The Hidden Dictatorship

I am sharing with you today an excerpt from the new book that I am writing with Binnie A Dansby.  In Chapter Five we look at 'The Hidden Dictatorship" that is currently influencing the choices we make!

Most people do not question the democratic structure under which they live, choosing to believe that essentially, both governments and corporate organisations, on the whole, act for the benefit and well-being of the people. One reason why they don’t is that they have been programmed by the ‘powers at be’ not to. For most people it is much easier and safer to stay ignorant of these hidden machinations.  Although the evidence is all around us, we choose not to see it! 

For instance, most people do not know that;

• ·      At the beginning of the twentieth century, The Rockefeller Foundation, as a means of improving their tarnished image, donated vast sums of money to medical research and education, forever changing the direction of medical knowledge towards a pharmaceutical application and away from herbal medicine and natural healing techniques.
• ·      The international pharmaceutical giant, Bayer was once part of I G Farben, the organisation that conducted human medical experiments at Auschwitz during the Second World War.
• ·      Pharmaceutical companies sponsor ongoing Post Graduate Medical Education, specifically biasing the curriculum to recommend the use of their medications or treatments.
• ·      Medical Professionals receive financial incentives and perks from the Pharmaceutical companies to promote their products.
• ·      US government agricultural policy and corporate decisions in the 1970’s have directly contributed to the global obesity epidemic of today.
• ·      The financially powerful food industries of Great Britain and North America have systematically supressed numerous reports, discredited books and quashed government policies that have;

o   stated clearly that high levels of sugars in a person’s diet leads to obesity and other related diseases

o   recommended limiting advertising & other promotional activities used by the food industries to encourage us to eat more and more unhealthy food

o   produced guidelines to limit people’s intake of sugars

o   shown that children are no less active now than they were 30 years ago although childhood obesity continues to increase

• The Food Industry continue to refuse to take responsibility stating that each individual is responsible for their own food consumption and blame lack of exercise for the rising levels of obesity.

Knowledge is a form of power and we have the means at our disposal to source great amounts of knowledge.  A simple search on the internet will produce all manner of facts, figures, opinions and stories.  Each of us need to WAKE UP to what is going on out there and start to make choices that are much healthier (mind, body & spirit) for both ourselves and our families!  

Stay tuned as this is only a taste of the information that will be available in our upcoming series of books called 'The Wake Up" Series!  

If you like what you are reading then please share with others and also sign up for my monthly Inner Sense Newsletter.

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Surrender - The Art of Letting Go

What does Surrender mean?

Surrender is the process of letting go of that which we no longer need!  Letting go of our RESISTANCE.  Letting go of  FEARS. Letting go of PAINFUL emotions. Letting go of thoughts or actions that cause negativity in our lives.

Resistance is our response to deeply held FEARS.  What we most resist is what we most need to heal or change.  I am sure you have all had the experience of wanting to do something new to create change in your life, only to find excuses, blocks, obstacles  and ways to avoid the task or issue  completely? 
To surrender your old thoughts, beliefs, habits, friends, job, and lifestyle that no longer serves you does NOT mean that you are weak or giving up! It is actually the opposite!
It takes great COURAGE to face up to our FEARS, fight our resistance and create something new.

Why Surrender???

Surrender is a CATALYST for personal CHANGE
Surrender allows us to to be REBORN into a new consciousness, a new way of being!
Surrender brings a great sense of FREEDOM to your life.
Surrender brings you into CONNECTION with the universe, other people and most of all yourself!

Surrender & Birth

Surrender is an ESSENTIAL part of achieving a natural birth!

When a woman trusts her body, releases her fears and allows her body to do what it has been created to do, then natural birth is the usual result.  You can also take it one step further and fully surrender yourself to the physiological process that is birth.  It is in this state that ECSTATIC Birth becomes possible! 

I experienced fear and resistance to the innate power in my body during my first child's birth.  I had never experienced anything like it and the intensity brought up very deeply held fears about life and death.  It wasn't until I surrendered to this power that my baby was able to be born, breech and beautiful!

Most women experience fear in childbirth at some stage of the process and enlightened support understands how to allay those fears and encourage the woman to fully surrender herself to the birth. In most cases, the medical model of birth only serves to create more fears and resistance with all of its protocols and high tech management of the process. 

It is time the Medical System surrendered its control over a process that is at its heart natural and one of life's miracles!

The first part of this article is an excerpt from my June Newsletter - Inner Sense News

If you would like to sign up to my montlhy newsletter please log on to my website and enter your name and email address!

My article on Ecstatic Birth - Living Now Magazine Australia

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW about ecstatic birth by 
Lynne Thorsen

“There is a secret in our culture, and it’s not that childbirth is painful, it’s that women are strong.” ― Laurie Stavoe Harm

When most people think of the words ecstatic and birth in the same sentence they think that it is some trumped up myth by a bunch of hippies on drugs!
It’s not the reality of birth!
Currently, birth is surrounded by
an aura of FEAR, propagated by media portrayals, reinforced by the authoritarian medical system and cultivated by global corporations profiting from current birthing practices.
Most adults alive today have been born through pain and struggle. The majority
of modern women are rendered helpless, hopeless and powerless as the obstetrical machine assumes control over their births and triumphantly hands them their baby. Most people believe that they have no choice! We have been programmed to distrust our own anatomy and fear the innate power that resides in every cell.
Increasingly, many women report being left with physical and emotional scars after highly interventionist medical births. The result is women who feel disempowered, manipulated and abused by insensitive
and authoritarian medical professionals. They express feelings of loss, failure and
a deep desire for more. The incidence of post-natal depression is increasing, as are behavioural conditions in children such as autism, ADHD and excessive violence in our society. There are a number of scientists and psychologists who are suggesting that there is a link between traumatic birth experiences and these conditions.1
WHAT IS ‘ECSTATIC BIRTH’ THEN?
Ecstasy or ecstatic is defined as an overwhelming feeling of happiness or joyful excitement and can involve an experience of mystic self-transcendence.2
Therefore it is an experience of birth that transcends a normal state; a physical and spiritual transformation, producing lasting sensations of joy, excitement and happiness. This indicates something more than just being relieved or happy to receive a living baby at the end of a traumatic medical birth.
There is a growing number of women and couples who choose to be the authority in the birth process. They avoid or adapt the medical model to birth naturally and ecstatically.
My first baby was breech. The system recommended a caesarean. I did my research and decided that I could birth her at home with an experienced midwife.
I will never forget the euphoria I felt at the moment of her birth, triumphing over the system and discovering my inner source of feminine power. It was transformational on every level. It was so incredible that I vowed that I wanted to help other women experience that ecstasy too!
WHY ARE NATURAL BIRTHS ‘ECSTATIC’ AND MEDICAL BIRTHS NOT?
The physiological system of natural birth (no medical intervention) is exquisitely

designed and balanced. There is a gradual development and intensification during labour that allows the mother to expand and open her body and for the baby to adapt and participate in the process.
Natural labour is divided into three stages: 1. Expansion and dilation of the pelvis
and cervix,
2. Pushing and birthing
3. Placenta delivery, uterus returning to
size, blood loss stemmed
Each stage is augmented by the ‘cocktail’ of birth hormones that is gradually released into the mother’s bloodstream to produce the muscular contractions required, regulate blood flow and activate emotional responses in the mother’s brain. They also cross the placental membrane to benefit the baby. These hormones include oxytocin, beta- endorphins, catecholamines and prolactin. The production of all four types of hormones builds gradually in both the mother and baby during labour, peaking at the moment of birth.
The most significant of these hormones is oxytocin, which is vital during every
stage for optimal functioning of all the components necessary for a successful natural, ecstatic birth. According to Professor Sue Carter, oxytocin is the hormone of love and is connected to the sensations of euphoria, ecstasy, well-being and security. Oxytocin levels are highest in humans during social contact, sex, orgasm, pregnancy, natural birth and breastfeeding.3 The beta-endorphins are the body’s natural pain regulators, providing relief for both mother and baby as the intensification
of energy and sensations progressively increase. The catecholamines, adrenalin and noradrenalin, are there to increase levels of excitement and muscular effort required to stimulate the foetal ejection reflex at birth. Prolactin, in combination with oxytocin produces the feelings of love, tenderness
and protection associated with motherhood and is present in breast milk. According to Michel Odent, prolactin ensures that the mother will direct these feelings towards her baby. The levels of oxytocin and prolactin remain high after birth in order to eject
the placenta, contract the uterus, initiate breastfeeding and promote attachment and bonding between mother and baby.4
The key to the optimal functioning of this cocktail of hormones is the balance, regulation and perfectly timed release during natural labour. Unfortunately the medical model of birth interferes with this synchronicity. It is unable to replicate this naturally occurring phenomenon.
Synthetic oxytocin, commonly known as Pitocin or Syntocinon, used to induce labour and to expel the placenta, does
not produce the same effects as natural oxytocin. It does not cross over to the brain to produce sensations of ecstasy and love. It is continually administered by IV drip and cannot be regulated like natural oxytocin. It suppresses natural oxytocin production and increases the length and intensity of contractions, causing both maternal and foetal distress.

If the mother is feeling unsafe or unsupported her fear and anxiety levels increase, which creates tension in her body. This tension opposes the releasing action of labour, and pain is the result. This is known as the ‘fear-tension-pain’ syndrome5. It can be triggered by fear of birth, moving from the security of the home environment to
the hospital, encountering insensitive or too many medical personnel or being subjected to invasive or restrictive medical procedures.
In response the body will produce too much adrenalin/noradrenalin in the early stages of labour. This increases muscular tension and reduces oxytocin and beta- endorphin production resulting in even higher levels of pain. Administering synthetic pain relieving drugs through IV
or epidurals further inhibits the natural production of oxytocin, beta-endorphins and prolactin. It also restricts freedom of movement, causing discomfort and the inability to use gravity and movement to assist in the progression of the baby through the birth canal.
The natural system of birth is rendered useless by medical interventions resulting in the cascade of further interventions and the possibility of a caesarean section.
WHY CHOOSE AN ECSTATIC BIRTH?
The benefits are numerous and long lasting. 1. Your baby is welcomed in love, joy and
excitement.
2. Post birth recovery is faster,
breastfeeding easier and there are lower
rates of post-natal depression.
3. You experience the emotional and spiritual transcendence of a truly
co-creative experience.
4. The transformational experience of self-
empowerment.
5. The long-term emotional and physical
health and well-being of both mother and child!
MY 5 TOP TIPS TO CREATING AN ECSTATIC BIRTH
1. Knowledge is power
The key is understanding and developing trust in the natural birth process and your own body.
• Research everything you can on ‘ecstatic
birth’ or ‘natural empowered birth’
• Read natural birth guide books. Check
out these authors:
o Dr Sarah Buckley, Ina May Gaskin,
Michel Odent, Sheila Kitzinger,
Frederic Leboyer
• Read Childbirth Without Fear by Dr
Grantly Dick-Read
• Read or listen to other ecstatic birth
stories
• Attend informative seminars or retreats • Watch empowered birth films
2. Release your fears
Attend workshops or have individual therapy sessions that are designed to release your fears about birth. Consider: • Hypnobirthing
• Breathwork
• Guided visualisations
• Independent birth preparation classes • Natural therapies; acupuncture,
kinesiology, reflexology or NLP.

3. Prepare your body, mind and spirit
Preparation is the key to success. I recommend:
• Researching
• Workshops and classes
• Breathing and visualisation techniques • Pre-natal yoga and exercise
• Maintaining a healthy diet
• Herbal supplements or homeopathic
remedies
• Perineal massage
• Acupuncture, reflexology and cranial
sacral osteopathy
• Rest and adequate sleep • Sexual stimulation
• Meditation
• Affirmations and prayer
4. Surround yourself with enlightened support
Everyone who is present during the
birth will cause an effect and positive, strong, enlightened support is essential. It is important to realise that it is challenging, although not impossible,
to find the support you need within the traditional medical system.
I strongly recommend:
• Hire a doula or independent midwife.
• Choose supporters, including partner,
who fully understand, trust and respect
your wishes.
• Choose medical personnel carefully;
ensure they support your choices! Know
your rights!
• Choose the most supportive
environment for you to achieve an
ecstatic birth.
• Use physical support such as birth
balls, birthing pools, conscious breathing, hypnosis techniques or massage during the birth,
5. Consciously co-create with your baby
Acknowledge that your baby is conscious and communicating:
• Communicate non-verbally with your
baby during pregnancy
• Listen in and communicate with your
baby during labour
• Welcome your baby and treat them to
skin on skin contact in their first
moments
• Delay cord-clamping to allow the
maximum cord blood transfusion for the baby’s well-being
My experience and research has shown me that ‘ecstatic birth’ is not an aberration – it is the genetic blueprint and birth right of every woman. It is time to change the story! Lets take the opportunity to create a new paradigm; ecstatic birth – a new future for birth and society!
1 Dr Roy Dittman - Brighton Baby, David B Chamberlain- Windows to the womb, birth and the origins of violence
2 http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/ ecstatic
3 The healing power of love – Oxytocin, Professor Sue Carter, www.stephenporges.com
4 Gentle birth, Gentle Mothering – Dr Sarah J Buckley, Ch 2 ecstatic birth, One Moon Press, Australia, 2005.
5 Dr Grantly Dick Read, Childbirth without Fear

18 may 2013

www.livingnow.com.au

Tick Tock - Our Future Potential

Something you can do to Change the World
When I was pregnant with my first child, I learnt about the benefits of delaying clamping of the umbilical cord until it had stopped pulsating.  My understanding at the time was that it was beneficial to the baby to transiton to being born and for their immediate health and well being.  My husband and I chose to delay clamping until some 5-10 minutes after birth for all three of our children. It is only recently that I have learnt and begun to appreciate the HUGE impact that allowing the transfusion of all the cord blood into the baby,  has on the physical and mental potential of an individual.
This is not just about the first minutes or months of life, this has an impact for the rest of their lives!
Why?
A baby's blood before birth is constantly being pumped through the mother via the cord and placenta.  At the time of birth, 30% of the baby's blood is outside of its body.  The cord then pulses to return all of that vital blood containing Oxygen, red blood cells, white blood cells, iron & other nutrients and stem cells back to the baby, nourishing them abundantly and providing them with all they need for their first minutes, days, hours, months and even years when it comes to optimal brain development and health.
It seems incredulous to me that our revered medical system has remained so ignorant to the effect a simple act like immediate cord clamping has on limiting our human potential.
This is definitely a case of nature knows best as you can find no other mammallian species that will sever their young's cord until after it has ceased pulsating.  Why then do human's, supposedly sitting at the top of the food chain, perform this devasting act on its most vulnerable?
The scientific and social evidence is now coming to light about this issue, however people are notoriously slow to change habits, therefore if want to create global change quickly, we all need to participate in the change.
How?
A pediatrician called Alan Greene, has in conjunction with other groups, started a campaign called Tick Tock.  He believes that we can significantly change the world in regards to human intelligence and physical health by allowing each baby that is born to enjoy the benefits of receiving its birthright, cord blood.  Waiting a mere 90 seconds after birth before clamping the cord will allow the baby to recieve a significant percentage of this nutrient rich blood.  Waiting even longer will allow them to receive all of it.  Optimal cord clamping can be achieved for all types of births, vaginal, caesarean, home, hospital, water etc.
There are two calls to action which are highlighted in the below video of a TED talk that he gave.

1/ Request optimal cord clamping (cord has stopped pulsating) for all your loved ones
2/ Share this information with everyone you know and are on your social and business networks

This is the power of the people! Please Share this with your world!
WE CAN CHANGE THE WORLD

Empowering Change

Birth impacts the life you go on to lead and therefore impacts society because society is the sum total of all the individuals in it!

Babies born into fear and struggle become people who live in fear and struggle.

Babies separated from their source (mother) in their first moments on earth become people who think they are alone and have to do it all on their own. Instantly they have lost connection to the concept that WE ARE ALL ONE!

Strong beliefs are formed in those first moments!

It is up to us to help change how the next generation is welcomed on earth

When I started writing this blog over a year ago, I was convinced that I wanted to change the consciousness around birth so that babies can come into the world in joy and ecstasy and mothers can harness the power of the divine feminine to enhance their lives.  NOW I realise that it is much more than that. 

I have a vision of a world where people live in harmony, corporations only produce and promote products and services that are for the good of all and nature is respected and sustained!

I realise now that my mission is to EMPOWER CHANGE!

Visit my revolutionised website and sign up to receive Insights and Infomation direct to your inbox so that we can do this together   www.lynnethorsen.com

If we CHANGE Birth we can CHANGE the world!

DECIDE to be your own Birth Leader

I recently read a post by Deepak Chopra on the subject of how to be a good leader and I decided that it was perfect advice in how to manifest the birth you want!

Step One - Assess the risk to reward ratio & gather evidence.
This is the stage where you find out as much about the birth you want as you can.  Assess if there are risks and also what are the rewards.  Determine if the rewards outweigh the risks and gather as much evidence as you can to support your decision.  You may need this to argue your case with your health professional.  For example if you are someone who wants to have a VBAC (vaginal birth after caesarean) you would be well served to find out all the facts about uterine rupture as research that I have conducted shows that the risk is far less than many health professionals will tell you.  The more knowledge you have the more power you have!  You will have far more success in having your decision supported.

Step Two -  Judge the opposition and gather a team that supports your values and goals
It is important to understand the opposition that you may meet in your quest and have answers at the ready. Be prepared to shop around if you cannot get the support you need.  Start gathering a team that will support your goal.  There are many professionals that will support goals like natural unmedicated birth, VBAC, Vaginal Breech Birth etc.  Also educate the people closest to you such as your partner, mother, friends and other children.

Step Three -  Think outside the box to avoid rigid, fear based thinking.  Learn to trust the wisdom of your instincts.
Currently birth is surrounded by conservative, fear based thinking.  If you desire a more natural birth, it is necessary to think outside the square, be creative and trust the wisdom that your body has innately.  Female bodies know how to birth, this is the great gift of your own internal wisdom.  TRUST, TRUST, TRUST!

Step Four - Generate enthusiasm, loyalty and esprit de corps among your followers.
Your belief, trust and enthusiasm will spread to your supporters.  You may even find that it spreads to others and inspires others to follow in your footsteps.  Your positive energy will create positive energy around you.  I have read many inspiring birth stories where the positive energy and strength of conviction of the birthing mama has influenced and enlightened the birth professionals working with her.  In some cases it has changed the way they practice forever!

Thankyou Deepak Chopra for these wise words, which fit so perfectly to the Birth Process

NATURAL BIRTH REQUIRES SAFETY & PRIVACY

NATURAL BIRTH REQUIRES THE MOTHER TO FEEL SAFE AND UNOBSERVED

“Anything that disturbs a labouring woman’s sense of safety and privacy will disrupt the birth process.  This definition covers most of modern obstetrics, which has created an entire industry around the observation and monitoring of pregnant and birthing women.”[1]

Dr Sarah J Buckley

In order for the natural system of birth to begin functioning optimally with a gradual release and build up of the birthing hormones, the mother needs to feel safe and unobserved!

Safety is a deep instinctual primal need for a woman to feel comfortable enough to relax into the physical state of vulnerability required for birthing.  We can observe how animals instinctually seek out a secluded, hidden safe place in which to birth their young.

During the preparatory phase before the onset of labour, women will instinctively want to find this private, safe place.  This is the time that many women start ‘nesting’ activities; renovating, cleaning and preparing for the birth.  As the majority of women in the developed world birth in hospital, packing the hospital bag has replaced preparing the home as the most common ‘nesting’ activity.

Our culture has been programmed to believe that hospital is the “safe” place for birth and many women want to race off there at the first signs of labour.  Often, once they arrive, their bodies instinctively do not feel safe or unobserved and for many women, labour slows down or stops altogether.  This then validates the belief that women’s bodies are not to be trusted to birth by themselves and that they require all the intervention that the medical model offers.  It is in this situation of arrested labour that the 'cascade of intervention' begins with labour inducing drugs, electronic foetal monitors, restricted movement, large technological machines, epidurals and finally the caesarean section.  From the moment she arrives, fear is building in the mother.  Fear is contraindicated to natural birth.

Privacy is essential for a woman to feel safe and comfortable to surrender and let go; to allow the body to find its own wisdom in how to birth the baby. Sadly, there is little if any privacy in the hospital setting.  Strangers, bright lights, machines, people coming in and out of the room at will, loud noises. Labouring women are often subjected to invasive procedures such as internal examinations, catheter insertion, IV insertion, attachment of the EFM to the babies head and their genitals on show with little respect for the sanctity of birth and  the need for privacy.  Giving Birth is a truly intimate act, not unlike the act of lovemaking which put the baby there in the first place.  Making love in full view of a room of strangers is not conducive to a relaxing and ecstatic experience, the same applies to birth.  Even some homebirth midwives do not create enough privacy for the labouring woman and her partner.

If you want this situation to change then you, the consumer needs to start demanding increased safety and  privacy in the birth setting.  If you don't get the answers you want, then change doctors, change hospitals and spend your money where you can get what you want!  This is the power of the people!  We have a choice as to how and to whom we spend our money!

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[1] Dr Sarah J Buckley, Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering, One Moon Press, 2005, P110.

BIRTH: Nature Knows Best

We are living in a world that has decided that technology and machines can replace the natural physiology of the human body.  One of the reasons is that there is a lot of money to be made out of all things man-made.  In this series of posts I am going to examine the requirements of the ‘birth system’ so that it can function optimally, the natural physiological responses of the ‘birth system’ and the consequences of inhibiting and trying to control nature.

Obstetricians, as members of society, tend to blind faith in technology and the mantra: technology = progress = modern. The other side of the coin is the lack of faith in nature, best expressed by a Canadian obstetrician: 'Nature is a bad obstetrician.' So the idea is to conquer nature and results in the widespread application of attempts to improve on nature before scientific evaluation. This has led to a series of failed attempts in the twentieth century to improve on biological and social evolution. Doctors replaced midwives for low risk births, then science proved midwives safer. Hospital replaced home for low risk birth, then science proved home as safe with far less unnecessary intervention. Hospital staff replaced family as birth support, then science proved birth safer if family present. Lithotomy replaced vertical birth positions, then science proved vertical positions safer. Newborn examinations away from mothers in the first 20 minutes replaced leaving babies with mothers, then science proved the necessity for maternal attachment during this time. Man-made milk replaced woman-made milk, then science proved breast milk superior. The central nursery replaced the mother, then science proved rooming-in superior. The incubator replaced the mother's body for care of low-weight newborns, then science proved the kangaroo method better in many cases.

If more doctors experienced an earthquake or volcano, they would realize their ideas of controlling nature are nothing more than stories to rewrite insignificance.

Dr Marcus Wagner[1]

The human body is an amazing piece of structural, chemical and electrical engineering.  There are a myriad of systems that integrate and work together to establish and maintain internal equilibrium or balance.  At university I studied Anatomy, physiology, exercise physiology and biomechanics and was constantly in awe as I learnt the intricacies and machinations of the human body.  What makes humans so interesting is the role that consciousness plays in physical responses to internal and external environments.  Whereas most other mammals respond to bodily requirements such as eating, drinking and birth with instinctual actions, we humans influence and control these actions with conscious thoughts and emotions.

A human body consists of its anatomy and physiological systems. Examples of these are the respiratory, digestive and circulatory systems, to name a few, which contribute to the optimal functioning of the body during its everyday activities.  I now understand that Birth too, is another perfectly designed physiological system.  It is activated when the innate consciousness of both the baby and mother release the trigger, suggested to be the hormone, oxytocin.  As in all the other physiological systems, to function optimally, birth requires healthy nutrition, a relaxed emotional state and no interference from external stimulants.  .

It is interesting to note that the obstetrical industry only began in the sixteenth century and it was not until the twentieth century that it really began to take over birth.  In 1972 the caesarean rate in the US was only 3% and that has now risen to 33% in 2011.  Humans have been birthing and evolving for 2 millioin years, mostly without obstetrical intervention.  Therfore the notion that we NEED obstetrical assistance is a mere blip, not even worth registering on the continuum of human existence.  Although we are several generations into this model of care, now is the time to re examine the facts and remember that nature knows best.

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[1] Marsden Wagner, MD, MSPH, Fish Can't See Water: The Need to Humanize Birth in Australia