Join Julie in her third trimester of pregnancy as she explores along with experts and pioneers in the field, the emotional, spiritual, and physical aspects of conscious pregnancy and birthing. On the tails of Beyond “I Do” - Getting Married Consciously, a radio series inspired by Julie’s own journey into marriage, she is now setting out to explore and experience the power of honoring and celebrating pregnancy and birthing as a rite of passage as she herself experiences it for the first time.

In the spirit of Beyond I Do: Getting Married Consciously, this new 6 part series- Conscious Pregnancy, Empowering Birth- a woman’s rite of passage into creating new life, will feature Julie in conversation with leading experts and pioneers in the field to inspire, educate, and celebrate women as they journey through this powerful, life giving experience.

Conscious Pregnancy, Empowering Birth – 4pm ET  February 23- March 30, 2011

a  NEW radio series on Heart Beat radio  dedicated to woman’s rite of passage into creating new life with host and intuitive life coach Julie Cusmariu

**Click here to listen live starting Feb.23rd at 4pm ET***

Shows will be archived and available for free and download immediately following the live broadcasts.

Join Julie on  the Heart Beat Facebook page and twitter page to receive weekly updates for the series

***Listen live here: blogtalkradio.com/heart-beat . Shows will be archived and available for free and download immediately following the live broadcasts.

Series lineup-

Wednesday Feb. 23rd, 2011 4pm ET- Pam England- childbirth mentor, founder and author of Birthing From Within, former midwife, and birth story listener. Pam lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and teaches and leads trainings all over the world. She has recently published a new book, Labyrinth of Birth: A Map, Meditations and Rituals for Your Childbearing Year, and is reaching out through her new blog, 50 Ways to Change Birth in Our Culture on her website bfwnewmexico.com www.birthingfromwithin.com

Also joining us this hour with Pam England is Virginia Bobro - Senior Workshop Facilitator and Managing Director of BIRTHING FROM WITHIN®. She has been involved with BFW on many levels since 2002. She has taught over 40 professional Birthing From Within workshops in the past four years– training and supporting birth and postpartum professionals of all sorts.

Virginia lives in Santa Barbara, California, with her husband and three teenagers. She teaches childbirth classes, leads Birth Story Circles, attends births as a doula, and counsels breastfeeding mothers as an IBCLC. She is also on the Advisory Board of the Santa Barbara Birth Center (expected to open in Spring 2011).

**Click here to listen live Wednesday at 4pm ET***

Shows will be archived and available for free and download immediately following the live broadcasts.

Wednesday March 2, 2011 4pm ET- Sheva Carr-Licensed doctor of Oriental Medicine,  HeartMath trainer, and Creator of “The Birthing Vision: Helping Women and Their Partners Birth their Visions and Vision Their Births. Sheva Carr speaks to people all over the world on how to access heart intelligence, and on how to receive the benefits of the heart’s impact on consciousness, health, performance and creativity. She is the founding CEO of Fyera! and HeartMath’s HeartMastery Program, and is also the Executive Director of the Fyera Foundation and Sunflower SunPower Kids. In this hour Sheva will talk about the role the heart plays in the birthing process. Why the first instinct a woman has after birth is to raise her child to her chest and how important it is to be able to do that. She will also talk about the importance of making all birthing paths sacred, whether your birth unfolds in synch with your birth plan or goes some completely different way (like an emergency c-section, etc). She will also highlight how using HeartMath throughout conception, pregnancy and labor can allow for the awareness of the sacred in the whole birthing process.

and Anna Verwaal, RN, CLE, born and educated in the Netherlands is a Maternal-Child Health Nurse, Conscious Conception & Birth Consultant, Labor- & Post Partum Doula, UCLA Certified Lactation Educator, Birth Photographer. Anna currently travels internationally to lecture and teach workshops about the cellular memory of the birth experience, the physiological & hormonal blueprint for birth & bonding as well as the deeply psychological, emotional and spiritual aspects of giving birth. Her experience is based on working for more than 25 years in various countries as a registered nurse, birth consultant and doula along side perinatologists, obstetricians as well as (indigenous) midwives attending hospital, birth-center and homebirths. www.fromwombtoworld.com

**Click here to listen live Wednesday at 4pm ET***

Shows will be archived and available for free and download immediately following the live broadcasts.

Wednesday March 9, 2011 4pm ET- Christiane Northrup, MD- Visionary Pioneer, New York Times Best-Selling Health & Wellness Author, board-certified OB/GYN physician- www.drnorthrup.com

Christiane Northrup, M.D. is a visionary pioneer and beloved authority in the field of women’s health and wellness. A board-certified OB/GYN physician who graduated from Dartmouth Medical School and did her residency at Tufts New England Medical Center, Dr. Northrup was also an assistant clinical professor of OB/GYN at Maine Medical Center for 20 years. Recognizing the unity of body, mind, and spirit, Dr. Northrup helps empower women to tune in to their innate inner wisdom to transform their health and truly flourish. Dr. Northrup is the author of two New York Times best-selling books, Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom and The Wisdom of Menopause. Her third book, Mother-Daughter Wisdom, was a 2005 Quill Award nominee and voted Amazon’s #1 book of the year in both parenting and mind-body health in 2005. In her latest books, The Secret Pleasures of Menopause and The Secret Pleasures of Menopause Playbook, Dr. Northrup outlines the crucial importance of pleasure as the missing link for creating joyous and vibrant health on all levels after menopause. She has also hosted seven highly successfully public television specials. Her most recent special began airing nationwide June 2010, and is based upon the newly revised edition of, Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom. Her work has been featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show, the Today Show, NBC Nightly News, The View, the Rachael Ray Show, Good Morning America, and ABC’s 20/20. Through her weekly Hay House Radio show, Flourish!, her website www.drnorthrup.com , and her monthly e-letter, Women’s Health Wisdom, Dr. Northrup shares cutting-edge information about health and flourishing with women worldwide.

**Click here to listen live Tuesday March 15th at 4pm ET***

Shows will be archived and available for free and download immediately following the live broadcasts.

Tuesday March 15, 2011 4pm ET- Sheryl Paul- MA- Sheryl Paul, M.A., is regarded as an international expert in transitions. Since 1998, she has counseled thousands of people worldwide through life transitions via her private practice, her bestselling books, her websites, www.consciousweddings.com and www.consciousmotherhood.com, and her blog, http://conscious-transitions.com. She has appeared several times on “The Oprah Winfrey Show”, as well as on “Good Morning America” and other top television, radio, and newspapers around the globe. She is currently in the process of completing her second E-Course, Conscious Motherhood: Preparing for Your Birth as a Mother from Pregnancy through the First Year. She lives in Boulder, Colorado with her husband and two sons.

2nd guest on March 15th at 4:40 pm ET: Marne (Akal) Moore- Kundalini Yoga Instructor, Prenatal Khalsa Way Teacher, RN. Akal Khalsa RN began practicing Kundalini Yoga in 2002. She became certified to teach Kundalini Yoga and Khalsa Way Pregnancy Yoga in 2005. She teaches Mommy and Me Yoga, Pregnancy Yoga, Conscious Conception classes,  pregnancy Yoga teacher trainings, Mommy and Me Yoga teacher trainings and Kundalini Yoga.  She currently teaches at Golden Bridge in Hollywood, CA. She is also a Registered Nurse at Cedar’s Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, CA on the Postnatal Unit and teaches Childbirth Education. She brings humor, warmth and compassion to her classes.

**Click here to listen live Wednesday at 4pm ET***

Shows will be archived and available for free and download immediately following the live broadcasts.

Wednesday March 23, 2011 4pm ET – Elizabeth Davis- midwife, women’s health care specialist, educator, consultant and author of the award winning book Orgasmic Birth.  A renowned expert on women’s issues, Elizabeth Davis has been a midwife, women’s health care specialist, educator and consultant for over 30 years. She is internationally active in promoting motherbaby-centered birth and is widely sought after for her expertise in midwifery education and organizational development. She served as a representative to the Midwives Alliance of North America for five years and as President of the Midwifery Education Accreditation Council for the United States. She holds a degree in Holistic Maternity Care from Antioch University, and is certified by the North American Registry of Midwives. Her mission is to help women embrace an integrated view of birth, sexuality, family and ecology. She travels widely, lecturing and presenting workshops on women’s health, sexuality, intuition, and midwifery. She can design a workshop or keynote to meet your group’s needs–references on request.

2nd guest on March 23rd at 4:45 pm ET: Robert Bruce Newman- author and developer of Calm Birth. From his years of work with doctors, childbirth educators, midwives, nurses, and doulas, has come a new childbirth method. It’s based on methods he learned and was authorized to teach during his more than 20 years of apprenticeship with Tibetan meditation teachers and doctors. He has presented more than 100 hospital and conference training seminars in the Calm Birth method since 1997. He has presented the method twice at the world congress of the Association of Pre and Perinatal Psychology and Health (2/02, 3/05), at the University of Michigan Medical School (3/04), and at Bastyr University (4/05). He has taught at the University of Colorado, Naropa University, and the City University of New York. His books include: Calm Birth: New Method for Conscious Childbirth (North Atlantic Books, 10/05); and Calm Healing: Methods for a New Era of Medicine (North Atlantic Books, 11/06). Published feature articles include: The Emergence of Mind/Body Medicine (Sentient Times, 8/99). www.calmbirth.org

Christine Novak- RNC, Director CalmBirth.org- “Birth is sacred work. I am dedicated to bringing the Calm Birth program into maternal-child health centers and hospitals globally. Throughout my 20 years experience as a holistic Labor and Delivery nurse and childbirth educator, and my 15 years experience as a doula, I remain true to my vision that it is possible for us to approach birth with deep respect and reverence. As a recipient of the 2008 Nursing Excellence Award from Overlook Hospital and the 2009 Best for Baby Award from the March of Dimes, I know others recognize my commitment to co-creating opportunity for birth to be a healing, transformative process. Understanding that the way we give birth and what occurs in the crucial period after birth has life-long impact on mother and child is essential. I encourage obstetricians, midwives, nurses, doulas, and childbirth educators to learn about Calm Birth meditation practices. Calm Birth offers women the choice to heal their nervous system, empower their immune system, and gain energy and a sense of wellbeing in preparation for birth. This program is a gift for complete prenatal care during the 21st Century and I am honored to carry this work forward”.

Atlantic Health / Overlook Hospital, Summit, New Jersey:Frank and Mimi Walsh Maternity Center

**Click here to listen live Wednesday at 4pm ET***

Shows will be archived and available for free and download immediately following the live broadcasts.

Wednesday March 30, 2011 4pm ET- Marion Light- Marion Light is a teacher, speaker and therapist in the field of mind-body medicine and self discovery. She has had a vibrant practice in Scottsdale Arizona for 15 years and has held retreats both in the States and in South Africa. Through her retreats and individual sessions, Marion fulfills her life’s passion to create a space for others to uncover their true essential natures. Marion leads Inner Journey to Motherhood retreats  designed to support women
dealing with the physical and emotional issues surrounding fertility, pregnancy or motherhood.
The retreats help women discover their inner truths about motherhood and support them in
allowing their deep desire and joy to emerge, while letting go of the anxiety over outcome.

2nd guest on March 30, 2011 at 4:35 p.m ET – Madonna Maher- RN, Massage Therapist & Core Energetic Therapist- Madonna Maher has a deep passion for assisting people in connecting with their true feelings and choosing life. Core Energetics is a body -centered psychotherapy that works with our life energy and is centered around opening the heart and expanding one’s capacity to give and receive love. Core energy work employs tools such as deep breathing, expressive movement, grounding techniques, and body awareness to free “blocked” energy and release the life force within us. **note from Julie, host of the series: Madonna lives in Montreal and will be assisting me with my birth (lucky for me)! In fact she has been supporting me with my pregnancy since the first trimester.

**Click here to listen live Wednesday at 4pm ET***

Shows will be archived and available for free and download immediately following the live broadcasts.

As I hold ‘ Perserverance’  in my hands, my senses come alive. I can feel the wisdom oozing from the book through its cover. The size of the book is very lovely and easy to hold, with its pretty soft pages, delicately illustrated, I love flipping through it and finding nugget after nugget of wisdom. Each page a new offering, an insightful perspective, a quotation, poem or essay to take in and to satisfy the evolving soul.

I really look forward to my conversation with Meg on Heart Beat Sept.1 as she joins me to share more about her book and her pioneering work in the area of leadership and organizational change .  Please join us by listening live at 4pm ET on Wednesday Sept.1st. When you log in to BlogTalkRadio, join us in the chat room and send in your questions. All shows are available for download immediately following the broadcast. Also be sure to join Heart Beat on facebook to stay updated on upcoming shows. Enjoy!

( Audio is available for online streaming and download below).

Preparing for, and then engaging in a meaningful and important conversation with Andrew was undeniably soul -satisfying, deeply enriching and moving. In fact I have since listened to our conversation several times (and most recently while adding some music to the interview) and each time am elevated to new heights by the hope he invites us all to discover and take upon ourselves to realize, and by the sheer depth from which his words emanate.  Andrew Harvey is a renowned and distinguished mystical scholar, Rumi translator and explicator, poet, novelist, spiritual teacher, architect of Sacred Activism, and author of over 30 books. His newest book The Hope A Guide to Sacred Activism provided the basis for our conversation on Heart Beat.

In this conversation you will hear Andrew talk very personally and intimately about : Sacred activism- what we can do right now to become sacred activists and help birth a new world- suggested practices and disciplines to maintain hope and inspired action-why it is so important to live from our heart in these rapidly changing times- the importance of deep shadow work,  joy, love and justice and much more.

Please enjoy this conversation.

Are We Wired For Good?

Author and Professor of Psychology at UC Berkley Dacher Keltner kindly joined me in conversation this month on Heart Beat to discuss his new book “Born to Be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life”. We had a very compelling and enjoyable conversation about the science behind living a meaningful life (you can listen to it below).

On an intuitive level you may feel your innate goodness and know your capacity to share more of it.  You may also feel that we are all made to be good however deep inside the potential is.  Thanks to Dacher Keltner’s work, now there is scientific evidence to support your hunch and knowing, and research that suggests we are more than motivated  by self-interest and competition, according to Dacher Keltner, we are wired for good. In fact Keltner suggests our survival depends on who is the kindest.  You can listen below to find out how.

In this conversation you’ll hear about Dacher’s remarkable work  and personal experience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the importance of touch (“touching triggers trust and generosity”), laughter, prosocial emotions (love, compassion, gratitude, awe etc..) valuable and fascinating research on the importance of our vagus nerve , “which is centrally involved in compassion” (along with recommendations of how to cultivate it) and simply, how we are born to be good. I highly recommend reading “Born to Be Good”. It is personal, extremely informative, insightful and it is  research rich with a lot of heart. Keltner’s continuation of Darwin’s little known work on human emotions shows that survival is actually a matter of who is the kindest. Have a listen and find out for yourself.  Enjoy your goodness!

Dacher Keltner on Laughter (from ” Born to be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life p.145):

” Laughter may just be the first step to Nirvana. When people laugh, they are enjoying a vacation from the conflicts of social living. They are exhaling, blowing out, and their bodies are moving towards a peaceful state, incapable of fight  or flight. People see their lives from a different point of view, with new perspective and detachment. Their laughter spreads to others in milliseconds, through the firing of networks of mirror neurons. In shared laughter people touch, they make eye contact, their breathing and muscle actions are in sync, they enjoy the realm of intimate play. Conflicts are softened, and often resolved. Hierarchies negotiated. Attraction and intimacy are created. …people move closer to one another in peaceful ways“.

You can find out more about Dacher Keltner’s work at the Greater Good Science Center here