A blessingway is a beautiful way for the expectant mother’s friends and family to welcome the new baby into the world. It is typically held in the third trimester, but it can really be held anytime during the pregnancy. It is meant to be a celebration by the whole community to welcome this new life into their lives and prepare the mother for the birth of the baby and her impending motherhood. Different activities can be done during blessingways. Generally the idea is that the family and friends of the mother celebrate and consciously prepare for the arrival of the child into their lives. The coming of a new baby in the community provides no better opportunity for introspection and a re-evaluation of our hugely important roles as careproviders, nurturers and educators of the future generation.
I was privileged enough to be a part of a blessingway for a dear friend, Deep. Deep was one of my first HypnoBirhting students when I started giving classes in 2011. She has been an invaluable contributor to The Gentle Birthing Group, online and offline. She has a boundless energy and enthusiasm when it comes to birth and has truly been an asset to the birth community for the past several years. She holds a special place in my heart and I’m so glad I was able to help her organize her blessingway.
She invited people whom she hadn’t seen in a long time and invited me to do some hypnosis together with a mutual friend to do some other activities. We started off with big plans to do belly painting, among other things, but in the end we had to keep it flexible because some people arrived late and some had to leave early. It actually worked out well when the event took on a life of its own.
Deep was the QUEEN for the day, and so she deserved to be pampered!! We started off with a foot bath – flower petals and essential oils in warm water. Each of us massaged a different part of her body while sending her and baby well-wishes. We then wrapped her belly to provide additional support for her back, and help baby get into a good position. (This is actually very helpful for pregnant mothers and I’ve done this with mothers even during births to help baby descend in a more encouraging position and get labour to a more regular rhythm.)
We then sat around a circle and each shared how Deep has touched each of our lives. Some of us read her poems. This was definitely an emotional part. Deep has touched alot of us in our individual lives… so there was alot of tears 😛 It was eye-opening and heart-opening to listen to everyone’s tributes and wishes. As some of us hadn’t seen each other for years, this sharing also enabled us to reconnect. We could feel our psychological barriers come down and we were able to just be and revel in the warmth and compassionate energies we each exuded.
Deep was the QUEEN for the day, and so she deserved to be pampered!! We started off with a foot bath – flower petals and essential oils in warm water. Each of us massaged a different part of her body while sending her and baby well-wishes. We then wrapped her belly to provide additional support for her back, and help baby get into a good position. (This is actually very helpful for pregnant mothers and I’ve done this with mothers even during births to help baby descend in a more encouraging position and get labour to a more regular rhythm.)
We then sat around a circle and each shared how Deep has touched each of our lives. Some of us read her poems. This was definitely an emotional part. Deep has touched alot of us in our individual lives… so there was alot of tears 😛 It was eye-opening and heart-opening to listen to everyone’s tributes and wishes. As some of us hadn’t seen each other for years, this sharing also enabled us to reconnect. We could feel our psychological barriers come down and we were able to just be and revel in the warmth and compassionate energies we each exuded.
We then each wrote inspiring, motivational quotes on a card so that Deep can read them during her birth and gain strength from them. We did gratitude exercises sharing how and why we are grateful for our children and what motherhood has taught each of us. An emotional session – it reminded us, that we are all teachers for each other, but more so we are all learners – and motherhood is one of the greatest of life’s lessons.
“It takes a village to raise a child” goes the saying. But in this day and age, when urban living, nuclear families, technological devices and increasingly individualistic mindsets has forced us to radically redefine the village, it is ESPECIALLY difficult for mothers to get the support that we so need. A blessingway is a beautiful way to gather the tribe of the motherbaby and prepare for the coming of a child ina meaningful and conscious manner.
