If you didn’t know already, our entire Appleseed Team is pregnant! Actually, sweet Lisa had her baby on June 2nd, and we met her precious newborn at the Appleseed Team Mother Blessing Ceremony, held this past weekend on June 27, 2021 in Oakville.
I (Megan) thought it would be an extremely unique opportunity to have a Ceremony for our ENTIRE team! And the confidence, love and support we all shared and received lasted a good while after we all said our lingering goodbyes. A huge thanks to Sara for planning it with me, Andrew for helping tirelessly all day watching the boys and supporting us, and the partners for coming!
Sara weaving her flower crown, baby is due late July. (photo by @heykelly.yoga)
Curious to know what exactly is a Mother Blessing Ceremony?
”Mother blessing ceremonies are put together and enjoyed around the world as a way for friends and family to celebrate your “birth” as a mother. The love and support you feel in this ceremony is designed to boost your self-confidence as you enter motherhood. All ceremonies symbolically destroy one world to create a new one. Mother Blessing acknowledges the mother’s new status, and also helps her say goodbye to the world she is leaving behind.” -England and Horowitz, Birthing from Within
Sounds like we just destroyed one world to create a new one in our current pandemic-era. And birthing babies and birthing mothers sounds like just about the right idea at this point - my best guess as to why this is all happening right now. Also, as a kids yoga business, Appleseed literally calls forth teachers who want to surround themselves with kids, and often are close to having their own as well, if they don’t already.
Diane weaving, her baby is expected in November! (photo by @heykelly.yoga)
Flora making her crown, her baby is due in October. (photo by @heykelly.yoga)
Kelly’s Belly Mapping, her baby is expected in August! (photo by Megan)
Megan and Lisa weaving their crowns (photo by @heykelly.yoga)
Sara’s belly mapping (photo by @heykelly.yoga)
The ceremony theme was “Trust Yourself”, and our mantra: “I trust my baby and my baby trusts me."
Here’s what we did and the meaning behind each component:
1) Movement - 10 minutes of prenatal movement to open and set our bodies, hearts and minds.
2) Flower Crown Creation - Flower Crowns are a symbol of power, eternity and glory - in our case, the power of a Mother in birth and raising her babies, eternity for the eternal nature of motherhood, and glory (definition: high renown or honour won by notable achievements OR of magnificence or great beauty). Motherhood is exactly all those things and FULL of GLORY. Honour, notable achievement, magnificence and great beauty through pregnancy, birth, and the eternal raising of our babies. All flowers were selected and purchased for us by Lauren @sundayloveflowers - thanks Lauren!
3) Gifts - I curated a special box of prenatal, postnatal and baby gifts from my favourite companies, each box was valued at over $175!
Each teacher received (all handles are for IG):
-a baby tee with Appleseed logo and enamel pin from @presstimedesign
-Baby Bundle of Joy for baby from @livinglibationsofficial
-Body Butter for mama or baby from @joyoushealth
-Sacred Goddess Herbal Bath Soak for mama from @littletreewellness
-Antiracist Baby board book from @penguinkids
-Chocolate for mama from @soulchocolate
-Enamel pin from @bisforbrain, Kelly’s company!
-How Do Apples Grow? book from @penguinkids
-and a beeswax candle for us all to light when the next mama begins her labour (not pictured)
4) Maternal Lineage Share - Matrilineality is the tracing of kinship through the female line. The matriline of historical nobility was also called their enatic or uterine ancestry, corresponding to the patrilineal or "agnatic" ancestry. The reason we do this is to bring light, spoken word and honour to all the women that have held us. We each took a turn around the circle and spoke out our maternal lineages, as far as we could remember.
5) Birth Bracelet Making - Each teacher was instructed to bring 5 beads for the other mamas. Each mama received 5 beads for their birthing bracelet. These bracelets serve as a physical reminder of the support of the trusted women at the ceremony, so that you may call upon this strength during labor. So not only is it for mamas in their labour, but these bracelets serve each of us as a reminder of the next mama to birth and in her last weeks of pregnancy and labour itself. Until the birth, the rest of us will keep the expectant woman in their thoughts and prayers.
6) Lisa’s Birth Story - Lisa shared her recent birth experience.
7) Belly Mapping - Belly mapping is a simple technique you can use to find your baby's position and it also makes it easier to discuss your birth plan with your doctor or midwife, as the baby's position in the womb can have an impact on labor. Belly mapping is gaining popularity as an at-home method of understanding your baby's position. Our desire here is to not take quite such a scientific approach, but moreso a symbolic approach where we can use this opportunity to connect together and with our Appleseed Babies. In our case, belly mapping wasn’t a super accurate depiction, just an artful way of celebrating these beautiful babies. This activity is good for mamas 30+ weeks. We belly mapped Sara and Kelly.
8) Mother Meditation - I shared a meditation on each mother’s birth and the days that followed approximately 28 - 37 years ago.
9) Song and Appreciation - We Give Thanks - I taught the team one of my favourite heavenly songs which has helped me through some hard transitions. We sang it together with joy in our hearts. Lyrics go like this:
”We give thanks,
For unknown blessings
Already on their way x2
Let us not,
Look back in anger
Or forward in fear
But around, in awareness.” Repeat.
This will be a day to remember for many years amidst the first baby boom of Appleseed. And hopefully there’s many more to come!
Love to the team, their babies, and each of you,
Megan
The gift box for each pregnant mama on the team, photo by Megan