Childbirth is a sacred gateway to personal and ancestral healing, with Maha Al Musa.

Maha Al Musa is a true elder and wise-woman of birth and women’s rites of passage. Of Palestinian and Lebanese origin, Maha is an independent childbirth educator of twenty-five years. She is the author of Dance of the Womb: The Essential Guide to Belly Dance for Pregnancy and Birth, and is the founder and creator of BellydanceBirth® and EmbodyBirthᵀᴹ, her signature childbirth education and preparation programs for mothers-to-be and birth professionals who care for them. Maha is an international speaker and a vocal advocate of natural birth and natural-term breastfeeding, and has been featured in worldwide media including the Discovery Channel, CNN, New York Post, Sunrise and Marie Claire to name just a few. Maha is a true gift whose insights and teachings have profoundly shaped my own thinking about birth and motherhood, and it’s my pleasure to share her wisdom and experience with you here on The Wild Mother Podcast. In today’s episode, Maha and I talk about: The opportunity that pregnancy and childbirth offer to women to heal our personal and ancestral wounding, and to connect with our deepest truth How undisturbed physiologic birth offers the energy of love and connection that humanity needs to raise consciousness and heal the earth How the fears and beliefs of birth professionals can circumvent or shut down a woman’s spiritual processing in childbirth, and the trauma that this interruption causes to women Maha’s inspiring story as a Palestinian/Lebanese woman growing up in Australia, her journey to reconnect with her mother and her ancestral lineage, the personal healing and expansion that each of her pregnancies offered, and her recent rite of passage through menopause. CONNECT WITH MAHA At her website, mahaalmusa.com On Instagram here, or Facebook here Read her book 'Dance of the Womb' Join the EmbodyBirth Pregnancy and Birth Preparation online program  Join the online EmbodyBirth Certified Practitioner Training  If you enjoy today's episode, don't forget to take a screenshot and share it with me on Instagram at @drjessicahodgens.  Until next time - stay wild, mama! Jess xx www.jessicahodgens.com Intro and outro music: "Bloom", from the album The Jasmani Garden by Deya Dova, with the kind permission of the artist. Cover image by Briony Goodsell. I'm living and mothering on the unceded Country of Dharawal people, and I gratefully acknowledge their ongoing work - and the work of indigenous people everywhere - in the service of thriving life on earth.