Embody Your Birth
A Trans & Queer-Centered Childbirth Education Program
Embodied Birth Class is a community based course that provides personalized support for the birth experience you deserve.
The current gestational health system is experiencing rapidly increasing morbidity and mortality rates, with 45% of birthers reporting PTSD after birth.
For queer and trans individuals, navigating this system can be even more challenging due to constant misgendering that goes far beyond pronouns, feminized language scattered all throughout the pregnancy/birth process, assumptions about sexuality, gender and family structures, and lack of affirming birth support or resources.
Embodied Birth is a framework for navigating pregnancy, birth and postpartum with radical, evidence-based and decolonial tools, knowledge, and support, and doing so as folks’ authentic diverse selves.
It’s for gestating folks, birth support folks, people trying to conceive, and birthworkers. Participants learn together, process pregnancy and birth within a culture of gender, racial and medical-industrial oppression that harmfully feminizes birth, and develop uniquely supportive, often lasting friendships.
Embodied birth is possible – in community
Knowledge is critically important for a safer birth and trauma prevention – but meaningful learning happens when we come together and do so interactively, hearing others’ and sharing our own experiences and social positional challenges.
Not only that, but deep, true learning that actually changes the way we interact with something (and therefore how it interacts with us) – such as birth – must happen slowly, thoroughly, and somatically, in the body.
Dissociation is often a trans superpower – and it has supported us through many life circumstances. It would be nice if this superpower could take a rest while we move through one of the most meaningful transitional moments of our lives (birth!), oftentimes meeting a little one/s we’ve been long waiting for. Learn how to decrease the need to dissociate, while also honoring, welcoming, and deeply trusting the strategy of dissociation should our nervous system decide to use it during birth.
Ash’s teaching style is oriented directly to bring those incremental and meaningful healthy internal shifts to participants – the lasting foundational changes in perspective, bodily sense, and understanding that have a very significant impact on birth and its physical emotional edges. We can tell our brain facts all day long – but it’s the deeper shifts inside our bodies that bring healing, rest, and easy, refreshing embodiment (even through labor!).
Ash also teaches toward brains that struggle with focus/engagement neurodivergence, and many folks with ADHD who are often challenged to meaningfully absorb content in a learning environment, have stated a wildly different experience in Ash’s sessions.
Embodied birth creates a space where we can learn together and let our unhelpful (colonized, pathologized) cultural programming shift deeply in our bodies toward an inherent trust of the physiology and beauty of birth. That is the sort of knowledge and trust that does fundamentally deconstruct many of the barriers that lead to less safety in our modern birth culture.
You deserve a safer and supported birth.
The medical model of care often treats birth as inherently dangerous, leading to unnecessary interventions and a fear-based approach. This can be especially challenging for BIPOC, queer and trans individuals who may face additional discrimination and deal with constant forms of exclusionary and negligent medicine.
Embodied Birth is a framework that supports you to:
- Make informed, fully consented decisions about your care
- Navigate the medical system with tangible skill and confidence
- Advocate for yourself, your needs or the needs of the birthing person you’re supporting, including how to advocate for choices while reducing the likelihood of emotional/health consequences from birth staff
- Create a physically safer, more connecting, embodied birth experience
- Connect deeply with a supportive community of queer and trans birthers
Hi, I’m Ash Dasuqi
By the time I had attended over 150 births and provided many hours of prenatal counsel, I had poured through hundreds of studies on birth, continuously dropping my jaw at the ways modern birth practices are directly contrary to what both evidence and oral traditions from many skillful community birth workers describe as safest.
I have been immersed in birth long enough to observe some meta patterning that I don’t hear many educators speaking to, and I’m concerned about that! If we can understand these larger scale birth paradigms that exist within a wider culture of violence, white supremacy, gender oppression and profit driven industry, we can actually participate in that birth culture as queer and trans people who belong – with significantly increased safety, embodiment, social emotional wellbeing, and joy.
I’ve collected so much valuable material for full-body perspective shifting to share with folks who are moving into birth, primarily underscoring birth in the context of a settler-colonial, capitalist society. This information is needed! And I am sharing it with trans/queer & BIPOC folks, the people most disproportionately affected by health inequities.
Beyond developing knowledge, we need tight-knit spaces to form community around the unique experiences queer and trans folks have navigating birth and/or supporting partners, friends or clients through birth.
This program is a culmination of many years of teaching – bringing it all together in a more widely accessible online format that fosters a radically inclusive, decolonial, judgment-free learning environment.
If you’re interested in the program, I hope you’ll register or reach out today to set up a time to chat. There are abundant financial options available to make this program accessible to as many folks as possible. I’m looking forward to meeting!
Curriculum
Embodied Birth is a Community Based Course
This class is uniquely trauma-informed, delving into the basics of neuroregulation which function as a framework from which to discuss evidence-based and decolonized pregnancy and labor process, birther-support person relationship, babyfeeding, parenting, as well as personal well-being, applicable to both gestating folks and support people.
Join live sessions, access videos, and start conversations
Embodied Birth Class has an online community where you can learn alongside other participants, RSVP to events, access recordings and materials, and start important conversations to support your birth process.
New Friends
This class continues to use a live model rather than pre-recordings because sharing in the journey of birth with other queer and trans friends is vital to our well being!
Live Sessions
Each session is live, but folks who must arrive late or miss classes can catch up on recordings through Circle.
Class Materials
All the materials, references, resources, and a full pack of outlined notes are included along with recorded classes.
Conversations
Get your questions answered or start discussions to share your process with other participants in your cohort.
Learn About
- Trauma-informed labor approach & neuroregulation
- Anatomy and physiology of labor and birth
- Nutrition and herbal support
- Stages of labor and what to expect
- Pain management and coping techniques
- Birthing/postpartum fears and how to “befriend” them so they do not take over labor
- Self-Advocacy techniques in medical birth settings
- Ensuring full-body consent processes even when providers are not
- Strategies for confronting BIPOC and trans discrimination in birth care
- Chest/breastfeeding and lactation, including for trans individuals & inducing lactation
- Informed, evidence based decision making of birth interventions
- Postpartum care and newborn basics
- Attachment theory and parenting frameworks
- Queer-specific considerations for division of labor and family structures
Pricing
Class Registration
Embodied Birth Class
Check registration page for next cohort dates, twice per week for four weeks.
$455 (self-chosen scholarships available)
Registration includes participation for an individual and a support person. Add additional people for a bundled price. Register today to gain access to the upcoming cohort.
* Sliding scale is self-selectable. Custom scholarships available, please let us know by email ash@embodiedbirthclass.com if you would like a scholarship.
* This program is for Queer and Trans folks, though only a minimum of one person per registration must identify as queer and/or trans and rare, vetted additional folks (birth workers) may be eligible to participate. Email ash@embodiedbirthclass.com.
**ACCESSIBILITY NOTE: This group class is taught live in English with live-automated captioning on Zoom. It is very content dense and can be emotionally heavy, including open dialogue about significant fears that occasionally involve reference to participant’s traumatic experiences. Participants may take breaks or miss class according to their physical/emotional/schedule needs and the class is fully recorded for only the participants to watch/re-watch at their own pace.
Testimonials
What participants are saying
“This class exceeded my expectations. I learned things I didn’t even know I didn’t know! It was wonderful to take the class in a space that was so affirming of families that look like ours and where people were given space to express their fears safely and without judgment.”
Marshall and Kara
Participant, Feb 2023
“The content was really interesting & empowering—we feel better equipped to make the decisions that are right for us as we navigate all the surprises to come. The nuanced discussion of hormones was super helpful in gaining more understanding of the mechanics of birth & postpartum.”
Anonymous
Participant, Oct 2021
“I loved the discussion on fears because my [partner] and I didn’t even realize what we were most nervous about, and it was so important to start talking about it together. Ash’s feedback was really insightful for us.”
Anonymous
“I was calmer than all the staff in that room, because I was like, ‘Well, yeah, I just had a C-section. Of course, my baby needs some extra help here to get that fluid out. They didn’t come out vaginally.’ … I wanted to thank you. This was so helpful for me. I was like, wow, why do I know more about this than these people here? And why do I feel more safe in this moment?”
Kristi Schultz
Participant, 2022
“I have read a lot and was pretty well informed about birth so I was hesitant that a childbirth class could help me. But I just had no idea! I gained so much from this class, I am so relieved we ended up doing it.”
Anonymous
Previous Participant
“What benefited me most were tips for emotional regulation/connection during birth, I enjoyed the conversation about parenting, and just understanding what to expect better.
One of the best parts for me was the opportunities to hear from the other birthers and their support folks, just others being vulnerable and open about their feelings was extremely validating. And just having a class that was distinctly for queer/trans folks was especially validating.”
Maig
Participant, July 2021
FAQ’s
Answers to your most pressing questions:
How does the sliding scale pricing work?
Rather than expect all attendants can reasonably afford this class, including a significant amount of additional content that I feel is especially important for queer and BIPOC birthers (somatic work, interaction, queer specific topics, critical life & death anti-discrimination self advocacy), I am asking those who can pay higher on the scale to please do so. Thank you for this kind of collaborative work that enables more queer/marginalized folks to receive important tools to live and birth well in this challenging colonial context!
$455 base rate (with self-selectable sliding scale scholarship* as low as $295) per registered pair of class attendants (1 person + 1 optional support person/secondary person). Poly families or groups of 3+ adults still register for an additional $85 per additional person regardless of scholarship use.
If this is still cost prohibitive, contact Ash at ash@embodiedbirthclass.com for a custom scholarship.
A portion of every class proceeds go to supporting a family in Gaza, occupied Palestine.
What topics are included that I won’t find in a standard birth class?
A few topics additional to standard birth classes in this Q/T class include:
- Queer parent/queer birth community
- Babyfeeding: includes chestfeeding & inducing lactation in non-bio parents/guardians
- Advocating for self and birth plans as a queer person/family and in general
- This portion of the class is very unique to this program and critical advocacy strategy for combating rates of poor labor & delivery outcomes
- Trauma and body gender dysphoria in pregnancy/birth/postpartum
- Queering parenting and queer divisions of labor
- Hormone replacement therapy in the context of birth/postpartum
- Somatic grounding
- Raising children without gender/sexuality expectations and managing cultural engendering
- Discussing gender discrimination, misgendering, dysphoria, and other gender topics during pregnancy, labor, postpartum and with babies, and in interactions with extended family, providers, and the public.
Who is Embodied Birth Class for?
This interactive series is the Embodied Birth Class childbirth preparation curriculum specifically for:
- Transgender, including trans nonbinary, GNC, and other queers who are pregnant or trying to conceive (TTC) or partnered/familied with someone pregnant or TTC
- Support people or pregnant partners of queers, and/or queer support folks
- Queer birth workers such as doulas and midwives furthering their training for working with QT clients & families
- This class particularly centers the queer/trans and BIPOC experience, though white queer/trans families and birthworkers are both welcome and typically present in every cohort.
This is an intimate community shared among queer and trans folks, and it’s hard to say goodbye! Occasional reunion meetups will be scheduled for past participants to reconnect, perhaps with babies in arms.
Topics specific to trans/queer folks will be discussed throughout and a closed (safer) QT space will be shared amongst participants.
(Note: The optional support person does not have to identify as queer, nor does the pregnant person, as long as there is at least one queer/trans participant registering)
How do I apply for a scholarship?
Three scholarship options are available on the registration page. These include $75 off, $125 off, and $160 off. Email ash@embodiedbirthclass.com if these options are not sufficient, particularly for transwomen and Black, Brown & Indigenous folks, including Indigenous First Nations’ people, Indigenous Palestinians and others in diaspora or exile from their ancestral land. Any person is welcome to email regarding a scholarship, however.
A note on marginalized identities: This class fully embraces, uplifts, and seeks to empower people IN their myriad identities. Please see home page regarding identities prior to registering to be sure this class is a fit for you.
What are the date and times of live sessions?
- 8 Part Interactive Class (18h total: hours expanded per participant request)
- Cohorts run 3-4 times per year
- Live sessions on either Mondays & Tuesdays, Mondays & Wednesdays, or Tuesdays & Thursdays @ 7:15 pm Eastern. See registration page for specific cohort schedules. For future cohorts with dates still TBA, please input schedule preferences to influence the dates and class days.
- Take note of timezone: 4:15 pm PST/6:15 pm CST/7:15 pm EST :: Every class recorded for folks who must come late or miss classes. Most classes last approximately 2.25-2.5 hours.
- Check the registration page for the full schedule of the upcoming cohort
If I can’t make the live session/s, or will be late to sessions, can I still join?
Yes, all the live sessions are recorded and made available. A big part of this program is the ongoing community. You’ll meet others and be able to participate in dialogue between sessions, or have meetups and discussion. Recordings of each session are typically posted within the hour, enabling asynchronous participants to stay up to date with learning and conversations. They remain available for about 3-4 months after the session.
Many folks on the west coast in particular have to come late due to work schedules and so forth. Participants are welcome to come whenever and however they are! We just encourage catching up with content missed at a later moment.
How long is the class and what is the teaching style?
- The end time of each class is not exact due to the interactive nature of the course, but they end by 2.25-2.5 hours.
- Highly dense & interactive content
- Approximately 18 hours total, split into 8 sessions over 4 weeks
- Lecture, birth videos, discussion, drawing prompts, visual graphics, links, references
- Ash teaches toward people with focus/engagement struggles, being a person with significant ADHD themself, frequently changing learning methods and their lecture style is literally uniquely engaging
- Virtual live sessions via Circle or Zoom with live-automated closed captioning
- Sessions recorded and redistributed to participants after each session for replayability and for asynchronous participants
- Full curriculum follow-along student notes and Participant Resources Packet distributed prior to class
Accessibility Considerations
This group class is taught live in English with live-automated captioning on Zoom. It is very content dense and can be emotionally heavy, including open dialogue about significant fears that occasionally involve reference to participant’s traumatic experiences.
Participants may take breaks or miss class according to their physical/emotional/schedule needs and the class is fully recorded for only the participants to watch/rewatch at their own pace. One 5 minute break is built into each session. Please consider that this class may not be best for you if 2.25-2.5 hours/class of fast-paced, information dense, sometimes emotional content may be overwhelming or overstimulating, and if using the recordings to self-pace more than attending the live class still may be overwhelming.
It is important that this class is financially accessible to those who need it, so please contact Ash if you have concerns regarding pricing. Payment plans available upon request.
Next Cohort
After you register you’ll recieve an onboarding email the week before your start date to join the Embodied Birth online community. You’ll meet all the folks who have taken this queer trans birth class before, and those who will be apart of your cohort.
Space is limited, but we’ll always do our best to accommodate participants needs, especially because due dates are involved. Please contact Ash if you have any questions at all.
Ash Dasuqi (they/them)
CPM, RN, BSN
Registration Form
You can specify the cohort you’d like to register for on the form.