Meet Verana Bailowitz

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Verana Bailowitz. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Verana, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

I have always been drawn to the idea of searching for purpose. The quest for Truth and the hero’s journey have always been archetypal stories that have touched me and oriented me to the cosmology of the human soul seeking its highest path. Since I was very young I held these curiosities about purpose close to my heart and allowed the questions themselves to steer my path forward.

I began traveling in South America when I was 20 years old and have continued my love affair with that continent to this day. When I was living in The Sacred Valley of Peru in 2014, I spent some time working on a farm as a volunteer in exchange for housing and delicious food. The owner of that farm was a great deal of many things, including an extraordinary bio-farmer, permaculturist, and seed saver. He also happened to be an incredible astrologer.

Once per week, we would harvest vegetables and go to the local town to sell them. Afterward, we would all gather together and this man would teach astrology classes to the local community. I was amazed. I never had felt pulled to that system before, but suddenly, there I was, completely immersed in another country, culture, and cosmology. I was blown away by how accurate and incredibly magical it all felt. I was immediately enthralled and enlivened, and my studies began in earnest. I began reading charts about a year later.

Though many things have pulled me toward my purpose, including music, dance, poetry, being a birth worker, my family and communities, and precious encounters with plant medicine and our beautiful earth, astrology really oriented me to Spirit and to Magic at a time when my calling to purpose had become impossible to deny.

Astrology has been an anchor and a guide during times of difficulty, confusion, and loss. It has been a coach and a true magic mirror in times of celebration. It has been a system of orientation, meaning making, and great beauty in a world longing to be located and brought into greater and greater coherence and Truth.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I am a full spectrum doula, childbirth educator, and archetypal astrologer. I am the owner of Embody Your Birth, and based out of Marin County and the San Francisco Bay Area, CA.

I work as a birth doula, supporting women/birthing people and families prepare for birth and walk beside them through the birth portal and out the other side. I am a guardian of transition, transformation, and growth. I am an educator, a coach, and an advocate on the journey of life and in preparation for childbirth and growing a family. I help my clients connect with their bodies and their truth, coming into greater self trust and deep care.

As a birth doula, I help create safe and loving birth environments. When the environment feels supportive and clear, a woman/birthing person can connect deeper with her instinctual, animal body, settle the part of her mind that organizes, plans, and worries, and allow the birthing process to move through her.

I am here to help my clients navigate their unique birthing journey and all that it asks for. Giving birth is a powerful portal, and I cannot imagine and have not known a more fundamental rite of passage than birth. I offer presence, guidance, and education for the perinatal journey of pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period, holding and reflecting respect and deep care to the families, teams, and spaces that I support.

I work with all families, and support the entire birth team. It is also my intention to support and empower partners in their understanding and strength during the birth as they move through their own transition into parenthood.

As a doula, I also support families through portals of loss and grief, whether with miscarriage, abortion, or stillbirth. I actually came into birth work through my own experiences with abortion. It is a great honor to support women moving through the difficult choice to terminate a pregnancy and all that comes with it.

I also work as an archetypal and counseling astrologer. This work feels deeply connected to my work as a doula. I find myself ever more weaving the two, and walking my astrology clients through their own birthing journeys. I see over and over again that when we are guided back to our center, with a loving witness, we can find and receive a quality of Love that will transform even the deepest fears and darkest nights into the light of the Sun.

From here, anything is possible. I believe in all that is possibly inside of each of us.

I see people. I meet them where they are. And I see where their soul wants to go.
I offer readings for individuals, couples, and newborns ages 0-5 years old. My newborn readings, called Starborn readings, are so special to me. I absolutely love reading the chart of the baby for their parents. It’s such a deep honor and blessing to read for families in this way.

My work as a doula and astrologer are deeply interconnected as I feel guided by the collective dream for whole and healthy families, relationships, and communities with each other and with the earth as well as the individual’s search for and exploration of purpose, power, and meaning. I walk beside my clients and students, whether in the labor room, the classroom, or in the exploration of the natal chart, creating safe and brave spaces where empowerment, capacity, and deep inner trust can emerge.

I am a dancer, poet, singer, and songwriter. I am devoted to walking this Earth with integrity, creativity, and depth, so that I may thrive in the fullness of life and invite others to thrive with me.

I am currently in the process of two projects: 1) publishing my first poetry book and 2) recording my first album of birth songs – songs for birth workers and for birthing people who are embarking through the great rite of passage.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

1) Meditation: I do not know who I would be if not for my meditation practice. I was introduced to meditation by a boyfriend in 2016 who was a meditation teacher at the time. I am so grateful for that seed that has grown deeper and deeper roots and has become a beautiful tree that keeps growing and flowering with time.

Over the years I have done meditation retreats and have received guidance and support from many meditation teachers. But the most significant impact has been the hundreds of hours I have sat quietly with myself on a cushion. Sitting with my thoughts, my breath, and my body has been the greatest teacher for my soul. It softens my anxiety, integrates my nervous system, and shows me so much possibility for choice, love, and freedom.

I highly recommend a daily meditation practice, even if just for 20 minutes per day. I recommend finding a teacher who resonates with you and allowing your cushion to be a place where you can go and feel held by something greater than you that guides your life. This will change everything. I promise.

2) Curiosity: Nurturing a sense of curiosity has been extraordinarily supportive for my path and body of work. I get to carry my skill and craft in one hand and a deep curiosity in the other. Again and again I come to my clients with an openness to learn about them and from there. Curiosity has softened my edges of judgement and self-righteousness and invited me into greater leaps of faith and self compassion along the way. The more curiosity I practice, the more I learn, the more I grow, and the more I am trusted.

I recommend practicing staying more curious when learning. Spending time in nature, listening to music, and practicing things like improv and dance have added to my journey of devotion to staying curious.

3) Courage: Courage comes with a willingness to fail. This has been one of the biggest things I have learned over these past years. There is so much in the over-culture that makes us afraid to fail, afraid to take risks, afraid to be big, Courage is the antidote to fear. It doesn’t mean I don’t feel fear. I do. Still. A lot. But I know I will life courageous anyway. I will take risks. I will have hard conversations. I will turn toward the places inside me that feel shame and anger and I will explore them, because it’s all here to be loved. Courage, to me, has been one of the greatest pathways to self love and self acceptance. I am stronger every day because of the courage I carry in my heart,

I recommend courage as a practice. Do one thing every day that scares you a little. It could be trying a new recipe or singing out loud while grocery shopping or apologizing for something you don’t feel proud of. Courage is a muscle. Feel your heart glow every day for you. You are braver than you think.

Tell us what your ideal client would be like?

My ideal client is someone who is willing to grow. I tend to attract clients who are sensitive, intuitive, creative, and open. I love working with spirit-led, embodied, creative types who are curious about themselves and their soul’s journey on this earth. I love working with people who are honest with themselves, who want their lives to thrive to the fullest expression of freedom and love, and who value compassion and kindness above all else. I especially love working with people who trust the life/birth/death/life cycle and who want to give themselves fully to the divine.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.veranafaye.com
• Instagram: @veranafaye
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/veranafaye/

Image Credits

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