Womb Twin Presence for the Holidays

Holiday time is upon us...it can be a difficult time for those in grief, particularly Womb Twin Survivors who may feel sad or guilty celebrating without their twin or who feel different from their loved ones at times of "togetherness". It can be a busy time of comings and goings and symbolic representation, a reflective time and a depressing & disappointing time. So how can we get through another holiday successfully? What strategies might we use to get through the holidays, year to year and how does that change over time?

I spent many years in agony during this time because all in a row were big dates which were excruciatingly difficult yet I had to be "on" in a world that didn't understand:

Dec21- Womb Twin Day (reflection)
Dec22- My birthday (weird being celebrated without my born twin)
Dec23- My twin death date (she lived 24 hours)
Dec24&25- Christmas Eve & Christmas (rejoicing)
Dec31- New Years Eve & my son's birthday (renewal)

The balancing act between our inner and outer worlds, with all the triggers inherent in family gatherings, can be managed with a little care and foresight. The key is to not let your beta-sabotage take over your annual memory as a way to keep your twin alive. This is your holiday and you deserve to enjoy all the blessings of your life. You deserve to connect and share bonds of love with everyone dear to you, regardless of who is here or who is not. So here are some tips for staying in the alpha-present as you approach this tender time:

-Take control & don't get overwhelmed. Say no if it doesn't feel right and own your decision. Don't feel guilty about anything - it's up to you how you spend your time, who you spend it with, what you eat or drink, where you travel or stay, how active or restful you choose to be. So be sure to say yes to all you need to create for who you are now. It's all up to you, after all it's your holiday and these are your born memories to create.

-Don't have any expectations because you are bound to be disappointed - someone will say the wrong thing, you will get the wrong gift, or any other mechanism will come up to prove that nobody else can ever be your twin. Don't go down this road!

-Channel Emotions in Separate Buckets: use Womb Twin Day Dec 21 to have your twin reflection/ritual time, or do something to celebrate the upcoming holidays privately with your twin first so that the twin part of yourself is acknowledged. Then you can face the holidays without feeling like something is missing. It's ok to acknowledge the part of you that is a twin, if it helps you feel balanced going into the holidays as an individual. Delineate both identities in yourself and create appropriate holiday rituals for each.

-Prepare an out so you can easily get a break from the overstimulation - of lights, colors, shiny textures, laughter, gluttony. Remember to have some down time, this is your time to relax after a year full of hypersensitivity and navigating emotional landscapes just to feel "normal".

-Affirm "this is my memory to have and it's ok" - enjoy yourself!

-Give yourself a symbolic twin gift. Wrap it and open it. You can be the Self who gives a gift to their Twin AND you can be the Twin who receives a gift from their Twin as well as a Self who receives a gift from their Twin. Feel all the ways of being and allow them to resonate. (I thought I was a Self giving a gift to my Self all these years until I realized it was a twin ritual.)

-Be present, that's the best gift of all. Don't disappear or feel invisible just to feel close to your twin. Your twin is where your twin needs to be and you are where you need to be. Now be here!! You just have to give yourself permission...

Happy Holidays to all the special Womb Twins of the World! May your holidays be happy and free, allowing you to shine!

InUtero Film: mass consciousness is beginning to embrace what WTS already know

One Year since Althea Left her Legacy to Us

It's been one year since Womb Twin founder, Althea Hayton, passed from this realm on Aug 13 2014 leaving a rich legacy that is being realized more and more with each passing day. To honor her life and work, I have made it my personal mission to do what I can on her behalf to push forward her ideas, raise awareness, practice the healing techniques, document findings via the blogs and continue to adapt what Althea started to fast-changing times in order to ensure relevancy to the younger womb twins coming forward - for the womb twins Althea based her foundational work on were different than those coming forward now. Early days included work with older womb twin survivors who often had no proof but found tremendous healing with this discovery/modality after years of other attempts not quite solving it. Today we see younger womb twin survivors who always knew because they had proof of Vanishing Twin Syndrome or knew they were conceived as a twin/multiple through methods of IVF/ART. Future work will need to facilitate the changing needs of survivors of Multi Fetal Pregnancy Reduction. And I'm seeing new synergies among Living Twins whose pre-natal imprints cause issues and how this work can help them get to the source. I'm seeing more people who are both Living Twins and Womb Twin Survivors. The walls between camps are coming down as we realize that people can be all: a living twin can be a womb twin survivor triplet who becomes a twinless twin who then must come to terms with their individuality. Although the landscape has become ever-more complicated, the healing set forth by Althea Hayton holds up through it all. Her development of this syndrome and healing path have been the extraordinary solution for some already but, in my opinion, the real power of what it's meant to transform is yet to come. I'm proud to say the work is proving effective in every type of scenario.

To recap the year, here are some highlights of the work I have been doing:

- Leading healing sessions by skype from NYC across Europe and US (one brave soul did her first womb regression while traveling by ferry from Finland to Sweden - a wi fi-enabled amniotic reenactment!)

- Two effective healing cases both involving womb triplets with eating disorders/body dismorphia/depression/suicide, others in progress

- Launch of new website Twindividual (still in progress) to broaden the scope of womb twin survivor syndrome to accommodate the new complexity discussed above

- Blog Posts linked to pop-culture events like 'Caitlyn Jenner's transformation' or 'Evil Twin removed from Brain' were placed on social media to insert Womb Twin into the mass conversation causing spikes in visits to our sites

- Our Blog & Womb Twin clip was quoted by a preeminent German prenatal psychologist at a lecture to psychologists, gynecologists, mid-wives, teachers, social workers etc. to make a broader public familiar with the effects of prenatal traumas one of which of course is the loss of a twin in the womb

- Developed a new womb regression technique utilizing float pods (a sensory deprivation saltwater tank) which can be used for anyone - the masses can access their potential 1 in 8 wombtwinness, womb twins can float safely with guidance to access and resolve womb trauma, any kind of womb/birth memory can be worked with in this state of relaxed regression.

- Documentary: shooting a film which will showcase Womb Twin Survivor syndrome featuring a 15 yr old Vanishing Twin Survivor who bravely speaks her truth and exposes her coping journey. After 3 therapists and psychiatric hospitals failed, just 5 months of womb twin work gave her a new level of comfort in life eliminating unwanted behaviors such as eating disorders & self harm, releasing survivor guilt and allowing her to step into her Alpha power. Several other subjects have been shot and will also be featured as smaller youtube segments (coming later this year) including: a revealing conversation with a transsexual who admits she was probably a twin as she discovers the idea for the first time and we trace her history to put the clues together and a state-of-the-union chat with twin psychologist Dr. Barbara Klein, author of Alone In The Mirror among other books, in her Beverly Hills office.

- Future Podcast: developing a live podcast in conjunction with twin psychologist Dr. Barbara Klein because we believe living twins, twinless twins and womb twin survivors all have the same stuff and can all help each other. Because people can fit more than one of these categories, synergy is needed across the board.

- Womb Twin seeds were planted at the Twin Days Festival in Twinsburg, OH in August. Any volunteers for next year?

- Beginning efforts to lobby legislation to make Womb Twin Survivor Syndrome listed as a risk/side effect of ART/IVF methods

There are more things in the works to keep the healing legacy alive, for Althea lit a flame that will continually be an inferno of transformation for those who need it & find it and have the diligence to see the work through, in order to reclaim their rightful inheritance to a comfortable, happy life! Passing the work on continues the healing, so feel free to volunteer time or help with donations for research by contacting us...please help pass Althea's torch! There's so much to do...

Preemie 1 lb. baby fights for life but life without her twin will be her biggest struggle

This is a gut-wrenching story that happens more than most people realize...the journey to become healthy twins is often perilous and frought with many hurdles which keep presenting themselves as quickly as they can be overcome.
Portugal Babymoon Couple Stranded Twins Article

Despite the tremendous fight Hayden Grace is up against, living life without her twin will be worse than all of it. It may even cause her to give up the fight. Most womb twins feel they got the raw end of the deal and, if given the choice, want to be with their twin - even more than life itself.

On a more positive note, Womb Twin Survivors are super-charged with fight-or-flight adrenalin so their "survival" instinct is in full gear, and they have the power of two in them, so hopefully this is enough to overcome the psychospiritual shock which has become their birthright - not to mention the medical/biological challenges of extreme prematurity.

I too was born at six months - 3 months premature with a twin (I was 3 lbs, she was 2 lbs), spending two months in NICU without attachment bonding, way before they knew the value of touch and light therapy. It took two months for me to gain the 2 lbs needed to go home a 5 pounder and the psychological impact of this ordeal has taken years to heal. What could've been 60 days and nights of breastfed bonding to help ease my twinloss turned into 60 days of abandonment and isolation on top of my twin loss but thankfully the nurses on duty got me through.

The knowledge we have gleaned in the past half-century since my birth is a blessing which allows many more preemies to survive, we know so much more about what to do (i.e. the "rescuing hug")but our continued ignorance prevents prevention. Every day we learn more about the mistakes we make, and how to manage them, but as the world continues scratching its head about the reality of womb twin survivors, we miss chances at prevention. We need to raise awareness so that people can make informed choices about their procreative decisions. What can we do? Here are some ideas

- Talk to people in their 20's and 30's about starting families earlier - delayed conception is risky
- Lobby Government to include Womb Twin Survivor Syndrome as one of the risks factors in choosing IVF/ART and Multiple Fetal Pregnancy Reduction
- Speak out about how you, as a Womb Twin Survivor, are affected
- Volunteer at your local NICU to help cuddle preemies which are often Womb Twin Survivors, the recognition Womb Twin Survivors feel with each other can only help these little ones thrive.

Don't miss all the opportunities which exist every day for Womb Twins to raise awareness, we are walking billboards for the cause because we live with the effects everyday. Sheer persistence alone can strengthen the case that we are not making this up (which is what the world conveniently wants us to believe).