After more than a decade as a massage therapist, massage teacher, and yoga instructor, Claire Marie Miller became intrigued by the teachings of Jeannine Parvati Baker. After studying with Baker, the author of Pre-Natal Yoga and Conscious Conception, she began to envision an approach to pregnancy massage that would include the best available physiological techniques applied in the context of birth as a sacred experience.

In February 1990, the first "Nurturing the Mother" workshop was held. Since then, more than fifty have been presented around the country. The workshop is approved by the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (MCDTMB) as a continuing education provider.

In 1992 Claire found an ideal partner in Wanda Sundermann, a local massage therapist, midwifery apprentice, doulah (helper to mother during post-partum period), breastfeeding peer counselor, and childbirth instructor who had attended about a hundred births at the time.

With the wide range of experience and knowledge brought together by these partners, the workshop has attracted physicians, midwives, OB nurses, massage therapists and instructors, childbirth educators, and doulahs. The growing interest in these workshops has provided an impetus for Claire to finish her book on pregnancy massage and Wanda and Claire are currently working on a video which may be ready by the time they bring their workshop to Anchorage this fall (September 7-10).

The workshop is sub-titled A Body/Mind/Spirit Approach to Pre and Peri-Natal Massage. Along with teaching various massage techniques, the workshop leads participants through the experience of childbirth from pre-conception to post-partum and infant massage. In addition to emphasizing the physical changes that occur during pregnancy, the emotional and spiritual experiences are also explored.

Participants are asked to research their birth story as a way of exploring the importance of their own birth experience. This process allows the individual to be fully present for the powerful spiritual transformation that occurs for all those involved in a birth.

As Wanda explains it, "We try to plant the seeds for a more conscious birth experience so that it might ripple out from the therapists and give women the awareness and power to reclaim the natural sacredness of birth."

For more information on the workshop content, schedules, and signing up for the Anchorage dates, see http://www.nurturingthemother.com.