The Magic Fabric: The Rebozo

Most doulas travel to each birth with a bag that is similar to the one that was carried by Mary Poppins. Of course it doesn’t look like the Mary Poppins bag, but the items that your doula might pull from it will begin to remind you of the scene from the Mary Poppins movie, where the kids watch with their jaws dropped as Mary Poppins pulls out a lamp, a mirror, a coat rack, and a tape measure! 

The items in my doula bag get pulled out as they become necessary to support the birthing woman. A mini crock pot, a wooden rolling pin, a wooden lady bug and some essential oils are a good start. One item in my bag that I never touched was the rebozo. This was something that gnawed at me. Is it possible that I have this amazing tool at my disposal but it sits because of my ignorance? So when I heard of Gena Kirby I was so excited! 

Gena is a doula who has traveled to other countries to learn about the Rebozo’s history and to learn its uses.  She is, in the professional birthing community in the US, the Queen of the Rebozo.  Her go-to item to support a birthing woman is a beautiful piece of fabric that she wears on her body.  This is why I traveled back to The Farm in Summertown TN, to spend one day to learn from Gena! I was the only one who traveled that far and part of me wondered if I was crazy for spending so much money and two full days of travel to spend only 6-hours with Gena.

This is Gena Kirby!  She's Pregnant! 

In Farm Heaven watching Gena teach

This was my second trip to The Farm and I knew that The Farm was a magical place.  Sisterhood and community are in the air and it doesn’t take long before you are seeing tie-die and hugging strangers! Add in some rebozo techniques from Gena and I was on cloud nine!

Since I returned from The Farm and Gena’s training, the rebozo has been my go-to item for labor support! 

Gena went on about how this simple piece of fabric could change relationships and could help shape the parents a couple will become.  It all sounded great in theory, but the engineer in me needed to see it with her own eyes. So I began to use it right away. I found that each rebozo holds within it a little piece of magic that has the power to change situations.

I have seen it transform a labor and bring a couple together who were in two different worlds. The woman was in the world of labor, lying on the hospital bed all alone and the husband was in the world of the helpless birth partner sitting on the hospital stool watching and imagining all of her pain. I handed her husband the rebozo.  He held the fabric with one hand, stood over the woman and allowed the other end of the fabric to gently touch her body. That was the first step, the bridge that closed the infinite amount of space between their worlds. They moved together, as a couple, for the rest of the labor.

Gena Demonstrates

 They existed in the world of labor together: husband, wife and the bridge that kept them bound together, the rebozo, until their baby was born. 

Gena Demos the Blind Fold

I have seen a woman with stress and anxiety filling her body as her mind raced, be transformed when her partner put the rebozo over her eyes like a blind fold and began to massage her neck, shoulders and skull.  The energy in the room changed from chaos to love and peaceful serenity.  Her body dripped with relaxation and her husband beamed with pride as he knew he was the one who helped her into that sweet place.

I have seen the rebozo become a recorder holding within it all of the whispers of love and support from fellow sisters, the scent of a candle lit room, the wonderful feelings of many hands pampering and massaging, the sounds of tribal drums and beautiful voices singing strength into a woman preparing for her journey into motherhood. 

I have witnessed what Gena repeated over and over with so much emotion and conviction. 

Rebozo Records a Blessingway

“It is not just a piece of fabric!”  Each time her eyes filling with tears. 

It is so much more.  It has so much more power!

Every one of my clients, since my experience with Gena, has received as a gift of a rebozo and the magic it holds for their journey. I will never attend a birth without one again. Her class and her magic piece of fabric has forever changed who I am as a doula and I am thankful!


Bea Wilds is a registered yoga teacher, a trained prenatal yoga teacher, a certified labor doula, and Enso co-owner. She teaches prenatal yoga, Mom & Me yoga, and Superhero Birth Partner, where she teaches partners how to use tools to support labor, including the rebozo.