Rooted in the Womb

Rooted in the Womb | Article 2

There was a time when birth belonged to the body. To the mother. To the midwives. To the sacred rhythm of breath, sound, sensation, and instinct.

Now, in much of the modern world, birth has been relocated—from the center of the village to the sterile light of the institution. It has been claimed by systems. Measured by machines. Interpreted by protocols. And in the process, we have lost something far greater than the homebirth or the candlelit room.

We have lost the will.

The Rise of the Technocratic Birth Culture

In the past century, birth has become increasingly medicalized, pathologized, and technocratic. Guided more by data and liability than by intuition and connection, birth has been repackaged as a procedure to manage rather than a rite to honor.

This technocratic model:

• Prioritizes machines over human presence

• Replaces instinct with intervention

• Centers authority in the provider rather than the parent

• Interprets pain as a problem instead of a portal And slowly, quietly, convinces birthing people to hand over their will in the name of safety
  

What’s often presented as “care” is actually compliance. And what’s dressed as empowerment is often permission within limits defined by policy.

The Cost of This Disconnection

When we remove the power of choice from birth, we don’t just alter outcomes—we alter identity. Pre & Perinatal Birth Psychology teaches us that birth is an imprint: it lays the foundation for how we relate to power, trust, and embodiment later in life.

A mother who is silenced in birth may question her voice in motherhood.A baby who is extracted rather than welcomed may carry the imprint of urgency or overwhelm.A family who feels rushed, dismissed, or monitored instead of held, may exit birth with trauma instead of transformation.

And while some medical interventions are necessary and life-saving, we must ask:

The Will Is Sacred in Birth

Will is not force. Will is not control. Will is the deep inner compass that says: I know. I feel. I choose.

To birth with will intact is to move in partnership with the body’s intelligence. To feel the rhythm of contractions not as something to escape, but something to follow. To be met, not managed. To be seen, not silenced.

And yet, many parents today have never even been asked what their will is in birth. Because the system is not built for sovereignty—it is built for standardization.

How Do We Return?

We return by remembering. By educating ourselves and each other about the psychological, spiritual, and ancestral dimensions of birth. By reclaiming birth as a soul-led, body-centered, relational experience. By creating village models of care—where birthing people are surrounded by those who witness, reflect, and trust.

We return by listening—to the body. To the baby. To the deep wisdom that has always been inside.

Reflection for Expecting Parents

• Have you been invited to listen to your own will in pregnancy and birth planning?

• How do you feel about authority in medical spaces—empowered, confused, passive?

• Were you born into a system that respected your mother’s will?

• What would it feel like to birth from a place of sovereignty, not submission?
  

Birth was never meant to be managed. It was meant to be honored .Let us return to that remembering. Let us birth in connection, not compliance. Let us raise children whose first imprint is not extraction—but embodiment.