The womb is a sacred vessel that carries the echoes of our ancestral lineage. But what happens when that womb space becomes tainted by trauma, passed down through the generations like a haunting legacy?
Imagine carrying the weight of your ancestors' deepest wounds - the fears, sorrows and unresolved emotions that have been passed down through generations, etched into the very fabric of your being before you even took your first breath.
What if the struggles you've faced throughout your life are not solely your own, but a reflection of ancestral pain yearning to be seen, felt and healed?
In this eye-opening exploration, we'll peel back the veil on the hidden lives of our wombs, unearthing the ways trauma can become an heirloom passed down through the generations. Your womb holds the key to rewriting your history - are you ready to listen?
How Maternal Stress During Pregnancy Affects The Unborn Child
When a mother is stressed, her body releases hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. These hormones can cross the placenta and reach the developing fetus. This can lead to alterations in fetal brain development and behavior.
Maternal stress during pregnancy has also been linked to increased risk of preterm birth, low birth weight, and other adverse outcomes.
Furthermore, maternal stress during pregnancy can have lasting effects on the child's physical and mental health.
Studies have shown that children whose mothers experienced high levels of stress during pregnancy are at increased risk for behavioral problems, cognitive deficits, and mood disorders later in life.
Examples of Maternal Stress During Pregnancy
Unresolved trauma and chronic stress can have a significant impact on the nervous system, which can be further exacerbated during pregnancy. When an individual has experienced past traumas or is dealing with ongoing stressors, their nervous system may remain in a heightened state of arousal, unable to fully regulate and return to a state of balance. This dysregulation in the nervous system can make it more difficult for the pregnant woman to effectively manage the additional stresses and physical demands of pregnancy.
The combination of unresolved trauma, chronic stress, and the new stresses of pregnancy can create a perfect storm, where the mother's ability to adaptively cope is severely challenged.
This can lead to increased risk of pregnancy complications, adverse birth outcomes, and long-term impacts on the mother's and child's physical and mental health. It is crucial for healthcare providers to assess for and address any underlying trauma or chronic stress during prenatal care, and to connect pregnant women with appropriate resources and support to help regulate the nervous system and foster resilience during this critical time.
examples of stressors that expectant mothers may experience include:
Work-related stress: High-pressure jobs, job insecurity, and long work hours can all contribute to maternal stress during pregnancy.
Relationship stress: Conflict or difficulties in intimate relationships, family conflicts, and domestic violence can all cause maternal stress.
Financial stress: Financial instability, poverty, and difficulty making ends meet can be a significant source of stress for expectant mothers.
Health-related stress: Pregnancy-related health concerns, chronic illness, and physical pain can all contribute to maternal stress.
Life changes: Major life events, such as moving, divorce, or the death of a loved one, can be stressful for expectant mothers and may impact fetal development.
The Transmission of Trauma from Womb to Child
During times of stress, the mother's body releases a hormone called cortisol. Cortisol helps regulate important functions like metabolism, blood sugar, and the immune system. But too much cortisol can become harmful, both for the mother and the fetus.
The placenta normally acts as a barrier, regulating the amount of cortisol that reaches the developing baby. However, prolonged exposure to high stress can weaken this protective mechanism. Excessive cortisol from the mother's body can then cross over into the fetal circulation.
This is particularly concerning because the fetal stress response system, centered around the Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis, begins developing as early as the fourth week of pregnancy. When bombarded by elevated maternal cortisol, the fetal HPA axis becomes dysregulated, with potential long-term consequences.
The HPA axis coordinates the neurological and hormonal aspects of the stress response. Chronic activation caused by the mother's trauma or unrelenting stress can impair its delicate balance. This manifests as the overproduction of cortisol, which can then infiltrate the vulnerable, rapidly developing fetal brain and body.
While the placenta tries to shield the fetus, persistent maternal stress can eventually overcome this safeguard. The placental enzyme meant to convert cortisol into its inactive form can become inhibited, allowing the stress hormone to breach the barrier.
In this way, the mother's unresolved trauma and overwhelming life demands can become imprinted on the child, even before birth. Understanding this mind-body connection is crucial, as it reveals how prenatal experiences can shape a child's trajectory long after delivery.
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What My Clients Say: In Utero Trauma Healing Transformations
I was then taken back to being in utero, to my birth and then to a mirror image of the innocence in the young toddler I once was. Suddenly, I felt such huge love! In that moment, the love engulfed me. It came without judgement and was so forgiving! I hugged my dad and then my mom, playfully climbing all over them and feeling the energy of emotional holding from them that I have been missing in my lived childhood experience.
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I wanted to share some amazing news !!! Actually I’m super excited to share this with you... it’s been 3 weeks since we finished my 1:1 sessions... I ran for the first time and guess what I didn’t even use my inhaler !! I always have to use my inhaler before I do any work out; ever since I was little .... as you know I was born with asthma and don’t know life without asthma - I usually take my inhaler a lot from winter to March due to the cold weather and in the summer due to allergies so basically I’m on it all the time ! I’ve tested this out three times now (I was scared when I didn’t take my inhaler the first time round) so:Day 1 I started off with a brisk walk and a light jog... no wheezing ... Day 2 I started off with a light jog and kept a consistent flow - no wheezing !! Day 3 I started off with a light jog and now I am running and guess bloody what NO WHEEZING !!! I ran 12 whole minutes with no issues with my breathing the only reason why I stopped was cause I got tired lol !! I never thought in a million years I would be running like this !! Thank you for my new set of lungs ! Honestly I am speechless as I never thought this was possible !!!I feel now i need to keep trusting my body as it’s an amazing power machine that is so grateful to your healing and for safely taking me back to the utero to do this !!!
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I came to see Safa not really realising that in all levels, in all ways, I was traumatised. The question Safa asked me at the beginning, How am I? At 40 years old I did not know the answer. The truth is, my nervous system was in overdrive. I had been deeply fatigued for many years. I was so ill when I was 20 years old that I nearly died. 20 years later, I still never understood that experience, why it happened, what it meant. Why? Until the day I met Safa. Through the healing sessions each week we worked on the physical parts of my body that were holding trauma. This included my spine, cranium, getting back into my arms and legs and re- anchoring my root space.My body was holding so many unconscious trauma imprints - physical, sexual and emotional.
It was a very deep journey, to feel my sacrum again, to feel reconnected, to feel my pelvis and my womb. To feel like a woman again. Safa helped me heal, all the way back to my in utero experience which was the root cause of my shame and guilt and loneliness. We also had to do big karmic work in a deep field to re-work my masculine and feminine aspects which had been affected by trauma. I finally forgave and cleared the imprints in my ovaries, womb, neck, heart, liver and field. In just 12 weeks I have felt a big shift in my consciousness. I have become a woman again. I feel a deep love for myself. I trust in myself again!
Now I am able to feel the power of my womb. I am able to clarify my energy field and my space, connect to my ancestors and feel love in my daily life. I have learnt the art of embodiment. I turned away from senseless things like alcohol, smoking and empty friendships. My family is my big mirror. Through the healing work I have done with Safa, my family are now shining. I see the sun in their eyes!
I am speechless by the depth of transformation in this short amount of time. A huge thank you Safa.
I am so curious about everything I learnt from you! You are so big! Deeply impressed! Chapeaux!!!'
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During the session I felt a lot of chemical release. Lots of release in the brain, I literally felt the top of my left shoulder nerve by nerve being plucked and rewired. Both my masculine and feminine side being stretched and rested. Lots of work in my liver.Saw myself in utero. It felt like the only time I connected with my mother and father together.... the only time they were in unison. The only time I felt deeply loved by my father. So much coughing and air moving through me and my womb. I was holding myself... rocking myself slowly like a small child letting her know she is safe. That we are one. That it’s okay to feel. You are loved little one, you are loved. I remember seeing pink and blue and a quick flash of utero, a deep red rose, rainbows, and light beam. Oh I also saw what I perceive to be the universe I’m not really sure. I saw a the colors of the earth spinning with a hole in the middle? I love you all so much <3 I surrender and bow down to womb and all of my fellow womb warriors.
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Powerful! So much happened, wow! See my mission here on earth more quite deeply. Feel a way deeper clarity on doing things out of fear rather than love. Feels like a reorientation of my heart and brain connection. Released weights, bricks and barb wires from my heart and intestines, and breasts. Released feelings of resentment and hate. Felt my baby self coming out of my mamas womb, felt like I was in the gop like frequency sensation of coming out the womb. Messages and seeing of my mission "you will help turn pain into honey", you have felt deep pain, but you see the honey so clearly too. Felt my womb stirring like a honey pot. Seeing my own unique gift. The beauty and pain of birthing itself. (I want to take a duala course now) My deep cry and longing for all little girls to feel like they have their own space their own pile of clothes. My motherly love and cried for myself to fully remember myself and all. I feel I was able to truely see myself deeper. I felt like a mother at the end being able to greet a lot of past ages of myself. Saw and felt myself as a rocket ship flying through light. Saw a lot of us on a rollercoaster, and this swing ride, and felt as if I were on it too. Still feel a lot shifting on a DNA level. Feel like I am giving birth still.
Grateful and in awe of the sacredness of birthing.
As always, if you're ready to heal, please reach out to me.