring a half-cup of life experience to the session. In birth work, they bring lived-wisdom to the birth or negotiating the medical model. They have experience and knowledge that the uninitiated parent/family does not have and may need. So their cup is half-full with wisdom.
And there is still room left to receive what the mentor does not know. They do not know the heart of the parent/family. They do not know their life experience, what motivates them one way or the other, how they were conditioned as children to know life, and so they leave room to receive them, to be empty. Between what the Mentor has learned from their life and what they are learning about the parents' assumptions and perceptions, they bring to each encounter something unique and fitting for just that parent/family in just that moment.
Then, symbolically, they empty their cup before meeting the next parent/family or class. They begin each session, or each birth, in empty-fullness. Again, we say to you with patience and compassion, this is not easy to do. It sounds lovely and easy, but it is not easy to do. Yet, we want you to make an effort to spill one drop at a time.
Begin noticing when your "cup is spilling over" with mental chatter: your own story; your reflexive urge to inform or save this parent; your desire to share your own stories; or telling yourself you don't know enough to do this work.
And, in a Zen center you would never, never hear students use this metaphor as poison or joking with another. It is a private matter. Take it to heart. Never tell someone, "Your cup is pretty full," or say of another, "They need to empty their cup."
Can you see the bitter folly in this?
If you take up this practice, your life will begin to change. And it becomes so interesting to you, sometimes so painful, that it is not something you can even talk about casually.
You may ask, "How do I begin emptying my cup, even a drop at a time?"
The only way I know is this: To sit quietly every day, before falling asleep, maybe while nursing your baby. No TV or radio, no magazine, no phone. Just sit. Breathe. Be empty. It takes months to learn to do this!
Of course, the mind thinks, but in just sitting, you stop following thoughts, believing the thoughts, feeding them. They come.... and go.
Then, you learn self-inquiry.
When you feel your heart close whenever a parent says a particular thing, instead of following the reflex to inform them, sit with it (later of course). Inquire, "From where does the urge to inform arise in me?" "From where does that judgment arise in me?" "Who is really afraid of [X]?", and you will answer, "I Am." Then inquire, "Who is this 'I'?" and be still. Ask again and again, and again, and then...a drop will be lifted from your cup.
It's a slow process, but we can think f no other worthy of your attention if you want to make a compassionate change in your world.
Setting Up a Space Conducive to Making Birth Art
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Whether you are using Birth Art during an interview, an individual session, childbirth classes or a Centering group, the first thing you will need to do is set up a conducive space for making birth art.
Images don't just come from the artist's imagination; to some degree, they are co-created by the art space.
How might the images that come up for parents be different if they are working in a space whose walls are covered with art or posters with strong direct or indirect messages? For example, beautiful positive, natural birth images; parents and babies in soft-focus photos; medical anatomy diagrams; or “When you smoke, your baby smokes too" posters.
Here are a few simple suggestions:
Whenever possible, find a quiet space, free from distractions. Turn off cell phones. Soft lighting or natural light is preferable. If you are renting a space for childbirth classes that is not "ideal," do what you can to make it as conducive as possible. Without hesitation (don't wait for perfection)--begin!
Consider serving tea. Food cannot be served because their fingers will be smudged with pastel chalk.
Provide each parent or family with a “shoe box” stocked with art supplies. Have the art materials easily available and within reach.
For the art assignments in this module, each parent will just need paper and a small box of soft art (chalk) pastels (8 to 12 pieces). You will likely want to use boards to put the paper on. These can be proper Masonite drawing boards with clips on them, or using a "foam core" board (they are cheap and light-weight). Cardboard is not ideal, as its texture can leave lines on the drawing. (Although the backing cardboard from pads of drawing paper are perfect!)
Make space for parents to draw on the floor, against the wall, or with their art board propped up against a chair. You do not need tables. Easels offer the advantage for stepping back and seeing what you are drawing, but many parents equate easels with "real artists." This belief may intimidate, rather than support, their creative freedom.
If you are going to be working on the floor on a carpet, cover the carpet with an old cotton sheet or a canvas sheet before class begins, or on the break. Plastic sheets are less desirable because they make a lot of noise when people walk or move on them. Attach the paper to foam boards or art boards before class begins; use paper clips or clamps. Have one box of pastels available for each family, or several bowls of broken, well-used pastels.
Have wipes, damp cloths, or paper towels on hand, for wiping hands after completing their drawing.
Have a clock facing you (not the parents), so you can keep track of the time.
Important Note: If you set up the art space (the canvas sheets, attaching paper to the boards, moving furniture) while parents are sitting in class watching, there is a risk it will give them time to become anxious about making art. If the assignment is given before setting up the space, parents have too much time to try to conjure up the "right" image. This puts them in their strategizing mind.
Silence is Preferable to Music.
For many reasons, we strongly recommend that beginners avoid playing any sort of music during birth art sessions. Be mindful that the mood of the music will influence the images that surface as well as the images the parents think they should put on the paper.
Supposing their authentic image is of a raging, disheveled parent, but you have put on new-age meditation music. The music inadvertently sends a meta-message that a peaceful, content parent-image is called for. Now the parent-artist has to choose between drawing their authentic image or drawing something that they think you expect or want.
What Should I Do While They Are Making Art?
Try to position yourself so that the parent-artist is not seated directly in front of you. We don't want them to feel like they're under a spotlight! Instead try to sit next to them or, better yet - at a 45 degree angle so that it's easy to look at you, and also easy to not look at you. You might sip tea, knit, or look through your notes. If you're already a birth professional, think about what you do during quiet moments at a birth.
This is not the time to engage in your own art-making process. While you shouldn't be staring at the client the whole time they're creating art, you do need to be attentive. Notice when they look off into the distance, notice when their pastels slow down. This is much harder to do if you are making art or playing on a phone. Be present while still giving them space.
Gathering Supplies for Making Birth Art
Large sheets of white drawing paper (11” x 14” to 18" x 24"). It should be thick enough that it doesn't tear when parents draw (so don't use newsprint).
Soft art chalk pastels (8-12 colors) from an art supply store. Do not use the cheap, hard/waxy pastels, regular chalk, oil pastels, crayons or glitter. Use soft, student-grade pastels that blend easily to achieve the best results.
A moist washcloth, baby wipe, or paper towel for the parent(s) or client to wipe pastels off their fingers after they are finished drawing (so they don't have to get up to wash their hands, thus interrupting the flow of the session). Keep this washcloth/paper towel in a bowl/plastic bag so you don't have to get up and leave the room to get it.
A journal, or paper for journaling, plus a pen!
If the parent-artist is working on a nice carpet, you may need a firm surface under the paper, such as cardboard, foam board, or pressed wood board. Tape or clip the paper to it, so it doesn't slide around.
You can put an old sheet or something under your art board or paper to collect the pastel dust so it doesn’t end up in the carpet or inhibit the drawing process (trying to stay neat).Buying Art Materials:
Get supplies on sale at your local craft or art supply store, or order in bulk online.Try Michael's or Blick Art Supplies.
What not to use:
Even though the Birthing from Within book (p. 37) lists crayons, colored pencils and watercolor paints, we have found best success with soft chalk pastels. Tempera paint is an excellent medium, but it takes more time to set up and clean up, so for beginning Mentors, just use pastels.
On Giving a Birth Art Assignment
Guiding Principles for Giving a Birth Art Assignment Successfully
Expect success. You are more likely to get success when you expect success. This is especially true when leading the birth art process. It also helps to create a space conducive to art-making and to give a clear, concise birth art assignment.
Even if leading the birth art process is new to you, present the idea of birth art with confidence and as if making birth art was an expected and ordinary part of preparation.
Do not invite non-participation. In the name of being reassuring or nice, do not give parents a choice to participate or not. This opens the door to fear and failure. Making participation in the process an option amounts to an invitation to sit back and watch others draw, or to imagine there is more risk in making a drawing than they realized and to avoid that risk. If one parent doesn't draw, that parent might feel out of place; you might make an assumption about the parent (Don't!). When several or all parents are reluctant to make birth art, you might blame the class, e.g., "This is just a group of uncooperative parents." If for a particular mentor, class after class they find parents do not participate fully in the birth art process, they might blame the process, and say it doesn't work because parents don't want to do it, or don't get that much out of it. Hopefully, if any of these scenarios should happen to you, you'll consider whether something you said or did invited them to not make art—and give this process another chance.
Case Example Below: Notice the unhelpful embedded commands in this permissive preamble that encourage parents to be reluctant to make birth art (*The embedded commands are bold-highlighted so you can see how the instructions influence parents’ response.)
"You have probably noticed the art paper and pastels, and some of you are probably nervous about making art. It doesn't matter if you don't know how to draw, or if what you draw looks good. If you feel nervous, that's okay. If you aren't ready to draw you can just close your eyes and imagine what you would draw or you can journal instead."
Instead:
Be matter-of-fact and relaxed.
Tell them what they are going to do, and about how much time they have to draw.
Following is an example of how to give the birth assignment, "Womb With a View," so people will draw without hesitation, and continue working until they go past drawing what they know.
“Each of you has a piece of paper and a box of pastels to share. Tonight you are going to make an image called Womb With a View. As you begin to look within . . . Imagine a little window in your womb. . .that allowed you to peek in and see your baby. . . look around . . .and take in its little world, its room in the womb. . . the light, see what you baby sees. . . hear your baby's world. . .and when you are ready . . . grab a pastel and draw what your baby sees, what you see. . . what you feel when you peek in. . .”
About five minutes after they begin drawing, you might say, "Take your time. . . you have another ten minutes.”
With a few minutes left of drawing time, use one of the Keep Going prompts from Lesson 1:
"You have another minute or two left. . . Before you finish, is there anything that wants to be in the drawing that you haven't put in yet?”
Pause so they can consider this possibility even while they are drawing …”Maybe there's a message you'd like to send your baby. Is there something you've been wanting to let your baby know?”
Pause so they can reflect without becoming too cerebral. . . “Send this message in a symbol to your baby . . . in this drawing . . . use a symbol if you can . . . use words if you need to.”
Guidelines for Leading Birth Art
"Engaging in any sort of visual expression results in the reward pathway in the brain being activated, which means that you feel good and it's perceived as a pleasurable experience.” —Girija Kaimal
Help parents understand the purpose and value of Birth Art before asking them to draw. Be matter of fact, don’t apologize for the process. You might tell parents…
How art making slows the brain waves down just like in labor.
How Birth Art helps you prepare for birth in an embodied way. It helps to balance out the typical cerebral preparation that is common for modern parents.
How art is an opportunity to explore how you move through the Unknown, how you find the next small step when you’re not sure what to do, and how you keep going even if it doesn’t look exactly as you had imagined.
Help parents understand that the value of Birth Art is in the process, not the end product. They may feel reassured to hear that you won’t be doing “show and tell” at the end.
2. Give parents the Birth Art assignment in a slow, somewhat-hypnotic voice, leaving enough space for their imagination to begin creating an image before they pick up the pastels. Leave your language about what they will draw ambiguous enough so that they’re not drawing images that you gave them, or trying to please you with their artwork.
3. When you see parents begin to slow down, or look like they’re not sure what to do next, offer them a keep going prompt. Invite them to find out what happens when they reach that point where they don’t know what to do next, just as they likely will in labor, and find out what happens when they take the next small step without knowing what will happen next.
4. Give the parents 1-3 journaling prompts – not the whole list! They can write about their art process on a separate paper, or even on the back of the art paper. Turning their drawing over can help parents remember to focus on the process over product. Journaling helps them transition back into the verbal part of their brain, and be more ready to discuss their insights and reflections than going straight from art to discussion.
5. Ask the parents about one of the journaling prompts. Example: What surprised you about your art making process? Then…
Validate: Validate their positive intentions, their needs, their feelings, or their new insights.
Motivate: Ask a solution-focused question or two. Make sure the question is relevant to their process and reflections, not chosen randomly. Here are some examples of Solution Focused Questions from Heart of Mentoring:
How do you know to do that?
What is it about XYZ that appeals to you/doesn’t appeal to you?
Scaling: On a scale from 1-10, where are you in terms of ex. speaking up for yourself today (assuming this was an issue that came up through the art-making process), with 1 meaning you never speak up for yourself, and 10 meaning you do so with ease? How did you get all the way to X? If you were just one notch further up the scale (X+1), what would be different for you? What would you be able to do or say?
Exceptions: If the client expresses something they’d like to do more or less of, ask about a time in the past when they were able to do that thing (or not do that thing), or, if they say never, when they have come closest to doing that thing.
How is this showing up as a problem for you?
What have you already tried? What worked? What didn’t?
Educate: (if needed) Is there something that would be beneficial for this parent to know about birth, hormones, hospitals, physiology, etc. in relationship to what came up in their Birth Art process?
Initiate: The art making is an initiation! But it’s possible that there may be additional embodied tasks that would benefit the parent. You might show they how to do an inversion, show their partner how to do a hip squeeze, or some other task of initiation.
Celebrate: Acknowledge the parent’s new awareness, growth, efforts, or vulnerability.
Birth Art Do’s:
Stay open and flexible
Bring your curiosity
Notice any assumptions that are coming up for you – about the parent, their art, what they should think about birth, or how they should feel and make a commitment to yourself to explore them later…not stuff them down and pretend they don’t exist!
Focus on the art making process.
Engage in your own art making process and solution-focused reflections regularly, so that when you lead parents through Birth Art, it will come from a heartfelt place of personal experience.
Birth Art Don'ts:
Don’t be attached to outcome – that the parent creates a certain kind of image, or that they feel happy or create a “positive” image.
Don’t create your own meaning about their Birth Art.
Don’t assess or make meaning of their art work.
If they show you their drawing, it’s fine to glance at it, but stay focused on their process of self-discovery, not what’s on the paper.
Using Visualization
Below are some key elements to keep in mind when using a visualization with a birth art assignment. Familiarize yourself with the five tips below. Jot down a word or two on an index card to help them to become second nature to you. In time, the structure of these tips will become the “riverbanks” to the “river of words” that lead to the trance-like state that often results from visualization.
1. Think about a visualization as a dialog, or conversation in which the doula or mentor is speaking and the parent’s response is internal and made up of sounds, sensations, and images. Pause after each phrase, or sentence, so parents can have an internal response . . . might be 3-6 seconds, which can feel like a very long time to a new mentor. Allow yourself to sink into the silence.
2. Be clear within yourself about what the assignment is and your "vision" of this birth art experience (stepping into the unknown, trying something new, pushing past what is familiar, etc…) without being attached to what parents specifically draw or learn. Keep the assignment simple. State it clearly, or if you are a beginner, you may choose to read it. If you are clear in your own mind of what the intention of the assignment is and you have made a drawing of that same assignment recently, then the assignment will be integrated within you and come authentically from you... rather than you trying to remember the words.
3. Primarily, you are using your voice to direct parents toward their inner world, and to elicit imagery. If you rattle the assignment off quickly, they will be in their heads processing WORDS and the meaning of words because you have not given them enough time to allow an IMAGE to arise. Use words that refer to the senses, particularly visual. You can say something like, "Notice the colors, shapes, lines, symbols that arise when you think of . . .”
4. Aim for speaking for about 2-3 minutes. This is long enough for parents to turn their attention inward, shift to their right brain, and slowwwww down enough for images to emerge. There is no need for them to be relaxed, calm or comfortable, or to close their eyes. You can invoke a feeling of slowing down and closing eyes indirectly through the way you speak.
think poetry . . . not a homework assignment.
5. Maintain momentum and attention by emphasizing certain words or phrases, and repeating important ones throughout the visualization. The mind is receptive to repetition and you are trying to get them into a trance-like state. Repetition enhances trance. Use interesting words—be "juicy" and creative. Think poetry, not a homework assignment. Let your words go up and down, varying their pacing and volume, being sure to pause after those phrases that invite images.
Words That Coax an Image Out
In our society, once a person gets out of second grade, there isn't much permission to make art unless it has been determined by someone other than yourself that you have the potential to become a "real artist." It can be hard for us to allow ourselves to find the artist within, to value art and to value our own art-making ability.
It's not about being good enough or about being a professional artist. It's about finding the images within your imagination, your soul and then loving and honoring them by painting or sculpting or drawing them into creation. Bring your images into the world as you would bring a child into the world.
When given a birth art assignment, a parent often begins their picture by drawing what they first saw in their mind; they begin with what they know and what is most important to them.
However, a parent might censor what they first saw and instead draw what they think is wanted. If they keep drawing, the first image will surface again and often makes itself known on paper.
Eventually, if they draw long enough in a session, they will reach a point of not knowing what to do or draw next; you will see them pause, hesitate, sit back and look at their drawing. This moment of contemplation of stopping, looking and listening to the image is the critical teaching moment!
If they stop drawing when the image is familiar, or before they "ruin" the drawing or "say too much," it is possible that they will have only drawn what they already know--and they may not learn anything new. In order for them to learn or to see what they have not yet seen, they must continue drawing "in the dark" so to speak (i.e., from the unconscious). To do this requires a decision, a "yes" or "no"; if they say "yes" to the unknown, they are agreeing to continue exploring, to enter and discover something new. If they say "no" to the unknown (and "yes" to their inner-censor), the drawing stops.
Here is where a Mentor’s guidance can make a difference. When artist-parents stop drawing, especially if they stop fairly early on, and gaze at their drawing, gently coax the parents to Keep Going.
One simple way is to ask one of these questions:
Is there something the drawing wants, but you are censoring it because you don’t know how to draw it or it doesn’t make sense?
Are you stopping because you are finished, or because you don’t know what to do next?
With a gentle coaxing, an artist-parent may go past what they already know, what they have always seen, what makes sense to them. With a single stroke of the pastel . . . the parent might see and realize something new.
*Sometimes you will meet a parent-artist who is very immersed in the process and will draw for 20+ minutes straight. There will even be people who you will need to tell to stop drawing so that you can move on to other parts of the session. In this case you'll be giving a "go deeper" prompt instead of a "keep going" prompt, encouraging them to notice what they may be leaving out or censoring, or what they would include if their art didn't have to look nice, make sense, etc
Transition Journaling
Stop Look Listen
Let the image breathe and unfold –
Before you name or describe it.
The moment you know what your drawing means,
or you attach an old “story” to it:
it will die.
It will no longer speak to you.
Experience has taught us that bringing everyone together to talk right after they finish drawing often results in people looking down at their shoes in nervous silence. At first, I thought parents didn’t volunteer to talk because they didn't like the art process.
But reflecting on our own experience with art-making, we acknowledged we also feel "non-verbal" and introspective during and after making a drawing. Drawing and speaking use different parts of the brain. And we don't snap out of the non-verbal place the minute we put down our pastels.
Looking back to Lesson One, as you were drawn further into the images you were drawing, did you notice lapses in your mental chatter? Right after you finished drawing, especially if you took your time or did several drawings in a row, would you have been ready to share with a group? This quieting of the mind happens with expecting parents, too.
When you observe parents working, this is what you’ll likely see: At first they may be talking and drawing, but within a few minutes they settle, and the whole room becomes entrained. Everyone is working, together; the only sound in the room is the scratching and rubbing of pastels on paper. Then, spontaneously, the group begins to slow down together, and most of them come to a collective stop about the same time. They usually sit quietly looking at their drawing. Occasionally someone goes to the bathroom or wants to wash their hands. Before too much time lapses and the group breaks up, you want to maintain the momentum and contain the group: suggest they journal.
This next step is called "Transition-Journaling" because it facilitates the transition from the visual brain to the verbal brain. It also helps each parent collect and jot down their own impressions before the group dialogue begins.
Journaling also serves another purpose: Writing down a few notes helps parents anchor their own thoughts before hearing other parents share. Time may not allow for every parent in the class to share aloud. Even so, some parents lose track of their own insights when overwhelmed by sharings from strong personalities. So taking a few moments to journal preserves their initial impressions or learnings.
Suggestions for Transition Journaling:
Artists can either journal on the back of their drawing paper, on a separate sheet of paper, or in a personal journal.
Tell them to take a few moments to jot down a few notes about their drawing for themselves. It won't need to be shared.
Offer journaling prompts one at a time, over about five minutes, to allow parents who need a boost to begin writing, and perhaps suggestion another to keep writing.
Go to the Journaling Prompts in Lesson 1. Choose a few suggestions, either intuitively or based on what you see happening. Don’t give ALL of these prompts! If you do, you’ll take them right into their homework-left brain.
Learning from Birth Art
Before talking about or exploring what you’ve made, take a moment to sit back and take in what has come out of you —into the light—so you can see and learn from it.
The questions below are not in any particular order; go with whichever ones apply.
Feeling into the image…
When I look at my birth art now, what do I notice in my body?
Ask yourself, “If this character or symbol could speak, what would it be saying to me?” You might want to jot down what first comes up.
What surprises me?
What doesn’t make sense to me?
What might be missing in the drawing? Go a little deeper. How did I know to leave that out? What would it mean about me, or my drawing, if I were to add that part?
Let the symbols do the talking
Before you could read a book, you had to learn to read letters and how their combinations formed words that represent feelings, experiences, or concepts. In the same way, every thing and every character in art is a symbol that represents a feeling, experience, or idea.
Here’s an easy way to translate symbols into words:
Choose a character or symbol in your drawing that intrigues you (it could be inanimate, e.g., a chair or bed; a person or the “role” the person is playing in the drawing, e.g., “midwife”). Dialogue with the symbol. What does it know, or want you to know or do?
What is your Birth Art teaching you?
As a result of drawing or sculpting this art, what do you know now—that you didn’t know before?
Because you know this, what will you do differently?
Use these questions and prompts after doing your own Birth Art, and then use them as a guide to help you lead parents in an inquiry of their Birth Art experiences.
Birth Art Approaches and Assignments that Might Trip You (and your clients) Up
Trying to instill a specific attitude or goal in parents.
You might catch yourself thinking in terms of what art process might “make” your clients think or feel a certain way: to get them to “trust birth,” “be confident,” “feel empowered,” etc. Or, even more specifically, you might find yourself thinking about what art process might get a parent to make a decision that seems wise, healthy, or just plain obvious to you: to resist their doctor’s pressure to induce, to switch to a caregiver more aligned with their stated goals, to hire a doula, etc.
While the positive intention here is obvious, it’s important to understand that that is not how the Birthing from Within approach to birth art (or birth mentoring in general) works. We find that birth art is most valuable when it is about offering parents the opportunity to explore their own internal landscapes – the landscapes of where they are in this moment. As soon as a birth art process focuses on what the professional wants parents to think, feel, or do, it loses the power and magic of open-ended exploration.
Keep in mind that a parent’s beliefs about and approaches to birth are shaped by a lifetime of conditioning, much of which is largely unconscious and invisible to them. Cheerleading them into an approach that seems better to you (“feel empowered by a natural birth!”) will not undo this lifetime of conditioning. Instead, it risks negatively affecting your relationship with the parent and/or causing them to take actions that are disconnected from their own understandings and desires.
So, rather than a goal for a new attitude or decision on the parent’s part, try to bring a genuine sense of open-hearted curiosity, and even play, to your birth art sessions. Such an approach on your part can in turn help the parents bring an open heart to the birth art process, and ultimately, to themselves. The openness that the birth art process invites may ultimately lead parents to strike out in new, positive directions in ways that are externally observable by you – or it may not. As a mentor, you want to keep your attention not on such external outcomes, but rather on the invitation to compassionate self-exploration and discovery.
“My Ideal Birth”
You might notice that this assignment does appear in Birthing from Within. However, over two decades of experience have shown us that it’s not actually an ideal assignment for parents in most contexts. The difficulty is that it tends to place parents in a very childlike, magical-thinking mindset, reinforcing the idea that if they truly believe in themselves, visualize hard enough, and make the right decisions, they will “get” the birth that they desire. The vast majority of experienced birth professionals will tell you immediately that this is simply not the way it works.
Rather than encouraging parents to obsess over the details of an ideal birth (or, more accurately, what they currently believe is an ideal birth), we want to focus on inviting a more mature, nuanced approach, with a focus on searching inwards for maps, paths, and solutions. Thinking only in terms of “my ideal birth” doesn’t offer the opportunity to consider the unexpected, the unwished-for, and the many large and small challenges that accompany the birthing experience and that should be normalized in parents’ minds.
“My Fears About Birth”
There is obvious value in exploring worries and fears in the course of birth preparation. However, having parents draw their fears may not be the best way to approach that task, since it requires them to envision and manifest the specifics of their own powerlessness and the concrete details of imaginary situations. In any case, ideas related to fears and anxieties will usually come up as the result of any birth art process, and indeed over the course of any birth-related conversation, even without your specific prompting. When fears and anxieties do come up, remind parents that worry is a normal, and perhaps even necessary, part of pregnancy. Focus your (and the parents’) attention not fleshing out the details of the hypothetical unwished-for event itself, but rather the ways in which they might cope with such an event; what they think they might need from those around them if such an event occurred; and how they might bring self-compassion to the experience.
Can I Create My Own Birth Art Assignments?
Of course you can! We do have some cautionary words, though…
The birth art assignments in this course are designed to cover pretty much any need or situation in the birth preparation process. Before trying to think up a new assignment, carefully review the ones from this course. Ask yourself what it is that you are wanting that is not addressed by any of these assignments, and ask yourself why it might not be addressed by any of these assignments. Is it because the thing that you have in mind isn’t the best fit with the Birthing from Within birth art model? (That might not always be the reason, but sometimes it is!)
If you decide that you do need to craft a new assignment, start by consulting “Birth art approaches and assignments that might trip you (and your clients) up.” Remind yourself as you work to think in terms of helping parents explore broad themes, rather than pointing them towards specific attitudes or decisions.
Week Two Homework: Beginning to Work with Parents
Submit a summary of your session by in our Community Group with the following information:
A brief one-paragraph introduction of your volunteer-artist, e.g., age, how many weeks pregnant or postpartum, and whatever is relevant to their preparation for birth or parenthood. (Be sure to maintain confidentiality with pseudonyms or initials.)
The birth art assignment you gave, and why you chose that assignment for this particular parent-artist.
The parent-artist's new questions, and relevant observations about the artist's art and journaling process.
How you determined when to prompt the parent-artist to keep going, and the words you used to prompt them (to the best of your recollection).
A moment of brilliance you had as a mentor.
A moment when you felt uncertain, or one that you'd like to do better next time.
The questions you have about the Birth Art process now.
Homework is due at least 24 hours before the next live call.