# Labour energy, not labour pain

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-hippie-birthing-book-labour-energy
- Themes: fear, perception, childbirth, attitude
- Life situations: pregnancy, childbirth, facing pain

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

A monastery full of monks in north-east Thailand kept a book on how to give birth. It came from a commune of hippies who left Haight-Ashbury after the summer of love: they never said 'labour pain', only 'labour energy', and the whole family attended, cheering each contraction like a football crowd. A local doctor was amazed: labours were short, not painful, and amazing babies were born — because they took fear out of the process.

## The story, as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)

this is one of the books which I remember we had in our monastery so many years ago. It was about how to give birth. How when you're pregnant, how to give birth. We had this in a monastery full of monks in northeast Thailand. And people go, "What you got that in here for?" And the reason we had it in there for because it was actually a wonderful example just of how you can change the world by changing attitudes. So in this birthing book which apparently people said became like a almost like a standard text. It was you know basically practiced by a bunch of hippies who you know left you know the summer of love in San Francisco hate Ashbury and just got a little commune together did things differently and of course young people uh when people got pregnant. Number one they never called it labor pain. That was a no no. Call it labor pain and it becomes pain. They call it labor energy. Now this, you know, you think this is not much, but when for, you know, when you found out you're pregnant for seven months or 6 months or whatever, being conditioned, you know, the first couple of months, you don't know. Maybe I don't really know what I'm talking about, but you know, roughly you get the idea that um that when you call it labor energy, call it labor pain, it changes the psychology of it. And of course, they didn't just have the the um the the husband there. They had just the whole family just about. Everybody was like at a football match. And when you had a big contraction, yeah, go for it. Wow, that's a big one. Wow, that was amazing. And everyone was cheering them along. And because it was just so much like a party when they were giving birth and they never looked at pain, they their labors were incredibly short. They had a had a a a doctor, you know, a a doctor from the local town or something who was just amazed at this, you know, how it well it worked. Short, not painful, and amazing babies were born because they took away the idea of fear from the whole process.

## Teaching point

Changing the perception — the words and the atmosphere — can remove fear and with it much of the pain.

## Reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)

A birthing book from a hippie commune, of all places in a Thai forest monastery, spoke of labour energy, not labour pain, with the family cheering every contraction. Ajahn Brahm reports its claims second-hand; birth still needs proper care. The lesson is broader: we learn much of our fear, and changing the words we use can soften it.

## Source

- [Being Afraid | Ajahn Brahm | 16 March 2018](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYHTHj4PGPU) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 7:39 to 9:58: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYHTHj4PGPU&t=459s

Other tellings of this story:

- [Expanding Your Views | Ajahn Brahm | 18 April 2008](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJAM2kn9zTI) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 51:54 to 53:07: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJAM2kn9zTI&t=3114s
- [How to be of Service | Ajahn Brahm | 11 June 2021](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgKWRJ3Po44) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 40:06 to 40:57: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgKWRJ3Po44&t=2406s