Date: 27th and 28th April 2024

Time: 8.30am - 5pm

Where: WHEEL OF LIFE STUDIO, BRUNSWICK HEADS

Birthwork Downunder® workshops present an extraordinary blend of body knowledge, body awareness, body work and profoundly attentive tender touch - that has been appreciated by hundreds of parents-to-be, midwives, doulas, osteopaths, chiropractors, physiotherapists and bodyworkers.  

With a unique perspective, essential birth knowledge is shared in a relaxed style. Complex pelvic anatomy is creatively woven into highly effective hands-on body skills. This invaluable material is practical and do-able in any birth environment. It can be easily passed on and shared, and is fundamental knowledge missing from conventional (professional) midwifery, doula and birth education training.

Whatever your background, there is always more to discover. Don’t miss this precious opportunity to delve deeper into effective ways of facilitating birth and positively enhancing your practice. 

Become better skilled and deeply fascinated with exploring and understanding women’s bodies in relation to birth and pelvic health. Help the women you serve and work with to connect with, understand, admire, prepare and heal their sacred pelvic space.

The Power of Your Touch & Tenderness
How do you feel about touching? Or intervening in birth? There are wonderful hands-on techniques that can help realise anatomical and physiological potential for pregnancy & birth. They are an important aid to relaxation, the release of compensatory and unconscious tensions, and optimising the baby's position and pelvic dimensions. But when you use your hands, and use techniques, how do touch? What do you notice? What is your intention? How do you engage with a highly sensitive woman?  

The way you touch can greatly enhance a technique and affect the nervous system. Important touch considerations lay a foundation for the practice of techniques and also a better understanding of the dynamics of giving and receiving. 
 

Learn respectful touch, noticing and intention with ‘Touch Awareness’
 
The Power of Utilising the Breath 
Employing the breath appropriately will amplify any touch/bodywork, birth preparation, and birth. It enables presence, supreme focus, tension release and an increase of circulation and function to pelvic structures and systems.
 

Learn ‘Focussed Breathing’ - a highly effective practice to share with pregnant women & a key skill to utilise in any simple or complex birth
 

The Bony Pelvis
How well do you really know your bony pelvis?
What is the true angle of the dangle? Why is the backside so intrinsic to birth? Have you ever felt your pubic arch and its relationship to your outlet?

Learn:

- how to map your own bony pelvis so you can support a woman in appreciating her unique bony pelvis.

- understand the dynamic nature of anatomy and the need to be creative with body positions in labour

Now that you know your pelvis and the bony landmarks…

Learn highly effective techniques to open the pelvis for OP baby, ascynclitic head, slow labour, incoordinate labour, or big baby.
‘The Hip Swing’
‘The Sacral Swing’
‘The Sit Bone Opener’

The Pelvic Floor Complex including The Cervix and Her Support Crew
How many levels are there of this magnificent structure? Is it really a floor? What is its relevance to birth? Where does the cervix go in labour? Why is she slow to open sometimes? Is she really to blame for being thick, incompetent, rigid, posterior, unfavourable? Or is there more? What does it really mean to 'let go' in labour?  
 

Learn to:
- Understand the interconnections of the Pelvic Floor and pelvic organs better
- Release the Pelvic Clock
- Let go all of the pelvic diaphragm with a 'Sploosh’

DAY TWO  

Exploring the Difference between Tone & Tension
Learn about following the path of freedom, and how to address and work with conscious and unconscious tensions in the body.

Techniques to Release Tension
Jiggling is a highly effective and recommended way to release tension, synchronise body systems, prepare for birth, make more space for the baby, and calm the nervous system. It's also a highly enjoyable and easy to teach practice for couples preparing for birth. Become a jiggler extraordinaire! 
 

Learn:
- Pelvic Jiggling of the bum, sacrum, legs using your hands
- Innovative ways to touch indirectly using a cloth or the traditional Mexican shawl ‘the rebozo’ :
  - to release tension in the pelvis and legs
  - can be done when an epidural is in place 

Postpartum Care 
Too often post birth care is neglected or mis-understood. But the mother’s womb is heavy and in need of tender care; tissues are healing and in need of support.

Learn:
- Effective and practical ways to support the healing womb with a ‘faja’
- When and how to engage the tender pelvic muscles
- Focussed breathing in reverse to support the vulnerable pelvic organs
- How to support healing of the diastasis of the rectus abdominus muscle