I was on a crowded beach in Spain, curious about the millions of human beings who spend their vacations watching and playing in the waves, when I received the manuscript of Rima’s book. In the 1970s, having noticed the strong attraction towards water of many women in labor, we introduced in our maternity unit a garden inflatable paddling pool, the “ancestor” of hospital birthing pools. Just as we at Pithiviers were pioneers of water labor and water birth, so Rima Star is a pioneer of both—she was one of the first two women in the United States to give birth in water back in 1980. Since then, she has attended and facilitated hundreds of water labors and births, accumulating over many years her Water Birth Wisdom—which she now offers to all in this magical book. We need more observations and interpretations of the mysterious connections between Homo sapiens and water, and Rima provides many of these herein, relating to both parents and babies. Thank you, Rima!
—Dr. Michel Odent
Author of Planet Ocean: Our Mysterious Connections to Water
Rima Star, Founder of Star Institute, is widely known as the “mother of water birth” in the United States and elsewhere. Author of The Healing Power of Birth, she is also well-known as a rebirther/breath therapist, originally trained by Leonard Orr. She was one of the first breath therapists in the US and remains in active practice. For many years, she taught a 250-hour program in birth journey facilitation at Star Institute. Her curriculum trained students to help families from pre-conception to post-birth bonding. Her methods add massage for parents and infants, breath work, and other therapeutic techniques to the repertoire of the doula, and she has trained hundreds of birth facilitators in her system.
