Ep 38 - Birth as a Rite of Passage with Amelia Kriss

Amelia Kriss is a Drama Therapist and Certified Coach in private practice in the Bay Area, California, where she lives with her husband and two powerhouse daughters. She works primarily with recovering people-pleasers and "Nice" girls who are ready to deconstruct self-shrinking patterns, and find more ease & joy.

 Amelia is also deeply committed to Birth Story Medicine work; helping birthing parents integrate, and move forward from, unresolved issues connected to the experience of giving birth. She believes that supporting parents through birthing as a rite of passage is an important (and too often missing) piece of creating healthier & happier families.

 Amelia is also a Certified Daring Way™ Facilitator and a director for therapeutic theatre. She is deeply interested in the connection between our personal healing journeys and our collective liberation.

 What we discuss in this episode:

Amelia shares her own postpartum journey and the moment her husband asked her how she was. Her answer surprised her and helps to frame her transition into motherhood.What it really means when we get the message after a birth that says "Mom and Baby are healthy and happy."Why it is so important to prepare birthing people for the psychological and spiritual identity changes that come with the physical experience of birth. Why the information preparing families have access to leans towards one of two extremes and why both sides are just not complete. "Most of us hold both sides; fear AND trust."Growing humans is a bad-ass thing and we are strong enough to think about, and prepare for, all potential outcomes.What it means to be "empowered" as a parent. You have life experiences you can draw on as you prepare for birth. And how birth is like going on a hike.Amelia shares about her Group Coaching program - how she designed and it and how it will help expectant parents.How society steers us wrong in birth and motherhood and why Redefining Motherhood exists. How motherhood is not a role or an archetype but an experience.Lynn shares the experience that jolted her out of "survival mode" in motherhood.Amelia connects for us that there is a level of death/change/rebirth that takes place in the transition into motherhood. How it is mixed and messy and dynamic. How there is a ying and yang. 

Resources and Links:

Website: https://ameliakriss.com/Instagram: @akcollaborativeUncharted: Anchoring Yourself in the Wild Terrain of Giving Birth Group Program: www.birthingforreal.com To book a Birth Story Medicine session with Amelia: https://ameliakriss.com/birth-story-medicineNewsletter for Pregnant People called Soft Cheese: https://ameliakriss.com/soft-cheeseSupport the show

Connect with Lynn on instagram @HappyMamaWellness. Looking for more support with parenting and motherhood? Check out the Happy Mama Wellness Community here!