Welcome to Season 3, Episode 2 of The Becoming Podcast!

I am so excited to share this conversation I had with Dr. Britta Bushnell with you today!

Britta is a wife and mother, author, veteran childbirth educator, and mythologist.  For over 20 years, she has worked with individuals and couples as they prepare for the life-changing experience of giving birth. Her work with parents has been enriched by her doctoral work in mythology and psychology, and the teachings she shares can be applied well beyond the context of birthing folks and into all the times of radical transformation in our lives.

I first learned of Britta’s work a few years ago, and resonated deeply with her writing and teaching because we share a very similar birth education training background:  Britta is the former co-owner of Birthing from Within, which is a paradigm-shifting perspective on birth and birth education.  I did the Birthing from Within training as well as the birth story medicine training, both of which are the brainchild of founder Pam England, over a decade ago, and it has deeply shaped my work ever since.  When I discovered Britta, I felt like we were speaking the same language!  I followed along as Britta published her first book in 2020, titled Transformed By Birth, and then when she launched her podcast, Transformed, talking with some of my favourite authors and thought leaders on the topic of life transition and rites of passage, I knew I had to invite her on to The Becoming Podcast.

I think you’ll love this conversation.  Britta and I had the chance to connect for what was supposed to be a brief introductory phone call a month before we recorded and we ended up talking for over two hours.  This interview picks up where we left off and, honestly, we could have kept going for another hour at least.  You’ll see:  I open up a HUGE can of worms in the last few minutes of our conversation that will leave you wanting to hear more!

We talk about the domino effect that radical transformation tends to have in our lives, and how we often end up experiencing shifts and changes to many areas of our lives rather than only one.  Specifically, we dive into the experience of how to re-negotiate our intimate partnerships in the wake of major transformation – one of Britta’s specialties.  Britta also shares wisdom about how to meet your needs and re-parent yourself in times of radical change.  We talk about what Britta has learned from supporting birthing people that can be applied to all rites of passage, and then we traverse into eight cultural ideals that influence birth, exploring how these are actually phenomena that deeply influence our entire culture, and might just represent the collective rite of passage of our times.

I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did!

Listen to the episode on iTunes

Show Notes…

Britta’s Website

Britta’s Instagram

Also, while you’re at it, if you enjoy The Becoming Podcast, I would be so grateful if you would rate and review, and even subscribe to it on iTunes.  That goes a long way to helping more and more women find and benefit from hearing these interviews!  Thank you so much!