By Angie Rosier
May holds Mother’s Day. It could be called Women’s Day as we celebrate the power of all women. Doulas are lucky people among women. They have the unique opportunity of glancing into the soul of a woman. A woman’s soul, which contains her whole heart and her entire power, is a rare thing to behold. Doulas get to see it in every client.
It’s not often when the whole soul is required to perform a task, but childbirth is one of those tasks. It is transformative. It will require treading in unknown territory, it will require a strength and a knowing that lies deep in the bodies of women. It is an event that can bond women of all ages and cultures to one another as if they were sisters.
Although birth is occurring hundreds of thousands of times each day the world over, it is something individual women get to experience relatively few times. Doulas, however, are able to witness this power countless times. Birth is a treasured event that will leave its print on the life of both the woman and her baby for the rest of their time. It is a shaping and forming event. Doulas facilitate a powerful shape and hopeful form that will endure. Sometimes when the opposite is a result, even more of the soul might bare itself as she dives into a place where she swims and seems to drown in feeling.
The capacity of the human soul for experience is infinite. The capacity of the human heart for love and triumph or for love and sorrow know no bounds. After having witnessed the souls of countless women during their most powerful yet vulnerable times, a doula cannot help but be affected by the power of women. She can dip her ladle of learning into each soul and choose a precious lesson until seeing any woman’s face at the grocery store may remind her of a woman she once loved and served. A doula can weave all the strongest parts of women in their most powerful hour into her own heart and soul. Doulas are lucky people indeed.
So, as we encounter women, let us celebrate her and revere her in her power this month of May, which holds Mother’s Day, Women’s Day.
About Angie
Angie Rosier has been a doula since 2003 and has attended over 1,000 births. She lives in Salt Lake with her husband and 5 children and is the current president of the Utah Doula Association and owner at birthlearning.com.