Nicole is a Certified Placenta Encapsulation Specialist® in Richmond, VA. She is a guest poster here on The Placenta Blog.
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“Placenta: the Forgotten Chakra” By Robin Lim, CPM
Review by Nicole Link-Troen, CPES (PBi)
Ibu (mother) Robin Lim’s quick read is a must have for anyone searching to gain more mindfulness of the spirituality of the placenta. The artwork in the book is nothing short of stunning and each drawing shows the interconnection and love that is the mother-baby-placenta unit. Robin spends a few chapters discussing the legends behind the placenta as protector and guardian angel of the baby for life. One of her funniest observations is the human propensity for ‘surrogate’ placentas throughout life in the form of bags (especially round purses that have ‘cords’ of for straps). Have you ever heard someone exclaim ‘I would die without my purse?!’ The same is absolutely true for our placentas. The placenta is a twin that is essential for us to live in this world and Robin’s view of it as a spiritual life companion is comforting.
It is the ‘Spiritual Midwifery’ for placenta lovers with it’s perfect intertwining of personal accounts from parents that honor the placenta in various ways (lotus birth, placentophagy, and special burials) with Robin’s own experiences working in her birth center in Bali that she set up after the tsunami of 2005. In natural disaster situations without running water or means of sterilization, cutting the cord can be much more harmful than leaving it intact to fall away on its own or using candles to burn through a dry limp cord. The author advocates for at least partial lotus birth (waiting for the cord to completely stop pulsing before being severed) for every birth, and she includes loads of scientific data and studies to back up her practice. Indeed, immediate clamping and cutting of the umbilical cord in western medicine is based more in culture and tradition than it is in good science.
It has taken decades to get care providers to stop routinely cutting episiotomies, who knows how long it will take for the immediate clamping and cutting of cords to stop and leave mom, baby, and placenta intact for their transition into their new life? Only time will tell, and only consumers (that’s you mom!) can ask for the change. This book will benefit anyone wishing to gain a greater understanding and respect for the interdependent, beautiful triad that is the mother-baby-placenta.
Placenta: The Forgotten Chakra is currently not easy to find, since it just came into print, but you can contact the author to find out how you can get your hands on one.
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Ibu (mother) Robin is a Certified Professional Midwife, with the North American Registry of midwives and Ikatan Bidan Indonesia. Ibu Robin is a teacher of the Billings method of natural family planning and a registered NARM Preceptor. She is a founder and an executive director for Yayasan Ibu Bumi Sehat, (Healthy Mother Earth Foundation) a not for profit organization in Indonesia. www.bumisehatbali.org
Lim splits her time between the Bumi Sehat Birth Center in Bali and the Tsunami Relief Clinic in Samatiga Aceh, Sumatra. www.bumisehatbali.org
Along with capacity building – teaching responsibilities with midwives & receiving babies, Ibu Robin is an author. Her first book; After the Baby’s Birth (Celestial Arts/ 10 Speed Press, Berkeley, CA 2001) is a guide for postpartum women. This book is also available in Italian language, Dopo la nascita del bambino, published by URRA-Apogeo of Milano.
Also published by Celestial Arts is Robin’s cookbook and nutritional guide, Eating for Two… Recipes for Pregnant and Breastfeeding Women. Lim has two published books of poetry, is a contributor to the Tsunami Notebook (Half Angel Press, Bali, Indonesia, 2005), published in 2006 by Half Angel; Obat Asli… the Traditional Healing Herbs of Bali. In 2009 her novel, Butterfly People, was released in September 2009 by Anvil Press in the Philippines. In 2010 Lerner Classroom Books (Country Explorers) will release Lim’s book for children, INDONESIA. Most exciting is her forthcoming book, Placenta… the Forgotten Chakra.
