A Workshop for Pregnant Women
The Talmud tells us the following story: Many of us have heard that the fetus spends its nine months in-utero learning Torah from an angel. What Torah exactly is it that the baby is learning? It is neither the written Torah nor the oral Torah, as these are easily accessible to all. The Torah the baby learns in utero is the Torah of his own soul. This is the Torah that is forgotten at birth; and this is the Torah that we will spend a lifetime, or many lifetimes, trying to learn and remember.
Each one of us is brought into the world with a unique set of circumstances and character traits because each individual soul has its own purpose. There are certain things that only I can fix in order to bring the world to its repaired state. The question is: How do I know what that purpose is? How do I access all that my soul knows? Each day we recite in the morning blessings, “The soul that You gave me is pure” – but the layers and layers that cover it are not. Accessing my pure soul is like peeling an onion – and peeling an onion is tearful work.
Women have been given a special gift. When we begin labor, one of the first things I tell my client is that she should let her body do exactly what it knows how to do – that at this time, there is a pure connection between body and soul. The soul knows its purpose clearly and the birthing mother can choose to allow her body to receive all the information it requires to do its holy work in birthing a new life into the world.
Yet there is more. This same soul also knows what emotional and spiritual work must be accomplished during this process in order to peel away another layer. No two labors are the same because no one remains the same. Today I am different, my circumstances are different, and my work is different. This is how I can begin to remember what I forgot so long ago. I’m not just birthing my child; I am birthing and re-birthing my own self.
We will explore this concept through stories, guided imagery, mini-counseling sessions, and teachings.
