Interview with Kristina Marita Rumpel: “Every woman giving birth is a goddess and birth is a divine task!”

"FlowBirthing takes a female perspective on the experience of pregnancy and birth. Ancient female wisdom enables every pregnant woman to perceive herself from within, to connect with her child and to follow her intuition. In this way, she gains confidence in her body and her ability to give birth, can make the birth process flow smoothly and give birth to her child safely and naturally." Kristina Marita Rumpel , who herself recorded the audio book of the same name five years after the publication of her guide "FlowBirthing", explains in an interview how trust in female power promotes natural births and can usher in a new self-confident birth culture.

Five years after the publication of your guide of the same name, the audio book for “FlowBirthing – Born from a Wave of Joy” is now being released. Who is the new project aimed at?

Kristina Marita Rumpel: The audio book version is aimed at young women, the podcast generation, who love to record content in audio formats. At pregnant women who, for example, listen to the CDs in the car on the way to work and can thus set themselves up for positivity every morning. Or mothers with small children who are pregnant again and simply don't have the time to read a book, but who can well imagine using the audio book for preparation and relaxation.

FlowBirthing is not only the beginning of a new birth culture, but also an impressive success story. What positive developments have occurred in recent years?

Kristina Marita Rumpel: One of the most touching moments is when I meet women in everyday life who ask, "Aren't you the woman behind FlowBirthing?" and whose eyes then light up with gratitude because they had a dream birth thanks to FlowBirthing. Often the women had suffered for years from a previous traumatic birth, but were able to put it behind them thanks to a second dignified birth by trusting in the female power. It does matter how our children are born and how the mothers feel about it - it sets the course for a whole life! I am so infinitely grateful that over 60 FlowBirthing mentors are already working to ensure that mother and child emerge stronger from pregnancy and birth by passing on the ancient female wisdom from woman to woman. This revitalization and reconnection to the female power is the key to the new birth culture and the fertile ground of FlowBirthing, because without the female power, births are not possible naturally. "Natural" does not mean painful, but on the contrary: light, supported, joyful, even ecstatic - that is the magic of FlowBirthing, which is a completely natural part of a freely flowing female energy during birth (and in life!). FlowBirthing is therefore much more than a holistic way of preparing for birth, it is the devoted inner attitude towards life, seeing femininity as a gift and the possibility of the birth experience as a unique life experience, as a distinction of the feminine.

Your guide and the audio book are not birth guides in the traditional sense. What sets FlowBirthing apart from other offers and methods, and what is the special added value?

Kristina Marita Rumpel: Birth guides are often written from a medical perspective. Since I am not a midwife, but have found my way to appreciate the female power in every woman and to the topic of pregnancy and birth through my treatment of cancer, FlowBirthing consistently takes the female perspective on the connections. The female perspective means experiencing pregnancy and birth from the inside out. This perspective is invaluable for a pregnant woman who feels her child inside her. She learns to perceive herself from the inside, to trust her inner voice, to connect with the baby in her belly, to follow her intuition. In this way she comes more and more into the female energy and thus into trust in her body and her ability to give birth. This connection to her own power promotes women's self-awareness and confidence and then enables them to let the birth process happen and flow with it with trust and inner strength. Thinking, feeling and acting come together with FlowBirthing, and the primal female power can lead the birth process unhindered for the benefit of mother and child. Birth is experienced as something overwhelming and yet manageable, in which the woman giving birth surrenders, receives access to her female power and thus gives birth to her child in a safe, guided way in interaction. Birth is then no longer a painful process of separation, but a work of connection. The female perspective makes the difference here and has a beneficial effect on the birth process, as the woman giving birth rests in her center.

More and more pregnant women and parents-to-be are longing for a “normal” and “natural” birth experience. What is the reason for this trend and what options are there to fulfill this wish?

Kristina Marita Rumpel: I'm very happy to hear that. I'm sure that every woman wants a beautiful, easy, natural birth experience. Which tells me that this longing is not a romantic dream of women, but a normality that is achievable for every woman - provided that mother and child are healthy. It is all the more sad that this unique female life experience is denied to many women through interventions in the birth process, which in many cases were not medically indicated but simply subject to administrative constraints. Unfortunately, due to the high Caesarean section rates in some clinics and the shortage of midwives, there is an increasing lack of knowledge about what is conducive to natural births. Very important: birth begins with conception and is not a singular event, but the end of the pregnancy and the beginning of a new life. It is a transformation process that brings the innermost to the outside. Nature has given women nine months to prepare for birth. The positive orientation and consideration of the woman as a whole, i.e. her physical, mental, emotional, spiritual issues, are essential in order to set the course for a joyful, easy birth with trust in the female power. Being hopeful and growing in confidence that you can master the challenge of birth is crucial for preparing for a natural birth. The FlowBirthing courses and support services offered by the FlowBirthing mentors promote exactly this: access to the female power and thus the yes to self-responsibility and self-empowerment. Because only when a woman knows what strengthens her and what she can do is she able to take responsibility and give birth to her child on her own strength, instead of letting herself be "given birth" - by the child and the female power. It is therefore important to educate people about the beneficial female wisdom about natural births, which enables women to get out of the spiral of fear in a society of fear and high risk. How women experience birth says more about the mentality of a society than about the natural processes. It is time for women in the 21st century to experience birth again as an initiation into feminine power.

You advocate a combination of knowledge and feeling in order to reconcile ancient women's knowledge with the latest scientific findings for the benefit of expectant mothers. How can this be implemented in practice?

Kristina Marita Rumpel: No child has ever been born with the head. On the other hand, all the wisdom in the world has flowed from women's birth experiences, because what is conducive to natural births is also conducive to a life-affirming, fulfilled life. It is time to live the female wisdom knowledge with self-confidence again, which is always an integrative perspective. A pregnant woman is the embodiment of the female mystery, because the essential takes place inside, in the dark, in the invisible area; the pregnant woman can feel from within what others need devices for. To feel this, calm, trust, devotion, acceptance and appreciation of the sensations, which are not pain but signposts to get through the birth safely. If I know the meaning of the contractions on a deeper level, then the pain decreases, as modern pain research also confirms. It is also now known that the nocebo effect, i.e. the "expectation of damage effect" that occurs when one assumes the worst or abandons the path of trust, can have a negative impact on the course of the birth. Trust, trust, trust is the be-all and end-all for the woman giving birth, the partner accompanying the birth and the birth attendants. Trust is a feeling that wants to grow in the nine months of pregnancy and an inner attitude that clashes with current tort law in the event of a claim and is therefore all too often disregarded in order to protect against claims.

In view of the global threat posed by new viruses, the precarious situation of our health system is once again becoming more than obvious. What is the current situation of midwives and people working in obstetrics?

Kristina Marita Rumpel: For me, the whole drama surrounding births in times of Corona shows one thing above all: hospitals are not the ideal place to give birth. In the case of complications and illnesses, they are a blessing, but births are not illnesses and women giving birth are not patients. They are goddesses who perform a divine task. It is not just since fathers can no longer be present at births, women giving birth are forced to wear face masks that make it difficult for them to breathe and thus the oxygen supply - including for their child - or mothers have their newborns taken away because of Corona infection that dignified births that focus on the miracle of new life are unfortunately the exception. The current health care system is sick and is being carried out on the backs of women giving birth and newborns. Politicians seem to have not seen, understood or ignored the problem for years, even decades. Therefore, I see only one way out of the dilemma, namely that we women take action ourselves and empower each other to make births a celebration of life again. We have the power to do this within us and we don't need to wait until it is given to us. Every woman is capable of giving birth to her child if she is healthy, knows the beneficial knowledge and has learned to trust herself, her body, the connection to the child and to flow through the birth waves with the primal feminine power. Solo births show us this impressively - although for me the most powerful setting for a birth is when the woman giving birth can bring her child into the world surrounded by women who hold the feminine field. Every woman should be able to make her own free and informed decision about where she gives birth. For me this is a human right that is trampled on every day.

Although the FlowBirthing network is growing steadily, there is still a lot to do to continue on the path we have chosen. What initiatives and projects are planned for the future?

Kristina Marita Rumpel: Just four percent of women are open to alternative paths outside the mainstream. This is roughly the same percentage of people who are also for "eco" etc. However, the window is opening now and I am very confident that the topic of natural births will find its way back into the mainstream of society and to women. With the audio book version, we want to specifically reach young women in their everyday lives. We are also planning a FlowBirthing festival, where we will celebrate the joy of being a woman together and exchange ideas about powerful birth experiences. This is also the intention of FlowBirthing cafes, meeting places for pregnant women that are to be set up in more and more cities - also organized by FlowBirthing network partners. My wish is that women invest at least as much attention in "planning" birth as they do in, for example, their wedding. The wedding is a day in life - birth is the day in life that sets the course for a whole new life. Birth is also an opportunity for personal growth in one's own strength, dignity and sovereignty, because not only is a child born - every woman is also reborn as a mother. It speaks volumes about the value that women place on themselves when they spend thousands of euros on a wedding or a stroller, but next to nothing on themselves and on preparing for a unique, powerful, joyful, ecstatic birth experience. Something is not right here. That is why the FlowBirthing courses also have a price that first and foremost reflects the value that every woman places on herself. This is also part of a new birth culture.

Tip:
Kristina Marita Rumpel: FlowBirthing. The audio book. Born from a wave of joy. Mankau Verlag, 1st edition June 2020, 3 audio CDs in digifile, total running time approx. 220 minutes, 16-page booklet, 19.95 euros RRP (D/A), ISBN 978-3-86374-558-5

Link recommendations:
More information about the audio book “FlowBirthing. Born from a wave of joy”
More about Kristina Marita Rumpel
To the FlowBirthing internet portal
To the Internet forum with our authors and readers