Birth As We Know It

Birth As We Know It is a treat for both the heart and mind. This groundbreaking documentary film delivers spectacular cinematography, soothing vocals and instrumentation alongside a calming narrative. It leads us gently, comfortably on a path toward realizing the miracle of birth.Birth As We Know It introduces future parents to the advantages of conscious conception, pregnancy and birth. Director Elena Tonetti-Vladimirova shares her experiences as a co-creator of the Conscious Birth movement in Russia during the early 1980s. An effective preparation program culminated in Black Sea summer camps where babies were birthed in warm, shallow lagoons. This stunningly beautiful movie features eleven natural births, including home birth, water birth, birth of twins, breech delivery and an astounding self-birth by Tatiana Sargunas - world renowned Spiritual Midwife. The midwife community calls this film the most profound and comprehensive guide to conscious birth in the world. Included are informative interviews on topics rarely discussed, such as the sexuality of childbirth, circumcision and limbic imprinting. Birth As We Know It always conveys its messages in a non-intrusive, wonderfully inspirational way.Dr. Michel Odent, an icon in the world of natural delivery for the past 30 years said, We must pay tribute to Elena for prompting us to re-examine basic features of human nature. Her film explains why millions of women, all over the world, dream of giving birth in the sea, among dolphin. Since 1982 Vladimirova has traveled throughout the U.S. teaching Birth Into Being workshops that incorporate breath work, graceful movements and emotional healing that often lead to ecstatic birth experiences for both parents. The birth itself is the last accord in this fascinating journey of self discovery, says Vladimirova. After all preparation is accomplished, the delivery of the baby unfolds naturally in all its magnificence. Product Description

Make Sure Your Philosophy Matches This Video

I bought the Educational Version of this video, and I was a bit disappointed. I enjoyed seeing women actually give birth. It was inspiring to see how happy and peaceful they were. If you are afraid of the labor process, this video may help calm you. However, the narrative is definitely a differing philosophy from my own. I prefer a more natural birth to a birth with unnecessary interventions, but I do not believe, for example, that we carry trauma from our own births that we have to work out before we birth our own children. I also do not agree that we carry genetic knowledge from our ancestors. If these sound like ideas that interest you or that you already believe in, this video would be a great choice for you! However, if you lie on the more medical/technological side of the childbirth debate or somewhere between medical and natural, this video may not be the best choice for you. I was hoping for a video more educational, with more tips on how to deliver at home or in a birth center, more about the physical process of labor, how to cope with the strength and pain of birth, and how to make decisions about your birth and pregnancy that are right for you, regardless of your philosophy. If you want to learn more about birth and pregnancy, I would highly recommend Our Bodies, Ourselves: Pregnancy and Birth for any philosophy. If you are looking for a video that teaches you more about birth and lets you see it happening, take a look at the other options at your disposal and decide on the video that seems to fit what you're looking for. Good luck, and if you or someone you know is pregnant, congratulations, and may the birth be one of the happiest memories of your life! July 28, 2008

Great Video

It was so fun to watch the swimming babies and to see how happy the families were! April 28, 2008

Thank You Elena for your continuous commitment to getting this out here!

I think I met Elena at the first International Water Birth Conference long ago... I remember hoping to all Hope that she would succeed in getting this work through into the world. I moved to New Zealand 4 years ago and left my midwifery practice to become a mom. I have since been riding on a strong learning curve and only now am ready to re-enter the world as a Birthing Keeper in some more active way. Seeing this DVD (finally!) has brought all of my joy flooding back and my Hope that more and more humans can come into closer understanding of the potential within us all. Potential is ripe and ready for our species to rise out of numbness and intolerance and breathe more fully into the heart of matters. I remember in watching this DVD thinking, "Oh my, this is precisely the Vector I would like my world to be heading in!" and I will be organizing groups to come and watch this film and open a safe space to discuss whatever emerges to be felt, cleared, realized, or whatever! I thank all of the Ones who with unshakable resolve, dedicate their hearts to the Truth of Birth...and LIFE!
Much gratitude and joy, and what a surprise to see the birth of some friends in Hawaii!!
absolutely, of the most important of messages, i add this dvd to the list I am wishing for all health education programs to share with our children in schools. one generation...
cheers from NZ dear Ones!
Marguerite Link Carney October 21, 2007

Rare Glimpse of the Possible

While the overwhelming majority of TV documentaries show women, who appear to have poor diet & lifestyle habits, undergo risky deliveries with the help of marvelous modern technology, this DVD presents a refreshing alternative. No one is judging those who of us who require emergency procedures in order to have a successful birth. The statistics simply speak for themselves. Scheduled C-sections have become very routine. This is a beautiful film showing the possibilities. The stories shared are true life examples of courageous women. The viewer is responsible to decide for herself. After viewing the film, one friend of mine said," Even if I don't have a baby, just from watching that video, I feel I can do anything!" This film is about empowerment. The real women in the film exemplify cherishing our lives by caring for ourselves and for our children with a level of consciousness that is available to anyone who makes the effort. Simply put, this film may help viewers to organize priorities in life. Well done! July 1, 2007

A Negative Film

While I had a wonderful experience using hypno-birthing with my first child, my second child was a different story, and I had to undergo a c-section. According to this movie, a c-section is a violent and brutal operation, and is comparable metaphorically to removing a butterfly from its cocoon before it's ready and therefore stripping it of it's ability to ever fly. What a truly terrible thing to imply about a child!

While I believe that birth can be an amazing experience, the guilt put upon a mother-to-be from this movie alone earns it no stars in my book. To say that children born from a difficult birth will spend their lives having to make up for it to be a whole person is pretty awful (and a load of b.s., quite frankly). If I had only had one child, I too might think that the wonderful nature of my first birth was totally my doing, but thankfully I had a second, more difficult birth, which truly humbled me. We are not always in complete control-- sometimes nature has other plans.

(I also have to laugh at this because my second son, born of the C-section, is calm, delightful, easy-going, and a lover of life, while my first child, of the exceptional birth, had a very severe case of "colic" and a challenging first year of life.)

I also bristle at the suggestion that any complications during birth are the mother's fault-- according to this film, if the mother is truly at peace and calm, there should be no problems. So if your child happens to stay breach, it's your fault. Dang, that's pretty mean.

This movie could have been a great resource for pregnant mothers, but I would never recommend it to anyone pregnant, as it is highly negative toward any other viewpoints and could crush a woman who fails to achieve nirvana while giving birth. June 23, 2007

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