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Reclaiming the Spirituality of Birth: Healing for mothers and babies by Benig Mauger (Healing Arts Press, 2000)
Benig Mauger refers to birth as “a soul experience,” one in which the mind and body are inextricably linked. When body and mind are separated, as in modern medicine, there is a loss of the soul. Healing after pregnancy and birth involves healing at the level of the soul and spirit. Mauger describes the transformative nature of pregnancy and birth in a spiritual context, looking at the archetypal dimension of childbearing. She speaks of the “psychic openness” of the pregnant woman. This openness can bring to the forefront issues that have lain dormant in the woman’s unconscious. As a therapist helping women work with these issues, Mauger emphasizes the importance of the containing aspect of therapy, that “…a pregnant woman should be sustained and affirmed…rather than to be opened, dissected and pulled apart.” This is an interesting read, as it brings a Jungian perspective to the psychological processes of childbearing. Benig Mauger is a psychotherapist and childbirth educator and founded the Holistic Birth Centre in London.
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