Feminine Instincts - Trauma I Embodiment I Perinatal

25/05/2025

Do join us for this important conversation with options for families’ experience of gentle birth to the mammalian blueprint dwindling in 2025. A gold standard hospital to facilitate gentle birthing is being called in by our large collective of concerned community and professionals who serve them in Australia. Hygieia Health is leading the charge with fundraising and education towards this mission. The links to sign up and /or donate are in my bio. 🐣🐥🐥🐥🐥.

24/05/2025

It's been a mammoth week of holding and learning about birth trauma prevention with Kate White - one of a kind educator with her tireless passion, generosity and humility in sharing this embodied wisdom around the world.

We are growing a vibrant community of practitioners in Australia who are trained in depth to prevent and treat perinatal trauma for whole families with highly nuanced and expansive bodymind (somatic) approaches. Kate White along with Lois Tresize (midwife & educator) distil the wisdom of their many teachers in the fields of trauma, Pre & Peri Natal somatics,midwifery, biodynamic cranio sacral therapy, Polarity therapy, and more. These include John & Anna Chitty, Ray Castellino, Peter Levine, William Emerson & others.

The training in Melbourne is two-thirds complete, and there will be a dozen or so new practitioners dotted around Australia by late 2025 to offer this deep but gentle approach alongside their existing professions of midwife, psychotherapist, somatic trauma therapist, doula, lactation consultant, maternal & child health nurse, OT, bodyworker, counsellor & more.

Watch this space!

❤https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKA5oJizuuc/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Send a message to learn more

15/05/2025

I’m honoured to be a speaker at this upcoming Summit in support of the wonderful initiatives of Hygieia Health.

Join us for the Gentle Beginnings - The First Breath Summit from May 26th - 30th 2025.

It is here that world-renowned birth experts, midwives, doctors, and parents will come together to reimagine birth as the sacred rite of passage it should be.

Currently in Australia,

➡️ Fewer than 50% of women give birth vaginally
➡️ 40% of first-time mothers face induction
➡️ 1 in 3 women experience birth trauma
➡️ Intervention rates increase yearly

It’s time for revolutionary change 🙌

Our summit brings together visionaries who are creating a new paradigm for birth - one that honors women’s autonomy, supports physiological processes, and treats birth as the profound life event it truly is.

What you’ll experience:
🙌Revolutionary insights from leading birth experts
🌱Practical wisdom from midwives, doulas, and practitioners
🌸Evidence-based alternatives to conventional practices
🦋The exciting vision for Australia’s first community-funded Gentle
Birth Hospital
❤️A powerful community of birth advocates

Your registration supports Hygieia Health’s mission to build an independent birthing hospital where mother-centered care, evidence-based practices, and holistic support are the standard - not the exception.

The 5-day free virtual gathering will have
replays available for 24 hours after each session. Don’t miss it!

➡️ Claim your free ticket now! 👉
https://thereconnected.com/gentle-beginnings/

➡️ Donation sfor the Hygieia Health independent maternity hospital: https://programs.thereconnected.com/offers/LCAcPHQ7/checkout

➡️ Lifetime access to The Summit (All Access Pass):
https://programs.thereconnected.com/offers/ZFoFQLTA/checkout

15/05/2025

I’m honoured to be a speaker at this upcoming Summit in support of the wonderful initiatives of Hygieia Health.

Join us for the Gentle Beginnings - The First Breath Summit from May 26th - 30th 2025.

It is here that world-renowned birth experts, midwives, doctors, and parents will come together to reimagine birth as the sacred rite of passage it should be.

Currently in Australia,

➡️ Fewer than 50% of women give birth vaginally
➡️ 40% of first-time mothers face induction
➡️ 1 in 3 women experience birth trauma
➡️ Intervention rates increase yearly

It’s time for revolutionary change 🙌

Our summit brings together visionaries who are creating a new paradigm for birth - one that honors women’s autonomy, supports physiological processes, and treats birth as the profound life event it truly is.

What you’ll experience:
🙌Revolutionary insights from leading birth experts
🌱Practical wisdom from midwives, doulas, and practitioners
🌸Evidence-based alternatives to conventional practices
🦋The exciting vision for Australia’s first community-funded Gentle
Birth Hospital
❤️A powerful community of birth advocates

Your registration supports Hygieia Health’s mission to build a sacred birthing hospital where mother-centered care, evidence-based practices, and holistic support are the standard - not the exception.

Join us for Gentle Beginnings: The First Breath Summit
A 5-day free virtual gathering with 25+ birth and infant mental health experts, raising funds for Hygieia Health’s community-funded Gentle Birth Hospital.
Free to attend live (Replays available for 24 hours after each session). Online - accessible from anywhere. Don’t miss it!

➡️ Claim your free ticket now! 👉
https://thereconnected.com/gentle-beginnings/

➡️ Donation sfor the Hygieia Health independent maternity hospital: https://programs.thereconnected.com/offers/LCAcPHQ7/checkout

➡️ Lifetime access to The Summit (All Access Pass):
https://programs.thereconnected.com/offers/ZFoFQLTA/checkout

Check my bio for links.

10/01/2025

Doula Conference Australia

Melbourne, March 2025



Soft & Fierce: Facilitating Instinctual Boundaries For Birth & Motherhood



The enormous journey for a mother from pre-conception to the postpartum can challenge and rearrange her on every level of her being. It will highlight her entrenched ways of doing life, and also her default ways of managing stressful situations.

The Appease or Fawn response is known to be rooted in early trauma as a way of protecting ourselves when feeling psycho-emotionally or physically vulnerable. This pattern also has elements of cultural conditioning and attachment imprints as the ‘good child syndrome’ within family dynamics. It can be activated in challenging moments during the perinatal journey as stress or survival physiology kicks in. And all too often, it leads to the birthing family relinquishing their inner authority such that they submit to the agendas of others, especially maternity care systems with their focus on timelines and monetary bottom lines. Along with the Freeze response, it is under-recognized as a defensive survival response and is often the default for birthing mothers when fear or distressing situations arise in pregnancy, birth and the postpartum.

Our fast-paced, box-ticking lifestyles do not promote access to our instinctual intelligence or agency. And yet, this as we know is what is necessary for normal physiological or undisturbed birth to become a reality. Birth preparation that focusses on true embodiment of a primal nature, facilitates the understanding of our protective patterns, and cultivates clear boundaries with access to inner Yes, No or Maybe responses can help couples get ahead of these outworn patterns and step into parenthood with greater confidence and ease.

The presentation will explore some of these themes and culminate in a simple process for tapping into a felt-sense of instinctual boundaries which can be shared with the families you support.

https://www.doulaconference.com.au/

11/09/2024

I’m honored with the invitation to speak again at the Australian Doula Conference in Geelong, Victoria March 2025.

The conference theme will be Innate Ancient Wisdom.
Topics for the conference will be announced shortly.

Repost from

Nisha Gill draws from her work in the fields of trauma, birth and female embodiment to create a unique suite of services for families along the perinatal continuum.

As a Somatic Experiencing® (trauma) Practitioner, counsellor, embodiment teacher, birth educator, and previously a birth and postnatal doula, Nisha applies a range of bodymind approaches to the resolution of trauma as well as birth preparation and postnatal care for families. Her special focus is birth, developmental, sexual, pre & peri natal, medical and surgical traumas and their prevention.

The common thread through her all her work is an emphasis on our profound mammalian heritage as humans. Nisha supports women to cultivate their instinctual boundaries for pregnancy, birth and parenting via Primal Mama® practices and other embodiment processes.

Nisha’s overall mission is to facilitate perinatal experiences for babies and their families to the blueprint of birth which they can then carry into their lives from this formative time. She delivers trauma education to birth professionals, body-centred practitioners, sexuality coaches, and families. Applying a neuro-physiological or Polyvagal lens to trauma, Nisha supports birth workers to value more wholly their therapeutic presence with the families they serve in minimizing trauma and promoting resilience.

Website: feminineinstincts.com.au

Instagram: feminine_instincts

Facebook:
Feminine Instincts - Trauma I Embodiment I Perinatal

Birth Trauma Awareness

10/09/2024

When we view trauma as a protective primal bodymind response to overwhelming experiences where one’s autonomic nervous system does not settle or return to homeostasis, then we can appreciate the power of these protective responses to shape our perceptions, thoughts and behaviours.

This fundamental need for safety and security - physical, and psychological-emotional - trumps over all other levels of human functioning. It is difficult to argue with or talk oneself out of a strong fear reaction. At their peak, these protective and defensive responses will hijack our access to the parts of our brain which help us to reason logically and orient to what’s already working in our favour.

However, having a clearer understanding of how and why this occurs can help us zoom our lenses out of these challenging moments to view the bigger picture. This usually leads to greater self-compassion, mobilizes self-supportive choices, and with some guidance, sets us on a path to moving beyond these outworn response patterns.

Do you recognize these trauma-driven responses and ways of being - in yourself, and in the people you know?

🌷🌷🌷

02/07/2024

02/07/2024

In the process of resolving trauma, the presence of a compassionate and attuned other is an effective first step to ‘launching’ oneself on the healing path.

However, as symptoms begin to abate and the capacity to be with uncomfortable material or trauma triggers grows, the notion of ‘re-parenting’ can take over as a life-long strategy. This involves some tapping into earlier versions of ourselves – the frightened child, adolescent or adult; the little one whose needs were not attuned to or met in a sustaining way so that they were biologically wired to survive and not thrive; the one who had just too many curved balls thrown at them without the bandwidth to deal with them – and soothing those younger versions of ourselves through our imagination, self-touch, movement, and hearing the words of reassurance that might have helped us settle in that original moment.

In that process of re-parenting, make space and time to tune in to your body ask yourself:

- how might your needs for soothing and reassurance have been met?
- how would you have liked to be held?
- by whom?
- what are the messages you needed to hear in order to feel safer and more secure?

And with clear intention, presence, and deep compassion for that younger version of yourself, practice taking in the soothing gestures at this somatic or bodymind level.

💕

10/06/2024

BIRTH TRAUMA AWARENESS WEEK SUMMIT

21 to 27 July, 2024

I feel honoured to be collaborating again with Hygieia Health in their mission to prevent and treat perinatal trauma. I’ll be a guest speaker at their Birth Trauma Awareness Week online summit from 21 to 27 July. https://hygieiahealth.org/summit2024/

My topic will be ‘Landing Softly From Birth: early steps to reducing the intensity of trauma responses’ geared towards parents, parents-to-be, and perinatal professionals.

Hygieia Health is a NFP created by a team of individuals who have been deeply committed to making a tangible difference in the field, and to do it urgently. They have a range of initiatives to that end, you can link to details here: https://hygieiahealth.org

Your donation towards their mission of radically reducing the prevalence of birth trauma in Australia would be greatly appreciated.

🙏🏼🌹

29/05/2024

UPDATE ON THE NSW ENQUIRY INTO BIRTH TRAUMA

Other than perhaps being born ourselves and the dying process, I can’t think
of a time in our lives that is more potent or sensitive than the process of
gestating and birthing another human. It doesn’t come as any surprise then
the entire perinatal time is vulnerable to traumatic experiences for the birthing mother, baby, partner, support teams and others involved.

The statistics most often highlighted are those of one in three births being reported as traumatic. This presupposes that every person who struggles with the impact of a traumatic perinatal experience actually recognizes it as
such and is willing and able to self-disclose, no matter how significantly they are impacted. Many professionals in the field would argue that the statistic represents only the tip of the iceberg and prevalence may be above 60%.

The resonance of distress in every family member will impact the entire family. This has profound negative consequences for bonding, attachment and development in young infants. I witness this clearly in my work with adults presenting with developmental trauma from their early life including neonatal experiences. If we acknowledge that human babies are sentient and their early traumatic experiences set imprints for life, then it is incumbent upon us to protect the most vulnerable of our species along with their families.

Continued in comments………

24/05/2024

FOUNDATIONS OF PRE & PERI NATAL DYNAMICS (birth trauma prevention & treatment, including the baby’s experience) with Kate White

What an honour it was to host Kate’s Melbourne workshop last weekend and assist over the four days along with my colleague Rachel.m of .

The participants included many midwives, lactation consultants, postnatal doula, psychologist, psychotherapist, bodyworkers. and other perinatal practitioners who already apply bodymind approaches to human health and resilience.

Their courage and openness to contribute deeply to the group resonance and explore their own birth imprints was truly inspiring. And their passion to make significant changes to the way in which families are born was palpable throughout the weekend. Most are already sharing about the profound shifts in the way they work with families and the direct impact this is having.

Kate is now feeling the momentum grow for this understanding and potency which she ever so humbly distills from her long lineage of teachers in the field. The full six-module inperson training is being planned in Australia for 2025……..watch this space. 🐣🐥🐥🐥