- Welcome
- Birthlight Trust
- The Conference
- Speakers
- Suzanne Arms
- Janet Balaskas
- Cherry Bond
- Marie-Claire Busnel
- Blandine Calais-Germain
- Pauline Carpenter
- Joseph Chilton Pearce
- Binnie Dansby
- Ina May Gaskin
- Vivette Glover
- Joanna Hawthorne
- Papa Joe
- Sheila Kitzinger
- Frederick Leboyer
- Amali Lokugamage
- Peter Lomas
- Robin Monro
- Gowri Motha
- Michel Odent
- Lesley Page
- Rhea Quien
- Nadia Raafat
- Martin Richards
- Naomi Stadlen
- Marilyn Strathern
- Basia Szpak
- Colwyn Trevarthen
- Anna Verwaal
- Birthlight Speakers
- Françoise Barbira Freedman
- Sally Lomas
- Amanda Walker
- Uma Dinsmore-Tuli
- Elizabeth De Michelis
- Beverley Nolan
- Jyoti Gudka
- Shawn Tomlinson
- Margaret Adey
- Gill Milsom
- Emmaline Kitson
- Schedule
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Lesley Downie
Lesley Downie works in Scotland as an artist, poet, writer and complementary health practitioner. Her therapeutic training is in Craniosacral Therapy, Infant Movement Development, Prenatal and Birth Process and in the safe and gentle resolution of trauma. Lesley set up the Baby Project, in the year 2000, to champion the infant's experience through articles, information sheets, talks and visual displays. She has contributed to conferences, courses, workshops and health fairs, as well as journals and newsletters. Lesley, launched a new website, www.avoiceforbabies.co.uk, in May 2006. Championing the baby's experience, this website offers information and inspiration to parents, midwives, ante-natal teachers, health practitioners, world workers.
From my experiences of giving birth, processing my own birth, and working with clients, I am passionate about the importance of recognising that the beginning of life lays the foundations for the health of each individual as well as for the future well-being of the human race. The foundation of peace and sustainability is the capacity to love ourselves, each other and the world. I believe that to transform the culture of fear and violence, we must nourish the roots of love from the very beginning of life.....
love and respect
can transform the culture of fear
when we nourish the roots of love at the beginning of life
bring reverence for life back into birth
welcome and listen to babies
remember our connectedness
celebrate our differences
and honour the sacred in all life
By respecting and nurturing emotional and spiritual health from conception onwards we nourish the roots of love in each new life.
By honouring the bond between mother and baby, we support the first relationship as a basis for all future relationships.
By letting babies know they are welcomed and accepted just as they are, with all of their feelings, we help them to be loving and true to themselves as they grow and relate in the world.
By offering babies the support they need, to resolve early difficulties and to complete or repattern their birth, we give them the opportunity to heal and to reach their full potential.
By acknowledging and owning our own feelings and transforming our restrictive life patterns we can change how we relate to ourselves, to the world and to our children.
By watching, listening and learning from babies, we can rediscover who we really are, and remember our connectedness to all that is.
Infant Longing
hold me
just hold me
hear me
be with me.
let me know it is ok to be how I am, who I am.
let me know I don't have to smile
to be who you want me to be.
let me know I don't have to be someone else
to be loved.
hold me just as I am
with my anger, my pain, my sadness.
hold me just as I am
with my crying, my fear, my neediness.
help me to be here
help me
to want to be
in this body
on this earth
welcome me
listen to me
and hold me
just hold me
Lesley Downie
Article: "Crying to be Heard", emotional health in infancy which was published in "NCT News" Manchester, "Birth and Beyond" Edinburgh, and can be accessed at www.wavetrust.org...as well as on the new website, www.avoiceforbabies.co.uk
