Beekeeping and Midwifery

What can beekeeping teach me about being a midwife?  I’ve thought about this over the years, as I began these two paths around the same time in my life-my mid-thirties.  In my previous profession as an educator, I worked with people of all ages.  I taught preschool and college, from exercise fitness to psychology, ‘creative movement’ for children to ‘effective learning’ for adults.  My private full-time preschool was aptly named Imagination School, for that is how I approach learning, creatively.  Over ten years of teaching at a community college, I learned quite a bit about what excites the neurons of young adults, and it’s much the same, creative engagement.  Csíkszentmihályi called it ‘Flow’, or the total engagement and sense of timelessness that one experiences when tasks are just challenging enough and you’re in a motivational state.
I saw the same in my own two daughters and their peers when I taught them in homeschool settings.  We indulged in this special state of intrinsic learning for many years-my youngest was home through fifth grade, and my oldest from second through eighth.  I cannot begin to express the joy in watching your kids develop at their own pace in a manner that supports their very natures, allowing their interests to guide the subject matter, depth and direction of study.  Alas, in-depth homeschooling is not in alignment with a full-time midwifery career, so my kids went to school, where they continue to thrive.  It is my hope for them that they continue to be engrossed by active engagement in a highly motivated state doing something that they love.

Fortunate as I am, my work allows me this pleasure, as does beekeeping.  In these two arenas, I must stay grounded as I approach my work with respect and an awe of creation.  I feel one with the universe, with God, and with my bees or my client.  The entire rest of the world is silent-abstract and distant as I approach my birthing mom or my queen bee and her colony.  In silent reverence, or with a gentle voice, I connect, offering reassurance and love; offering my skills only when needed and hands-off support for the natural processes to unfold.  I am lucid, observant and engaged.  This is a beautiful place to hold space-connected to the oneness of all in the natural cycles of life.  

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