We all know that these are challenging times. Resilience seems to be the word of the decade. How do we meet our challenges and not only survive but thrive? Did you know that you have already done this repeatedly as an embryo?
Life in the Womb
People often think of life in the womb as idyllic. We float effortlessly in a quiet, internal lake inside our mother. We have all our needs automatically met through biology. Our food is provided. Our wastes taken away. Our temperature is regulated. What challenges could possibly occur in this nurturing, safe environment?
Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, even in those relatively rare cases where the womb is entirely safe and nurturing, the embryo is repeatedly challenged by changes in form and context. Fortunately because we learn and develop by meeting those challenges. Let me give some examples.
Challenge of Conception
One of the most well-known challenges occurs right in the beginning. Will conception even occur? This is discussed in our world from the perspective of anxious parents-to-be who struggle with fertility issues. Consider that each of us has also grappled with being conceived. As a prenatal therapist, I frequently encounter stories of people’s traumatic conception. As spiritual embryologist, Jaap van der Wal, points out, the egg and sperm dance together for some time in what he calls the Pre-Conception Attraction Complex (PCAC). He states,
“Within the initial few hours that this complex exists, a conception is possible, but whether this actually happens or not depends on a large number of subtle reciprocal chemical interactions and exchanges.”
This dance occurs after both the sperm and egg have managed to survive the perils of their journey towards each other. Conception itself may be characterized by a sense of not being welcomed into this new life. In that little ones are completely dependent on their parents or caregivers for survival, lack of welcome can be terrifying. We may wonder why we even bothered coming or feel we were tricked into this incarnation. We apparently carried on. Perhaps we remembered our purpose, our mission for this lifetime.
Developmental Milestones
All of us have survived conception. The sperm and egg that formed us united, followed by more developmental milestones.
An important milestone is called implantation. This occurs 5 – 7 days after conception when our food supply is dwindling. We need to find a new source of nourishment. We need to implant, or nest, into our mother’s uterine wall. This can be a precarious event. Depending on many factors like maternal health, mother’s attitude about being pregnant, and more, the wall of her womb may not be the soft, inviting layer we need to eat our way into. It may feel more like banging our head against a concrete wall. There may not be enough to eat even if we are able to implant.
We have all survived implantation. Many babies don’t. This is a common time for a twin to die, which creates its own challenges for the surviving twin.
Developmental Edges
How do we survive these events? There is a determination as well as a bio-intelligence supporting us. Then we are ready for the next challenge!
Every step along the way, we meet difficulties as we develop. We can talk about a developmental edge. When the conceptus becomes too large and complex for its initial food supply to nourish it, there is a need to cross the edge of this form of being into the next. Implantation involves literally burrowing into an inner edge of the mother’s body. We need to go deep enough, reaching out to make contact with her capillaries (small blood vessels in the uterine wall) and glands, which will provide us with what we need to continue our growth and development.
Adapting to Change
As the embryo grows, it changes shape. Cells move and develop in relation to their context. The story is too complex to cover in detail here but please take note that, every time the embryo changes shape in relation to changing conditions, it is demonstrating resilience.
What would you do if you ran out of food? Would you know what to do? In our modern world, you would most likely find some money and go to the store. What if the stores were all closed? What if there wasn’t enough food available because of flooding, fires, or other environmental issues?
We met this kind of situation recently during the pandemic. Communal resilience led to developing online sources for ordering food and other supplies. It even began trying to meet our need for social interaction through online video meetings. As a global community, we need to draw on our creative potential to adapt to changes in Mother Earth.
Embryo Resilience
We learned this kind of resilience from our earliest beginnings. Like the embryo, we have the ability to fluidly shift our shape as needed when conditions change. Meeting challenges, at any age requires having sufficient resource. If we are overwhelmed, it will be more difficult to creatively engage in novel solutions to presenting problems. The embryo similarly may struggle to meet changes if their environment is too toxic or their source of nourishment is too meager.
A mother who feels threatened rather than supported by her partner, for instance, is likely to have high levels of stress hormones, which are communicated to the baby via the umbilical cord. Feeding on a soup of stress hormones can interfere with receiving adequate nourishment. At least as important for the well-being of the embryo is a sense of safety, support, and welcome. If the mother is not experiencing these, she has less of that resource to offer her baby.
If this description resonates with you and your own prenatal history, please remember that you have already survived that time. You had enough resource to make it through. It is never too late to access more resource for you and the little one within you.
Return to Fluid Embryo Resilience
Ironically, I find that returning to an embryo state can provide some of the resource needed now. My Continuum practice, using gentle breaths, sounding, and mindful movement, slows me down, and helps me to deepen into a quieter, softer, more fluid state, reminiscent of the embryo. Here I am reminded of how flexible, sensitive, and creative we can be in this inherent state of fluidity. I find myself moving spontaneously in enjoyable ways I could not have imagined or planned. I emerge from my practice feeling refreshed, new like an embryo, and ready for what may arise next.
Embryo teaches me. I am resilient. I am here. I have made it. I can make it again. I can more than make it. I can thrive. I can discover new expression of the life force within and be grateful. Would you join me?
If you feel so inspired, please check into my next online Continuum class, which is called Resting into Embryo Resilience.
