Birth Guardian Training
A bilingual, bicultural training for women called to walk families through the perinatal threshold—weaving ancestral birth wisdom with evidence-based science.
Emerge a certified Elemental Doula, ready to support your community in their perinatal needs
Every birth is a threshold—not only for the family welcoming new life, but for the community that embraces them.
To stand at this threshold as a doula is to accept a sacred responsibility: to honor life, dignity, culture, and choice. Beyond a calling, birth work is a proven way to transform outcomes for mothers, fathers, babies, and whole communities.
The Elemental Birth School prepares birth workers who serve as bridges—grounded in elemental wisdom and consciously advocating for perinatal health and community wellbeing.
Two midwives. Two languages. One weaving.
Amapola Pacheco
For thirteen years I have been accompanying families toward empowered births and home births. My practice weaves the science and art of birth work from a perspective that honors women’s autonomy and innate wisdom. I believe motherhood and fatherhood are evolutionary schools where the peace and health of society are first sown—and I offer a personalized model of care that integrates body and emotion, understanding each birth as a unique rite of initiation.
Aya Maria Maldonado
I have supported hundreds of births—including VBACs and teen pregnancies, in birth centers and at home, in various cultural contexts. I work with women and families desiring to activate their cyclical-elemental memory and approach their reproductive care consciously and ceremoniously. I also organize in-person retreats to connect with ancestral technologies & original birth arts for our collective empowerment and regeneration.
Emerge ready to serve your community.
Support families through pregnancy, birth, and postpartum with physiological, emotional, and spiritual presence.
Integrate into home-birth settings and community care, or build your own independent doula practice.
Continue onto Phase 02 (Monitrice) and, in time, our forthcoming Midwifery & Postpartum Residency.
When families are supported by doulas, outcomes improve—measurably.
Based on 26 trials and more than 15,000 women (Bohren et al., Cochrane systematic review, 2017).
A training no one else offers.
Bilingual & bicultural, by design
Amapola teaches in Spanish, Aya Maria in English, with live translation and full transcriptions of every class. You receive the complete depth of the material in your own language, alongside a truly cross-continental, cultural cohort.
Ancestral wisdom meets evidence
Embryology, physiology, and trauma-informed care woven with elemental consciousness, somatic practice, and the anthropology of birth. Rigor and reverence, held together.
Embodied in the Colombian Andes
The training culminates in an 8-day immersion at Finca Ocelote—where theory becomes practice through the body, the land, and shared living.
A path, not a single course
The Doula is Phase 01 of a three-realm journey—Doula, Monitrice, Midwife—forming Elemental Birth Guardians. The path of the Birth Guardian is ever evolving
Certificate of Completion, or Formal Certification.
The online training stands on its own. The in-person immersion is where your skills are witnessed, practiced, and formally certified.
Certificate of Completion
- •16 live online classes + live case-study sessions, across 8 modules
- •All coursework, readings, and reflections
- •Confirms completion of the full academic training
- •For those who cannot travel to the immersion
Formal Certification of Skills
- ✓Everything in the online training
- ✓8-day in-person immersion at Finca Ocelote — up to two years to complete
- ✓Hands-on verification of your skills
- ✓Guided accompaniment of 2 case studies
- ✓Full recognition as an Elemental Birth Guardian: Doula
- ✓The full Elemental Childbirth Preparation Curriculum, to offer in your community
Sixteen live classes, plus case-study sessions.
Eight modules across sixteen live classes, with live case-study sessions between them where the cohort follows real cases from prenatal through postpartum—delivered live and archived for on-demand access.
Foundations — Root & Authenticity
Elemental philosophy and radical ethics; the history and anthropology of birth guardians; your personal birth map.
Cyclical Foundations
Menstrual wisdom and hormones; preconception nutrition and fertility; oogenesis, ovulation, fertilization, and early pregnancy.
The Physiology of Gestation
Embryonic and fetal development; maternal changes; holistic support for common discomforts; matrescence and patrescence.
The Physiology of Birth
Neurohormones and the stages of labor; birth biomechanics; states of consciousness; non-pharmacological comfort and deep emotional support.
Interventions & Informed Choice
Induction, monitoring, epidural, cesarean and VBAC; the cascade of interventions; supporting autonomy without judgment; protecting birth memory.
Human Rights in Childbirth
Sexual and reproductive rights; obstetric violence and racism; informed consent and culturally aligned advocacy.
The Postpartum Landscape
Early postpartum and the golden hour; bonding and attachment; lactation foundations; maternal mental health and the first 100 days; placenta wisdom.
The Doula’s Path
The on-call lifestyle and self-care; being a doula in community; contracts, fees, and marketing your practice.
The 8-Day Immersion · Finca Ocelote
May 16–23, 2027 · Tenjo, Cundinamarca, Colombia
Eight days of hands-on, embodied learning in the Colombian Andes—required for formal certification.
- Assessing the biomechanics and progression of labor
- Non-pharmacological approaches to pain and discomfort
- Comfort measures and deep emotional support
- Embodied rebozo techniques
- Carnatic chanting and conscious breathing
- Inipi (sweat lodge): prayer, purification, strength
- Elemental breathwork and psycho-emotional release
- Earth offering: reciprocity and grounded presence
- Reweaving relationship with nature and self
Five months, week by week.
The cohort alternates a class week—two live sessions, Tuesday & Thursday—with an integration week of one guided circle on Tuesday. The Christmas break falls between modules, interrupting no topic.
All live sessions are held at 10:00 am Bogotá time, run approximately 2–3 hours, and include space for questions at the end.
102 didactic hours + ~76 supervised practicum hours = ~178 total training hours.
Lifelong certification, no exams, no renewals.
Our certification honors integration, self-reflection, and authentic practice over standardized testing. You have up to two years from your cohort start to complete every requirement.
Attend at least 70% of live classes, complete all coursework, and participate fully in the 8-day immersion.
Complete guided accompaniment of 2 case studies—prenatal, birth, and postpartum—as reflective learning practices.
Create a personal doula-identity project and join mentorship circles exploring fears, biases, and authenticity.
Commit to our Code of Ethics and complete one community action in support of maternity and family wellbeing.
Your investment.
The tuition below is for students enrolling from the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia.
Applications are open for early enrollment — early pricing ends October 9.
Full certification path (online + immersion): $5,626.
Scholarships for this cohort have been awarded.
We hold a global inclusion rate for students applying from Colombia, Latin America, and other countries outside the regions listed above—so that cost is not what decides who gets to serve their community. Write to us and we will walk you through it.
Ask about the global inclusion rateBefore you apply.
Do I need previous experience to enroll?
No previous experience is required for Phase 01 (Doula). The training assumes you will engage with families, complete the practical work, and embody the role throughout.
Is the certification legally or internationally recognized?
Doula certification is unregulated in most countries. Your certificate demonstrates completion of a comprehensive professional training recognized by the Elemental Birth School. We support graduates in integrating into their communities and home-birth settings, or in establishing independent practices.
Does this training certify me for Medicaid or Medicare?
Our Elemental Birth School training is designed to cover the core competencies and foundational skills needed to practice as a professional doula, including pregnancy, birth, postpartum support, lactation, childbirth education, comfort measures, prenatal and labor support, and community resources.
Students complete both our virtual and in-person training components. Upon successful completion of all required training, students receive an Elemental Birth School Doula Training Certificate documenting their completed coursework, training hours, and competencies.
We also provide students with the individual documentation they need to support their professional and Medicaid enrollment applications, where applicable. Because requirements vary by state, Medicaid program, and individual circumstances, students are responsible for submitting the appropriate documentation to the relevant agency or payer based on the requirements in their state.
Our goal is to give every graduate a comprehensive educational foundation, hands-on experience, and clear documentation to help them confidently pursue doula work, professional certification, and applicable Medicaid provider enrollment opportunities.
Why is the in-person phase an immersive retreat?
Because we believe in the power of the group, and in the transformation that unfolds when learning is shared through presence. For weeks we weave a network of trust in the virtual space; the in-person phase brings that theory into the body, the land, and shared living. Collective experience, daily life together, and learning rituals let us go deeper—into understanding, and into the relationships among everyone on the path.
What if I can’t travel to the immersion?
You can complete the full online training and receive a Certificate of Completion. Formal Certification of Skills requires attendance at the 8-day immersion, which is yearly. You have up to two years to complete it.
What language is the training in?
Amapola teaches in Spanish and Aya Maria in English, with full translated transcripts of every class. Live translated captions are available in most languages, and each class is translated and interpreted live between English and Spanish—English to Spanish and Spanish to English—by a live interpreter, so you receive the complete material in your own language.
More guardians of birth. More caretakers of expectant families.
We know there are women across the continent who feel this same calling. This November we begin—and great transformations begin with small gestures.
Apply for early enrollment
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