I am so excited to be the first stop on the Virtual Book Tour for the Gift of Giving Life book.  I am honored to be one of the authors of the book, so of course I am excited about it being out.  We are so thrilled that it has already been getting rave reviews. 🙂

How it all started

I interviewed Felice, who was the one who started the whole project.  Our ring leader.

What inspired you to write a birth book about spirituality of birth?

I was pregnant with my first baby and there was a dearth of information on it. My mother died when I was young and I lacked that person to talk to or go to with questions. My friends weren’t much help as far as comfort. They were terrified or traumatized by birth.

Then by the grace of God I was led to a great yoga class in a spiritual community and I realized that pregnancy could be spiritual and bring me closer to God. They had a few good books on pregnancy that were mostly written by Sikhs and I love how they unapologetically talked about God and spirituality. I noticed this missing from all the books I found at the book store. I realized something like that needed to be created for women of my faith.

The inspiration actually came to me when I was lying down in my final resting pose in a yoga class and communicating with my baby by just breathing in and out and I got the “inspiration” to write a book. I felt like she told me about it first. Then once the inspiration started flowing it just wouldn’t stop, so I had to write it. Then I was lucky enough to be inspired and led to the women who would help me. One of which is you! I am so happy to have your voice in the book, Sheridan.

Has being a part of this project changed you in any way? 

In almost every way. Probably the most obvious is that my career path has changed. I was guided to become a hypnotherapist, and a Kundalini Yoga and meditation teacher. Learning about how the mind works (in relation to everything else) has changed the way I communicate, the way I parent, the way I see the world. And having a deep daily practice of meditation gives me so much peace and power.

But I also changed in subtle ways too. In the beginning I thought that the book was about natural childbirth, then I came to see it was really about the spirituality of birth, and even now I am realizing that is not what it is actually about. It’s about the amazingness of being a woman no matter what stage of life you are in.

What is the favorite section you wrote?

It’s strange, I don’t really remember the sections. It’s almost like they wrote themselves. When I read them now I am sort of shocked that I wrote them. I guess I do have a special spot in my heart for the Meditation Chapter. It is such an important thing to me. There are many misconceptions about meditation and I just really love to clear those up and help people find their own practice, because that will be the biggest game changer for women and men the world over, if they can learn to commune with God.