Born Free Method: The Podcast

For me, the word “maestro” brings to mind a conductor of a symphony orchestra. In the plant medicine setting, a maestro does something similar: orchestrate the journey, paying attention to everything that is happening in the space, including working with spirits, singing to the spirits of the plants (icaros), and creating sanctuary, within with everything you might experience is self-harmonizing, self-grounding, self-orienting, self-healing, and self- . This is not exclusive of the “bad” stuff that might arise in a ceremony. Those “bad spirits” can be brought into sanctuary for healing, too.Hamilton Southern has lived in the Peruvian Amazon for two decades, and it took him 14 years of intensive training to get to a place where he felt he could fully accept his role as a facilitator of plant medicine visionary experiences. While listening to this conversation, it’s important to remember that the medicine - whether it be ayahuasca, Hauchuma/San Pedro, cannabis, or psilocybin mushrooms - is not providing the cure. These medicines simply invoke an invitation for you to become liberated from whatever is holding you back. All of the “good” and “bad” stuff that comes up in these visionary experiences are a part of you. Are you willing to lean in to accept the possibility of healing?Read Hamilton’s books. Visit BlueMorpho.org for his retreats and online course. You’ll find community, education, support, compassion, and new ways of looking at the world. Tell them Nathan Riley sent you.00:12:20 - Assuaging the fears and apprehensions of those who have heard horror stories about ayahuasca and unethical practices in this space.00:20:29 - When things get scary in sanctuary, you can invoke “sanctuary”. The primary tenets: 1) time is infinite, space is eternal; 2) source is in through and all around us; and 3) everything within sanctuary is self-healing, self-harmonizing, self-orienting, self-grounding, and self-balancing. Bring the darkness into sanctuary and heal that as well. 00:28:29 - When scary things emerge in a medicine journey, lean in with curiosity rather than making assumptions about the intentions of the figures that may arise in your visions.00:32:23 - Hamilton’s first ayahuasca ceremonies were no walk in the park. They were more like a hard drive disc defragmentation.00:40:50 - Perhaps we should seek healing from trauma. Perhaps should be seeking liberation from trauma. 00:43:07 - 250 years of Western medicine shouldn’t wipe out 50,000 years of ancestral medicine application. Rather, “modern medicine” should seek to clarify the prior 50,000 years of medicine that preceded it. This is a huge value to Hamilton’s work in opening the world to these medicines. Dosing with plant medicines has less to do with body mass and more with individual temperament, and knowing how much to give to a person for the desired goal requires practice and patience as a facilitator.00:53:00 - How does one reach a point where they are ready to offer medicine themselves?00:57:18 - What is the role of the facilitator/Shaman/maestro in a ceremony? 01:02:18 - The importance of being able to distinguish reality from illusion in a visionary plant medicine experience.01:09:51 - Integration after a medicine journey is as important if not more important than the medicine experience itself.01:21:55 - A proper “dieta” prior to ayahuasca and why these restrictions are valuable to the experience. Pros and cons of mixing visionary medicines.01:35:00 - Medicine versus sorcery01:41:07 - Birth trauma and visionary plant medicinesRead Hamilton’s books. Visit BlueMorpho.org for his retreats and online course. You’ll find community, education, support, compassion, and new ways of looking at the world. Tell them Nathan Riley sent you.References from the conversation:* Buddha in Red Face, by Eduardo DuranRelated episodes:* Hamilton Souther: On the Use of Plant Medicines in Releasing Birth Trauma* You are the Church: Psychedelics Within and Without Ceremony, a Conversation with Payam* Kimberly Ann Johnson: On Grieving the Loss of Sanctity in BirthThis episode was sponsored by Born Free Method.The Born Free Method digital playground includes over 60 hrs of pre-recorded lessons (w/ slides) spread out over 180+ lessons when you enroll. You will also be invited to a Zoom call (recorded) every other week hosted by me, Sara, and both. We also often have guest speakers, and you will have access to recordings for all 100+ of our past calls/interviews. All of this for just $200 per month.More ways to work with Nathan:Support for Midwives | Private Consultation | Clear & Free Medical Disclaimer: Born Free Method: The Podcast is an educational program. No information conveyed through this podcast should be construed as medical advice. These conversations are available to the public for educational and entertainment purposes only.Music provided by RealMovieScores / Pond5 Get full access to Born Free Method: The Podcast at nathanrileyobgyn.substack.com/subscribe

Andy Schoonover is the founder of CrowdHealth, a very unique alternative to conventional health insurance. They have a great track record for reimbursing on claims, and Andy compares his 20-odd refusals over the past 5 years to the 20% of denials that Americans with conventional insurance experience on the whole. How do they remain solvent if they are reimbursing for every claim? For starters, they don’t cover preventative care. They are truly filling the void that insurance is supposed to fill. With the savings that you can make by switching, you will have (a lot) more expendable income for changing your diet, lifestyle, and environment. This is an experiment in which I am participating with my family, as we just cancelled our health insurance policy in favor of a lower rate with CrowdHealth. And we still haven’t had to use it…Visit CrowdHealth and see for yourself. If you decide to join, you get a discount with my code RILEY00:06:20 - Health insurance companies are massively wealthy, and yet 3 million Americans are carrying $10,000 or more in medical debt. Health insurance companies look for every reason to short you on reimbursements. They deny around 20% of claims. You pay a premium every month (either directly or your employer takes it from your paycheck) and you owe co-payments and service fees and you owe a deductible before your insurance policy even kicks in. This why health insurance companies remain so wealthy and you find healthcare unaffordable. CrowdHealth on the other hand denies <0.1% of claims. 00:18:30 - What is the role of insurance to begin with? The government has been subsidizing health insurance premiums for the past decade and those subsidies are going away, thus your premiums are going up. 00:23:00 - How is CrowdHealth solving the issues being faced by the consumer? The money you save by transitioning to this less expensive model gives you more cash in hand to pay for those means of keeping yourself healthy without compromising tail risk for the rare catastrophe. By the way…it’s also cheaper to offer cash for your healthcare rather than using your insurance card.00:29:45 - Physicians are often willing to charge you less if you pay in cash rather than relying on your health insurance policy because they get paid more. 00:36:20 - CrowdHealth covers childbirth, and won’t pay more than $3000 (which pales in comparison to the deductibles of conventional insurance). And they love home birth…They have had to tinker with maternity care coverage given that their average member age is 33 years, so LOTS of babies (and NICU admissions) have been covered.00:43:00 - CrowdHealth offers two options: Bronze level or Black Swan. The former has a “deductible” of $500. That’s all. The latter is truly catastrophic coverage, but it the cheapest option on the planet for the rare, financial disasters that come as a consequence of health events. Visit CrowdHealth to check out the future of health insurance! If you decide to join, you get a discount with my code RILEYTo receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.This episode was sponsored by Born Free Method.The Born Free Method digital playground includes over 60 hrs of pre-recorded lessons (w/ slides) spread out over 180+ lessons when you enroll. You will also be invited to a Zoom call (recorded) every other week hosted by me, Sara, and both. We also often have guest speakers, and you will have access to recordings for all 100+ of our past calls/interviews. All of this for just $200 per month.More ways to work with Nathan:Support for Midwives | Private Consultation | Clear & Free Medical Disclaimer: Born Free Method: The Podcast is an educational program. No information conveyed through this podcast should be construed as medical advice. These conversations are available to the public for educational and entertainment purposes only.Music provided by RealMovieScores / Pond5 Get full access to Born Free Method: The Podcast at nathanrileyobgyn.substack.com/subscribe

Edmund Knighton, Ph.D., is a seasoned educator, clinical psychologist, and somatic movement practitioner whose multidisciplinary career spans more than three decades. He has engaged through various capacities with Waldorf education for over 35 years, once even serving as the president of Rudolf Steiner College. Drawing on the teachings of Rudolf Steiner, the channeled material of “Ra” from the The Law of One, and somatic/transpersonal psychology, Edmund offers consulting for individuals, organizations, and families (including my own) committed to holistic growth.You won’t find Edmund on social media, but you can reach out to him by email: Fifthwanderer@gmail.com if you ‘d like to have his support in your home.In Part 1 of this series with Edmund, we discussed some of the basics around Steiner’s philosophy, the Waldorf pedagogy, a 3- and 4-fold approach to human wellbeing, and we started our venture into autism. In Part 2, we dove deeper into “autism” but also offered an invitation to consider the extrasensory gifts displayed by many “autistic” children. We also covered vaccines.In Part 3, we discussed the significance of the Holy Nights, a time of spiritual reflection and preparation leading up to Christmas as well as the days that follow. In Part 4, we focus on men. What is men’s work? What does it mean to embrace your feminine? What is meant by femininity and masculinity? What does this have to do with sex, childbirth, and love-making?00:11:15 - A rebirth experience in a men’s circle for a man to feel welcomed into the world (by other men) as his full, integral self can be a very expansive yet confronting experience. Men’s work can reveal challenging parts within us, and the work of a men’s circle is also to help integrate and synthesize these experiences rather than suppress them.00:21:00 - Each of us carries a multitude of masculine and feminine energetics. How does your masculinity invite the feminine to dance? (within yourself, with your partner, etc.) To create a clear binary between the masculine and feminine is to dismiss the beautiful complexities of how they dance with one another. 00:34:45 - The role of a woman’s body is “containing” the blood and body of her baby is a masculine activity. Perhaps children pull their mother into motherhood, not the other way around. Men has a co-creative role from being to end in bringing a baby Earthside.00:46:25 - By getting in touch with our feminine, us men can logarithmically augment our power. How powerful are you really if you can’t hold a man’s hand and make eye contact for 60 seconds without losing connection to your self? Hug-by as a replacement for rubgy among children (and men).00:59:55 - A true, embodied warrior knows that their sword without a dagger is sharp and dangerous. This is a metaphor for what is called “toxic masculinity”. This is also an apt metaphor for how a man wields his penis within his expression of the lover archetype. This metaphor comes through the story of Sir Lancelot and Lady Guinevere along with Mary Magdelene and Christ.01:04:17 - If a man can’t enjoying giving himself pleasure, how can he possibly expect to provide pleasure to others? Men spend very little time touching themselves apart from masturbation. Edmund describes simple self-care exercises that can help us nourish our own pleasure centers, starting with self-touch.Edmund’s email: fifthwanderer@gmail.comTo receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.References from the conversation:* A Return to Eros: The Radical Experience of Being Fully Alive, by Marc Gafni* The Ra Material* Letters to a Young Poet, by Rainer Maria Rilke* Iron John: A Book about Men, by Robert BlyRelated episodes:* Edmund Knighton, PhD (Part 1) - Certainty in Uncertainty: Parenting, Presence, and the Pedagogy of the Soul* Edmund Knighton, PhD (Part 2): Transcending Contemporary Views on Autism: Parenting, Perception, and the Future of Human Development* Edmund Kinghton, PhD (Part 3): - The Holy Nights, Advent, and the Pursuit of Spiritual Freedom* Blood-thirsty Goddesses, the Sexual Erotic, and a Shared Story of Value, with Hebrew Mystic Marc Gafni* John Wineland: Embracing the Liberation Paradigm from Sacred Masculinity to Conscious Parenting* What He Never Learned: Repair, Responsibility, and Men’s Silent Longing for Connection with Ted RiterThis episode was sponsored by Born Free Method.The Born Free Method digital playground includes over 60 hrs of pre-recorded lessons (w/ slides) spread out over 180+ lessons when you enroll. You will also be invited to a Zoom call (recorded) every other week hosted by me, Sara, and both. We also often have guest speakers, and you will have access to recordings for all 100+ of our past calls/interviews. All of this for just $200 per month.Work with Nathan:Support for Midwives | Private Consultation | Born Free Method | Clear & Free Medical Disclaimer: Born Free Method: The Podcast is an educational program. No information conveyed through this podcast should be construed as medical advice. These conversations are available to the public for educational and entertainment purposes only.Music provided by RealMovieScores / Pond5 Get full access to Born Free Method: The Podcast at nathanrileyobgyn.substack.com/subscribe

Dr. Lawrence “Larry” Palevsky is a New York-based, board-certified pediatrician known for his holistic and integrative approach to children’s health. With over 30 years of clinical experience, he combines conventional medical training with alternative wellness philosophies. His counseling generally focuses on the mother-baby dyad (or triad with inclusion of the father), and he is very critical of vaccines and the childhood vaccine schedule (but also a number of other elements that have become a routine part of pediatric care). Find more of the good doctor at his website and Instagram.00:14:15 - Dr. Palevsky’s nickname as a kid was Fat Mama Brown; he didn’t pursue holistic medicine, holistic medicine pursued him; value of critical thinking in medicine; the art of creating differential diagnoses00:22:05 - What is the psychology behind pediatricians rejecting families from their practice for questioning vaccines? When you tell a lie often enough, it starts to become accepted as truth; the problems with “germ theory” using the hepatitis B vaccine as an example (more on Hep B later)00:40:20 - Dr. Palevsky’s counseling to families is exactly what you would hope to receive from your pediatrician, but most pediatricians are merely offering vaccines at those early visits.00:53:40 - What are some signs of a “sick baby” that might prompt urgent assessment by a pediatrician? Fevers below the age of 3 months, refusal to eat, constant crying, coughing, low activity, etc.00:58:50 - Why it’s important to recognize the inherent trauma of childbirth; a newborn’s nervous system develops outside the womb more than inside; stop waking up your baby for feedings01:03:10 - Hyperbilirubinemia and neonatal jaundice; nowadays, Dr. Pavelsky doesn’t often see jaundice in babies who don’t receive the Vitamin K shot or hepatitis B vaccine; AB blood type incompatibility is also a common association; bili thresholds and clinical signs that might be supported by a visit to your pediatrician01:09:22 - More on Vitamin K and delayed cord clamping01:11:25 - Hepatitis B vaccine01:15:50 - Circumcision01:20:25 - Vaginal birth versus cesarean and the role of chiropractics postnatally01:26:15 - Tongue/lip ties: Are we overdoing laster therapies?01:28:25 - Pros and cons of newborn screening01:31:00 - Cradle cap01:33:00 - Should you always treat a fever? It doesn’t always reflect infection.Learn more about Dr. Larry Palevsky at his website and Instagram.References from the conversation:* Dr. Palevsky’s recent appearance on Alec Zeck’s podcast (deeper dive on Dr. Pavelsky’s vaccine views)* House of God, by Samuel Shem* Bio-K-Mulsion oral Vitamin K drops for newbornsRelated episodes:* Adam Blanning, MD: On Anthroposophical Medicine, Embracing Fever, and the Future of Integrative Medicine* The real science from real practitioners on the safety of childhood vaccines with retired pediatrician Paul Thomas, MD* Brendon Marotta: On Circumcision: A Cure Looking for a Disease* The Secret Life of the Unborn Child: Dr. Thomas Verny on the Embodied Mind, Epigenetics, and Transgenerational HealingThis episode was sponsored by Born Free Method.The Born Free Method digital playground includes over 60 hrs of pre-recorded lessons (w/ slides) spread out over 180+ lessons when you enroll. You will also be invited to a Zoom call (recorded) every other week hosted by me, Sara, and both. We also often have guest speakers, and you will have access to recordings for all 100+ of our past calls/interviews. There is also a private community to interact with other members and a monthly’s men’s group for fathers or soon-to-be fathers. Lastly, you get direct support from me and Sara by call/text/email. You get all of this for only $200 per month. Enroll now. Any questions? Just shoot Nathan and Sara an email: support@bornfreemethod.comWork with Nathan:Support for Midwives | Private Consultation | Born Free Method | Clear & FreeMedical Disclaimer: Born Free Method: The Podcast is an educational program. No information conveyed through this podcast should be construed as medical advice. These conversations are available to the public for educational and entertainment purposes only.Music provided by RealMovieScores / Pond5 Get full access to Born Free Method: The Podcast at nathanrileyobgyn.substack.com/subscribe

Edmund Knighton, Ph.D., is a seasoned educator, clinical psychologist, and somatic movement practitioner whose multidisciplinary career spans more than three decades. He has engaged through various capacities with Waldorf education for over 35 years, once even serving as the president of Rudolf Steiner College. Drawing on the teachings of Rudolf Steiner, the channeled material of “Ra” from the The Law of One, and somatic/transpersonal psychology, Edmund offers consulting for individuals, organizations, and families (including my own) committed to holistic growth.You won’t find Edmund on social media, but you can reach out to him by email: Fifthwanderer@gmail.com if you ‘d like to have his support in your home.In Part 1 of this series with Edmund, we discussed some of the basics around Steiner’s philosophy, the Waldorf pedagogy, a 3- and 4-fold approach to human wellbeing, and we started our venture into autism. In Part 2, we dove deeper into “autism” but also offered an invitation to consider the extrasensory gifts displayed by many “autistic” children. We also covered vaccines.In this 3rd part, we will discuss the significance of the Holy Nights, a time of spiritual reflection and preparation leading up to Christmas as well as the days that follow. Edmund explains the Advent spiral and how such practices foster a deeper connection with nature and a sense of freedom. Edmund emphasizes that love can be experienced in both contentment and suffering, and that freedom is a practice developed through challenging experiences. 00:11:30 - How to connect to your heart, darkness retreats, the value of stillness and silence00:24:00 - The 4 weeks leading up to the advent are dedicated to the mineral, plant, animal, and human realms, in that order. Christmas Eve (the first holy night) is the beginning of the Waldorf advent, an invitation to open and conduct a personal and interpersonal inventory of where you can refine your life. There is also an important connection to the Zodiak during these Holy Nights. The magical number 12.December 24th - Adam and Eve day, celebration of Adama, the first human, neither male or female, opportunity to reflect on just beingDecember 25th - Birth Of Jesus, Christmas day, Angels take a step back as the guide to give human beings more freedom December 26th and beyond (the Holy Nights) - move through the hierarchies, starting with the angels, then to the archangels, and so forth.January 5th - The final Holy NightJanuary 6th - The Epiphany (which coincides with orthodox Christmas, but they aren’t the same)00:46:10 - Studying the spiritual sciences requires us to ask: is this insight leading me closer to or further away from freedom? A lot of criticisms of Steiner’s way of speaking are due to the ways that German people in authority spoke back then along with customs of Victorian times. Is perfection possible?00:59:55 - What is the purpose of the procession through the Holy Nights ritualistically and how do many Holy Nights practices fall short? It’s the path to freedom (e.g. becoming an ethical individual) through moral imagination, moral intuition, and moral inspiration beyond the 12 senses. This is actually the summation of child development in Steiner’s view. 01:10:00 - Celebrating Christmas with reverence01:17:00 - Why are the Holidays so stressful? (beyond the obligations, familial stuff, etc.) It’s a part of the spiritual restlessness of this time of year. This is related to bloodlines: you have chosen your family and those with whom you are close as a means of stimulating spiritual growth.01:26:10 - How do we expand our experience and skillset around the application of love? Love has far greater applications than many of us have been told. Even hatred is an effort to communicate love, albeit an intense and unskillful effort.Join Edmund alongside Jared Pickard at their upcoming “Being Human” online event, a 12-week cooperative practice rooted in the work of Rudolf Steiner. You’ll be learning directly from Edmund, Asha Nayaswami, Gabby Reece, Eben Britton, Joel Salatin, and more! This cohort begins February 5th. Go HERE for more information!Born Free Method: The Podcast is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.References from the conversation:* Beginner’s guide to Jung’s depth psychology* More insights on the weeks preceding the advent* A deeper look at the 12 Holy NightsRelated episodes:* Edmund Knighton, PhD (Part 1) - Certainty in Uncertainty: Parenting, Presence, and the Pedagogy of the Soul* Edmund Knighton, PhD (Part 2): Transcending Contemporary Views on Autism: Parenting, Perception, and the Future of Human DevelopmentThis episode was sponsored by Born Free Method.The Born Free Method digital playground includes over 60 hrs of pre-recorded lessons (w/ slides) spread out over 180+ lessons when you enroll. You will also be invited to a Zoom call (recorded) every other week hosted by me, Sara, and both. We also often have guest speakers, and you will have access to recordings for all 100+ of our past calls/interviews.* 12-month access is $750* Lifetime access is $3997 (This option comes with some other perks as well, including direct support from me and Sara for life by phone/text/email)* Fertility Deep Dive ($499) if you just want to focus on pre-conception planning and fertility, but this content is included in both of our other offerings above.We have payment plans available for the lifetime package, and we have discounts available for any of our programs for students and birthworkers. Just shoot Nathan and Sara an email: support@bornfreemethod.comWork with Nathan:Support for Midwives | Private Consultation | Born Free Method | Clear & Free Medical Disclaimer: Born Free Method: The Podcast is an educational program. No information conveyed through this podcast should be construed as medical advice. These conversations are available to the public for educational and entertainment purposes only.Music provided by RealMovieScores / Pond5 Get full access to Born Free Method: The Podcast at nathanrileyobgyn.substack.com/subscribe

Disclaimer: Most of what I speak to in the world of human health isn’t universally accepted by many if any Western medicine or “holistic” practitioners. The former tend to be too steeped in reductive materialism. The latter more often than not struggle to define let alone practice “holism”. What follows in this essay is a different perspective on what is known as “flu season”, and I don’t even feel that it goes as deep as necessary to understand what we call “the flu”. I actually think my views in this very essay are in and of themselves still too materialistic, albeit a far cry from the allopathic, “Western” view of illness. In the age of social media and short attention spans, very few are able or willing to question dogma, and nearly everything that I read about in the conventional or alternative health spaces is self-masturbatory at best. This essay will please very few in its entirety, and I’m ok with that, because my true gnosis on this topic would hardly be valued by just about anybody, and I prefer not to shout into the void. I recommend you sit with any discomfort that arises upon read or listening to this essay. Maybe something new will emerge from our dialogue around these topics in the future if we can become more comfortable with the unknown. Every autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, flu season arrives anew. Your local pharmacies and your doctors will begin offering a series of vaccines to “protect you” from some pathogen that isn’t even visible with an electron microscope. Generally speaking, these interventions are aimed to protect you from viruses. The symptoms of the flu include fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headaches, and fatigue. These are symptoms of this so-called “illness” that afflicts many every autumn. Meanwhile, as I’m looking out my window, my lettuces, herbs, wildflowers, wisteria, and maple trees have all discarded their leaves, stems, and flowers, sacrificial lambs to Mother Earth. She is rich in activity during the winter months, alchemizing this organic matter to support the abundance of new life that will arise come spring. We get to witness this beautiful circle of life every year. Humans, who have long held that they are separate from nature, fortunately do not have to offer up our limbs and organs every year to Mother Earth. Thank goodness…because nature is metal. Those poor flowers gave their lives in order for life to spring anew when Mother Earth goes back into dormancy in the warmer months. But why wouldn’t humans be included in this sacrifice to the great Mother every year? Could the symptoms of influenza “infection” reflect our participation in this annual offering?Of apple trees, gravity, and levityAnybody walking upright understands gravity. The apple tree grows, matures, and produces fruit. When the fruit ripens, it falls to the Earth. In fact, everything in the cosmos gravitates towards massive objects, the Earth notwithstanding. This is what keeps our moon and satellites in orbit around our planet and what keeps our planet in orbit around the sun. All biological organisms feel the pull of gravity, and yet what distinguishes life from non-life is that being alive seems to defy gravity. Rudolf Steiner referred to this gravity-defying force as “levity”.But in the fall, the force of levity can no longer compete with gravity, and the sunflowers bow down to the Earth. They disintegrate, turn brown, and their constituent parts combine again with Mother Earth under the pull of gravity. When levity is sufficient, plants, animals, and humans remain upright and alive. Levity might therefore be considered synonymous in many ways with life force energy. The Chinese called it qi. The Vedic traditions referred to it as prana or kundalini. Esoteric science calls it “etheric force”. Original homeopathy refers to this as “generative power”. But perhaps it’s all roughly the same thing…When humans reach the end of their lives here on Earth, gravity takes over and when the embers of levity are extinguished, we die. We, too, are a part of this circle of life. What if “the flu” is not an illness?As a preamble to what’s to come, I am not going to argue that people don’t “get sick”. I’m simply going to reframe what is perceived as an “illness” instead as a normal part of our experience here on Earth. I’ve already outlined what happens during the autumn season, which coincides with the advent of the flu season. The natural world experiences some degree of decay, but not totally. My yarrow no longer has tall stems with leaves and flowers. But the roots remain along with some hearty leaves. There is still some activity in the plant that keeps it alive over the cold, winter months. In the spring, however, my yarrow will emerge anew. But this reemergence requires this plant to have been cared for during the warmer months so that it can sustain itself over the harsh winter. In other words, yarrow that has plentiful levity or life force energy will survive despite its offering of a great deal of its biomass back to Mother Earth. This is an act of love. This is also why herbal medicines are most often used to make us feel stronger throughout nearly any illness (e.g. Echinacea, slippery elm, licorice root, marshmallow root, wild cherry bark, and nearly every remedy included in the Wildcraft board game which is great for kids!). Recall the symptoms of influenza “infection”. You are heating up (fever). And you are expelling a bunch of dead matter (skin, tissue, cells) back into the environment (coughing, sneezing, runny nose). This sounds a lot like what my yarrow experienced, just not in a form that we recognize as decomposition. This dead biomass that we are expelling consists of cell debris, fluid, electrolytes and the rest of it. When you cough up phlegm, this mucus contains the debris of cells lining your oral and nasal cavities and your deeper airways. When cells die, they break open, releasing all of their contents, which includes the genetic material inside the nuclei of these cells. Take note of this for later…Influenza deathsNot all of my perennials will return in the spring. Some of them sacrificed so much in the fall that they left themselves bereft of life force energy (levity). When spring arrives, they simply can’t overcome gravity’s pull down to Earth. I propose that the same happens in humans. After all, which of us are most susceptible to hospitalization and death from influenza? Older humans. Older humans are already feeling the effects of diminishing levity. They are beginning to walk with a hunch. Their skin is thinning. Their blood vessels are weakening, and blood is pooling in their lower extremities. This is called aging. There never will be a cure for this any more than there will be a cure for “autumn”. When healthy people enter flu season, many get these symptoms, which is an expression of our offering to Mother Earth, and then they recover, often feeling stronger than they had felt prior to their “illness”.When many of our older humans get “sick” during flu season, they end up dying. The same goes for unhealthy people. Gravity, which must be quite strong in the colder months, wins in its tension with levity. This is life process in action: when levity is overwhelmed by gravity, you die. This is why I harp so much on eating real foods, drinking living water, getting quality sleep, having good sex, connecting deeply with loved ones, and not putting poisons into your body otherwise: these acts of love for one’s self nourish your life force energy.“I tested positive for COVID/the flu/etc.”This is where things get uncomfortable. You had flu-like symptoms. You went to urgent care. They swabbed your nose. The result was positive for [fill in the blank]. We have been conditioned to believe that an outside contagion made us sick, which is why the vaccines your doctor have offered you all of these years make sense. They are meant to protect you from these outside invaders which will kill you. It’s hard to argue that point because they swabbed you and detected the bad guy, in this case influenza. It’s possible that this is the case but unlikely. Remember that the cells that die and then are coughed up and expectorated break open and release their genetic nuclear contents. I asked you to remember that. Keep it in mind going forward.Our genetic material is arranged across 46 chromosomes, which are thought to be coiled chains of chemical base pairs called nucleotides. This is known as your “genome”. Across this genome, there are an estimated 3 billion nucleotides, and these 3 billion nucleotides come in four forms: adenine, thymine, guanine, and cytosine. The sequence of these nucleotides is going to be slightly different for every man, woman, and child. Plants, fungi, animals, and bacteria also have a genome, and it’s different from humans but not by much. The story goes that groups of these nucleotides (genes) are transcribed into RNA which is translated into proteins. The nucleotides of RNA also come in four forms: adenylate, uridylate, guanylate, and cytidylate. Influenza A and B both have an estimated 14,000 nucleotides of the RNA variety. Everybody knows that the human genome was fully sequenced 20 years ago, right?Well…no. It hasn’t. Efforts for this massive undertaking began in 1990 through the Human Genome Project. Multiple drafts of the human genome have been published but at least 8% of the sequence was still unaccounted for for decades. There are still multiple errors, and the genetic material used to complete the sequence was from multiple genetic donors. Over the past few years, it is now thought that we might have the technology to sequence the entire human genome, but this is the same story that has been rehashed for decades. Indeed, as of 2026, the Telomere-to-Telomere (T2T) Consortium claims to have closed the 8% gap through long-read sequencing, but there are still unquestionably and admittedly a number of errors. Every time that we have heard a researcher claim to have sequenced the entire human genome (2001, 2003, 2022, etc.) it has been followed up with “…well, not quite”. If humans are nearly identical and even chimpanzees and humans are 99% identical genetically, how can we ever assume that any fragment of DNA (or RNA) is from a plant, animal, human, or even a virus? Given that each of us has a distinct genetic makeup, we are far from completing this mission. Swabs for viruses are likely uselessGiven that there are thought to be around 3 billion nucleotides in the human genome and that we admittedly didn’t (and probably still don’t) know about 8% of the sequence, that’s 240 million spots in the code that we simply aren’t aware of. The influenza A genome is only ~14,000 nucleotides, so it’s a big leap to say that the swab they stuck up your nose is detecting something foreign because without a copy of any human genome sequence let alone your own personal genome, we don’t have anything to compare the swab to. These viral swabs work in one of two ways: rapid antigen test or polymerase chain reaction (PCR).Rapid antigen test: Goo is taken from your nose or airways and dipped into a buffer that breaks open a virus to release its proteins (“antigens”). The liquid is then added to a test strip coated with antibodies specific to these antigens. If proteins “stick” to the antibodies, then you have a match and the test is reported positive. The issue with this test is that it doesn’t work if there isn’t enough virus in the sample (“viral load”) and thus has a high false negative rate, so the PCR test is considered more accurate. PCR: Same collection process only this time the lab uses polymerase to photocopy any genetic material present in the sample (rather than searching for antigens). If X number of cycles of this photocopying get you a sequence that is thought to be unique to influenza A, then your result will be reported as positive for influenza infection.There are other molecular techniques that are used, but this process of swabbing and diagnosing isn’t new, and understanding its shortcomings really matters.Distinguishing self from other is impossible if I don’t know your genomic sequenceI have heard the following analogy from Tom Cowan, MD, to illustrate why we need to know the human genomic sequence for this viral screening process to make sense.If I placed a hand grenade inside a metal garbage can with a copy of War and Peace, the book would explode into a billion tiny pieces. If I then asked my wife to arrange those tiny pieces into War and Peace, it wouldn’t be possible unless she had a copy for comparison’s sake. Otherwise, she would probably be able to form a bunch of coherent sentences and maybe even create a story from those sentences but there would probably be a lot of pieces left over, and we certainly wouldn’t have a complete copy of War and Peace. This analogy is fitting because genetic material from the dead cells that are sloughing off in your airways is also floating around in those same passageways as this supposed viral RNA that is being caught by the swab and then run through PCR multiple times. If the viral RNA sequence is A-U-G-C, how can we be sure that that sequence isn’t simply a fragment of our own genome?With the human genome still a mystery to “science”, assigning causation to an external virus for your flu-like symptoms is ridiculous. It may be useful in the future, as the idea is compelling, but we don’t yet have a reliable copy of the human genome to accurately distinguish human genetic material from viral. By the way, the same rationalization can be made against the COVID-19 swabs that people continue to stockpile or the HPV swabs that women receive at their well-woman visits. Is this innate genetic material or a genetic sequence from an outside invader (e.g. COVID, human papilloma virus)? Can you catch a cold?There is one additional element of this conversation that muddies the waters of my argument. If you went home for the holidays, there was likely a small child who had a runny nose and a cough. You are getting coughed on, spit on, and booger-ed on for the entire visit. To nobody’s surprise you developed flu-like symptoms in the days after your Christmas dinner.How did this happen? Did the child spread the virus to you? After all, viruses like influenza are well-known to jump from person-to-person or sippy cup to person. That’s how it works, right? Fortunately, this has been studied. Nowadays, “human challenge trials” are used to “prove” that viruses are spread in this way. These trials are conducted in healthy, young volunteers in an inpatient environment with HEPA-filtered air in negative-pressure rooms. A virus from a sick person is “isolated and purified” (this is presumably done through a series of laughable steps, but more on that another time) and administered through intranasal drops/sprays to the healthy volunteers.The result? Unvaccinated individuals have a roughly 25% chance of developing flu-like symptoms when receiving this so-called “viral” nasal spray.Why not 100% you ask? Well, authors hypothesized that either the air was too humid, not enough viral particles were administered, or that people must not be as contagious once they develop symptoms. Before these modern trials, there were studies that took the mucus, throat washings, respiratory secretions, and even blood from people with the flu and administered them directly to healthy volunteers. The first and most cited are the Rosenau Experiments (1918-1919). Secretions and blood of people dying from the flu were rubbed into healthy volunteers’ eyes. None of the healthy volunteers got sick. Critics argued that the healthy volunteers must already have developed immunity as a consequence of prior exposure. The second was a study conducted by Alphonse Dochez (1930). Nasal washings of patients with active colds were passed through a Berkefeld filter, which was thought to capture all particles large than viruses. This filtrate was then administered into the noses of healthy people and chimpanzees. The result: some of the humans and chimps developed symptoms. The third commonly cited studies are known as the Common Cold Units (CCU) Studies (1940s-1980s). Nasal washings from sick patients were administered to healthy volunteers. 30-50% of the healthy volunteers developed symptoms. The researchers had expected more illness but chalked up their findings to “raw” secretions being too variable in viral load. The point of these studies is not to prove my point but to help you appreciate how the notion that sick people contaminate healthy people is unimpressive at best. Not everybody exposed to a sick person gets “sick”. In my household, my kids get sick all the time. Sometimes my wife develops symptoms; sometimes I develop symptoms. It’s not as simple as avoiding their grubby fingers. So it’s not exactly a causative relationship. It’s far more likely in my view that something triggers living organisms to fall apart a little bit in the colder months. A stressor might be the catalyst (the holidays are stressful), excessive drinking might be the culprit (most people drink a lot of alcohol during the holidays to cope with the stress), and the myriad of activities and obligations during the holidays leads to a lack of quality sleep (how’s your back doing after that air mattress experience at your in-laws?). I think it’s just as likely that “catching a cold” happens when non-sick people hang around sick people as a form a co-resonance. Being in proximity with a sick person reminds a not-sick person’s energetic body that it’s time to make an offering, triggering the onset of symptoms that leads to decomposition of some of our tissues, and then this now sick person enters in resonance with a new not-sick person, and they receive the energetic signal to do the same. This type of chain reaction is hard to measure but it’s no better or worse than our conventional model of the flu given the myriad of questions around this elusive mysterious virus thing. There doesn’t need to be an answer here, but I think it’s naive to think that we can become immune to the forces of nature if we avoid social interaction, cover our faces with masks, and inject a bunch of stuff through a needle into our arms. These could delay the onset of our annual falling part or even blunt the symptoms, but the process of falling to pieces (again: gravity overwhelming levity) could also just be seen as a part of being human. You don’t have the flu. You are human.You have symptoms of the flu, meaning the effects of gravity are having a greater influence on you now than they did at the 4th of July party. Plants don’t have a choice in the matter. Gravity has an obvious effect on the natural world. Humans are also a part of - and rely on - the natural world for their survival, so they, too, experience some of this tension between levity and gravity. If we chalk this experience up to an outside viral contagion, then vaccines, nasal swabs, masks, and social isolation do, indeed, make sense. But if the holes in the story that I’ve shown you are even a little bit interesting, then consider every autumn as an invitation to do an inventory on your life. Have you been sleeping well?Have you been eating nutritious foods?Have you been drinking clean water? Breathing clean air?Have you been talking about hard things or suppressing your feelings?Have you been having sex that transcends beyond mere physical attraction?Have you been taking time for solitude and rest?Have you been grateful for being alive?Have you been drinking, smoking, or snorting too many drugs?Have you been nurturing healthy relationships and community?Have you been exercising too little? Too much?Your answers to these questions will directly affect your life force energy. They can help your kundalini rise or fall. They can nourish or diminish your generative power.I also can’t recommend enough against pharmaceuticals. Some medications may take away your symptoms short term but they interfere with your ability to get back to center. Allopathic means of keeping us healthy certainly can help with symptoms, but surgeries and pharmaceuticals weaken our generative power, meaning they make you feel as if they have fixed something but they’ve damaged your ability to sustain the influences of gravity over the long-haul. The process of expelling old matter and decomposing a little bit (and not dying as a result) is a virtue. The symptoms are uncomfortable but they are happening for a reason. The yarrow in my backyard was born with the condition that it would lie dormant for 6 months of the year. This makes it possible to have healthy yarrow during the summer months. And as with my yarrow, the cold, winter months are a time to consider slowing down, resting, digesting, and becoming more dormant. My wife asked me a month or so ago: Why do people all seem to get sick late in the fall if it’s not from viruses? It was this question that ultimately prompted this essay. I used to resist taking my foot off the accelerator of life, and often it would take a 3-4 day period of “the flu” to park me prostrate. It was an invitation to heal. Call it what you will: getting sick or making an offering to Mother Earth. But the “illness” that you are experiencing is a part of being a whole human. Supporting your health through the lens of holism is the only way to survive as it generates levity, or life force energy. Salvation will likely never be found through vaccines and fever-reducers because perhaps there is nothing to be saved from.This episode was sponsored by Born Free Method.The Born Free Method digital playground includes over 60 hrs of pre-recorded lessons (w/ slides) spread out over 180+ lessons when you enroll. You will also be invited to a Zoom call (recorded) every other week hosted by me, Sara, and both. We also often have guest speakers, and you will have access to recordings for all 100+ of our past calls/interviews.* 12-month access is $750* Lifetime access is $3997 (This option comes with some other perks as well, including direct support from me and Sara for life by phone/text/email)* Fertility Deep Dive ($499) if you just want to focus on pre-conception planning and fertility, but this content is included in both of our other offerings above.We have payment plans available for the lifetime package, and we have discounts available for any of our programs for students and birthworkers. Just shoot Nathan and Sara an email: support@bornfreemethod.comWork with Nathan:Support for Midwives | Private Consultation | Born Free Method | Clear & FreeMedical Disclaimer: Born Free Method: The Podcast is an educational program. No information conveyed through this podcast should be construed as medical advice. These conversations are available to the public for educational and entertainment purposes only.Music provided by RealMovieScores / Pond5 Get full access to Born Free Method: The Podcast at nathanrileyobgyn.substack.com/subscribe

I get this question a lot: What is a hysterectomy?Worse yet, most women who are facing this procedure don’t understand what parts are being removed and if this surgery is even necessary.This is a big topic, but this short solo cast will provide the basics for you to decode the language of an operative note and the layman’s speak for what a surgeon might be offering and why.The first hysterectomy was successfully performed in the 19th century using vaginal or abdominal incisions. The first laparoscopic hysterectomy in 1989. Nowadays, the hysterectomy (removal of the uterus) is the 2nd most common surgery performed in women in the United States. There are ~500,000 hysterectomies performed annually in the United States and 1.3 million c-sections. Compare these number two the two next most common surgeries - for men or women - total knee replacement (719,000 performed annually) and reduction of fracture (671,000 performed annually). In this solo cast, I will cover common indications for hysterectomy and touch on some alternatives. I’ll also cover the basic anatomy of the female reproductive system. This episode was sponsored by Born Free Method.The Born Free Method digital playground includes over 60 hrs of pre-recorded lessons (w/ slides) spread out over 180+ lessons when you enroll. You will also be invited to a Zoom call (recorded) every other week hosted by me, Sara, and both. We also often have guest speakers, and you will have access to recordings for all 100+ of our past calls/interviews.* 12-month access is $750* Lifetime access is $3997 (This option comes with some other perks as well, including direct support from me and Sara for life by phone/text/email)* Fertility Deep Dive ($499) if you just want to focus on pre-conception planning and fertility, but this content is included in both of our other offerings above.We have payment plans available for the lifetime package, and we have discounts available for any of our programs for students and birthworkers. Just shoot Nathan and Sara an email: support@bornfreemethod.comWork with Nathan:Support for Midwives | Private Consultation | Born Free Method | Clear & FreeMedical Disclaimer: Born Free Method: The Podcast is an educational program. No information conveyed through this podcast should be construed as medical advice. These conversations are available to the public for educational and entertainment purposes only.Music provided by RealMovieScores / Pond5 Get full access to Born Free Method: The Podcast at nathanrileyobgyn.substack.com/subscribe

The organizing team for the 2026 Born Free Twins-Breech Gathering convened in Austin, TX, to set foot at Lucky Arrow Retreat and elsewhere in Austin to begin the long and arduous process of exploring what we hope to achieve at the 3rd twins-breech gathering. This is more than a conference…it’s an invitation to lean into the discomfort required to change maternity care. I’m joined in this dialogue in this episode by two of my soul family. Sevonna Brown is a reproductive justice worker whose global retreats and sacred care restore wholeness across birth, medicine, and the ceremony of becoming. Haize Hawke is a traditional midwife, master doula, and spiritual mentor. She cares for young women and families, guiding them on the ways of womb wisdom. Sevonna and Haize are two critical members of our organizing team alongside myself, Sara Rosser, CPM, and Sarah Tuck, CPM. This is the first of several conversations that we will be sharing as we begin to weave this gathering together, which requires us to be led as much by our hearts as by our heads. FYI: The event has already sold out, but what you’ll learn from this conversation is that we aren’t focused solely on putting together a beautiful experience in 2026. We are planning for what is to come in the wake of the 2026 gathering, with many more events in the future. This conversation is for everybody engaged in this work, not exclusively for those who will be attending in 2026.Connect with Sevonna @sanctuarymedicine Connect with Mama Haize @iamhaizehawke 00:07:42 - What one person sees as a necessary action another person might see as misconduct. Bridging the gap (racially, within birthwork, and otherwise) requires nonviolent communication and present listening, pedagogy, and praxis. Decolonizing birth requires that we decolonize ousrselves. What are the emotional acupuncture points relevant to improving on this work?00:17:00 - Bridging division and racism in birthwork. How must we find a means to coexist alongside patriarchy in obstetrics? What are our barometers of power and privilege? Sometimes what is viewed as segregation actually reflects a choice among those who find safety through affinity. The pedagogy of the 2026 gathering is based in ceremony and grounding. Bell Hooks saw multi-cultural education as a path to freedom empowering students to transgress oppressive norms to achieve self-actualization. We feel that this is the means by which we can we move from mere tolerance to genuine change.00:27:00 - Acts of righteousness by one person could be experienced as an act of violence by others. Desegregation is not the purpose of the 2026 gathering. We must excercise desegregation in our everyday lives before a physical convening. 00:33:35 - Calls to action in preparation for this convening to transgress racism, not least of which is to read about granny midwives.00:41:30 - We all must get clear on what we can offer as individuals and our own personal limitations. This gathering is not for passive passengers. We need engagement.00:46:30 - Who is holding the wisdom in this space? We must begin to prune away the decentralization of midwifery and even certain voices in place of other important voices. This convening is an invitation to reflect on what we do to change maternity care. There is tremendous value in approaching this work with a beginner’s mind…00:55:00 - Discomfort is inevitable and necessary for growth. You are responsible for your own growth and comfort. What we are organizing for the 2026 event is risky. The biggest risk is a willingness to fail and to fall. All of oyur self-judgment and judgment of others will be brought to the surface. This work is only possible through fierce love. 01:10:00 - A call for the collective to remember that at some point all of our lineages we were made possible through the work of a midwife, likely a granny a midwife, though nowadays this wisdom has been appropriated by the obstetrics model.01:17:55 - is it possible to honor traditional midwifery through an event that is inclusive of obstetricians? Yes. What we witnessed in 2024 was birthworkers of all types Falling to their knees in recognition of how the modern maternity care system has failed families.References from the conversation:* Alok Vaid-Menon* Biddy Mason Museum in Los Angeles* All About Love, by Bell Hooks* Teaching to Transgress, by Bell Hooks * Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds, by Adrienne Maree Brown * Listen to Me Good: The Story of an Alabama Midwife, by Margaret Charles Smith and Linda Janet Holmes* Words of Fire: An Anthology of African-American Feminist Thought, edited by Beverly Guy-Sheftall * Reproductive Justice: An Introduction, by Loretta Ross This episode was sponsored by Born Free Method.The Born Free Method digital playground includes over 60 hrs of pre-recorded lessons (w/ slides) spread out over 180+ lessons when you enroll. You will also be invited to a Zoom call (recorded) every other week hosted by me, Sara, and both. We also often have guest speakers, and you will have access to recordings for all 100+ of our past calls/interviews.* 12-month access is $750* Lifetime access is $3997 (This option comes with some other perks as well, including direct support from me and Sara for life by phone/text/email)* Fertility Deep Dive ($499) if you just want to focus on pre-conception planning and fertility, but this content is included in both of our other offerings above.We have payment plans available for the lifetime package, and we have discounts available for any of our programs for students and birthworkers. Just shoot Nathan and Sara an email: support@bornfreemethod.comWork with Nathan:Support for Midwives | Private Consultation | Born Free Method | Clear & FreeMedical Disclaimer: Born Free Method: The Podcast is an educational program. No information conveyed through this podcast should be construed as medical advice. These conversations are available to the public for educational and entertainment purposes only.Music provided by RealMovieScores / Pond5 Get full access to Born Free Method: The Podcast at nathanrileyobgyn.substack.com/subscribe

Edmund Knighton, Ph.D., is a seasoned educator, clinical psychologist, and somatic movement practitioner whose multidisciplinary career spans more than three decades. He has engaged through various capacities with Waldorf education for over 35 years, once even serving as the president of Rudolf Steiner College. Drawing on the teachings of Rudolf Steiner, the channeled material of “Ra” from the The Law of One, and somatic/transpersonal psychology, Edmund offers consulting for individuals, organizations, and families (including my own) committed to holistic growth.Disclaimer: Edmund is the father of a 14-year old, Liam, who was born with “autism” and trisomy 21 (Down syndrome). You won’t find Edmund on social media, but you can reach out to him by email: Fifthwanderer@gmail.com if you ‘d like to have his support in your home.In Part 1 of this series with Edmund, we discussed some of the basics around Steiner’s philosophy, the Waldorf pedagogy, a 3- and 4-fold approach to human wellbeing, and we started our venture into autism. In Part 2, we dive deeper into the challenges of “autism” but also offer an invitation to broaden our understanding and appreciation of neurodivergence. If there is a path to perfection, do the extrasensory gifts of some “autistic” children suggest that this poorly understood condition may reflect that they are closer to perfection than neurotypical people? Naturally, we also cover vaccines and there is some health push back on the notion that our physical body is “merely a meatsuit”. 00:09:00 - There’s no such thing as autism…there are only human beings with infinite possibilities and unique destinies. “Austism” is a label, and labeling children often limits our capacities to support them. If we think we know who our child is, then we shut down the doors of perception. Salutogenesis.00:16:45 - We are in the consciousness-soul epoch (“age of auto-ism”) in which a main attribute is antipathy between individuals. We must become able to live with uncertainty. Steiner teaches that there are twelve senses not five. Edmund’s son is telepathic. Do nonverbal kids have the advantage of being able to listen with their hearts? Autism forces us to consider how we might operate at a thought mantra level00:30:30 - The gift of free will and conscious direction of our consciousness. Are neurodivergent human beings more “evolved” than neurotypical individuals? What does “perfection” mean from the standpoint of esoteric science? Perhaps autistic children are closer to perfection than their neurotypical peers…00:41:50 - A more nuanced, spiritual take on vaccines and the human being (a complex conversation distilled to a thimble). Every thought, every relationship that we have with every material used to produce and action imparted to inject a vaccine has a powerful effect on a vaccine. The same line of thinking can be applied to assisted reproductive technology, which is a focus of perinatal psychology. 00:52:50 - If vaccines alone cause this condition we call “autism”, and if autism is indeed a “disability”, then why shouldn’t we be seeking to make everybody autistic through vaccines?01:02:20 - Our physical body is the most spiritual gift that we have, which is why it’s critical to be discerning of what enters your body. Division within the MAHA movement. The illusory condition of time permits the capacity for mastery. 7 is a sacred number (7 chakras, 7 life processes…but 7 days in a week?) Because the heart has a rhythm (not a beat), it helps you perceive the quality of time rather than the quantity of time. Dewey Larson’s qualitative physics of time-space. Advice for sustaining humanity through cohesion versus separation (every moment contains love).Born Free Method: The Podcast is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.References from the conversation:* Feeling into music versus listening to the words. Practice with these two songs (unless you speak Hebrew):* Ana Bekoach, performed by Yossi Azulay* Hashkiveinu, performed by Magda Fishman* The Calendar of the Soul (Pusch translation), by Rudolf Steiner * Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi* Martin Seligman’s work related to positive psychology* Our Twelve Senses: How Healthy Senses Refresh the Soul, by Albert Soesman* Faust, a 2-part tragic play, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe* The Physics of Dewey Larson* Klaus Käppeli* The Rosenthal Effect (aka the Pygmalion Effect)* Telepathy TapesRelated episodes:* The Secret Life of the Unborn Child: Dr. Thomas Verny on the Embodied Mind, Epigenetics, and Transgenerational Healing* Edmund Knighton, PhD (Part 1): Certainty in Uncertainty: Parenting, Presence, and the Pedagogy of the SoulThis episode was sponsored by Born Free Method.The Born Free Method digital playground includes over 60 hrs of pre-recorded lessons (w/ slides) spread out over 180+ lessons when you enroll. You will also be invited to a Zoom call (recorded) every other week hosted by me, Sara, and both. We also often have guest speakers, and you will have access to recordings for all 100+ of our past calls/interviews.* 12-month access is $750* Lifetime access is $3997 (This option comes with some other perks as well, including direct support from me and Sara for life by phone/text/email)* Fertility Deep Dive ($499) if you just want to focus on pre-conception planning and fertility, but this content is included in both of our other offerings above.We have payment plans available for the lifetime package, and we have discounts available for any of our programs for students and birthworkers. Just shoot Nathan and Sara an email: support@bornfreemethod.comWork with Nathan:Support for Midwives | Private Consultation | Born Free Method | Clear & Free | Twins-BreechMedical Disclaimer: Born Free Method: The Podcast is an educational program. No information conveyed through this podcast should be construed as medical advice. These conversations are available to the public for educational and entertainment purposes only.Music provided by RealMovieScores / Pond5 Get full access to Born Free Method: The Podcast at nathanrileyobgyn.substack.com/subscribe

The 2026 Born Free Twins-Breech Conference is coming to Austin, TX, November 12-15, 2026, and tickets go on sale Black Friday, November 28th, 2025 at midnight! There are a limited number of tickets for sale at the early bird pricing! To take advantage you’ll have to be quick, and you’ll need the code JUICYWORM26 at checkout! Nicole Calloway Rankins, MD, MPH is a board-certified OB/GYN and hospital-based hospitalist who focuses on providing evidence-based support for families to have empowered hospital births. She is the host of the Birth With Power podcast—formerly All About Pregnancy & Birth. Dr. Rankins also teaches an online Birth Preparation Course. She shares her story of her own c-section with inadequate anesthesia and the challenges of supporting her own child in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Find Dr. Rankins’ free guides and other resources at her website. She can also be found on Instagram @drnicolerankins .00:16:45 - The pros and cons of hospitalist medicine. You get reeeeally good at building trust and making decisions quickly. Feeling safe is different from people doing things to you to “keep” you safe. Naming fears can be powerful as the patient. Having hard conversations around birth preferences ideally happens long before your labor begins. 00:26:44 - Dr. Rankins shares how the experience of a mother dying in her care and how the memory will forever stay with her as a reminder that this work isn’t always joyful. And occasionally “bad outcomes” take place without any way to prevent them. How can we optimize the experience for a mother who experiences a stillbirth or similar outcome?00:35:40 - Dr. Rankins shares her experience with a child in the NICU for duodenal atresia and experiencing a c-section with a malfunctioning epidural. Fathers are often left out of the conversations through difficult hospital experiences. 00:42:15 - Physicians aren’t necessarily taught to humanize birth. Sometimes humanizing childbirth starts with remembering that we ourselves, as practitioners, are human, and this can be as easy as taking a breath! Nathan shares a story of a baby born without a trachea who is made comfortable to die shortly after birth and the challenge of being present with death.00:50:00 - Advice for families that transfer from home to the hospital and don’t prefer any interventions whatsoever. Dr. Rankins visits local birth centers so that birthworkers in the community are familiar with her and her practice. You have the right to decline any intervention as long as you’re informed about the risks, benefits, and implications of all options on the table. Dr. Nicole weighs in on Vitamin K, Rhogam, and other common interventions offered throughout prenatal care and childbirth. We must avoid imposing our value system on that of others.00:58:10 - We can’t advocate for autonomy in reproductive rights but not for a woman to give birth on her own terms. You either believe in autonomy or you don’t. How do you respond if a woman says “I’d rather die than have a c-section”? What is coercive language. In counseling around repeat c-sections, OBGYNs often neglect to describe the challenges of emergency c-section after multiple abdominal surgeries due to scar tissue01:06:45 - Dr. Rankins’ thoughts on continuous fetal monitoring versus intermittent auscultation and lack of validation of this technology01:11:00 - Dr. Rankins weighs in on the Hepatitis b vaccine, pediatricians, veering from the vaccine schedule, polio vs ddt neurotoxicity, package inserts, removing the word “allow” from our counseling.Find Dr. Rankins’ free guides and other resources at her website. She can also be found on Instagram @drnicolerankins .Born Free Method: The Podcast is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.References from the conversation:* Hepatitis B vaccine package insert from FDA website* Great episode from Nicole’s podcast about the NICU experience in conversation with neonatologist Terri Major-Kincade, MD* The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, by Anne Fadiman* Cesarean Section: An American History of Risk, Technology, and Consequence, by Jacqueline Wolf, PhDRelated episodes:* #80 - Jacqueline Wolf, PhD: On the Sordid History of C-Section in the U.S.* One Womb, Two Stories: The Echo of What Was and the Cry of What Is (Trigger warning: this is a story of homebirth and then a subsequent rainbow baby!)* Babies Need to Feel Safe with Nathan Riley, MD, FACOGThis episode was sponsored by Born Free Method.When we aren’t hosting gatherings to re-skill the birth workforce in twins/breech, we are supporting families and birthworkers through this massive online platform/community!The Born Free Method digital playground includes over 60 hrs of pre-recorded lessons (w/ slides) spread out over 180+ lessons when you enroll. You will also be invited to a Zoom call (recorded) every other week hosted by me, Sara, and both. We also often have guest speakers, and you will have access to recordings for all 100+ of our past calls/interviews.* 12-month access is $750* Lifetime access is $3997 (This option comes with some other perks as well, including direct support from me and Sara for life by phone/text/email)* Fertility Deep Dive ($499) if you just want to focus on pre-conception planning and fertility, but this content is included in both of our other offerings above.We have payment plans available for the lifetime package, and we have discounts available for any of our programs for students and birthworkers. Just shoot Nathan and Sara an email: support@bornfreemethod.comWork with Nathan:Support for Midwives | Private Consultation | Born Free Method | Clear & Free | Twins-BreechMedical Disclaimer: Born Free Method: The Podcast is an educational program. No information conveyed through this podcast should be construed as medical advice. These conversations are available to the public for educational and entertainment purposes only.Music provided by RealMovieScores / Pond5 Get full access to Born Free Method: The Podcast at nathanrileyobgyn.substack.com/subscribe