What do Kate Moss, Elle Macpherson, Lady Helen Windsor and Gwyneth Paltrow have in common? They have all been clients of Dr Gowri Motha’s and her Gentle Birth Method. Ms. Macpherson wrote “I had an incredibly positive, emotional, and nurturing waterbirth,” in her forward in Dr Gowri Motha and Karen Swan MacLeod’s book Gentle Birth Method [Thorsons, published 2004, ISBN 0-00-717684-8].
The Jeyarani Way
Dr Gowri Motha’s mother, Jeyarani, inspired the name of the program, The Jeyarani Gentle Birth Method. Motha received her medical training in India where Ayurveda has deep roots. Ayurvedic medicine approaches the client from a holistic standpoint – valuing the mind, the body, and the spirit of the client, and in the case of pregnancy, the unborn child. With this background and training Motha combines multiple complementary medicine modalities to round out her method.
The Gentle Birth Method includes:
- Dietary guidelines by trimester and based on the mom’s Ayurvedic constitution (or body type)
- Prenatal Yoga, walking and swimming exercise routines
- Hypnotherapy and guided visualizations
- Foot Reflexology at specific weeks during the pregnancy
- Homeopathic remedies for many pregnancy complaints (i.e. constipation, back pain, varicose veins and more)
- Bowen Technique for pelvic mobility in late pregnancy
- Reiki for relaxation
- Cranio-Sacral therapy for emotional stress and birth preparation
- and at-home massage techniques for the partner to give to mom
Dr Motha wants her moms to be “Birthfit. By comparison, the other mothers on the labour ward are about to run 24 miles in high heels.” She later defines this as being physically fit, confident and in control of your emotions, able to meet the demands of birth, and knowing and understanding how to manage labor.
In the second half of the Gentle Birth Method, Dr Motha guides you through each trimester, and each week of pregnancy, including helpful tips and suggestions along the way. Instructions to the practitioners of the above mentioned modalities are included each time a particular modality is recommended so her method can be followed to the letter.
Does it work?
In 2001, Dr Motha presented statistics on her Gentle Birth Method. Of the 248 women who had enrolled in her method at that time almost half of the women gave birth at 40 weeks. The women that had received only four or fewer treatments in the method saw greater statistics than the national (UK) average with 85.2% delivering vaginally and 14.7% by cesarean section. Compared to the women that received nine or more treatments – 90.6% delivered vaginally and only 9.4% by cesarean.
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