by Mandai Kadiatou

The Balinese have a variety of traditions and rituals around birth, which is making my midwifery training a tremendous, unique, and deeply healing experience. Each birth tells a different story and brings a whole new set of lessons. Each woman sings her own birth song and each baby comes in its own time when it decides when it will emerge from its mother's womb. There is much joy and celebration at the moment of birth and for days, if not months, afterwards, which is always such an honour to witness.

One of my many favourite aspects of the birthing clinic where I volunteer is its nonviolent philosophy. Our motto, perhaps borrowed by the late Jeannine Parvati Baker, but definitely known and practiced by midwives, is "Gentle Births to Heal the Earth". We practice a very hands-off approach which allows a woman to go deep into her trance, supported by her husband or family members, constantly being reassured that she is able to birth this baby and that her body is perfectly designed to do it naturally. This is crucial at a time when this developing country is embracing the expensive, flawed and political medical paradigm around birth.

As every hindu child is born, we sing the gayatri mantra to welcome it into the world. Every muslim baby is greeted with a praise to Allah.

A beautiful and touching aspect of the births we do is the Lotus Birth. This is when the umbilical cord is left intact after birth from an hour to several days. The baby and the placenta remain one unit until the parents decide to cut the cord, or in a full lotus birth, when the cord dries up and the baby kicks it off herself. The idea is that the placenta is an integral organ of the baby's body, and cutting it off suddenly can shock the baby physically, emotionally, and energetically. This is also a way of getting mama and baby, who were once one, to rest together, skin-to-skin, feeding and bonding, since moving around a baby AND a placenta can be a little cumbersome.

One way that we sometimes like to cut the cord is by burning it. Burning the cord pulls all the life-force energy of the placenta into the baby, therefore allowing the baby to feel complete despite losing a crucial organ. This is also a technique that is crucial during times of limited supplies, as it's completely sterile. Once again, the gayatri mantra is sung until the cord is completely burned off. The placenta is then immediately taken by the father, who goes and buries it in the family compound, so that the child will always be able to find his way home.

The respect for the integrity of the mama's and baby's mind, body and spirit is essential for peace to prevail on earth. When each human is treated with this kind of dignity, from the moment of birth onwards, it ripples out and reinforces the love that is necessary for humans to survive.