Brilliant Bodies for Brilliant Mamas: Meet the Ladies Using Magic to Help You Find Your Way

Brilliant Bodies was founded by Natalia Hailes and Ashley Spivak. This creative and inspiring group not only offers doula and pregnancy-related services, they are working on starting conversations about birth - something strangely missing from the New York Scene. We caught up with Natalia and Ashley as they tell us a little more about what they do, and why. Read until the end for a special invitation to their highly anticipated Fall Gathering

Brilliant Bodies for Brilliant Mamas: Meet the Ladies Using Magic to Help You Find Your Way

We had both been working in the health and wellness field, and by chance started having some prenatal clients in our individual practices. In attempting to work with these clients, it hit hard that we had this entire gap of knowledge and understanding when it came to our cycles and birth. How could it be that our only idea of birth came from TV and movies and looked something like this (which, certainly does make the idea of being knocked out for the experience pretty appealing!) How was it possible that this hadn’t been taught to us growing up? Why, as young women, (let alone wellness practitioners!) had we never taken the time to understand our reproductive health?! Whoa, our minds were blown away!

We quickly referred those clients elsewhere and thus our personal journeys began and Brilliant Bodies was born: a birth doula practice based in NYC with a special emphasis on the emotions and mindset of pregnancy, birth and parenthood. In addition to our doula services we offer stress reduction, nutrition and childbirth education sessions as well as facilitate workshops and gatherings. We also create content and events (with lots of exciting things coming soon so stay tuned!) that support women in better understanding and taking control of their reproductive health.

Brilliant Bodies for Brilliant Mamas: Meet the Ladies Using Magic to Help You Find Your Way

Scene from their Summer Birth Gathering 2016

“Our hope with Brilliant Bodies is to use the magic of science, art and humor to help people find their own unique way. To support as people find and trust their own brilliance. To help our clients be blown away by the intelligent and intricate design of their unique bodies. ”

Through this journey we’ve realized a couple of things:

In all of our research and learning (and as you all know, the amount of information out there is insane!) we felt something was missing. We hadn’t come upon a “voice” that really spoke to us as smart and capable people; a voice without too much crunch or too much authority. A voice that encouraged and supported us in finding our own way, instead of telling us what we “should” or “needed” to do “or else”...

We were also having trouble connecting with some of the materials.  We wanted to have fun in the learning process. We wanted to come across resources that made us laugh, or feel wowed, or that were actually aesthetically appealing; materials we could actually sit with and look at more than once without feeling overwhelmed by the task at hand. We wanted to have resources that we could pass on to friends with confidence that they’d at least glance at them.

And we also noticed a cultural shift, which is extremely exciting.  Women are really wanting to start taking back the control of their reproductive health. We want to start trusting ourselves.

But here is the thing. That trust can’t be built over night- especially since most of us have spent our entire adult lives disconnected from our bodies whether that’s due to traumas of all shapes and sizes, body dysmorphia, hormonal birth control, or just being super busy and not having the time to get to know it.

 

Brilliant Bodies for Brilliant Mamas: Meet the Ladies Using Magic to Help You Find Your Way

Brilliant Bodies for Brilliant Mamas: Meet the Ladies Using Magic to Help You Find Your Way

Our hope with Brilliant Bodies is to use the magic of science, art and humor to help people find their own unique way. To support as people find and trust their own brilliance. To help our clients be blown away by the intelligent and intricate design of their unique bodies.  

We invite you to join us! Follow @ourbrilliantbodies on Instagram for some #brilliantbits about how our bodies work. If you want to hear about our upcoming events and fun happenings sign up for our newsletter - we promise not to spam you!

Brilliant Bodies for Brilliant Mamas: Meet the Ladies Using Magic to Help You Find Your Way

We would also love for you to join us at our upcoming Birth Gathering in a beautiful loft space in Brooklyn! Our Birth Gathering: What the Bleep Happens in Childbirth? is for ALL genders and ALL stages of pregnancy, non-pregnancy and post-pregnancy to simply ask anything, learn from one another and connect with how we got here (After all, the one thing we have in common is that we were all born!). We’ll have drinks and snacks too so come hungry!

More info and tickets here. Use code MITERA for 15% off the ticket price. We can’t wait to meet you!

November 03, 2016 — Mitera Collection