Primal Therapy with Newborns (William Emerson)
Overview: The Phases. The Role of the Therapist. Re-patterning. Working with Children
A Case to Exemplify How our Birth Experience can be seen in our Relationships
…Mary was a “shoulder dystocia” baby. This meant that her shoulder got “stuck” on the lumbar sacral promontory, her umbilical cord was compressed and closed between her body and the LSP, and long forceps had to be used to pull her out. Her mother believed that the forceps saved Mary’s life, because Mary came out blue and could not have lived much longer without oxygen.
As a young adult, Mary lived out her birth patterns, completely unconsciously. Having been without oxygen during birth, she described her attractions to men as “breathless” (when she became breathless, that was a sign she was in love). On top of this, she routinely got stuck and faltered. For example, during debriefings to her staff, she got stuck on one minor point to the exclusion of others, rambled too much, and was not able to complete all points in her debrief. She nearly lost her job because of this. In other situations, she became helpless and needed rescuing (forceps), a complete change from the competent woman she really was. She regularly lost her car keys and needed her boyfriend to rescue her by picking her up, or bringing her a rental car so she could finish her district visits. During social events, she occasionally but annoyingly lost her energy (oxygen) and needed to retire for the evening. The same type of thing happened in her intimate times with her boyfriend. She lost her orgasms just as they began, becoming extremely lethargic and falling asleep. Both of these symptoms were shameful, frustrating, and frightening to her, and is why she came for treatment. This kind of process happens regularly in everyday life, with everyone. Birth is a first and a primary life lesson!
(from William Emerson’s at http://emersonbirthrx.com)Karlton Terry, one of the early students of William Emerson and a significant developer in the field of Pre/Perinatal Psychology has an extensive experience working with babies in his clinic in Boulder, Colorado. Here, he analyses one of his case.
Birth Journey of a Newborn: Transition from Intrauterine to Extrauterine Life_by Rüveyda AYDIN
The book that follows is co-authored by W. Emerson.
Suggesting that present hurts or certain types of behavior can have their roots in before-birth and birth experiences, this work integrates prenatal and perinatal psychology with methods of healing prayer.
Dear colleagues,
Study the material in this unit and based on the works of William Emerson, design an activity or a program to work with children age 3-6 to heal the pre/perinatal trauma as described by Emerson. Parameters to be taken into account:
1. The prenatal trauma is rejection (from average to high)
2. The children have been given to adoption
3. They were all born cesarean
You can describe the activity
Analyze the reasons why you choose this activity
Mention the goals of the activity
Make a list of what you need
Write the facilitator’s instructions leaflet
If you need to include sketches or diagrams, please do so.
Put the answers to all above parts in your study diary which you will submit to your tutor/ mentor at the end of this lesson/ unit. Thank you.
“The environment is registered from the very beginning of my life; by the first one (cell) of me. What happens to the first one or two of me may reverberate throughout all subsequent generations of our first cellular parents. That first one of us carries all my ‘genetic’ memories” Laing “The Facts of Life”