Kiara Spring is a certified International Doula as Well as a Certified Shiatsu Therapist. Proud mother of 3 amazing children, who were her biggest initiators in to the natural birth wisdom of the ages!
She is a certified Shiatsu therapist ( acupressure massage)has studied herbal medicine, aroma therapy, Flower essence alchemy, homeopathy and nutritional healing modalities.
Over the last 20 years She has been initiated as a priestess of the Divine Feminine Mysteries thru the 13 indigenous Clan Mother teachings, and the Rose lineage emphasizing the ancient feminine wisdom of the womb mysteries. She has participated and facilitated many women's circles and is deeply inspired to hold space for women's healing and empowerment thru pregnancy and birth! Bridging the Ancient feminine wisdom of the Red tents and Moon lodge traditions to modern times, where these lost teachings of the Divine Feminine is needed more than ever for the future generations. Reclaiming Birth and pregnancy and a sacred rite of passage, and a profoundly spiritual experience as well as an amazing physical experience! When we birth in love Magic happens!
She is a certified Shiatsu therapist ( acupressure massage)has studied herbal medicine, aroma therapy, Flower essence alchemy, homeopathy and nutritional healing modalities.
Over the last 20 years She has been initiated as a priestess of the Divine Feminine Mysteries thru the 13 indigenous Clan Mother teachings, and the Rose lineage emphasizing the ancient feminine wisdom of the womb mysteries. She has participated and facilitated many women's circles and is deeply inspired to hold space for women's healing and empowerment thru pregnancy and birth! Bridging the Ancient feminine wisdom of the Red tents and Moon lodge traditions to modern times, where these lost teachings of the Divine Feminine is needed more than ever for the future generations. Reclaiming Birth and pregnancy and a sacred rite of passage, and a profoundly spiritual experience as well as an amazing physical experience! When we birth in love Magic happens!
Our Birthing Story
Birthing Ossian Lightening Wolf , my first born in a dandelion patch!
It was Mothers day morning and I was a week overdue,
I awoke that morning to a blob of mucus plug flowing out from between my legs on to the floor. That was a sure sign things were starting to happen and I was ready to birth this baby. Still no contractions but this was truly exciting! It was a beautiful day in may, Lunar Beltane in fact. I was so excited I went straight out side to find my Doula Lisa who was living in a tipi on our land we were renting with her husband and 1 year old daughter to let her know today was the day!!
We were living in a rustic little cabin on 40 acres of pristine wilderness, with a big beautiful garden, 2 wolfy dogs and beautiful friends. I spent my morning in the nettle patch stocking up on nature's best pregnancy and nursing herb. We had a huge patch and I was well supplied! After my baskets were full I went over to the garden to do some weeding. It was late morning by then and the garden needed a good overhaul before the baby came. I was quite happy to see it was mostly dandelion and yellow dock over grown in the garden beds. More magical ingredients for my after birth nursing brew! I squatted down to start pulling roots and there is was the first true contraction came!!! I was in such awe, it was amazing I had this beautiful moment in the garden on mothers day, pulling roots from the earth connecting with mother earth feeling for the first time what it truly means to be a mother! Then came a few more rushes, this felt so potent and amazing to me, it meant my baby was coming down from spirit and I was gonna be able to hold him so soon! That long awaited moment .Oh wow I was in awe of it all, the sky was beginning to look psychedelic , I was beginning to feel myself slip between the worlds.
Lisa came up to the garden and asked how I was doing? I was definitely feeling the early labour vibe with those first rushes in the garden. Perhaps we should go on a drive after lunch she suggested...up a long bumpy rd she added with a giggle! Ahhh, that sounded like a great idea, I wanted to bring on my labour if I could, so that's exactly what we did! Not sure it helped or not, things seemed to chill out after my weeding in the garden experience. Only a few contractions here and there throughout the day.
Later that evening things started to pick up quite a bit. The contractions were coming steady and this was truly excited to me! I had planned to have 2 doulas attend my birth, I had difficulty finding a mid wife so I had to trust I was my own mid wife and my doulas would be there if I needed more support! We let them know I was in labour as it looked like things were not going to slow down at this point. I was so excited I light candles on the birth alter and began belly dance to Hildegard Von Bingen, she was my favorite throughout my pregnancy! Belly dancing around my cabin with my partner and
bearing down and toning with each contractions felt pretty manageable, so far this labour journey seemed pretty ok it was a journey of opening up. Lisa gave me a sweet foot rub as the sun went down and the Full lunar beltane moon began to rise!
As soon as I saw the moon I needed to go outside to be under her time less glow. So my beloved and I went outside for a moonwalk. I was beginning to feel in such an altered state. Just out the cabin door was 4 wolfy dogs waiting to greet me. Our 2 dogs and our friends 2 dogs who were all living on the land with us. They seemed very tuned in with my labour and like they wanted to help somehow. They escorted me down the path thru the trees and out into an open field we had on our land!I was feeling so primal in labour that it was quite comforting to have this "pack of wolves" by my side! They knew how to do this birthing thing, this is how all creatures on earth give birth in nature! It is only us humans that made it so complicated and turned it into a medical emergency! Getting in a vehicle right now and barreling down the hwy was the last thing on earth I could have imagined doing, I had everything I need right here under this moon,connecting deeply with the earth feeling held by my partner and doulas as well as the ancestors by my side, the veils were definitely thinned and I could feel the celestial support all around me to help with this baby's birth!
All Spring I had been listening to the Elk making their mating calls in this field. The herds would gather there often. So here I was under the moon with my beloved and a mini pack of wolf dogs finding new ways to move my body that felt good, I felt like I was merging with the ancient dance for the ancestors of the land where I lived who had danced this labouring dance for lifetimes under this moon. I was so entranced with the intensity of the contractions getting stronger and the magic of moonlight and the presence of the animal midwives who had join my moon walk. When I was toning with the contractions I realized I was very much being empowered by the wolf spirit and that was my power animal and guide for this birth was a wolf. I felt as if I was howling with the rushes, but not in pain, in joy and gratitude for that moment and opportunity to have this birthing journey just the way I wanted it. The toning seemed to dissolve the pain and give me strength!
Returning to the warm cabin after my forest walk with the dogs under the moon,I was in full blown labour! My partner and our land mates were in the cabin chilling out and had now called in my herbal doula to come and be apart of this journey that was coming on much stronger! When Shannoon arrived it was about midnight. At this point I was done dancing and just wanted to get into our big beautiful clawfoot tub which was perfect and wonderful! Oh the warm water took the edge off and the large old tub was just perfect for baring down and I could get fully submerged in to it to relax as much as I could. Shannoon brought so many wonderful herbs and tinctures and medicines, she checked the heart beat and everything was strong and well with baby. She kept bringing me teas and checking in every now and then, Lisa would come and give me words of encouragement as well as my partner...but for the most part I was on my own for this journey! I had received many blessing from my blessing way circle, I could feel the circle of prayers woven around me, I could feel my connection to all the women that had ever given birth since the beginning of time. I did not feel alone I felt strong, I felt connected! Every rush was bringing my baby closer to the earth and I kept talking to baby the whole time!Time for me seemed to disappear it was all labour land, I was warm and held, my people were there and this baby was gonna be born soon!
Most of the birth team went to bed as I labored through the night in the tub, I was still toning with contractions but by the time the sun came up i was exhausted!!
"What, I am still in labor?" I thought to myself! How can this be! What am I doing wrong, why has this not happened yet! I began to question myself and wonder if I had made the right decision!
I got out of the tub in the early morning and I was having some intense back labor. One of the doulas gave me some acupressure on my low back and that was amazing! Shannon checked the heart rate and abay was still fine.She called in one more birth attendant, the local elder wise woman who had attended many births, she showed up with fresh energy in the morning around 11am.
She helped me get back in the tub from my exhausted and emotional state, she gently guided me in to vipassana meditation. This was the exact medicine I needed!! The calm gentle knowing and he deep relaxed demeanor helped me just getting out of my head. I realized at this moment how much i had still been in my head and had not yet totally gotten out of the way. There was still apart of me that was trying to make birth happen and this is not the way birth works!
Thankfully I had attended many vipassana and this was such a powerful tool> we meditated there for about an hour, she checked my dilation and said I was only 3 cm dilated. I was a bit discouraged by that but, I was finally finding a way to just fully relax and let go and trust and breathe and believe in myself again and melt in to the warm water and surrender to birth and its magic
After our time meditating together, my partner Dan came in to check on me. He brought me some stones from the birth alter to hold, and told me a bunch of jokes to make me laugh and smile, this perked me up a lot! I was trying to figure out why things were not progressing and i realized I needed more strength and presence from him, after all this was our birth and our baby! I also had this moment of realization I needed to check my own self out and I put my hand up into my yoni to see what I could feel...I noticed I had a prolapsed cervical lip, from that moment of touching my baby's head and feeling my own cervix it all became so crystal clear how much this was all really happening, this baby was right there so ready to be born!! I somehow figured out just by standing up and wiggling around a bit to adjust my baby's alignment from putting pressure slightly in the wrong spot towards my back to just the right spot of the cervix, I had went form 3 cm dilated to crowning in the next half an hour. I saw someone go in and out of the cabin and the fresh air and sunshine just looked so appealing , I asked for help moving out side.
That was it standing up from lying down in the tub all that time, and that little self adjustment of my posture and cervix had that baby head dropping into the birth canal as I walked down the porch stairs...I could feel the movement! The fresh air and bright sky felt amazing! I got on all fours in the dandelion patch and began to nibble the leaves and flowers just like a deer, the plant life and vitality gave me so much energy. I took note that there was now 6 wolfy dogs present all lying around on the grass around me on top of the four that were already there with me under the moon, each of the other doulas also brought their dogs! That's kootenay people for you! It was me once again in a circle of wolfy dogs still howling in my oming kinda was with each of the rushes this is so what my baby called in for his birth!
I felt Like I had a full circle of protection around me for this birth that was now so close to happening! Lisa brought me the birth stool and as I sat upon it "there's the head she told me" It was true...I did it! I figured out how to open myself up, the baby really did drop in to the birth cannell I was so close finally!! The moment I was waiting for and I had such a sweet circle of wise women here at my side who were ready to help me thru this very special point of birth with knowing and loving hands!
This was when some of the most magical moments of my life occurred!! I was facing the sun and the sun was so bright it was hard to fully focus on the outer world! I thought to myself, I have made it this far I do not want to tear I am just gonna let this happen, slowly and gently.
There was this intense feeling of burning when the baby's head began to crown,it was so intense but alongside of that I could also feel this intense light of the spirit world at my crown chakra as well. I was so in between the worlds. I could hear the angelic tones from the spirit world opening me to ground this soul, and my birth team on earth was also all Oming with me, for this soul into the world.
I could feel the strength and support of my beloved behind me, breathing in sync with me...we became one in that moment for the birth of our baby we created together. The crowning was not fast, it took a while I just let it happen without pushing, but this time of total suspension between the worlds was so powerful! I felt like Lightning had been pierced down thru my crown chakra all the way to the earth thru my womb birthing this boy who finally came out in to the dandelion patch just below me and then straight into my arms! It was a bit of a shock...there he was and back from that moment of transcending my physical reality to the spirit realm, while he was easing his was out of my body in to the hand of love and peace. By this time the sun had gone behind the clouds, Dan my partner was watching lightning hit the grounds in the distance in front of me, another May thunder storm was brewing! On this day of the "blue magnetic storm" in the Mayan Calendar our little Ossian Lighten-Wolf was born This is also the story behind his name!
There was so much energy in the air but I was in absolute bliss! I did it I gave birth and I could hardly believe it this moment I had been waiting for for so long had finally come. It was a boy he was swaddled and placed directly on the breast. I hemorrhaged a bit, it was hard to tell how much because we were on the earth, but my birth team reminded me I still had to birth the placenta. "its a good thing you have been drinking all those roots and nettles" my doula told me, the blood I had in my body was rich so the blood loss was not noticeable by me! I knew the earth needed my blood and womb medicine. It is not at all common any more that women give birth directly on the earth but I am sure its is the way it was done for thousands of years and a good medicine for the planet.It took me a bit to fully return to my body and ground after that profound experience. By then it had started to rain gently, I just couldn't move or walk yet, so I had a pile of blankets wrapped around me while I savored the very first nurse. The placenta finally came out and it was all complete I was officially a mother. Not quite the day of Mothers day but close enough.I had a 8lb 9oz very healthy baby boy naturally at home on the earth with all the support I truly needed, most of it came from within! I was ecstatic and ever grateful for this initiation in to birth. My new theory after that birth was that every human being is a miracle! Birth is miraculous and how blessed we are to have this gift as women to bring forth life in to this world!
"My greatest wish is that all birth be peaceful without fear to be held safe and sacred and for all women to know they too have this power and inner strength to bring their babies in to the world in a magically way with good support!"