Binnie A Dansby is a pioneering and inspired international teacher/facilitator of human transformation. She is also a gifted therapist, philosopher and author. In essence Binnie is dedicated to transforming the quality of life through the acknowledgement of the effects of birth on human consciousness and culture.
Her work and expression lives at the place where the human potential movement, with its emphasis on psychological and spiritual inquiry comes together with a field of exploration into pregnancy and being born that itself takes into consideration that beings are learning and conscious in the womb and at birth.
The consciousness of society is nurtured in the womb
“The memories of our time in the womb and our births are held in every cell of our bodies. The quality of birth affects the quality of life, and in turn, impacts and shapes the quality of society. Birth is the source experience in the body, and we were conscious at birth. Thus, our birth affects our whole subsequent mental, emotional and spiritual wellbeing. The decisions we make at birth are the foundation for the beliefs and patterns that are active in our lives. Those individual attitudes and patterns translate to the attitudes and patterns displayed by nations.
Female or male, rich or poor, without regard for color, race or creed, birth comes first. Birth is the never-ending story, the beginning that never ends. Birth evokes joy, mystery, beauty, and infinite possibility. It is filled with limitless potential for pain and suffering, as well as pleasure and ecstasy. It asks all the questions and holds all the answers. Birth is the key to all that we want to know about being human. The energy of birth is creation revealing itself, love unveiled, solution and challenge as one, indivisible, united in perfection, harmony, and ultimate peace.”
—Binnie A Dansby
ABOUT BIRTH – The Dynamics of Creation
Couples who accept the idea that ecstatic birth is possible set in motion a process that can be healing and empowering. As this process unfolds, people come into alignment with all the forces necessary to go beyond their conditioning and belief systems. It is possible to move through pregnancy consciously aware that this is a time of creation and re-creation, of self-discovery and transformation for mother and her mate and loved ones, as well as for the baby. The courageous couples who have chosen to “journey” with me, explore LIFE as an ongoing process of birth and change. They move through resistances to remember past experiences of loss, pain, and trauma, and heal them. When they come to the time of the birth of their child, it is with an attitude of celebration and excitation, knowing that they are prepared emotionally and spiritually, as well as physically… knowing that they are surrounded by love and support from all the people they have chosen to be with…knowing that their child is a conscious participant and teacher, as well. These women trust their bodies to birth naturally. They are able to accept and allow the powerful energies of labor to move through them, using those energies rather than fearing and resisting them. The men, in total support, trust themselves and their mates to be present to a spontaneous reality. Bonding and intimacy, free of fear, is the atmosphere in which full Self can be expressed. Because communication has already been established in utero, the birth simply completes an already stable triad in the physical. It is a profound, yet undramatic and untraumatic event, providing each participant with an experience of personal power and magnificence…inspiring rich, loving feelings, and renewing faith in the fundamental creative process, which has been lost in our dependence on technology.
“Ecstasy is WELCOMING the uncomfortable. The genuinely committed person, who encounters resistances to ecstasy, will not turn to those who will give him reasons or excuses to encourage his Lack of commitment. Rather, he will seek out someone who will faithfully and enthusiastically support him in challenging those resistances, passing through them and reaching the expanded freedom on the other side. Only to the extent that you willingly expose yourself over and over again to your fears, can you cultivate the experience of being ECSTATIC in your life. For life to be ecstatic, you must welcome the uncomfortableness that presents itself. To resist uncomfortableness will only perpetuate it.
“Your willingness to push through your resistances at the moment they arise and to be uncomfortable at any moment, rather than seeking ways to avoid it, determines the degree to which you will ‘become comfortable’, do the impossible, create miracles, and be ecstatic about life.”
Vern Black, LOVE ME? LOVE YOURSELF
In order to achieve ecstasy, satisfaction, empowerment, individuation and completion, we work in several domains with a variety of methodologies. In the realm of the psycho-spiritual, I always work with rebirthing, a personal process and philosophy which utilizes the breath as a tool to surface and release physiological and psychological stress and thought patterns from previous life experiences. It is possible to eliminate primal trauma and transform the subconscious impression of birth into a gentle and awakening event. Depending on need and affinity, I use guided visualization, values clarification processes, writing, and direct and indirect hypnosis. This work will evoke experiences of pre-natal and pen-natal memory, and result in a new sense of individuation, self—respect, and self-motivation. That adult, in turn, responds to the child in utero as an individual with purpose, and is inspired to treat it with honor and respect.
Communication with this being is direct and intentional, both in active speaking, and active listening. Listening can occur when an individual is not filled with fear. A friend, who is an obstetrician/gynecologist, said, “I used to just catch bodies. Then I. became aware that babies are conscious and I began to talk to them. After I met you, I began to listen, and the births are different. My experience is different.”
In the realm of the physical, I make recommendations about diet based on the natural reality that the needs of the baby are met first; leaving it incumbent upon the mother to make sure she is not depleted in the process. I frequently suggest acupuncture and classical homeopathy, which are of great value in producing balance and harmony in the physical body. Exercise is also important, i.e. yoga, walking and swimming prove best.
The people I work with become part of an interactive community, supportive of one another’s learning and growth. Experienced couples are valued teachers for new couples. As they share, they not only serve the new couple, but also deepen their own experience of conscious evolution.
In a dry, high-technology birth, we come from water and warmth, all needs handled, through the birth canal of a woman who is likely to be lying down and drugged. She is surrounded by strangers who all “know more than she does” about having her baby. When a woman has taken a drug or Is filled with fear and has no method with which to release it, she is distracted from her contraction energy and her own beta—endorphins do not release. She is cut off from the altered state of ecstatic consciousness and the sense of satisfaction and well being which is her birthright. Fear of birth is remembered from our own birth experience, and reinforced by societal conditioning. In f ear and pain, a woman asks for the drugs that render her unconscious for what could be an exciting and enlivening experience.
Her baby is also anaesthetized, and thus must be stimulated, shaken, and rubbed to come to consciousness. All at once, the baby is impacted by the crush of gravity, is taking 3 to 4 times more oxygen into lungs that have never been expanded, and the umbilical cord I. being cut. In the bright lights and loud voices of people prepared for emergency, this conscious being makes some very real and negative decisions. These decisions are reinforced when, in confusion and chaos, turned inside out, the baby is weighed, measured, wrapped, and separated from the only body it has known. Gone is the source of nourishment and supply…the connection to “Source”, the Mother. The intimate bond is broken and the baby is taken to a plastic box, isolated and alone. Life patterns are set.
These memories are held in every cell of our bodies. Every spiritual path has as a purpose to bring us back to the realization experience of our essential connection to Universal Source, oneness with all there is. I am sure that a child can be born without the physical trauma, environmental shock, and sensory overload that make us forget, and engender~ our negative beliefs about life on Earth.
It is time to educate, nurture and support the child— bearers. We must see that they have the opportunity to release their original experience of physical trauma, their own birth, and to experience their power. We must allow the process of pregnancy and birth to unfold naturally, with little or no intervention. And we must recognize the value of nurturing environments during gestation.
Water is a key element in this whole creative act. Water utilized for exercise, relaxation, rebirthing, and pleasure.
Water birth symbolizes the birth of the Living Spirit… activating the acceptance of transition and change with ease and flow. Water lubricates and facilitates release. When the consciousness at a birth is water—like, mutable, allowing, receiving, embracing all feelings, and is unattached to pictures, there is an awareness of energy rising and receding. The physical can open arid let go with pleasure arid power, peace and joy, experiencing satisfaction, completion, and ecstasy.
When fully prepared and supported by her mate and those whom she chooses, the mother can move with the energy of labor in an unrushed rhythm, allowing her child to transition into the warm water and loving hands of its father. The baby is allowed to unfold and integrate, relating to the new stimuli In a known medium, water. In its mother’s arms, a new outer womb, the baby takes its first breath, unrushed because the umbilical cord is still providing oxygen and nutrients. This new person learns that the earth is safe. S/he breathes in acceptance, welcome and love. From this matrix, s/he moves into life.
THIS BEING IS A PEACEMAKER
Thoughts to Remember for an easier labour and birth
by Binnie A. Dansby
For pregnant women, their partners, and all who support birth with love.
Be with people who think you can do it. Keep numbers to a minimum, and to people with whom you are familiar.
Labour is active. Keep moving as long as you can. I don’t mean you have to keep standing, just be as normal as possible, moving and being in positions that are comfortable. When you have a contraction, lean forward on someone or the wall or a chair. On your hands and knees is a good position to try, and I have noticed that the majority of the women who have given birth with me have done so on hands and knees.
You know your body better than anyone, and if you ‘listen in’, you will know exactly what to do, even when you think you don’t. Ask your partner or support person to remind you and to see to it that you are asked before anyone makes a decision about what you ‘should’ do. SLOW DOWN, take your time. You can also take the time to ‘listen in’ to your baby.
Don’t try to be strong, talk about how you are feeling and what you are thinking. When you can access your feelings, whatever they are, you can then use the energy however you choose. Make the sounds that are comfortable for you. You and your baby are the ones who matter, the ones everyone is there to support!
Breathing is very helpful, and holding your breath is not. You will know how to breathe, for you. Keep relaxing your jaw, and opening your throat and pay attention to the breath. ‘As above, so below’. The mouth and jaw and throat represent the pelvis and the birth canal. It is enough to do to pay attention ‘above’; ‘below’ is perfectly designed to birth a baby.
You always have a choice about what you Speak Out, no matter how your body is feeling. ‘NO’ causes the body to contract, and ‘YES’ causes the body to open. It may sound silly, and ‘Yes’ and ‘Thank You’ with a contraction will support you to stay focused on what is really important. I have seen it seem to work miracles.
YOUR BABY IS FULLY CONSCIOUS AND EDUCABLE WHICH MEANS THAT SHE IS LISTENING AND COMMUNICATING TELEPATHICALLY. TALK TO HER; LET HER KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING FOR YOU. UNDER ALL CIRCUMSTANCES, MAKE SURE THAT ANYTHING THAT IS DONE TO HER BE EXPLAINED TO HER FIRST.
IF YOU HAVEN’T ALREADY, TAKE SOME TIME EACH DAY TO LISTEN TO YOUR BABY. REMEMBER THAT THIS BEING LOVES YOU BEYOND ANYTHING THAT YOU CAN EVEN IMAGINE! YOUR JOB IS TO OPEN TO RECEIVE ALL THE LOVE THAT SHE HAS FOR YOU AND YOUR PARTNER! THAT IS ALL YOUR BABY WANTS OR EVER WILL WANT.
After the birth, see to it that you and your baby are together, or that she is with your partner. Make sure that you receive nurturing and support in physical forms. The baby and you are one unit; things don’t change just because she is outside now. This doesn’t mean that you can’t put her down; just that you know that you need baby as much as baby needs you. You need to be cared for so that you can give what is needed.
Choose an overall focus for yourself for the birth. Expansion is one that I know has been very successful. Another woman chose to think of her labour and birth as a sensual, sexual experience. Opening like a flower is wonderful. Pictures of full-blown roses and the lotus are images that are helpful. What images and aromas give you a sense of completion and wholeness and comfort?
Allow yourself to receive all the love and support that is around you. Make clear choices and then trust that you make the right choices for you and your family.
YOU DESERVE TO BE SURROUNDED BY PEOPLE WHO ARE LISTENING TO YOU AND THE BABY. PEOPLE WHO ARE SUPPORTING YOU TO HAVE AN EMPOWERED, ENLIGHTENING EXPERIENCE. THERE IS NO RIGHT OR WRONG WAY, IF YOU ARE LISTENING TO YOURSELF AND TO YOUR BODY. YOU HAVE EVERY THING THAT YOU NEED! HAVE AN INNOCENT, ECSTATIC TIME! I LOVE YOU.
AFFIRMATIONS by Binnie
“The affirmation will support all that is unlike itself to arise in order to be released. Affirmations are points of contemplation, thoughts you intend to bring into reality in your life. It is a thought form you intend to have become a real experience for you” (Dansby, B. A.)
I am Earth
I am Creativity
Life only produces life
The Breath is safe
The Breath supports the release of discomfort, no matter how long I have held it
My body is safe, no matter how I might be feeling
The entire physical universe exists to support me in physical form I am surrounded by love and support from everyone in my life
The more I let go and relax, the more I experience the support that is here for me
All of my feelings are safe
I am the power and the authority in my life
I am the one who chooses what to think and how to use my Life Energy I am enough
I do enough
I have enough
Everyone is glad that I am here Everyone is safe with me
I am the innocent child of a Gentle Universe, I deserve to experience all of my love
I am open to receive all the love and blessings that come to me
I have a right to be here
I am an expression of love
It is safe to express myself fully and freely
My expression is WELCOME
My timing is perfect
I am always in the right place at the right time, doing and saying the right thing I am connected in love to all that lives and all that breathes
I am connected to Divine Intelligent that knows my good
I am Spirit manifest in beautiful form
I am a high thought, I am love
