Sonja
Hristina
Bjelić
Poet, birth worker and PhD student based between NYC and Belgrade, Serbia
Reverie Birth Philosophy
In poetry, a cæsura is an intentional pause within a line, a juncture between words that marks a musical shift and invites conscious reflection through its silence. Physiological birth contains cæsuras that are not always honored within the technocratic model of care, including internal rotation during the quietude, restitution during emergence, and the moment of reintegration between birther and baby during the return. More broadly, I see pregnancy, birth and postpartum as cæsuras within the life continuum, interludes that shift our flow and open us to new possibilities. As a holistic birthworker educated within a quantum model of care, I respect the liminal spaces of birth and embrace stillness as a state of potentiality. My practice provides imaginative birth support and elucidation, weaving the poetic with critical inquiry, to offer integrative support throughout the reproductive spiral.
IMAGINATIVE
- Sifting through associative and meditative (non-linear) networks of understanding to expand consciousness and connection throughout the childbirth continuum
- Creating spaciousness and potentiality through a dialogic approach
- Moving beyond narrative and calculative thought to engage with the poetic
ELUCIDATIVE
- Presenting evidenced-based information to integrate with lived experience and inherited bodily wisdom
- Infusing the physiological and anatomical with an emotional and metaphysical intelligence
- Contextualizing birth within systems of power and contemporary critical discourse to illuminate how the spiritual body intersects with the politicized body
QUANTUM
- Deep-level connection and nourishment that moves beyond the empirical (information and plans) to excavate your evolving needs and desires
- Birther-led support that respects the energetics of care and understands the shadow impacts of wounds within the birthing space
- Returning power to the family by deemphasizing the role of the birth attendant through a nonhierarchic and collaborative approach