Prenatal massage: reverence

In 2021, a friend and I were trading craniosacral therapy sessions, and as she put her hands on me, I heard the phrase, “I can work on pregnant women.” Surprised, I mentioned this to Rachel, who laughed and encouraged me to find training. She is a midwife, so I trusted her advice. However, I set the idea to the back of my mind and continued learning craniosacral therapy for another year. As I began my private CST practice, a few clients asked if I could do prenatal massage. I decided to view it as a calling and took Carol Osborne’s pre and perinatal training at the Lauterstein Conway School of Massage.

A few days before the prenatal workshop, I began to think about the concept of reverence for expecting mothers. Birth is integral to life and accepted as ordinary, but it’s not. A new life is incubated and brought into the world. The process feels divine- it is magic. In craniosacral therapy, we have a lot of education about birth and embryology. Prenatal massage made sense for me when coupled with CST and myofascial release. CST helps reduce tension and improve the ability of newborns to feed. MFR can help with tissue restrictions in postpartum women. I will use all the modalities I have learned to support expecting mothers, postpartum women, and newborns.

There is only one way to breathe life into existence, and we need to devote attention to that process. Every time someone lays down on my table, an “I love you” passes across the sky of my mind. I have grown to find a particular reverence for everyone through learning prenatal massage. In a time when I am losing my mom, I cannot think of a life’s work that would feel more nourishing than to help someone along through pregnancy, postpartum, and seeing a new life grow.