About Naoli

  • Midwife
  • Educator-Speaker
  • Inventor-Creator
  • Author
  • Media
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Midwife History

Naoli Vinaver handling a placenta and storing it in a ceramic recipient.
Naoli Vinaver handling a placenta
Naoli Vinaver holding a newborn baby who she was a midwife in childbirth
Naoli Vinaver with newborn baby
Naoli Vinaver attending the homebirth of a local woman in the countryside of Xalapa, Veracruz. Mexico.
Naoli Vinaver attending a local homebirth in Mexico.
Natividad at the age of 15 holding her newborn baby with her mom in the background, days after she became a mother. In Rancho Viejo, Xalapa, Veracruz. Mexico
Natividad at the age of 15, days after she became a mother. In Rancho Viejo. Mexico. 1990.
Naoli grew up and lived in the rural area of San Andrés Tlalnelhuayocan, state of Veracruz, México, surrounded by the indigenous community of Rancho Viejo, made up of people, who largely lived from working the land and having their babies at home. Naoli and her family (mother, father, brother and sister) moved from Mexico City when she was 6 months old, she never knew any other place and grew up playing in the nature of rivers, mountains, rain, trees and sugar cane, as well as the numerous mixes of domestic and undomesticated animals that lived even within their home. Nature became Naoli's physical and spiritual connection to the universe.  Naoli's parents, Rocío Sagaón (artist name) and Georges Vinaver were undoubtedly hers but also many people's best friends.  They were a Mexican and multi-cultural family where Spanish, French and English were often spoken in the home, which was always filled with gregarious artists of all sorts, allowing Naoli to grow up in a rich blend of traditional Mexican culture combined with culture of people of the world. Since babyhood, Naoli remembers the home animals choosing her lap and bed to give birth, and from age 4 her father invited her to midwive together the farm's cows in the most respectful of ways, accompanying them quietly and respectfully for hours to see them to a safe birth giving. 

​When Naoli was 21 years old in 1986, finishing her degree in Anthropology and having done field work in remote areas of The Congo, she began having a series of birth dreams -every single night- for 3 straight months. Dreams about birth and needing to solve birth complications.

Solving these birth situations in her dreams led her to read all the midwifery books she could get her hands on, learning midwifery techniques and in a matter of a short time, met various midwives and pursued apprenticeships with different midwives. She honours Sylvia Bortin and Iris Moore as two of the first midwives she mentored with (1986). Naoli deeply honours Mexican elder midwives Doña Reina, Doña Flor, Doña Francisca, Doña Lucre, Doña Margarita, Doña Esperanza and Doña Irma, with whom she learned traditional midwifery and shared the great love for women and babies. She honours Doña Hermila, Doña Queta, Doña Irene, Doña Angelina Martinez and numerous other traditional midwives from different regions of Mexico whom she admires and respects immensely as midwife colleagues. 

Naoli attended Sage Femme midwifery program and had Patricia Craig and Karen Erlich as mentors. She attended the midwifery program at Maternidad La Luz midwifery school, becoming a licensed Texas midwife as well as gaining her Certified Professional Midwifery certification through NARM (North America Registry of Midwives). She honours midwives Debora Kaley, Diane Holzer, Karen Strange, Ina May Gaskin, and the many others with whom she has learned beautiful midwifery and whom became her peers and dearest friends.

In 1989 she began her independent midwifery practice in Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico weaving together traditional Mexican midwifery wisdom with professional midwifery knowledge in her uniquely creative approach.

From 1993-1997 she worked actively as MANA's (Midwives Alliance of North America) National Mexican Representative. Naoli organised the first 10 Midwifery Conferences in Mexico bringing for the first time Traditional and Professional midwives from all regions of Mexico, Guatemala, USA, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Perú, Italia, England, France and Germany in an ideological, professional and social setting.
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​From her powerful and respectful homage paid to traditional midwifery and the recognition of the need to share knowledge between the different types of midwiferies, have come her first and many workshops entitled "Combining Traditional and Professional Midwifery".
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Midwife Naoli Vinaver holding hands with the mother and newborn baby, moments after the home birth happened at the parturient's house, in Rancho Viejo, Xalapa, Veracruz. Mexico
Naoli Vinaver, mother and newborn baby moments after the home birth.
Family gathered around the parturient, the newborn baby and the Midwife Naoli Vinaver.
Family gathered around the parturient, newborn baby and Naoli Vinaver.

Current Midwife Work

Naoli Vinaver holding Cadú & Tomé, twins of Maristela Sens. Florianópolis, Brazil. 2018.
Naoli Vinaver holding Cadú & Tomé, twins of Maristela Sens. Florianópolis, Brazil. 2018.
(AMA Nascer Team) Gabriela Zanella, Maristela Sens, Ana Paula Roberti, Naoli Vinaver, Marcela Flueti & Mayra Calvette.
(AMA Nascer Team) Gabriela Zanella, Maristela Sens, Ana Paula Roberti, Naoli Vinaver, Marcela Flueti & Mayra Calvette.
Naoli currently resides in Florianópolis, Brazil and is a fully active midwife attending many births a year with her midwifery team Ama Nascer, (which she co-founded in 2014). The group consists of 6 active interdisciplinary birth professionals offering wholistic care for women who come from around the world in: pregnancy, home birth and accompanied hospital birth, as well as all home postpartum care. The group also offers weekly birth classes to pregnant women and their families and specialized birth training for doulas and other birth professionals.
She is constantly furthering her education such as an internship at the University Hospital in Frankfurt, Germany with Dr. Frank Louwen, who is a leading expert on breech births (2018).

Even though Naoli has attended over 1800 births over her midwifery career, she continues to learn and grow as a midwife and loves to share those experiences with all interested people.
Naoli Vinaver giving a lecture at a congress in Ukraine in 2017.
Naoli Vinaver giving a lecture at a congress in Ukraine in 2017
Naoli loves sharing her experience as an active midwife, educator, anthropologist, and teacher in workshops, seminars and talks and in the past three decades she has taught thousands of people all around the world. 
She has a gift for story telling and loves the process of teaching, as just like births, it involves creativity, intuition and improvisation.
Naoli has has been invited as Keynote speaker at many birth conferences and has performed workshops, seminars and talks for the last 30 years in over 30 countries around the world including:  Mexico, United States (including Hawaii), Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Costa Rica, Cuba, Jamaica, Bahamas, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Austria, Russia, Ukraine, Siberia, Slovakia, Israel, China and Japan. Browse the gallery below to see some the workshops and places she has taught.

Selected past workshop Photo Gallery

Selected interviews on Youtube

Selected International Workshops on Youtube

In the 35+ years that she has been a midwife, Naoli has invented and created many useful birth related tools and techniques, which she has generously shared with thousands of women and midwives around the globe. 

Naoli's Natural Ultrasound

Naoli Vinaver's Natural Ultrasound first invented by her in Mexico, 1992.
Naoli Vinaver's Natural Ultrasound first invented by her in Mexico, 1992.
Naoli Vinaver teaching the Natural Ultrasound Technique on her Workshop, with the help of a pregnant couple.
Naoli Vinaver teaching the Natural Ultrasound Technique on her Workshop.
In 1992 I created an artistic technique called NATURAL ULTRASOUND. This came out of the empathic understanding that the rural women I served had no access to modern medical care, including ultrasound. 
This technique provided a beautiful emotional connection between the parents, their children and the unborn child still in utero. After creating and teaching the Natural Ultrasound all over the world for over 25 years, I am honored to notice that other people in the birth world have incorporated my technique in their work.
How the name came about.
"In the year 2000, I was teaching this technique along with rebozo at a Midwifery Today conference in Philadelphia, USA.  Even though I had been working for a number of years with Natural ultrasound, but I did not have a name for it yet.  One night, when I was having dinner with my speaker colleagues Michel Odent, Ina May Gaskin, Elizabeth Davis, Marina Alzugaray and a few others, we were discussing what a beautiful alternative this technique was to the typical technological ultrasound. In trained hands it accurately details, the position of the baby, the amount of amniotic liquid and the close approximation of the baby's size, all accomplished with loving connected touch instead of cold machinery that takes you out of the connected body experience.  During the dinner we collectively came up with a name for my technique, called "Natural Ultrasound" because we all felt that it is a non-invasive, accurate and more humane alternative to traditional ultrasound which has not yet been proved safe up to date".  -Naoli
Students on Naoli Vinaver´s Workshop learning and practing the Natural Ultrasound´s Technique with a group of pregnant women invited by Naoli Vinaver.
Students on Naoli Vinaver´s Workshop learning and practing the Natural Ultrasound´s Technique.

Naoli's Rebozo Maneuvers for Birth

Naoli Vinaver demonstrating one of the multiple rebozo techniques with assitance from a student of her Workshop.
Naoli Vinaver demonstrating one of the multiple rebozo techniques on her Workshop.
Naoli has been working with traditional Mexican rebozo for birth since 1987. Through the 1800+ births, creatively solving many home birth challenges, she has developed her own specialized rebozo birth techniques that she has shared through workshops, seminars and talks with thousands of women around the world. Naoli's 7 main original Rebozo Maneuvers for birth include: 
  • "Naoli's Pelvic Expansion" Maneuver with rebozo
  • "Naoli's Breech-turning" 3-step Protocol
  • "Naoli's Centralizing" Maneuver with rebozo
  • "Naoli's Oblique to Cephalic" Maneuver with rebozo​​
  • "Naoli's Engagement" Maneuver with two rebozos
  • "Naoli's Pubic Bone Engaging" Maneuver with rebozo
  • "Naoli's Disengaging" Maneuver with rebozo

Naoli's Drop of Gold Products

Mantelicia, Nova Skin & Ozonioli. Drop of Gold natural product line developed by Naoli Vinaver. Products made for health care and birth related necessities.
Drop of Gold natural product line developed by Naoli Vinaver
Drop of Gold is Naoli's brand of specialized birth related oils, ointments and lotions that she developed through her many years of working with birth. Naoli has created and used these products to aid countless women and babies during pregnancy, birth and the postpartum periods. 
  • Mantelicia - It is soothing and healing buttery ointment which prevents stretch-marks of the skin during pregnancy and lacerations of the perineum to ease the baby's birth. It's special blend of ozonized virgin olive oil, aloe vera, vitamin E, karite and cacao butter and bees' wax also makes it perfect to sooth and heal baby's diaper rash.
  • Nova Skin - An astringent lotion for the skin to recover its firmness after pregnancy or weight loss. Some of its healing ingredients include a mixture of Mexican and Brazilian herbs and medicinal plants.
  • Ozonioli - It is a healing antiseptic spray of highly ozonized extra virgin olive oil. It is a great cellular regenerator, also effective against bacteria, fungus and virus. Some uses include, fast healing of perineal tears, nipple cracks, cord care and diaper rash.
The Drop of Gold products will available through our web store (which is coming soon). If you would like to order the products directly now, please click on the link and fill out the contact form with your request.

Naoli's Birth Poof

Pregnant Mariana Niemeyer in the birth puff developed by Naoli Vinaver to work as a multi-position support for the pregnants during labor.
Pregnant Mariana Niemeyer using the birth puff developed by Naoli Vinaver.
Mariana Niemeyer and her husband Fabiano Valerio using Naoli Vinaver´s birth puff as support for a demonstration on how can be used.
Mariana Niemeyer and her husband Fabiano Valerio using Naoli Vinaver´s birth puff as support for a demonstration.
When Naoli was pregnant with her second baby in 1995, she wanted to give birth in a "natural squatting position" while remaining comfortable and relaxed. It was then she began developing her now much used Birth Poof.

Being a midwife and a mother, in the following years she perfected the most comfortable bean-bag style birthing chair.  It has been and is currently being used by hundreds of birthing mothers.

Some of the features of Naoli's "Birth Poof" are:
  • Late-pregnancy heartburn can be alleviated by sleeping comfortably slightly upright.
  • Early labor support in various positions, to enable rest, massages and descent of baby without effort.
  • During last stages of birth it aids in baby's descent without hindering the outlet.
  • When the baby's head is challenged in passing under the pubic bone, then leaning further back on the birth poof will certainly help.
  • Naoli's Rebozo Pelvic Expanding Maneuver can be effectively used while sitting on the Birth Poof!
  • The legs of the birth poof can be secured more or less open with its velcro fasteners.
  • Immediate postpartum mother/baby bonding can take place very comfortably while laying back with her head resting on the birth poof and her arms supported by the Birth Poof's legs.
  • Long-term supported breastfeeding in a relaxed position while using the Birth Poof on the bed, floor or garden!

Books

Videos

Selected Articles written by Naoli

On Meconium at Home and Delayed Cord-Cutting - Midwifery Today, Issue 80. Naolí discusses meconium in a home birth setting and describes the best procedures to safely accompany such birth eliminating the risks that babies are exposed to in hospitals. 

"What Is a Birth without Loving Touch?" -  Midwifery Today, Winter 2009. Naolí discusses touch as a basic need of all beings and, in particular, the benefits of loving touch—applied with awareness to the needs of the laboring recipient—during birth.

"Tradition, Birth and the Kitchen to Cook It All In" - Midwifery Today, Spring 2009. Naoli writes on "food recipes", manner of speaking, expressions in dress, body care and rituals – whether religious or mundane – are all elements of culture that remain strongly-rooted and cherished by family and community.

How to Turn a Breech Baby to Head-down - Learn some tricks on how to flip a breech baby from Mexican midwife Naolí Vinaver.

The Rebozo - A transcription of the Rebozo workshop given by Doña Irene Sotelo and Naoli Vinaver at a Midwifery Today conference. 

 Selected Video, Film and TV about Naoli

Naoli and her work have been featured in a number of films, TED talks, TV shows and podcasts. Her filmography includes: "Orgasmic Birth" by Debora Pascali, USA, "O Renascimento do Parto" by Erica de Paula & Eduardo Chauvet, Brazil, "La Primera Sonrisa" by Guadalupe Sanchez Sosa, Mexico, TED Talk X Women, Brazil. She was also featured for 6 years (1994-2000), on a Mexican TV show called "Dar A Luz" on Canal 4+, Veracruz, Mexico, where she presented and discussed all topics on natural birth.

​Selected Print Media about Naoli

A selection of print media articles from newspapers & magazines. 

​Links to web media by & about Naoli's work

"Humanized birth should be a heart felt birth"   - Naoli Vinaver"

Naolí Vinaver 2022