About This Conversation

Birth is one of the most profound threshold experiences in human life — and one of the least understood through the lens of the nervous system.

In this special episode of the A More Beautiful Life podcast, Dr. Abi Blakeslee joins perinatal expert Kate White for a rich conversation on how the autonomic nervous system shapes the experience of birth — for the birthing parent, the baby, and the whole family.

What You'll Discover

Dr. Abi and Kate explore what most birth education leaves out: the physiological reality of what happens in the body before labor begins, during the intensity of birth itself, and in the often-overlooked aftermath — when trauma can quietly take root if left unaddressed.

You'll hear how survival responses like fight, flight, and freeze show up naturally during birth, why feeling trapped or immobilized during labor can leave residual charge in the nervous system, and how that unresolved charge can resurface later — sometimes while nursing, rocking, or simply being close to your baby.

Key Themes to Explore

• The nervous system arc of birth — how stress, threat, and overwhelm show up before, during, and after delivery
• What babies already know — how infants respond to the physiological rhythms of their caregivers from the womb onward
• Validation as medicine — why simply naming what happened in the body can begin the healing process
• Agency and repair — how parents can reclaim a sense of empowerment after difficult or traumatic birth experiences
• The practitioner's role — how birth professionals and trauma therapists can recognize nervous system cues and support families in real time

A Gentle Invitation

If you've carried a difficult birth story — whether as a parent, a practitioner, or someone born into complexity — this conversation may offer something quietly important: the reminder that your nervous system was doing exactly what it was built to do.

Healing doesn't require going back to the worst moment. It starts with curiosity. What sensations are still present when you think about it? Where do you feel them? And what might want to move?

About the Presenter

Dr. Abi Blakeslee, Ph.D., MFT, SEP, CMT is Senior Faculty at Somatic Experiencing International and founder of Implicit Psychotherapy. Her research and clinical work explore the intersection of implicit memory, attachment, neuroscience, and somatic healing.

Dr. Abi Blakeslee On A More Beautiful Life Podcast

In this podcast, Abi Blakeslee and Kate White have a conversation about preventing and healing birth trauma in preparation for their upcoming training in Advanced Somatic Resolution Skills for Perinatal Trauma.