This is picture from June 2006 ; my sister Anita and myself (Saradadevii) at Paramadoula  seminar in London.
We were both very inspired  by Michel and Liliana and the encounter with them helped us to launch the movement for changing birth practices in Croatia.

In 2010 they came to  Zagreb and run Paramanadoula course there, an event which  was the defining moment  for the  emergance of home birth in Croatia.

My doula practice in London was inspired and guided by his insights , research and ideas.

He was also (almost) present  at the birth of my second child (he was half an hour or so late :)

Thanking  Michel for so much inspiration and insights into the nature of birth and birthing and wishing him many happy years to come...

Saradadevii

Poster da conferéncia que Elena Garcia e eu, Carmen Cerezales, com outras parteiras do nosso hospital (Hospital Comarcal del Bierzo) oferecimos na cidade espanhola de Ponferrada em 2010 para a divulgação do parto fisiológico e respetado.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
YOU MADE US BETTER PROFESSIONALS!

Carmen Cerezales

(Tradução em inglês do texto espanhol: Conference by Midwives of Hospital el Bierzo)

Buenas tardes,

Soy Enrique Lebrero, ginecólogo del Colectivo de Salud Acuario, en Beniarbeig, un pueblo de Alicante, España.

Queremos sumarnos al homenaje del 90 cumpleaños de Michel Odent.

Enviamos  este documento, que  muestra nuestra experiencia profesional alrededor de la maternidad, alimentada por los conocimientos médicos y el activismo social en pro de un mejor futuro para la humanidad del Dr. Michel Odent. Los diversos encuentros que hemos tenido con él, han sido importantes para mantener firmes nuestros objetivos de salud, con las mujeres y sus familias.

Su actividad intelectual nos sigue iluminando.

Nuestros mejores deseos para el Dr. Odent , su familia y su equipo.

Enrique Lebrero

Beniarbeig (Alicante). España /

Good afternoon,

I am Enrique Lebrero, gynecologist at the Acuario Health Collective, in Beniarbeig, a town in Alicante, Spain.

We want to join the tribute of Michel Odent's 90th birthday.

We are sending this document, which shows our professional experience around motherhood, fueled by medical knowledge and social activism for a better future for humanity by Dr. Michel Odent. The various encounters that we have had with her have been important to keep our health goals firm, with women and their families.

His intellectual activity continues to illuminate us.

Our best wishes to Dr. Odent, his family and his team.

Enrique Lebrero

Beniarbeig (Alicante). Spain

El Dr. Michel Odent es uno de los hombres que más ha influido en el curso de mi vida. 

Gracias a todo lo aprendido junto a él, participando durante varios años en el equipo docente del Diplomado en Salud Primal, de la Universidad de Concepción en Chile, pude darme la oportunidad de tener a mis dos hijos en casa, cuando algo así era casi impensable en mi cuidad y conseguir quien me acompañara profesionalmente en esa aventura me levó ¡¡39 semanas!!

Más de una década después de iniciar mi estudio junto él, hoy yo misma acompaño a otras mujeres y familias que están dando a luz en sus casas con un equipo maravilloso de doula, matrona y psicóloga perinatal, todas con la misma escuela, egresadas del programa de Salud Primal.

Sabemos que poseemos un conocimiento tremendamente valioso, imprescindible para el futuro de la humanidad, que nos fue transmito en gran parte por el Dr. Odent y que nos encargamos de seguir transmitiendo como una responsabilidad ineludible. 

No podemos simplemente abrir los ojos a la salud primal y continuar el curso habitual de nuestras vidas. Una vez que comprendemos el mensaje que Michel Odent nos ha traído, no queda más que arremangarse y ponerse a trabajar.

Queremos ayudar a cambiar el mundo y en eso estamos. Y hoy puedo decir que gracias a él, mi maternidad ha sido la más bella y satisfactoria experiencia de mi vida y mi quehacer profesional, el más bello del mundo.

¡Felices 90 años, Michel! Y que el sol nos siga iluminando a través de tu sabiduría y del inmenso legado que nos sigues dejando.

Varinia Barría León

Psicóloga Perinatal

Nativa, Acompañamiento Integral

Concepción - Chile

From Elena Garcia, Spain

I saw Michel Odent speak at Rochdale Hospital in 1986 when I was pregnant with my 3rd child. His book was stocked at Liverpool radical bookshop 'News from Nowhere' and I got it to avoid unnecessary intervention which I had previously experienced. His book and his talk at Rochdale were a huge source of inspiration to me and my little boy was born at home, without a car or a phone (upstairs neighbour was happy to oblige 24/7 and my partner went to wake her at 3am) with a lovely, funnysole midwife who had been coming for lunch throughout my pregnancy so we knew her well - no 2nd midwife back then.

It was simultaneously wonderful and no big deal. A unique event yet completely normal and integrated into my family life, with my partner and two young daughters. 

Later I trained with him and Liliana in 2005 and have enjoyed all these years as a birth and postnatal doula and cannot thank him enough for spreading his knowledge and research and his lifelong commitment to protecting women and their families and advancing autonomy in childbirth. 

Bonne anniversaire Michel ! 

Love and respect 

Lea

www.thamesdoula.co.uk

Michel and I used to have a little greeting ritual every time we met at a conference—he would always hold my face in both hands and kiss me full on the lips! It was just his way with me, and it always made me feel special and loved.

One time we happened to be on the same flight, and he stuck his finger in my wide-open mouth while I was sleeping, just to make fun of me!

Once at a conference somewhere—I think in Brazil—the organizers started to freak out because there was a huge soccer game about to end nearby and they wanted to shut down the conference early. Michel was on stage, and they asked me to go up to him and tell him to stop speaking. I nervously approached him from the back and softly stammered out, “Michel, they want you to stop because of this soccer game” and he spun around, furious, and practically yelled, “They asked me to speak for 45 minutes and so I will speak for 45 minutes.” Then he spun back around and continued his talk. Chastened, my face burning with embarrassment, I snuck down off the stage, and indeed he spoke for his full 45 minutes.

Later, when a bunch of us speakers were sitting outside on a wall waiting for our rides, he came up to me and said, very severely, “Don’t EVER do that again!!! If they ask me to speak for 12 and a half minutes, I will speak for 12 and a half minutes. If they ask me to speak for 20 minutes, I will speak for exactly 20 minutes. This time, they asked me to speak for 45 minutes, so I spoke for 45 minutes.” I was on the verge of tears, but then he smiled at me, kissed me full on the lips again, and said, “And I still love you!” And we were fine again from that moment on.

Back in the 1980s, he had picked the title of my best friend Rima Star’s book—he read it, and then said it should be called The Healing Power of Birth, and so it was.  Years later, I asked him to record a message for Rima on my cellphone. He looked into the phone and simply said, “Rima, LOVE.” He always did that, as love is what he has always been all about.  

I vividly remember the first time I ever saw him. It was at a NAPSAC* conference around 1984-86 or so. He was so much younger then, so handsome and charismatic! And when he showed us these gorgeous, stunning slides of waterbirth at Pithiviers, we all had our mouths hanging open as at that point, none of us had ever seen such a thing. And every woman in the audience fell in love with him, right then and there!

Robbie

*National Association of Parents and Professionals for Safe Alternatives in Childbirth