Unfortunately in the western world, most of us have been conditioned to avoid feeling our feelings. It can be hard to be vulnerable and share with others, as we risk being judged and feeling ashamed or misunderstood.
We may avoid dealing with our pain by stuffing our feelings down with food, watching television, checking Facebook or our email instead. It could mean opening another bottle of wine, spending money, being “too busy” or sometimes lashing out at others.
Unresolved emotions and trauma don’t always go away easily. If we don’t deal with them they can sit under the surface festering. At a future time when we experience a shock, high stress or trauma, guess what? It’s often still sitting there waiting to be resolved, only now there’s another layer (or layers) on top to be dealt with as well.
Healing your story – a gift to yourself and womankind
As a Birth Story Healer, I want to encourage anyone who feels stuck or unresolved about their birth (pregnancy or post-natal experience) to reach out and take steps to heal it, for your current and future wellbeing. I see frequently in sessions, clients who didn’t even realise how much their everyday life was being impacted. Their self-expression, connection, self-esteem, relationships, physical health and sense of peace have often taken a toll, that can usually be relieved in a short amount of time, with the right support to help them heal and find new meaning in their experience.
If not only for these reasons then also consider that recent research indicates trauma can be passed down through our DNA, affecting our future children and grandchildren. In the words of Christiane Northrup, “Every woman who heals herself helps heal all the women who came before her and all those who come after.” We all have the power to be this woman.
Can you imagine the possible ripple effect that could happen if we started to realise the impact of not healing our birth stories, and started to heal them?
If you were left feeling emotionally affected or traumatised after giving birth, have you sought help to resolve your feelings?
If not, what’s stopping you?
How might it help, if you could feel differently about your birth?
Nicole Tricarico is an experienced Birthing From Within Mentor, Birth Story Healer and Naturopath. Her own experience of healing birth trauma has inspired a desire to support others through the unique process of Birth Story Medicine. She is training to be a facilitator for Birthing From Within and Birth Story Listening in Australia and New Zealand. Catch up with Nicole or follow her work on her website Your Birth Support, and follow her on Facebook.
This work is life altering in so many ways. Providing a new perspective for parents or birth workers to be with a birth can impact their lives emotionally, socially, and even physically. Thank you for sharing this, Nicole.