Conscious Birthgiving in Chile

A fundamental part of a peaceful culture is to have peaceful women, peaceful wombs and peaceful births. The “Círculo Matríztico” is a large women’s network in Chile – and the World – that was founded by women who wanted to celebrate being connected to the feminine power of the moon. It began as a space for women to meet, gather and sing as sisters, seeking a connection with the feminine energy, and the importance of giving birth. This song and prayer echoed out and was heard and repeated in ever widening circles, becoming part of a global movement of women that seek to heal, connect with their feminine power, and gather together to pray, in their own groups and personal circles, in a way that is intimate, instinctive, and intuitive.

From these roots, the “Círculo Mamatriztica” (http://mamatriztica.blogspot.com) was born; an educational resource and network that focusses on the pre- and post birth times, recognizing these states as vital moments of spiritual, emotional, social, familial, and environmental transformation.

The founder of the circle is Mahi, Carolina Barahona, part of the family of the “Permaculture and Integral Health Center Lemulawen“ (http://lemulawen.blogspot.com), member of the Eco Chile and CASA Network. With the awareness that a fundamental part of a peaceful culture is to have peaceful women, peaceful wombs and peaceful births, it is important to create spaces for women, and men, to understand the physiological process of birth, and to remove all the visible, and invisible, structures of the strong intervention that often occurs during birth in modern society.

These interventions often make the women blind to, and distanced from, their real natural power of being mothers; of being a family. Nature has given women the design of being a “life portal,” and it is important to understand this process as a educational one, so we can support the growing of loving and peaceful human beings, who can be empathic, assertive, cooperative, ecological, etc.

Also, at the time of birth, a woman has a strong hurricane of hormones and emotions rushing through her body and mind; she can feel Love in one of its most powerful essences. If we allow these feelings to be free within the normal trance of daily life, we will take a step towards remembering our peaceful social lives.

As we wanted to explore and move closer to this knowledge, Círculo Mamatriztica has organized circles, workshops, conferences, gatherings, personal therapies, etc. We are approaching our 3rd anniversary with this project. At the end of March 2014, we hosted the third Conscious Maternity Gathering, a platform that has brought together more than 30 stands related to conscious birthing, 20 exhibitors, and more than 800 people who attend freely, to inform and to transform.

A parallel project has arisen from the work of 2 doulas, and other families who work with the ecology of birth called “Ecologia del Nacer” (http://www.ecologiadelnacer.cl). The ‘Ecology of Birth’ serves families, mothers and babies, working to make more natural births possible in Chile.

This is just the beginning of this great birth revolution in our modern society. Not only the birth of our lives and our descendants, but also the birth of a new loving and peaceful humanity in her Mother’s arms, and held in the womb of love. Sustainability and permaculture, food sovereignty and food security are all reflected in the first act of life of a baby breastfeeding. An integral and spiritual nutrition that gives us some clues for how we must do things in a bigger and broader scale.