Before there was a trace of this world of men,
I carried the memory of a lock of your hair,
A stray end gathered within me, though unknown.
Inside that invisible realm,
Your face like the sun longed to be seen,
Until each separate object was finally flung into light.
From the moment of Time's first-drawn breath,
Love resides in us,
A treasure locked into the heart's hidden vault;
before the first seed broke open the rose bed of Being,
An inner lark soared through your meadows,
Heading toward Home.
What can I do but thank you, one hundred times?
Your face illumines the shrine of Hayati's eyes,
Constantly present and lovely.
Bibi Hayati, Persian, 19th century
Life shows me that to honor the body, its mysteries, rituals, and transformations, is to honor the soul and spirit, for all of our spiritual experiences occur in relation to our bodies. With a life-long interest in women's cycles of life, I have studied and explored birth, sexuality, embodiment, herbs, bodywork and feminine spirituality.
My formal study includes a Bachelor of Arts, Magna Cum Laude, in English Literature from Ithaca College, Heart & Hands Midwifery class, Swedish-Esalen massage, Sacred Intimacy for Women with the Body Electric School, comprehensive birth and postpartum doula training with Cornerstone Doula trainings, and on-going cranio-sacral study with the Milne Institute.
I believe that the body possesses an innate intelligence. As a provider of healing services it is my role to listen profoundly, offer loving touch and kind, honest words in order to intuitively support the body's natural processes.
Currently I am re-visioning my practice in order to more
fully bring my offerings to you. You can follow me on
my blog Devotion , on my Facebook page and on Twitter
_ Magdalenesheart .
Blessings & thank you!
As I sit quietly, doing nothing, Spring comes and grass grows of itself.
from Zenrin Kushu
Like water flowing downstream, birth flows toward new life with an innate intelligence. The role of a doula is to protect the normalcy of birth and to encourage the mother, baby and partner to enter deeply into these transformative waters, knowing that a dedicated support person is present Offering physical and emotional support, unconditional Inurturing and quiet presence, the doula safeguards the sacredness of birth.
During pregnancy, a doula helps the mother and partner prepare for intensity of birth, giving a safe space for fears to be spoken and questions asked. In my own practice I am also able to offer prenatal massage and cranio-sacral work, assistance in creating a blessingway, postpartum planning, and healing work around women's sexuality, embodiment and well-being.
During birth a doula holds the vision you have of your birth, helping you navigate the actual waters of labor so that you feel supported in your decisions and actions. Soothing hands, quiet words of support and attention to the mundane details allow the mother to fall deeply into her primal brain, where birth takes over and a woman rides the waves of intensity. Fathers/partners often wonder if a doula will make their presence superfluous; in fact, a doula provides the chance for partners to be even more present with their woman and the process of becoming a parent themselves, since there is a third person to support the mother.
During the postpartum period, a doula listens to the joys and worries of new mothering, offers physical support such as cooking and organization to ease the day to day responsibilties, helps with breastfeeding and newborn care, and empowers the parents to trust their intuition and the inborn wisdom of their baby. At a time when many women live far away from their families, a doula steps into the role of the wise 'aunt' offering love and guidance during a time when many women feel that they have been pushed out to sea on a boat with no paddle. My training as a bodyworker enables me to additionally offer support to the healing of the physical body through touch.
Supporting the innate capacity of the self to heal,
and the body's need for nurturing touch.
The heart of my work is the belief in the innate organizing and healing capacity of the body/self. A child in utero "knows" how to grow itself without outside input. This same principle, known in cranio-sacral work as the Breath of Life, continues to manifest in us as the capacity to heal and transform on all levels. As a midwife to your body and soul, I offer skilled, nurturing touch, compassionate witness and loving reflection. All people who wish to engage their body wisdom and to live more joyfully and freely are welcome at my table.
Nourishing, Intuitive Massage
Cranio-Sacral Work : Adults, Mother & Baby, Babies & Children
Rates: 1 hour/$75, 90 minutes/$105, 2 hours $135
Children : $1/minute, 30 minute minimum
Please inquire about packages or discounts for on-going work.
I am available a variety of days and times through the week. Please inquire about my current schedule. My studio is a lovely private location in the Temescal area, address upon booking. Easy to arrive by car, BART (10-15 min walk from Macarthur or Ashby) or the 12, 18 or 1 AC Transit buses.
Outcalls : Available only for Mother & Baby Cranio-Sacral (no table needed) or if you have your own table, in the East Bay. Please add $10.
Cancellation Policy : Non-emergency cancellations less than 24 hours before appointments incur a fee equal to the scheduled session. Thank you for your consideration.
Ursula Ferreira
Sintra, Portugal &
San Francisco Bay Area, CA, USA
Healing the Yoni, Healing the Heart
Combining the healing power of cranio-sacral touch with women's spirituality and sexuality, this clothes-on session facilitates a woman's capacity to listen to the deep feminine wisdom of her body and to receive nourishing, nurturing touch.
Bodywork Rates: 1 hour/$75, 90 minutes/$105, 2 hours/$135.
For Infants & Children: $1/minute, 30 minute minimum
My studio is a lovely private location in the North Oakland neighborhood of the Temescal, address upon booking. Easy to get to by car, BART (10-15 min walk from Macarthur or Ashby) or the 12, 18, or 1 AC Transit buses.
Best days for me are Tuesdays and Thursday-Sunday. Please inquire about other times.
Outcalls: Available only for Mother/Baby Cranio-Sacral (no table needed) or if you have your own table, in the East Bay. Please add $10.
Cancellation Policy: Non-emergency cancellations less than 24 hours before appointments incur a fee equal to scheduled session. Thank you for your consideration.
I accept cash and checks, and hopefully soon credit cards!
Pregnancy and birth are a sexual rite of passage in a woman's life, constituting profound physical, emotional and spiritual changes. This workshop will provide an opportunity to:
•Express our personal experiences and ask questions in a safe environment, freeing up the energy of the throat, pelvis and emotions.
•Practice simple techniques from sacred sexual practices which help us to relax into sensation, pleasure and presence.
•Build community with other women to creates positive mirrors to support us on our journey.
•Gather resources to empower your birth as a initiation into deeper womanhood.
•Have fun!
Pre-registration required:
SINTRA: Saturday, March 20th 9:00 to 18:30, private home in Sintra
LISBOA: Sunday, April 25th, 9:00 to 18:30, Casa Semente, Alvalade
In English, with Portuguese translation available.
Fruit, chocolate and spring water included
45 euros (In case of financial need, please contact me)
New motherhood offers deep joys and deep challenges. Even as we may be filled with more love than we have ever felt, our sense of self, our relationship to our bodies and our capacity to integrate this transformation may feel adrift at sea. This workshop provides an opportunity to:
•Create community with like-minded mothers
•Speak your experience, ask questions and deepen your natural ability to intuitively navigate parenting and relationship (to body, self, partner, society).
•Learn simple techniques from sacred sexual practices to nourish the sensual body and enhance sexual energy and experience, including how to share this information with a partner.
•Gather resources to empower your sense of self as both mother and lover.
**This workshop is expressly designed for mothers to be able to bring their babies.**
SINTRA: Tuesdays, March 16/23/30: 10:30 to 13:30, private home in Varzea de Sintra
LISBOA: Tuesdays, April 13/30/27 11:00 to 14:00, Casa Semente, Alvalade
Light snacks provided feel free to bring personal food
45 euros (In case of financial need please contact me)
A new family is born, and every interaction teaches us about each other. As parents, how do we develop our intuitive resources for caring for our child, as well as understanding the different gifts, and manners of offering those gifts, that we bring to him or her? Touch is a fundamental form of expression; even when we do not have words, we can offer love, compassion and kindness through contact.
This workshop incorporates baby massage, breath awareness, cranio-sacral and non-violent communication to enhance the bond between child, mother and father/partner. No previous experience necessary, only the willingness to go more deeply into the love of your family.
Taught with my husband Bruno Ferreira, a massage therapist, cranio-sacral worker, yoga teacher, astrophysicist. and love of my life.
SINTRA & LISBOA, dates to be announced
In Portuguese & English
Tea and light snacks included.
Women's Sexual Pasages and The Women's Wheel of Life , Elizabeth Davis (2nd book with Carol Leonard)
Spiritual Midwifery and Ina May's Guide to Childbirth , Ina May Gaskin
The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth, Henci Goer and Rhonda Wheeler
Bountiful, Beautiful, Blissful (Kundalini yoga & pregnancy), Gurmukh
Women in Praise of the Sacred: 43 Centuries Spiritual Poetry by Women , ed. Jane Hirshfield
The Nursing Mother's Companion, Revised Edition, Kathleen Huggins
Free Play , Stephen Nachmanovitch
The Continuum Concept, Jean Liedloff
Sleeping with Your Baby: A Parent's Guide to Co-Sleeping, James McKenna
The Heart of Listening , Hugh Milne
Care of the Soul and Soul Mates , Thomas Moore
Cunt: A Declaration of Independence, Inga Muscio
Magical Child, Joseph Chilton Pierce
The Natural Pregnancy Book and Naturally Healthy Babies and Children , Aviva Jill Romm
The Birth Partner: A Complete Guide for Dads, Doulas and All Other Birth Companions, Penny Simkin
Tantric Orgasm for Women , Diana Richardson
Tao: The Watercourse Way, Alan Watts
Wise Woman Herbal Series: The Childbearing Year; Healing Wise; Breast Cancer? Breast Health! The Wise Woman Way; New Menopausal Years: The Wise Woman Way, Susun Weed
Please share your favorite resources with me:
anahata.bhakti_gmail.com
Articles
Into the Valley: Tantric Orgasm and Childbirth Ursula Ferreira
Technology in Birth: First Do No Harm Marsden Wagner
Why Use a Doula? DONA International
Do You Doula? An exclusive interview with John Kennell
Websites
Associação Doulas de Portugal
Birth Into Being
Birth Psychology/Association for Pre- and Perinatal Psychology and Health (APPAH)
Íris: Dançando o Sagrado Femenino
La Leche League International, Portugal
Mothering Magazine and Online Forum
Pandora Astrology
DVDS
Ayurveda: The Art of Being
Birth As We Know It and Birth Into Being
The Business of Being Born
David Deida: Sex,Love, Spirit (parts 1-12 Youtube)
Orgasmic Birth
What Babies Want
BOOKS
Our Bodies, Our Selves, Boston Women's Health Book Collective
Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering , Sarah J. Buckley
Healing Love Through the Tao: Cultivating Female Sexual Energy and The Multi-Orgasmic Woman/Couple/Man, Mantak Chia ( Multi-Orgasmic books with Rachel and Douglas Abrams)
Orgasmic Birth: Your Guide to a Safe, Satisfying and Pleasurable Birth Experience, Elizabeth Davis & Debra Pascali-Bonaro, June 2010 (contains excerpts from my essay, Into the Valley: Tantric Orgasm and Childbirth
Birth Doula Services
2-3 prenatal visits
1 prenatal bodywork session
On-call for birth 37 weeks until birth
Birth
1 postpartum visit
Additional Services Can Be Added to Birth Package at a Discount:
Blessingway
Pre- & Post-natal massage
Cranio-Sacral, including postpartum Baby & Mother CS
Postpartum planning
Postpartum doula hours
Postpartum Doula Services
Emotional and physical support of the new mother, assistance with newborn care, healing after caesarean and other complications, support for new fathers, delicious, healthy cooking, grocery shopping/errands, laundry and household organization.
Sliding scale $20-25/hour, available 1-5 days a week, morning through evening
East Bay: 3 hour minimum/Other locations: 4 hour minimum
*Initial consults for doula services are always free*
A vida mostra-me que honrar o corpo, os seus enigmas, os rituais e as transformaçoes é honrar a alma e o espírito, porque toda a nossa experiência espiritual ocorre em relação a nossos corpos. Com um forte interesse nos ciclos da vida da mulher, tenho estudado e explorado o parto, a sexualidade, embodiment, as ervas medicinais, massagem e a espiritualidade feminina.
As minhas habilitações incluem: Licenciatura em Literatura Inglesa, Magna Cum Laude, de Ithaca College; Heart and Hands: Aula de Parteira; curso de massagem Suiça-Esalen; curso de Intimidade Sagrada para Mulheres da Escola Body Electric; curso de doula abrangendo o parto e o pós-parto através de Cornerstone Doula; e estudo avançado de terapia cranio-sacral através do Milne Institute.
Acredito que o corpo possui uma inteligência inata. Como terapeuta a minha função é escutar profundamente, oferecer um toque carinhoso e palavras honestas de modo a intuitivamente apoiar os processos naturais do corpo.
Presentemente, tenho o privilégio de viver um ano na região linda de Sintra com o meu marido Português e a nossa familia. É um prazer
aprender esta linguagem linda. Estou a trabalhar na
tradução deste website página a página. Entretanto,
se tiver alguma pergunta esteja à vontade para faze-la
em Português.
Obrigado e beijinhos!
Sexualidade e Bem-Estar Pós-Parto (para mães e bebês)
A maternidade é um processo de integraçao. Unimos juntas en comunidade para oferecer-nos apoio, dar voz à nossa experiência, aprender tecnicas para fortalecer a nossa energia sexual e divertir-nos. Este workshop está desenhado para que as mães possam trazer os seus bebês.
SINTRA: Terças em Março 16, 23, 30, 10:30 to 13:30, casa privada
LISBOA: Terças em Abril 13, 20, 27, 11:00 to 14:00, Casa Semente, Alvalade
Sexualidade e Bem-Estar Pré-Parto
A gravidez e o parto são rituais de iniciação na vida da uma mulher. Estas experiências resultam em fortes mudanças físicas, emocionais e espirituais. A práctica de desenvolver prazer no nosso corpo prepara-nos para melhor navegar a intensidade e as sensações do parto. Por sua vez, a experiência do parto afecta como iremos integrar a nossa sexualidade com a maternidade.
SINTRA: Sabado 20 de Março, 9:00 to 18:30, casa privada
LISBOA: Domingo 25 de Abril, 9:00 to 18:30, Casa Semente, Alvalade
About Ursula
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