The experience of conception through sexual union allows a woman to expand her shakti-ness through absorption of the man’s organ and seed. Pregnancy allows for the expansion of her shakti through the growth, development and nurture of a child in the womb. And finally, childbirth initiates even further expansion of that shakti by way of motherhood, in a great explosion of energy from Mooladhara.
   So, the way in which to develop this attitude of being a channel for the energy is to practise those yoga and meditation

techniques which can help in this regard, such as Surya Namaskara, Full Yogic Breathing, Whole Body Breathing, Om Chanting, Yoga Nidra with visualisation, Chakra Anusandhana. Not only is this appropriate during pregnancy, in regards to childbirth, but the whole of one’s life can be transformed into seeing your role of motherhood as a vessel for knowledge and energy; as a helper and a teacher; in short, a channel for something higher to manifest through you and into the world.

Shivaprem’s Birth –
“Surrender to the Spirit”
Date: 10th November 1995. Sequence: Fifth overall.
Location: Second homebirth (medically unassisted).

     My third baby George, and fifth baby Shivaprem, both showed me much about how it is really the baby’s labour, and not our own, and how our desires, expectations and attachments to the physical manifestations of childbirth can cloud our experience of being a channel for that child.
     At forty one weeks pregnant, with a big and vigorously active baby swelling my belly, I felt more than ready to give birth. It had been a particularly hard working and challenging pregnancy, and nearly the whole of the last month had dragged on with regular nightly contractions fading by morning. My energy levels were not as high as they had been for previous pregnancies and I felt that my enthusiasm might give out if Shivapremananda wasn’t born soon. But in the back of my mind I was pretty confident that I would “breeze it in” – after all it was my fifth baby.
     One evening, I began to feel the hit and miss contractions again, but this time they were stronger, almost real first stage. After dinner I thought “Hmm, maybe”, and by 10 pm I thought “yes”. On that particular night I was very tired and just wanted to go to bed and sleep, so I just sat down alone in the room I had picked out for birthing and dozed as much as I could. At this point, part of me was resisting active birthing. “Why didn’t she come in the morning or maybe in a few days after I had gotten some more sleep”, I found myself thinking. But each time I moved my body, the contractions would come on hard and fast. On such occasions I would then ease down onto all fours or into a squatting position against the wall, upon which the contractions would slow down to much milder sensations, sometimes 20 minutes apart, almost teasing me. All the while, Shivaprem was actively kicking me from the inside, making my rest time between contractions somewhat uncomfortable. Perhaps I needed ”a kick into action” I thought some days later. It was ironic that my previous birth had been a lesson in not doing anything and that this one was shaping up as a lesson in making myself get up and do something, figuratively speaking!
     My teacher, my Shiva and the young doula who was at my previous birth had now turned up, and just as at that previous one, the men just disappeared into the background. For the next few hours I just moved around from position to position with