Birthing Spirit

Heather Crawford

What do I do?

I have studied many different healing modalities and I currently work from a medical centre in Manly (Sydney, Australia) as an acupuncturist and herbalist: www.yourhealth.com.au. I see people for all sorts of things but mostly my practice revolves around women’s health, fertility and pregnancy. I also attend women in early labour at home or in hospital and I do postnatal homevisits.

I provide labour support as a doula, helping couples to welcome their baby (or babies!) feeling supported and confident. I provide support at hospital, birth centre and homebirths with a midwife.

I teach calmbirth® classes to couples wanting to tap into their inner resources that will help them to welcome their baby calmy and joyfully.

I study midwifery. Yes, I do somehow manage to fit it all in.  I am currently doing my 2nd year over 2 years and hope to finish in 2011.

And when I’m not doing all that?

I read – far too much than can possibly be healthy. I play my beloved (and completely gorgeous) piano while my neglected cello becomes a breeding ground for dust in the corner. I hang out with my lovely friends and family and eat lots of good food. I love food (although sometimes it doesn’t love me back) and fancy restaurants. I travel whenever I can. I get to yoga when I can.

I spend alot of time thinking of all the things I would do if I had more time… surfing lessons, dance classes, bush walking, early morning kayaking, horseriding, art classes, sewing my own clothes, improving my spanish…

What did I do before I did all that?

I studied Interior Design and International studies at uni for a few years on and off before finally kicking it in to run off and be a ski-instructor and travel the world (those teenagers, so flightly). I flitted about doing all sorts of odd jobs and courses between travel adventures, walked 1500kms along the Camino through France and Spain, lived in Andorra (in the Pyrenees) for 2 years (where I threw the skis in for a snowboard and haven’t looked back) before returning to Sydney to study Chinese Medicine at UTS.

While I was studying I found myself constantly reading about fertility, women’s health, pregnancy and birth and when I got to the birth bit I just couldn’t stop reading about it. I couldn’t believe the enormous disparity between the experiences of most western women and the evidence-based actuality of how birth unfolds best, for mum and bub.  With all this reading and research I thought I may aswell get a degree out of my extra-curricular activities…so now it’s curriculum.

I have studied NLP, TimeLine Therapy, Shamanic Healing, Reiki (Master level), spiritual healing, Bach and Bush Flower essences and Hypnotherapy.

Through all that I was on a spiritual search for…well, enlightenment I guess! Only to discover that there is no such thing (ultimately) and that all the peace, love and freedom I was looking for was always right here (the end) – phew! Everything else is just a really good story (including this one!). And although I still occassionally get caught up in the story, I know it’s just a little case of mistaken identity. Like playing a character in a play and forgetting for a second that it’s just a character – no harm done.

What’s with the love of birth?

I do love birth. But my passion is much more about supporting couples through this transformative time, supporting women’s choices and right to self-determination, honouring this amazing time in their lives and holding the space for them while they journey through it. I love it most when women don’t feel they need me for anything at all and can stand strong in their own power. Being with women through this journey and witness to their strength is an absolute honour…and totally addictive. Since discovering the truth about birth I am commited to providing evidence-based information to couples so they can make their own choices about the care they recieve and how they welcome their baby.

Of course none of the above matters at all, except as a nice story. No words can capture the rapture of just Being

Heather

Acupucturist | Herbalist | Childbirth Doula

www.birthingspirit.com.au

WITH THAT MOON LANGUAGE

  

Admit something:

 

Everyone you see, you say to them, “Love me.”

 

Of course you do not do this out loud, otherwise
someone would call the cops.

 

Still, though, think about this, this great pull in us to connect.

 

Why not become the one who lives with a
full moon in each eye that is
always saying,

with that sweet moon language,
what every other eye in
this world is
dying to
hear?

- Hafiz