Raven Lang was one of the first homebirth midwives in California. In 1970 she founded the Santa Cruz Birth Center, the first birth center in North America. Two years and fifty births later she wrote Birth Book. In 1972 Raven immigrated to British Columbia, where she helped organize and run the first birth center in B.C. Six years later, she returned to California and founded the Institute of Feminine Arts, the first non-medical school for midwifery in North America.
In 1982 she began her training in TCM and incorporated TCM into her midwifery. For the next three years she apprenticed with Dr. Miriam Lee, a nurse midwife from China and one of the first licensed acupuncturists in California. During her time with Dr. Lee, Raven learned the patterns of Master Tung's Magic Points. From 1982 to 2012 Raven practiced in Santa Cruz, California, specializing in women's medicine and pediatrics. Since 2012, Raven has left her practice and is in semi-retirement. In 2013 she attended a yearlong course in studying the classics, with Dr. Elisabeth Rochat de la Vallee. Presently Raven teaches classes, offers externships, and sits as a board member for Institute of Feminine Arts and Sciences, a newly opened school of midwifery in Santa Rosa, California.
Raven incorporates her knowledge of midwifery, mothering, and traditional medicine (both American and Asian) in her work and brings a wealth of experience to those she serves. She is a dynamic teacher and teaches subjects as diverse as the politics and history of women's health, parenting, the science and art of obstetrics, and pediatrics. Her teaching reaches into the well of life, using poetry, art, politics, mothering, psychology, the medical arts, and unique instructions in the skills of observation.
Raven is a pioneer and those practicing today, treating women with TCM during prenancy, are truly standing on her shoulders.
AWARDS:
Santa Cruz County, WOMEN HELPING WOMEN AWARD. 1985 and 1986.
California Association of Midwives, THE BRAZEN WOMAN AWARD, 1998.
Midwives Alliance of Hawaii, OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT in the ART OF MIDWIFERY, 2001.
ACTCM doctoral program award given for DEDICATION TO THE FIELD AND SCHOLARLY WORK, 2014.
BirthKeepers Summit Award LIVING LEGEND AWARD, 2015
FOUNDING MEMBERSHIPS:
Founder of the SANTA CRUZ BIRTH CENTER 1970
Initial member, teacher, and midwife at THE VANCOUVER FREE CHILDBIRTH ASSOCIATION CENTER, 1973
Founder and Director of THE INSTITUTE OF FEMININE ARTS, the first accredited non-medical school of midwifery in the U.S. 1978
WRITINGS:
Author of BIRTH BOOK, 1972
Chapter on Imprinting, in HOME BIRTH BOOK, Charlotte Ward
Chapter in IMMACULATE DECEPTION, Suzanne Arms, 1975
Chapter The Midwife Question in RECLAIMING BIRTH, HISTORY, AND HEROINES OF AMERICAN CHILDBIRTH REFORM. Margo Edwards and Mary Waldorf, 1984
Journal of American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. 1984
Author BLESSINGWAY INTO BIRTH, 1985
The Doula, THE ART OF MIDWIFERY, 1986
THE USE OF TCM IN THE POST PARTUM PERIOD, Journal of American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1987
MOTHER ROASTING, Mothering Magazine, 1987
BLESSINGWAY, A RITUAL FOR MODERN LIFE, Caduceus Magazine, 1998
HIP SANTA CRUZ, Volume 2, 2017