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The Birth Gem Doula

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Massage and Reiki

Loving hands massage and Reiki

One who works with the hands is a labourer.

One who works with the hands and head is a craftsman.

One who works with the hands and the head and the heart is an artist.

St Francis of Assisi 

I cannot stress enough the importance of massage and loving human touch for our whole well-being, body mind and soul.

I am passionate about massage and dedicated to helping people feel good in their wonderful bodies. Using my heart, hands and head as I do with all of my work I aim to provide loving touch using techniques and approaches developed over centuries of body work. Training with the Jing institute of massage in Brighton gifted me with their wonderful fusion of east and west and the power of an informed and caring touch.

Reiki healing £45

We are energy, that's just a fact. Our busy and sometimes chaotic lives can disrupt healthy energy flow which affects our whole being. I believe that if we do not protect, balance and care for our energy then we will suffer for it. I found that when I was led to train in Reiki I found a balance that I had long been searching for.

Reiki means universal life force energy, it can be traced back to Tibet thousands of years ago and was re discovered by Dr Mikao Usui of Japan, who I can trace my lineage back to. It is an ancient practice for modern life. Reiki is a gentle laying of hands while channelling healing energy through the body, it works on 4 levels, physical, emotional, mental and spiritual.

Reiki is a gentle treatment and safely compliments any other therapy while promoting health and well being. It can be used during any stage of life and is wonderfully balancing for transitions. Reiki during pregnancy and the 4th trimester is perfection!

The wonderful thing about a treatment is that the healing energy will travel where it is needed. If you are feeling tired then you will feel refreshed, if you are anxious then you will feel calmer, if you are distressed then you will feel comforted. It balances at every level.

The treatment should last around 45 mins, as with all my treatments allow a little longer for your first visit.

Pregnancy Massage £50 - £65

Pregnancy is a time of major physical and emotional change. It an intense season in your life and I feel that every woman should treat her body with the tender and loving care she will undoubtedly give to her baby in abundance.  Taking time out for yourself is an important part of self care and very grounding. Reiki and massage provide a wide range of  benefits to your body, mind and soul during all trimesters of your beautiful pregnancy. Massage and Reiki can:

  • Alleviate stress on joints
  • Help remedy muscular pains and cramps
  • increases blood circulation and helps to maintain good blood pressure
  • Soothes and relaxes the nervous system which releases endorphins. this is great for relaxation and aids sleep
  • Promotes relaxation and is a stress reliever.

The safe, relaxing and nurturing space I provide you with offers the ideal support, loving touch and balancing energy that's just perfect to support you through this transition into your 4th trimester.

Postnatal goddess massage £65

Full body postnatal massage blended with the traditional womb massage with rebozo wrapping.  A treatment that is loving, warming, healing and celebrating your AMAZING postnatal body. With hand made warming oil and wrapping inspired by traditional methods of postnatal healing.

This massage goes beyond the physical benefit and has amazing spiritual and emotional benefits.

This treatment should take around one hour, allow longer for your first visit.

Full body woman worship massage £50- £65

This is a full body honouring and worship of your amazing body! Tender and loving of course. Great for releasing tension, soothing those aches and stretching out that stiffness, relaxing and comforting.  45 mins to 1hr allow longer for your 1st visit.

Scar tissue massage and fascia release £50

I have advanced clinical massage training including fascia techniques for treating scar tissue. This work is gentle yet effective. Women have noticed a difference in range of movement and in the comfort of their c section scars also a better relationship and connection to this part of their body. I believe that the emotions attached to the scar are as relevant to healing as the physical scar itself, so I give this treatment with gentle and loving care. There is no time limit to achieving results from this massage, the scar can be 12 weeks old or 12 years old, it's never too late. Contact me to discuss how I could treat you and your scar.

“It was so comforting to have my hips and stomach touched in such a loving way. I hadn't even looked at my body since giving birth 2 weeks ago. I feel so held and special thanks to those magic hands!”

"I felt so relaxed after just one treatment. I didn't expect my back and shoulder pain to improve so quickly. Gemma has such a natural and reassuring touch, I will definitely be going back!"

Contact - contact@thebirthgem.co.uk

07545061535

your beautiful 4th trimester

 

The postnatal period is often very overlooked. I aim to honour your birth experience and journey into motherhood by honouring all of you.

Sacred postnatal mother roasting is the care of the new mother focussing on the total health and gentle recovery of a woman as she embarks on this journey into motherhood. It is tender wrapping and healing of the soul, warming of the body and binding the mother through gentle, loving arms. Reclaiming the traditions of postnatal care my mother roasting service will offer all you need to seal your birth and ease you lovingly into motherhood with nurturing healing foods, sacred baths, warming, binding bellies and massage, tinctures, oils, teas, loving hands and an open heart is all available to you.

Every woman deserves to be welcomed into mothering through gentle and loving care

Sacred postnatal package £550

this package aims to lovingly care for you during the first 6 weeks after your birth. I will visit you once a week at your home with a food box (menu will be sent to you before), herbal/ floral bath and belly bind. I will offer a warm oil rub down with full body massage including healing womb and hip massage with 'rebozo' rocking, wrapping and tuck in with gentle meditation.

While you are settling and tucked in I prepare the herbal bath and while you are bathing I can prepare a dish from your food box, the cleansing broth is always good after a treatment and a pot of herbal tea with lactation cookie. Before or after you sit to eat I bind your belly (optional) which can be left for a week until I next visit or however long is comfortable for you.

I will hold baby if needed while you are tucked in, bathing or simply want to enjoy your tea and food with two hands! I will also wash the dishes and rinse the bath out if needed and so that after I leave you can just relax and enjoy the feeling of post treatment bliss.

I provide you with the space you need to share your birth story. Your experience and your feelings matter and I am a wonderful listener! You are welcome to share , unpack and reflect on your story as much as you need as many times as you need. I will listen, support and hold you in any way you need.

If you would like to extend the 6 weeks additional treatments can be discussed.

 

Birth goddess package £95

 

this healing mother goddess package welcomes you into motherhood with open arms and gentle loving care.

Warm oil rub down

I begin by smudging and cleansing our sacred space and preparing a beautiful alter.

I will then offer you a warm oil rub down with hot stone and herb tummy press

healing postnatal massage

traditional, warming full body massage and body blessing with rebozo wrapping and tuck in. This traditional and ceremonial massage adds a moment of stillness, meditative peace and reflection. The rocking and wrapping with the rebozo shawl is deeply relaxing and feels comforting and safe. The full body massage is warming and releases tension, bringing our attention back to the body and some much needed loving attention to your womb space.

Milk and honey bath

I will leave you tucked in following a gentle meditation and body blessing to spend some time in stillness.

prepare your milk and hone floral or herbal bath using handmade oat milk, organic honey and depending on the time of year either fresh flowers or dried.

Bengkung style belly binding (optional)

This important part of recovery and healing  is traditionally used to comfort, support and hold that womb space. benkung is originally a Malaysian method of postnatal care and recovery though many similar versions of this exist around the world, Mexico, China, Pakistan and many African cultures all have a version of a sacred postnatal recovery period including wrapping, massage and feeding. Belly binding can feel like a real spiritual closure of your pregnancy, it looks and feels amazing too! You are left in the belly bind either overnight or for 3 days or however long feels comfortable.

What is belly binding?

Belly Binding is an ancient technique consisting of binding a postpartum woman’s abdomen to promote recovery and provide comfort and support to her healing womb. Made from 100% cotton fabric, the bind is wrapped snuggly from just below the woman’s chest to below her hips. This can provide support to her abdominal wall and muscles, improves posture, supports loose ligaments and hips, and assists her organs to return to their pre-pregnancy positions.

Nourishment

the session ends with a serving of cleansing broth, herbal tea and a sweet treat.

You also have the option to end this experience with a food box at a discounted price of just £40

 

'Gemma supported me through a challenging pregnancy with her warm and nourishing approach. I had a magical closing of the bones ceremony and deeply relaxing massage. My body was still tender in places and Gemma took such care. It was such an empowering closure. Gemma is very sensitive and loving. She takes time for you; all the small details made my experience sacred. From organic home blend pregnancy oils and rose petals to her mother cards. I would highly recommend her taking care of you ✨🙏✨greatest gratitude xxx'
Natasha

Contact - contact@thebirthgem.co.uk

07545061535

 

 

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❤️Mother love from afar A gift from her villag ❤️Mother love from afar
A gift from her village, sent with love and a sweet note from the heart. 
I love preparing these postnatal boxes and feeling that sense of the village of now, we may sometimes feel that the village is lost, but it isn’t at all. The village is just different, reframed for how we live now. We may live further away from our birthing sisters than the villages of old but we can still support, share, connect and give love in traditional and nurturing ways. Our villages of now may be close by, in online communities, made up of friends, family and professionals in person or just on the end of a phone or screen. No less important, no less sacred. 
This gift that will arrive lovingly prepared and packaged contains 
Nursing tea 
Healing bath herbs
Body butter
Incense 
Flower essence 
All made with so much care and with a new born mother in mind. So that she will feel nurtured and held in her postnatal healing. 
#postnatal #thefourthtrimester #thefirst40days #traditionalpostpartum #giftsforher #sacredpostpartum #thevillage #newmother #nursingtea #traditionalherbs #postnataldoula
I really, really love cake! I love eating them an I really, really love cake! 
I love eating them and I love creating them, especially for special occasions. I believe that there really is a cake for marking and honouring almost everything, transitions, rites of passage, letting go’s and welcoming in. Making food for people is such precious work to me and 
If you’re familiar with my cake creations you will have seen vulva cakes, mother blessing cakes, postnatal cakes, birthday cakes, even a wedding cake and a boob cake on my Instagram grid! All made with great love and happiness, I’m often at my happiest when creating in my kitchen. 
Throughout history the giving of a sweet treat or cake would have been an honour to bestow, a big show of care and respect even mentioned in the bible! 
Food is so much more than just fuel, it’s celebratory, sacred and social, truly one of life’s most simple pleasures and every celebration across cultures has the sharing of special food at its centre and there is usually a cake! What good would a wedding be without the ritual cutting and sharing of a most beautiful cake. 
For me, a good birthday cake is precious. Birthday cakes can be such a dry and bland let down, an iced token and afterthought. What does that say to the person we are celebrating?! By creating or gifting a lovingly made cake we are recognising the person we are celebrating. Today you landed earth side and this sweet indulgent creation celebrates wonderful, magical you 💖
#cake #foodoflove #buttercream #vaginacake #baking #fooddoula #birthcake #lioncake #mermaidcake
🌸 Bloom 🌸 The beautiful process of becoming! 🌸 Bloom 🌸 The beautiful process of becoming! 
First of all, would you just look at this picture of an opening poppy. So gorgeous and amazing how much it resembles the crowning at birth! @vizzlesticks shared today her pondering of the poppy after our birth mandala session and it’s lessons in patience, the fact that it takes it sweet time from seed even, sometimes waiting up to 80 years to even sprout. Waiting in the dark soil for the perfect conditions for that individual seed to grow. 
As I watch the blooms around me I can’t help but think of pregnancy and birth. Every bud takes it’s time, some I watch and predict tomorrow she’ll open, then I return and she’s continuing to gently unfurl, that’s ok you take your time I say. Then one day I notice that she’s open in her fullness gazing into the sun just at the perfect time. 
We don’t rush nature, we just watch and admire the gifts trusting that everything knows just what to do and we nurture it when needed. This is how we should trust birth, nurture the mother when needed, of course some mothers and some babies need support some of the time. But unless truly medically necessary trust that she will bloom in her own perfect time. From estimated due dates to birth itself, softly, softly trusting the wise process. 
I notice that my rose bushes have all stages of flower right now, all perfect in their various stages and just as they should be, teaching us to trust and that we all bloom in our own perfect time, the one pictured even has flowers blooming in slightly different shades. The image of an opening flower is so helpful in so many ways and it’s a visualisation I use often. For birth the image of an opening flower is pretty much perfect in my opinion and definitely one of my favourites. 
Petals blooming and opening softly, cradling the baby as they make their way into loving arms. 
Softly, softly, in your own perfect time. Balance, trust, softly unfurl. Welcoming the soft but powerful bloom. ❤️
#sacredpregnancy #bloom #crowning #visualisationforbirth #open #birthart #visualisation #birthvisualization #opensoftly #lessonsinnature #floweropening #doula #birthdoula #sacredbirth #homebirth #duedate
Goddess day ❤️ Friday is my favourite day and Goddess day ❤️
Friday is my favourite day and this Friday evening we gathered again for our monthly Women’s circle, this time in the bowl my pear tree created. Somehow a fire didn’t feel right this month and this tree is pretty special to me, years ago I gathered with some sisters under her for the rite of the womb with @iam.sanita, I have held antenatal sessions here, closings, I make blossom essence with her gifts and more. 
❤️What a beautiful evening it was to honour our emotions, be with nature, share and connect as the new moon in cancer encourages. we shared in so many roses in so many ways! in meditation, song, poems, we planted small seeds to nurture and opened our hearts like the roses we laid in this safe and loving space until it was dark and a chill encouraged us to part.
❤️I truly believe that when women gather this way magic tends to happen, but Little did I know that while I laid offerings and sent love out to those who didn’t join including a sister full of baby, that she would be birthing that night! How perfect and fitting our song was knowing how she triumphantly roared her baby into the world in the early hours, fire in her heart. 
I woke Saturday morning to a call from her with that song on my lips and prepared her placenta listening to it. Thank you @rebecca_austin86 for the gift and thank you to this dear mama for trusting me with her precious placenta and for inviting me into her fresh, sacred postnatal nest. 
🔥Let the fire in your heart burn brightly 
Let the fire in your heart burn strong 
Let the flames of your passion burst the light in song (that’s what I heard anyway)
Let the fire in your heart burn strong 🔥
#womenscircle #womangathering #firesong #heartsong #goddessspace #plantsmallseeds #weareone #connectionmatters #birthsong #birth #placenta #placentaremedies
❤️ Raw vegan brownie ❤️ Good fats & magnes ❤️ Raw vegan brownie ❤️ Good fats & magnesium a plenty here.
Date full and soooo good, the perfect birth room snack for energy and a perfect treat for your postnatal nest. So easy to prepare even for those who claim that they can’t cook, and this freezes well too. I make these for my love to take to work as well as for my clients. If I’ve served you you’ll likely recognise them! 
I’m not one for measuring but that doesn’t matter here as you just adjust this until you reach the right amount of squidgy ness for it to press into the pan. Today I used pecans for the base but have used other nuts and oats before. 
❤️Ingredients
2 cup pecan 
2 cup dates (I used medjool) 
6 tbsp cacao powder 
2 tbsp maple syrup 
100g bar dark choc 
❤️Method 
Line a square pan with grease proof paper.
Put 2 cup nuts in blender and blitz until fine.
Add the rest of the ingredients and blitz until it kind of comes together. Test it by scooping out a small amount and see if it all sticks together well. 
Spoon into the pan and press down with the back of a spoon until even. 
Freeze for 30 mins. 
Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. 
Pour onto the brownie *optional* top with crushed toasted nuts, a sprinkle of sea salt and dried rose petals. 
I happened to have a little of the trail mix I made left so used nuts from that but I recommend you get playful with it. Grated orange zest and coconut is good, any edible flower looks divine, goji berries or nothing at all. 
#rawbrownie #rawvegan #postnatal #the4thtrimester #theforst40days #brownies #recipeshare #feedwithlove #fooddoula #postnatalpantry #easyrecipes
I am absolutely disgusted by todays news and my he I am absolutely disgusted by todays news and my heart goes out to the people of the US most of who do not want this. But here they are, forced back to a time that should never have to be experienced again, the rights that so many women fought for over so many decades undone . Abortion is health care and restricting access to it does not make it go away, it only makes it more dangerous and life threatening as history has already shown, definitely most dangerous to the most vulnerable in society. This is just criminal, cruel and inhumane, people will die thanks to this vile decision. Just chilling really, We could see it coming and yet I am still shocked. You know all this and everything else I want to say of course and many could put it more eloquently but wow. Maybe one day women in America will have as many rights as a man that wants to carry a gun on his waistband?? 
To echo @hannah.dahlen , to those who say ‘only in America’ Since when has America not influenced the world?
“We are not without actions that we can take. We need to have hope, but we need to hang on to this anger because we can use that anger to fuel change,” ~ Elizabeth Warren 
#abortionishealthcare #womenshealth #roevwade #reversingroe #abortionrightsarehumanrights #wombwisdom
❤️Horchata where have you been all my life!? L ❤️Horchata where have you been all my life!?
Likely the roots of the plant milks we use a lot these days Horchata is a popular and often vegan drink usually served over ice throughout Spain, Puerto Rico, Central America & Mexico. It’s essentially a spiced and sweetened nut milk, traditionally tiger nuts it seems and strained just like other plant based milks. It struck me that a lot of the healing, comforting recipes I love from around the world include milk and rice, how comforting this would be alongside congee. During my self nurturing time I got a little playful with it and prepared a herbal Horchata for lung health, energy and immunity. It takes a while with the overnight soaking but is so worth it, I had mine this morning in my smoothie and will likely incorporate it into a few different dishes! I look forward to experimenting with variations on this gorgeous creamy drink, rose would be divine! 
Herbal Horchata - 
make an 8 cup serving of Mullein tea/ tonic (6 tbsp mullein 1tbsp dried ginseng root 8 cup boiled water steep 20 min) strain and set aside
❤️Ingredients 
1 cup cooked white or brown rice
1 cup almonds
1/4 cup marshmallow root 
6 tbsp dried mullein 
2 cinnamon stick 
1tbsp dried ginseng 
8 cup boiled water for the tea
4 dates or a couple tbsp maple syrup ( I used magnolia syrup)
1 - 2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup coconut milk
❤️method 
Soak the rice, nuts, cinnamon marshmallow root in the strained tea in the fridge overnight. 
In the morning transfer all the ingredients except the coconut milk to a blender and blitz. 
Pour through a mesh then a plant milk bag (I found this easier and less messy!) Then whisk in the coconut milk. 
Taste and add sweetness to your own taste but for me this was perfect dusted with cinnamon to serve. 
Enjoy! 
#horchata #herbalhorchata #comfortfood #herbaltea #plantbased #healing #nurturing #plantwisdom #mullein #ginseng #selfnurture #selfcare #radicalselflove
Happy birthing day to this absolute goddess! The s Happy birthing day to this absolute goddess! The surprise, joy and bliss in these pictures says it all. She waited so long and worked so hard to achieve the home birth of her dreams and achieved it. During the peak of covid lockdown #1 no less! 
I’ll celebrate you every year @s1naed and your absolute glory as I know you’re going to be busy with the double birthday! (Yes this mama only likes to have her babies on June 22nd )😆
This queen waited so long to meet her baby. When your 1st born arrived unexpectedly early going ‘post dates’ feels endless! So she waited, so full of baby in the heat and with the unique never before experienced challenge of parenting during the restrictions of a pandemic. We joked about baby choosing his siblings birthday to arrive on and of course it happened, the birth goddesses have a great sense of humour 😆
To support you on your journey as you achieved the birth you deserved was an absolute honour. I remember you saying that your biggest wish was to just go about your day and meet your baby. No fuss, no interference and I’d say you exceeded that. You took what you needed, left the rest and birthed your way, like an absolute goddess worshipped by your love and served by us just as it should be. Sending some big love out to you today, 
@s1naed YOU. ARE. AMAZING! 
#homebirth #birthworks #empowered #empoweredbirth #positivebirth #birthstory #waterbirth #birthdoula #birthingday #sacredbirth #birthyourway

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The Birth Gem - Doula, Massage and Reiki
Boxers,
Royal Oak Lane,
High Hurstwood TN22 4AL
07545061535
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