"Wachakuy: Sacred Birth Way" Birthkeeper Program
A unique Birthkeeper training program in the heart of the Andes in Peruvian medicine land, where ancestral midwifery and woman wisdom is still vividly breathable. Join us in a Birth Medicine Journey into the roots of Andean ancestral indigenous midwifery with the prayer of Protecting the Sacred around pregnancy, birth and the postpartum Universe. Shared yearly in-person in January and August.
Wachakuy (to give birth in Quechua) is an educational/ experiential/ medicine program created to accompany mothers-to-be, mothers, midwives, doulas, other birth workers and women in general interested in delving deeper on the Mysteries around Birth on their particular journeys. This Woman Medicine program is centered on the Andean sacred teachings around pregnancy, birth, and pospartum, understood as one Rite of Passage, braided with other sacred techniques and teachings.
The Sacred Birth Way program is a 45- hour program, consisting of 9 sessions, which includes conscious pregnancy/ birth preparation, birth, sacred midwifery, and postpartum teachings rooted in the Andean wisdom of the Ukhu Pacha. The program is enriched by a journey to three sacred feminine sites: Moray (Peruvian Cosmic Womb), Tipon (Mother Water Temple), and Unu Urco (Fertility Temple), where we will perform deep woman-birth medicine work and ceremony, asking permission from the start and giving thanks, as is the Andean Way.
The heart of the “Wachakuy” Initiative is supporting the experience of every woman you serve – throughout pregnancy, birth, and postpartum – as sacred experiences, whatever the culture she belongs to or the specific circumstances of her particular context. You will learn how to be able to hold and support this root-foundation for women.
Pregnancy and Birth as a Rite of Passage
This first half of the Wachakuy: Sacred Birth Way program is centered in understanding deeply the complex transformations that involve to the woman being pregnant and harboring a new life inside, up to giving birth to this life to the world and becoming a Mother. Andean wisdom offers an integral understanding to better transition through this experience. Birth is considered a Rite of Passage on itself, and pregnancy the path conducing to it. This involves moments of wholeness, joy and connection, as well as processes of doubt, emotional instability, insecurities, and profound fears, as one is touching the Mysteries of Life and Death. Pregnancy and birth are considered bridges to another Reality, that of the Ukhu Pacha (the Within Reality), where one enters her own darkness, her inner world – and where one can find her force.
The Conscious Birth Preparation section of the program centers on delving deep in the “true” resources with which a woman will count in the infinite time-space of birth, seeking to awaken our primal brain. This includes the navigation of holistic stages of labor, labyrinth symbolism for birth, pre-natal chant & toning, art therapy, peri- & prenatal psychology, communication with babies in-womb, corporeal pregnant mapping, womb medicine work, rite of passage & ceremony, maternal line & past baby loss work, and womb dance for pregnancy & birth, and consciousness techniques for birth workers (doulas and midwives). Conscious conception wisdom is also navigated thru in this first section.
In the Birth section we will delve into undisturbed birth, Andean birth and midwifery, ability/wisdom to respond and accompany the holistic stages of birth, the Andean concept of Respect applied to birth, waterbirth, and birth and mamantin bodies as sacred spaces.
The Universe of the Postpartum Period
We will submerge ourselves in the different aspect of the Postpartum as a continuum of this Rite of Passage and its challenges, amplifying concepts and practices around care and integration, with the sustainment of the Andean wisdom of the Ukhu Pacha, the Within Reality.
The Postpartum Universe section includes early postpartum care, honoring the postpartum“golden hour”, mother nutrition & herbs, network support planning, birth integration, mother milk medicine, breastfeeding myths & facts, placenta honoring & ritual, family integration, grieving guidance, baby blues & PPD, sacred pregnancy loss, rainbow babies, and traditional postpartum retreat. & more..!
All themes are shared within a sacred container, rooted in the feminine Andean wisdom of the Ukhu Pacha, braided with other teachings and sharing of integral and updated information, including those of international autonomous/holistic midwifery.
An Andean traditional Ofrenda/Despacho to Pachamama (Offering) will be shared by a Kero Elder Altomisayoq, Sr. Agustín with her daughter-apprentice, during our program. This is a participatory Prayer & Ritual Ceremony, with the focused prayer of Birth, Traditional midwifery & spirit-babies honoring in the ceremony.
Important Heart-Note: Certificates will be provided upon satisfactory completion of the Program (issued by Hampi Warmi Institute), with mention of your genuine commitment as “Birth and Postpartum Guardian”, spreading in this way the heart of the “Wachakuy” Initiative in supporting the experience of every woman you serve – throughout pregnancy, birth, and pospartum – as sacred experiences, whatever the culture she belongs to or the specific circumstances of her particular context (whether she experiences a complication, a deviation from normal (real or assumed), an unplanned/ or unexpected intervention, etc. in any aspect of her mother journey).
For those participants who don’t count with any training around birth, this program also has the validation of a Holistic Doula training program, from the particular and integral approach of the “Wachakuy” Birthkeeper Program. Those participants will be apt to start their paths in accompanying births, pregnancies & postpartums, even more if they are already mothers. Continuing self-study with the WiseBirth digital folder & booklist provided, and volunteering as birth guardians to friends/family (or women who can’t afford a doula) are strongly encouraged to start their birthkeeping paths & practice the wisdom & skills received (feedback can be provided).