Spirituality Information - John Harricharan's Interview With Terri Marie (Q2)
Reincarnation, Babies in the Future and the Spiritual
John Harricharan interviewed Terri Marie, who is best known for being a surrogate mum. The interview was conducted by Mike Crooker, on behalf of Doug Pagitt's radio show "The Spiritual Journal". Terri talks about her personal spiritual journey and how she has been guided during her experience as a surrogate mum. She also shares with us some incredible stories of relationships between mothers and their babies that have come into this world just months before their conception.
We are grateful to Terri Marie Frankfurter who is a surrogate mother and a teacher of prenatal yoga at myprenatalyoga.com .
Terri Marie is based in Portland, Oregon, USA, and she offers private prenatal yoga sessions as well as classes for women to have a safe space to connect with their baby.
Attending her yoga classes was the first time I met her during my last trip to the US on 2009. My husband and I attended one of her "Prenatal Yoga for Mothers" classes, that was held at a beautiful studio in Beaverton –Portland Area . We were delighted with the way Terri Marie conducted her class. Immediately, she was able to connect with everyone mom-to-be with a kind heart; she was very sensitive and sensitive to their fears, worries and expectations.
I came back to US after that trip and I have seen Terri Marie during my next trips in 2011 and 2014, when we have attended her classes again. One of my favorite things about her classes is that I am also able to share some of my own experiences with other pregnant women, as well as some of the joys my husband and I experienced during the first 3 months after our baby's birth.
I had the opportunity to interview Terri Marie face-to-face on October 13th, 2015 at her studio. I asked her to share with us some of the most exciting moments of her experience while she was taking care of the surrogate babies, one by one.
After the interview had been recorded, I was able to edit it together with some photos I took in Portland during Terri Marie's classes.
Q1) Do you believe that a baby is brought into this world as a life-giver?
Terri Marie: Yes, absolutely. It very much has to do with intention and you know; everything is made up of energy. And that intention of course, is the higher consciousness and it's sent down to all different levels. So, when intention is really really high, I've had babies who have come in with that. Even before they were born they have said yes to this life. They have felt nurtured and loved before they are even here.
I have had one little girl who, her mom has said yes to this life but she hadn't felt it yet and she wasn't sure if she wanted to be born until the last few weeks before her birth. And so that baby was adamant about it, "No! I'm not coming out until I feel the love. I'm not coming out until I feel the love." And I had just had a baby who was born just before and she came and did the same thing.
I know that that's what happens, this is how it works. The mother is there for her baby, to love and support her during her pregnancy and it's one of those experiences where you can literally feel the nervousness of the mother, you can feel sadness with her when they have to go home and they have to leave their babies. You can see the excitement of wanting to get home yourself because you've been away so long. But at the same time, you know, you've got to take care of yourself.
I have another baby that's going to be born in January and she's right now in China and it's a long process to get over there. It's not even for a couple weeks yet and I have my fingers crossed that she does really well. I think she'll do alright. But it's a different culture, different stuff and so it puts human beings into this – when you're born a human being; it puts you into this world with all humans around the world who are doing the same thing. As a baby, you can hear all the different sounds.
This is according to my understanding and my prayers, that all these babies are coming in to give this human race love and support. I don't know why it has to be this way, but there's a higher consciousness that we're trying to understand – how this works; how does it work? Because I feel like it's for our good.
Q2) When you are taking care of these babies and playing with them, are you just assuming that they will be brought into the world? Have you ever questioned your actions after doing that?
Terri Marie: No, because I know what the intention is – the reason for having me take care of those babies.
Q3) Have you seen any babies in your life, after their birth, coming to help others as a spiritual guide?
Terri Marie: Yes. I've been working with another lady who had a baby that was born with Down 's syndrome and other medical issues. We do Skype sessions together and she is seeing things in him that she has never seen before. And he's three years old now and we're doing sessions still; her husband also participates. So whenever anyone touches him, he feels the love from them and he lets them know immediately – almost always. It's just an unusual thing to have happening where down the road this little boy will be able to help others in their spiritual journeys.
But most of the babies that are born with something, a lot of times that just gets put aside and it's not something we're used to experiencing. So when we're going through that and realizing that's part of life, I think it opens up our heart to it.
For me, I'm like this is so cool. This baby was sent here on purpose. This little girl currently who is living in China is having a child before she moves to another country – because she's going to move away from her family – and her parents have asked her if she wants to move away from the only family she knows. Her parents are divorced and she's only 5 years old and she said, "No. I'm staying here, from now on. I'm going to get married and have my own children here."
So it's just – it's this whole thing that we don't understand; the whole thing of how babies are conceived and where they come from. It's really really cool when you see babies like this who can help people in their spiritual journey.
Q4) How did you feel about the surrogate mothers who gave birth in your care?
Terri Marie: I think that these women are brave, very brave because they have given up something that is so important to them to be able to do this for someone else.
Conclusion
I would like to thank Terri Marie for opening up and sharing with us some of the experiences that make her a very important person in our world. I'm sure that her work will continue to help many parents who are making their first steps into the world of surrogacy experiences.
Thanks again, Terri Marie!
For more information about how you can work with Terri Marie please visit www.receptiveparenting.com or send her an email at mindfulbirthing@gmail.com
For more information about the documentary you can visit www.gettingthebabyinthebathtub.com or send an email to info@gettingthebabyinthebathtub.