Posts Tagged ‘Andrea Potos’

Protecting a Woman’s Right to Choose… Breastfeeding

No breastfeeding allowedAuthor Ray Bradbury pointed out, chillingly, “You don’t need to burn books to destroy a culture — just get people to stop reading them.” Similarly, you don’t need to actually ban nursing to decrease the incidence of breastfeeding — just make it more and more difficult to do.

The ways our culture makes breastfeeding ever more difficult range from the insidiously subtle (hospitals’ goody-bag full of formula) to the outrageously overt (Bill Maher’s infamous rant equating breastfeeding — “a private thing” — with “farting or masturbating or pissing”).

Bottled Up! from The Milky Way on Vimeo. (Includes the aforementioned Maher rant)

{Read onward at mothering.com}

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Image:
myllissaused under its Creative Commons license

 

Gurmukh’s Postpartum Wisdom

When I was pregnant with our daughter, I took prenatal yoga with the renowned Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa. Gurmukh’s wisdom encircled and empowered me through my pregnancy, and nourished me through the tender postpartum period — inviting us to engage an ancient wisdom prescription: cocoon at home for forty days.

gurmukhWe closed each class by singing a Kundalini farewell blessing (originally lyrics from an Incredible String Band song):

May the longtime sun shine upon you,
all love surround you,
and the pure light within you
guide your way on.

Isn’t this perhaps the highest aspiration we can hold as parents — to nourish, protect and support that pure light within our children, as it guides them on their singular life paths? Call that light what you will: spirit, soul, singular personality and temperament, unique intelligences. It is indeed all of these things plus infinite others that weave the human mystery. (more…)

Protecting a Woman’s Right to Choose…Breastfeeding

Protecting a Woman's Right to Choose...BreastfeedingAuthor Ray Bradbury pointed out, chillingly, “You don’t need to burn books to destroy a culture — just get people to stop reading them.” Similarly, you don’t need to actually ban nursing to decrease the incidence of breastfeeding — just make it more and more difficult to do.

The ways our culture makes breastfeeding ever more difficult range from the insidiously subtle (hospitals’ goody-bag full of formula) to the outrageously overt (Bill Maher’s infamous rant equating breastfeeding — “a private thing” — with “farting or masturbating or pissing”).

Bottled Up! from The Milky Way on Vimeo. (Includes the aforementioned Maher rant)

 

Image:
Mothering Touch used under its Creative Commons license