Yes, it's a whole different emphasis when it's about nurturing and preparing your body for birth rather than trying to force your body to abandon its own rhythms to fit someone's artificial timetables or charts. Babies don't know about the roman calendar and the 24 hour clock! Natural rhythms such as the cycles of the moon, the seasons, darkness and daylight, feeling energetic and feeling tired (they pick up on your bio-rhythms), the waves on the shore - are more reflective of the rhythms of birthing women and their babies.

I think that's why some pregnant women (me included - I had this convo with a client this week!) feel drawn to the ocean during the last weeks of pregnancy. Staring out to sea and feeling, on some elemental level, the power and the rhythm of the waves, has got to be a great meditative exercise as you muse .... "what will labour be like??"

You understand things that by-pass your intellect & analytical mind and settle into your soul - and that's the ancient place from which you draw wisdom and confidence to birth.

You'll never believe that I'm not a sandal-wearing, arm-pit-plaiting hippy after this (love and kisses to all the real hippies out there! - you rock!) - Im actually a hard-nosed pragmatist and I do have scientific backing for this - honest! I hereby cite the erudite Dr. Sarah J. Buckley!