Episode 56: Embodying Birth, Reclaiming Sovereignty, Sexuality and Spirituality with Maha Al Musa

Maha Al Musa is an award winning International Birth Mentor, Teacher, Author, Speaker and the creator of EmbodyBirth™.

Maha gave birth to her 3rd child at home, a full water lotus birth when she was 46 years of age and has been featured in several worldwide media outlets such as Discovery Channel and CNN International, for her strong stance on natural term breastfeeding.

Maha’s book Dance of the Womb - The Essential Guide to Belly Dance for Pregnancy and Birth explores the enormous physical, emotional and spiritual benefits of belly dance as a prenatal exercise and process during labour. The book has been endorsed by renowned birth luminaries such as Dr. Michel Odent, the late Sheila Kitzinger, and Dr. Christiane Northrup.

Maha also offers her teachings in her online pregnancy and birth preparation program, EmbodyBirth™ - Unlock and Awaken Your Ancestral Womb Wisdom.

This program is for pregnant mums who innately know that giving birth is meant to be a sacred, instinctual and an embodied experience. This program is also for birth keepers wanting to reframe birth's purpose and be inspired by a view of birth that will raise human consciousness.

In this episode we talked about:

Maya always loved dancing and music and felt a strong connection which was a lifeline that helped to deal with painful early years
She was kidnapped from her mother aged 6months old and brought to Australia at 2 years old
Early experiences of severance from her mother, vigilance in her nervous system and fear
The rhythm of music reconnected her to the ‘mother within’
Maha comes from a Lebanese Christian and Palestinian Muslim background
Clearing body memory and the family line
“Healing isn’t a linear pathway”
Translating emotion into words, whilst expressing through dance and movement
Conscious sexuality and opening the pathway of the womb
The dance of the womb, the dance of life
Letting go of thinking, in order to feel
Female sexuality is often disregarded
Women’s voices are often diminished and limited in the birthing world
“The way the baby gets in is the way the baby gets out” - sexual energy creates and births the baby
Fear of the raw, wild power of womens’ sexuality in birth
Embodying all that we are
“Every voice and choice is valid”
“The problem is that globally, we see the pregnant body as a pathology. Womens’ bodies are not seen as robust and holistic”
The impact of fear. Imposed fear versus innate fear
Bringing women home to themselves. The expert lies within
“There are only three things you birth with: your body, your baby and your innate knowing”
The psychic highway between a mother and her baby
“Fear as a motivator for change”
Raising consciousness for humanity through birth
The womb is the creative portal, regardless of whether or not you are having children
“It’s a woman’s choice to birth in the way that she feels safest, the most secure”
Imprinting the chemicals, hormones and consciousness of love at birth
“We’re not revering and honoring birth in the way that we should”
Maha naturally conceived her third child at 45 and a half years. She birthed her at home in the water and had a lotus birth, aged 46 (leaving the umbilical cord uncut so that it naturally falls away)
Her grandmother had her nine babies in a birthing house
Drawing on her ancestors and culture
Byron Bay - with a homebirth culture in the 70s, 80s and 90s
“Sovereign is you at the centre, making the choices that resonant for you”
Power structures and birth
“Feminist birth: all my sisters are cared for and loved, not just the lucky ones”
Creating community and support. The circle of women
“The viral village”, that’s possible thanks to social media
Natural term breastfeeding. Child-led weaning
“The severing of mothers’ instincts”
Having her breastmilk tested at the Hartmann Institute, Australia, as a 50 year woman. The results showed healthy it was
“Mothers carry a lot of societies’ negativity”
“Have no fear. Live your truth”