The My Body Rocks Project

I'm so excited to share with you information about my new "baby" - The My Body Rocks Project. The goal of The My Body Rocks Project is to offer workshops, classes and retreats that take mothers to the soul of their stories. Using storytelling, writing, movement, relaxation, and performance techniques, The My Body Rocks Project focuses on transforming the way you understand yourself and revolutionizing the way our culture understands mothering issues.

I want you to know that I'm not abandoning BOLD or my play Birth. I will continue to these projects. But through my new venture I'm following the character Amanda's birthing mantra - "My Body Rocks" - and going with my gut feeling that what mothers need today is a place where they can get into their bodies and express their soul. After meeting so many mothers through my work I'm convinced "My Body Rocks" is a mantra we all need, whether it's when we give birth or at other times in our lives.

I feel a bit naked sharing this very personal work with you. But that's what The My Body Rocks Project is all about. It's about getting naked and being your authentic self. I'm convinced this is when we start making wise "My Body Rocks" decisions.

I invite you to check out the workshops and course I've developed as part of this project. This spring I will begin offering them in my hometown of Washington, DC and soon after on the road. Feel free to contact me if any of these speak to you and your community and you'd like me to bring it to your area. The 5-day Writing and Performance workshop is perfect for creating sisterhood, raising awareness and raising money for local childbirth issues.

Also, if you're a birth worker or birth activist I'd love to see you this summer at the retreat I'm giving July 25-30 "A BOLD Body and Soul Retreat for Birth Workers and Activists" at the magical Lifebridge Sanctuary in Rosendale, New York. This retreat is about personal transformation and rejuvenation. As an activist myself, and knowing all that birth workers and activists give every day through my work with BOLD, I felt the time was now to create a sacred space for us to gather yearly and re-charge and renew so we can keep giving to the childbirth movement. I'd love to see you there.

To keep in touch with me if you're on Facebook friend me! And be sure to become a fan of The My Body Rocks Project Facebook page.

Finally, for those of you wondering what my next writing project is...let's just say I'm giving birth to that this year too. Stay tuned!

Thank you for all your support of my work over the years. I look forward to interacting with you in many creative, "My Body Rocks" ways!

Good news just keeps on coming!

I wanted to share with you some recent press over the past couple of weeks. It's BOLD news for pregnant moms, for sure!

Elective cesarean sections are too risky, WHO study says

Having just spent this past Tuesday with a mother in tears over her c-section 12 YEARS AGO because she's still dealing with physical and emotional injuries, I was thrilled to see this piece in Scientific American. All pregnant mothers must understand that elective c-sections are risky - far riskier than vaginal birth.

Yes, those of you who were truly a high risk pregnancy of course you needed a c-section. The World Health Organization (WHO) is not talking about you. They are talking about the low-risk women who for various reasons chose or are encouraged to have c-sections for no significant medical reason.

This information is a life-enhancer for women's maternal health.


No need for pregnant women to fast during labor

More great news. Yes, you can eat and drink while in labor! Any home birth midwife, doula or mom could have told you this years ago, but it took a study for this news to get on Reuters and out to national and international media. Okay, at least it's now out there.



Abortion is not the only fight

The only thing I can say about this piece is that anything Jennifer Block rights about maternity care is worth reading. She's thoughtful, knows her facts and as a women who has never had a baby she has no personal birth experience to slant her opinion. Read it!

BOLD 2010 Theme: Loving Kindness

When I sat down to think about a theme for BOLD 2010 it didn't take me long to come up with two words: Loving Kindness.

Why chose Loving Kindness?

Here are just a couple of my reasons:

•Maternal mortality has doubled in the past 25 years despite all the new technology offered to laboring moms;

•Birth by C-section is 30-50 percent in many hospitals.


When you discover uncomfortable information like rising maternal mortality rates and C-sections probably the last word that comes to mind is “loving kindness.” Ironically, this feels to me exactly what is needed at this time in childbirth. More love, more understanding, more compassion – for all perspectives in childbirth.

Loving kindness doesn’t mean we sit idly by when we believe something is wrong. Instead, it urges us to speak; to speak from our heart and with an open heart.

BOLD locations are being encouraged this year to express loving kindness in whatever way works in their communities. Fairbanks, Alaska will hold an art exhibit on the night of their performances with the theme "Loving Kindness;" other locations may chose to gather the obstetric and midwifery communities for some "loving kindness;" there might be foot massages for pregnant moms at BOLD events...the possibilities are endless!

If there's one thing I know it's that anger won't solve our obstetric challenges. Love, on the other hand, seems like the best chance we've got to make childbirth mother-friendly.

Top 10 Women's Health Stories of the Decade

Thank you, world, for Dr. Christiane Northrup. Her new piece on her Huffington Post blog listing the 10 top women's health stories of the decade is spot on, as usual.

Please women: listen up! Northrup is essentially urging us to follow the wisdom of our body. She's not saying to disregard medical sense, but if the medical care you are getting doesn't make sense to you - if your intuition tells you "no" - then she urges you to think more deeply about your medical choices.

What's her number one health care challenge for the next decade? Overhauling obstetrical practices.

My intuition just felt a big "YES" for that!

To read her blog click here.

Happy BOLD New Year!

I received so many BOLD gifts on my first day back working this week - two videos from BOLD performances (Charlotte, North Carolina and Santa Rosa, California) and so many great photos (see above!). What a pleasure!

We already have 3 BOLD locations signed up for this year and one BOLD Red Tent this weekend in Atlanta. Waa-hoo!

I wanted to share with you some of our BOLD accomplishments in 2009 and a few things we're already looking forward to this year! Here goes:

In 2009:

1. BOLD Gainesville, Florida brought the play "Birth" to over 250 local High School students and did a BOLD Red Tent with teenage mothers.

2. BOLD Ottawa used the proceeds from their "Birth" performances to support the first ever International Breech Birth Conference in Ottawa, Canada.

3. BOLD Maui performed the play in Pidgin (a local Hawaiian dialect) and has been invited to perform the play at a women's prison.

4. BOLD San Antonio, Texas raised over $5,000 for the San Antonio Birth Doulas whose mission is to reduce infant abuse and neglect by educating and mentoring pregnant teens and low income women with care during pregnancy, labor, birth and postpartum.

5. BOLD Red Tents took place in Atlanta, Chicago, San Diego, North Dakota, Oregon, Washington, Alabama, North Carolina, Calgary, Ontario, Winnipeg, Australia, and Spain.

6. BOLD Fort Collins, Colorado and BOLD Charlotte, North Carolina performed on College campuses.

In 2010:

7. BOLD Winnipeg will bring the play to the Winnipeg Fringe Festival in July.

8. BOLD Fort Wayne, Indiana will be produced by the REAL Jillian in the play!

9. BOLD Austria will perform the play in German. The translation of the play was done by a passionate Austrian mother of two small kids - she translated every night for several months as her kids slept - because she believes maternity care in Austria must be more mother-friendly.

10. BOLD has been invited to do a BOLD Red Tent at the Women Deliver conference, a global maternal health conference happening in Washington, DC this June. Birth stories from all over the world will be told!

11. BOLD will celebrate its 5th year on Labor Day 2010! I'll be offering a BOLD Body and Soul Retreat for Birthworkers and Activists from July 25-30 in the Catskill Mountains outside New York. Keep reading this blog for more info! Email BOLD if you want to attend: info@boldaction.org.

In whatever way you can, I invite you to be a part of the BOLD movement in 2010!