Womb Bloom

For my dearest mother, Jonny, Eve, Mira

***

9 months is a whole epoch where time flows differently; it marks a baby’s evolution in the womb and a true revolution of body and consciousness. Your old world is far behind you and now you are in the process of getting to know something completely new – the very essence of life, it’s quintessence in fact, and its pulsating force. And what are you to do with all this?

In this book I will share ancient knowledge on pregnancy and childbirth, techniques and exercises which I learned from my teachers, healers, and wise women in Russia, Mexico, Bali and Egypt. This information is intended both for women and men.

This book is a collection of the most interesting and effective techniques tried and tested by me, and of course, my personal discoveries, which I made during this magical period when a woman becomes a Woman…

My book is based on the diary I kept during each day of my pregnancies. Its entries are jewels in themselves; no one can feel the world the same way as a pregnant woman, not even a woman in her usual state. Each chapter marks a week of pregnancy, which is why the book can be started from any page. If you’re pregnant you can take a look at the week corresponding to your period of pregnancy.

In this work of labour I describe how the body and inner world of a woman change, how energy flows between her and her baby and how the relationship between partners changes.

The book will also be of interest to men since it contains exercises for couples, techniques for conception, and I also talk about what a man is faced with when she carries his baby under her heart.

The book contains:

•      Exercises for creating harmony in a couple.

•      Healing techniques for female centres in the body.

•      Breathing exercises for relaxation, calming the nervous system, balance, healthy sleep and well-being.

•      Relaxing therapies and massage techniques for pregnant women.

•      Restorative exercises after childbirth.

You will discover:

How to find out the name and character of your baby before it is born.

How and why the ancients chose a place of power for the birth and a song of power for the baby.

A beautiful, ancient dance that you can practice during pregnancy and after childbirth to stay toned and flexible.

Information about nutrition during pregnancy and herbal tea recipes for after childbirth.

What clothing and what symbols sewn onto it help a woman during pregnancy.

And much more!

About the author

Alexandra Alma – author of women’s books Womb and Womb Bloom, poetess, musician, founder of Replege health centre, graduate of Bauman Moscow State Technical University also studied at the faculty of anthropology to research Replege movements.

Replege is an ancient system of movements and breathing techniques aimed at increasing vital energy. The name comes from the Spanish replegar, which means to withdraw or return. Replege, in essence, is a return to nature.

She also leads seminars for women and practices ancient, rejuvenating obsidian stone massage techniques. Together with her partner she organizes cultural expeditions to meet healers and stay in places of power around the Earth including Mexico and Russia.

A little background

Some, so-called chance meetings can alter the flow of our life very strongly and even direct it into another channel. Thanks to my parents, I had already come into contact with and learned different types of ancient knowledge in my childhood. For as long as I can remember, I had always felt a strong urge to find the Source; something which had not yet been written and rewritten, distorted, turned into a business-making machine; something in its virgin form. And I wanted this to be women’s knowledge, something just for us women. I managed to harvest it from thousands of meetings, partings, journeys and an unending search… Then one day everything changed. I was invited to another country, to a place which few write or know about and it was there that I met something genuine…

I met some very interesting people. They can be called different names: healers, wise-women, curanderas, but the point is that they are keepers of knowledge passed down by our ancestors and live in harmony with nature. They began to teach me and pass their knowledge on to me; knowledge which turned out to be very useful during pregnancy, after childbirth and in forming my relationship with my partner and life in general.

It was an amazing encounter with the potency of feminine Power and women’s techniques created over thousands of years, which still work effectively to this day.

This is what I want to share with you. With happiness and light!

Acknowledgements

I would like to give heartfelt thanks to the wonderful people who helped me create this book:

Jonny Kosmichev – companion, friend, producer and inspiration

Don Juan, Don Margarito, Don Novarro, Dona Margara, Osama, Oyuna Badmaevna – my mentors

Kristina Prorokhova – artist, cover and drawings for the book

Ekaterina Shishkovskaya – pregnant model (exercises for pregnant women e.g. Water Dance)

Vladimir Gavrilov – photographer

Vera Zhestovskaya – mentor, friend

Violetta Karlova – dress designer.This person inspired me very much and broadened my ideas about clothes

Kamila Kostroveeva – researcher and creator of protective handicraft (amulets, talismans)

Feedback

***

Dear readers!

The book you are about to become familiar with is a sincere, emotional and positive story about a woman’s journey to connect to her true nature. It describes the most important moments in the life of every human being; the stages that a close couple will go through, from conception to the mystery of birth. It sheds light on how to make this journey smoother, more harmonic and joyful, how to fill one’s life with happiness, how to accept and feel confident with the changes in one’s body over the 9 months of pregnancy, how to live in a positive frame of mind and how to prepare oneself for the miracle of childbirth.

It so happens that most of my life has been spent in the vicinity of pregnant woman and those giving birth. Every day I see how important it is for future parents to have the right attitude; an attitude which can overcome any difficulties, even a complicated pregnancy. Only positive emotions, relaxation, mutual respect and edifying thoughts and images form the necessary environment for the birth of a healthy baby. It is not easy to reach such a harmonization of feeling, but it is possible with hard work. The pages of this sincere book, filled with love and gentleness, are dedicated to showing the reader how to reach this state of harmony.

Doctor of medical sciences, head of the prevention and treatment of miscarriages unit in the V.I. Kulakov Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Perinatology Centre, Ministry of Health, Russia.

Теtruashvili Nana Kartlosovna

***

Aleksandra Alma’s book, Womb Bloom, has a beautiful title and cover. I read it all in one go – I couldn’t tear myself away. I was left with bright and life-affirming impressions. This book gives advice and instructions for women and men. Every young couple should use it as a guide.

Doctor of eastern medicine, gynaecologist, former head of a maternity ward, now an acupuncture and acupressure therapist in the EMChI Moscow Centre of Eastern Medicine. A student of famous Tibetan masters.

Oyuna Badmaevna Dorzhieva

***

Alma, thank you for such a wonderful and important book! I can say this with full confidence; I’m the daughter of a famous obstetrician-gynaecologist, have worked for many years in maternity wards and have also created a conception method, but that’s enough about me. How important it is to allow oneself to love and be loved! To educate future parents from the cradle! To be conscious parents! Alas, miserable parents will never be able to teach their children to live in happiness! May Alma’s brainchild be a success, may it sell like hot cakes and be reprinted many times! Light and Love – strength for us all in these wondrous times!

Member of the Writer’s Union of Russia, author of over 30 books, psychologist, consultant, holds an honorary doctorate in metaphysics (USA), holds a master’s in education, Louise Hay’s only Russian student, also student of Liz Burbo, Doctor Toicha and Imre Somodi, has played the leading female role in many popular TV programs and featured as a guest-speaker in many talks shows: What does a woman want?, Private Life and others.

Angelina Mogilevskaya

***

Dear Women! Congratulations! You are holding a fantastic instruction manual about how to become a pure channel for a Divine Soul coming to Earth. If you follow Aleksandra Alma’s advice, your pregnancy will become the most interesting and educational 9-month journey you have ever experienced. May your Happiness grow in step with your Offspring, may it feed and fill your Child with Strength! Receive this Divine gift of being a Mother with dignity! Carry Goodness in yourselves!

Russian singer, organiser and vocalist of rock group ‘Masha i medvedi’ (Mashsa and the bears), mother of three children.

Masha Makarova

***

My name is Vera Zhestovskaya. I’m a mother to three grown-up sons and a grandmother to the three most delightful nieces in the world!!!

I gave birth to my oldest son Konstantin when I was still studying at university, and I remember how much I needed information about pregnancy and childbirth then!! I tired out our psychology tutor with my questions. I felt really scared of not knowing and what is more, I was far away from my mother at the time. I was with friends and peers who, to give them credit, cared for me as much as they could. I remember that on my first day of our practical lesson, I ran into class on sky-high heels with a massive belly, and my course mates pleaded, “Veronika, be careful, don’t run like that”.

I was in good health and went through pregnancy like a breeze, but when I was giving birth in the labour ward, the nurse who was fed up of the shouts coming from mothers in labour warned me, “If you shout like that, your child won’t shout at all”… and so I remained silent… As a result, the doctors missed the active labour phase and had to use forceps to help the baby out, which is a huge trauma for both mother and child. When giving birth to my second child I screamed with all my might, which was probably not the best thing either. And when giving birth a third time I didn’t shout for another reason – I knew it all!!! I chose the maternity ward myself – one where the child is put to the mother’s breast straight away and stays with the mother from the moment it is born. This seems like the norm now but 25 years ago only one maternity ward provided these conditions. The nurses were drinking their morning tea and didn’t feel like stopping their conversation. I told them, “Ladies, I’m giving birth to my third child, I know what to do, just show me where the labour ward is.” And when the waters broke I ran past the nurses holding a sheet under me and shouted, “Ladies, follow me!” I got onto the chair by myself and breathing calmly and pushing with a feeling of joy and great happiness, without shouting even once, I gave birth to a wonderful hero!

Aleksandra Alma’s book, Womb Bloom, is indispensable for future mothers. It contains a lot of hints and ancient experience on how to give birth to children with Knowledge, Skill, Happiness and Joy!!!

Director of a PR agency, personality figure in Russia, mother of three children.

Vera Zhestovskaya

List of contents

Before.

Choosing a man

Respect between partners

Freeing yourself from foreign intentions

Cleansing by water practise

Readiness of partners

Conception

How to prepare for conception

Exercises for couples

Ocean’s breath exercise

Exercise for energy exchange

Joint dreaming exercise

Bridge between hearts exercise

8 personality types

Parents’ expectations of their children

First place in life

Week 1

Parents’ visualization

Creating a visualization sphere

Woman’s gift

Week 2

Week 3

Do we need to do physical exercise during pregnancy?

Water Dance

Leading into the dance

Lotus unfolding on a lake exercise

Pregnancy as steadiness

Strength in relaxation

Being centred

Only positive thoughts

Week 4

Week 5

Woman as Ancestral Tree

Favourite pastime

Energy Pie

Woman as family’s resource

Nature

La naturalesa es lo mas importante

Doing and being

Week 6

Week 7

Pregnancy – naturalness

The Chimera and the Sorceress

Maid be joyful!

Hail Mary

Week 8

Healthy clothes

Modernizing one’s clothing

Energy of the skirt

Woman’s shoes

Symbols and decorations for pregnant women

Human life – a journey from the Mother to Mother Earth

Breathing through the feet

Week 9

The whole world can wait!

I love myself massage technique

Why do pregnant women need daily massage?

A woman’s emotional centre

Massaging the emotional centre

Dance of the heart. Cleansing and relaxing the emotional centre

Self-massage – rotating the toes

Stone therapy for the baby

Week 10

Nutrition during pregnancy

Sweet treats

Secrets of healthy eating

Week 11

Galaxy exercise

Week 12

Bowls of balance breathing technique

Axis of balance breathing technique

Week 13

Getting to know who is in your belly

Sing songs, listen to music, talk to the baby

Should I sleep on my belly?

Week 14

Walking on foot

Week 15

Earth’s womb

Woman’s destiny

Who is she?

Week 16

Week 17

Trinity

Being needed

Asking for help

Loving oneself

Week 18

Faith is a gift

First movement

Week 19

New body

8 gates to heaven

Branches of youth

Week 20

Sea without a shore

Stomach covered in oil

Seventh sense

Advisors

Habits that need to be done away with

Week 21

Way of the Heart

Week 22

Week 23

Belly button memory exercise

Boy otr girl?

Babysitters

The child as a mirror of your childhood

Week 24

Taking root

Tree exercise

Week 25

A woman makes her man

Pitcher exercise

Week 26

Work or home?

Week 27

The universe as a midwife

Week 28

Two worlds

How to choose a name for your child

Week 29

Woman is allowing

Week 30

Place for childbirth

Life-bearing fire

The baby’s house – mother’s stomach

Week 31

Time for nest weaving

Breathing exercises for a pleasant wake-up

Energy breakfast

Week 32

Exercises for insomnia

Solar system

Roly poly doll exercise

Week 33

Relaxing Petal Spiral therapy

Week 34

Breath of the Heart

Open your heart exercise for couples

Week 35

Beams of energy foot massage

Beams of energy palm massage

Week 36

Embryo pose recovery technique

Ablution

Problem or question

Sex

Week 37

Spherical thinking

Double life

How to prepare for childbirth

Week 38

Orchid

Week 39

Neon bracelets

Week 40

Childbirth

After childbirth

Era of emptying

The arrival of a third

Recovering after childbirth

Spiral of development

The Russian banya or Temaskal

Collecting and sharing – two characters of woman

Woman’s breast

Exercises for after birth

Healing herbs for recovery after childbirth

Afterword

So, let the magic begin… The time has come to take a look into the very centre of your womanliness!

***

Has it really happened to me? I’m pregnant, YES! YES! YES! It’s you! Say these words again and again! You are pregnant! Get in touch with yourself, listen to yourself, flow with the Universe.

Many women think back on their pregnancy as the best moment in their life; as a holy, pure time when cosmic knowledge enters a woman directly.

***

Everything had lost its meaning… All my previous relationships, romances, men, situations … Everything had lost its importance; I just looked on with a smile on my face as the embers of the past finished burning in my hearth of life.

My life had changed. It had changed forever. The course of fate had gone down such a long-awaited, desired and authentic path…

Before.

Three years ago I was lucky to meet an interesting character who changed my life, and I his… He came to Russia to present his new book. Interestingly enough, our meeting took place in a place of power in Moscow – at the Vasiliy Blazhenny catherdral in the very heart of the megapolis.

This meeting was a lucky coincidence and I used this chance to get to know him.

Juan was standing in a queue together with his Russian publisher at the entrance to the cathedral. He was dressed in summer clothes despite it already being the start of November. The sight of him woke my body up straight away and took away the feeling of chronic sleep deficiency.

Usually I slept until midday. But not this time… I jumped out of bed at 8am and flew to meet him, pushed on by the winds of change.

Juan’s cap was almost covering his eyes. When we got closer to each other to say, “Hello!” he slightly raised the peak of his cap. I took the opportunity to dive under it with my glance.

That second my eyes were pierced by the glitter of black diamond – a clear gaze that had the power to turn everything into ashes. It was impossible to hide from him. Juan’s eyes bored holes through one’s body leaving no place for lies or self-deceit. Our friendship had begun.

My former boyfriend and I invited Juan to stay at our place while he was in Moscow. He complied amicably. The time we spent with him was unforgettable; intensive, complete and filled with a child-like happiness!

But the main thing was that during the 2 weeks that he lived with us he magically managed to change my relationship to development as a couple, pregnancy, motherhood and the concept of ‘woman’.

One day Juan called me over to his room and asked what turned out to be a tricky question: ‘”Do you want a child?” His magic eyes blazed up once again with piercing sparks. My eyes became shifty, my mouth turned to stone, my neck and shoulders stiffened up. I felt for the first time that I couldn’t give the answer I always gave in such cases.

Juan looked into my centre and nodded his head: “Yes, you want it…I can see you”. This was a revelation. I panicked because I couldn’t struggle any longer and lie to myself and pretend that everything was alright.

That moment was the start of my return to myself, my heart and what I really want in this life.

Choosing a man

Women, how easily seduced we are by men who hide their indecisiveness and irresponsibility behind quotes from ‘clever’ books. We are led down the garden path by their stories, which rob us of our feminine happiness, power, and make us suffer day in day out and busy ourselves with exhausting soul searching.

My ex-boyfriend put it into my head that children are an unnecessary burden, that we have other, ‘higher’ aims in life and that children are the lot of ‘normal’ people. These kind of men want to take all a woman’s maternal energy and are not prepared to share it with anyone else.

***

I asked myself whether I was happy with this person. Whether I was happy, not anyone else happy for me! I realized that during our 3 years together I was in a constant state of war and had depleted my resources. I’d got much thinner, my face had become drawn and my breasts had got smaller as if they were hiding in my chest. There are men who smoke their woman like a cigarette. They dry her out, pumping out all her resources. And when the cigarette finishes they just put out the butt in the ash tray. We women are resilient and recover as soon as some extra energy appears. But with such a man it becomes much more difficult to keep afloat when he is trying to drown you all the time.

There are other men who make a lot of effort and care for their woman like for a wonderful flower. And then she blossoms and her breast-buds bloom and give out an aroma that brings joy to the gardener. More about this in A Woman’s breast section.

Woman is the earth and man is the seeds which he sows on her. What he fills her with will flourish. The qualities that he puts into her will be those that define her. What seeds do you want to sow in your ‘earth’? What do you want to grow in her?

Respect between partners

Respect is the stumbling block in all relationships. It is impossible to create harmonious projects without it, never mind creating a baby.

My mentor don Margarito used to say: “Respeto a todos!” – (I respect everyone!)

When two people live in mutual respect, respect continues to multiply on both sides.

When you respect yourself, you respect your partner and people around you also respect you both. And when people respect you, all your projects grow as do you yourselves. By raising up your loved one, you raise yourselves up. And vice versa.

A relationship can be built over many years and completely destroyed in a second when respect is lost. Juan told me that one evening he was eating in a restaurant with his girlfriend when he suddenly caught her look of disgust directed at him. At that very moment he realized that the relationship had come to an end. One glance was enough to end everything.

If you catch yourselves looking at other men or women as potential partners while walking outside with your loved one, this can be called the beginning of the end. It means that you haven’t yet chosen decisively and are still on the lookout. And this process can be long-drawn-out.

***

Unfortunately the main principle of happiness in a couple – devotion towards each other – has almost been lost in our modern society. This is the feeling that, every time you meet your chosen one, you are meeting as if for the first time — la primera vez. And every time you are amazed by the huge mystery before you.