4The integrative model of childbirth described in this book will provide women with the information needed to prepare for birth, how to think and feel about labor, and how to tell their story. During their childbearing year, women traverse two paths at once: an inner path of psychological and spiritual awareness and an outer path of practical approaches to birth in modern-day culture. The book combines scientific research with meditation, ceremony, art, and mythic stories, which not only prepares childbearing women to go beyond their edge into uncharted territory but to find their way home again. The underlying message throughout is not to strive for a perfect birth but to be mindful of the mythic journey, of all the mothers who have come before--an awareness that leads not only to the birth of a child but to the birth of a new self.