Pregnancy to a beautiful birthing experience

Pregnancy for me is an honour for the mother to be, and for me as a Yoga teacher and holistic practitioner to be able to teach and support you at this time...so Thank you...

I feel Yoga and pregnancy go hand in hand... Yoga means to yoke, to unite, to come together, it's yoking all the diverse aspects on yourself into a unified whole, uniting the body, mind, heart. the bridge that brings together the body and mind in yoga is the breath and it's the breath that is also key in your labour experience.   

So when you think about pregnancy, this is yoga, were it not for the ovum and sperm coming together in union no baby would be created...

The pregnancy yoga classes I teach nurture, support and guide you within, to deepen the connection you have with yourself, nothing is more important than your health and well-being. I wish to light a path for you, to empower you and give you continual encouragement to know that at your essence you are a radiant woman, who is endowed with everything to bring life into this world. 

Yoga helps you to relax, improve your energy, guide you to become more aware of your body, mind and heart. Through this awareness Yoga nurtures you as you nurture the baby growing within you. Through this support of Yoga you realx and feel happier and then your happiness hormones are released and yep you guessed it, they affect your baby! 
happy mummy = happy baby.

 The classes also give you time and space as you nurture yourself to connect with the life within you. The classes allow you to meet other ladies and I have know them to become friends and support after the births.

Yoga birth Story

baby in natural Child's Pose

So a few frOM classes have expressed an interest in what i teach and how you can use it during your labour. I had a client in 2011, come to the classes and had her baby unexpectedly a month early... when her waters broke one evening she and her partner went to hospital, he was sent home and she was told to lie down and rest as she wasn't in labour. the hospital, my client later understood, thought they would have to induce her the following morning, so they wanted the Father to come back after a good nights rest and also for my client to rest. what happened she told me was that as she lay there her inner instincts were telling her to move, she didn't want to be still, she was looking at the floor and thought "oh it'll be clean" and so she started to get on the floor and do some Yoga! - I know i was so smiling! so she was there remembering what I had said about turning inside, observe your full deep breath and so she was on the floor doing child's pose, turning inside and connecting to her breath, then felt she wanted to move so did sun salutations (not necessarily recommended for labour, but she did not know she was in labour), she did a lot of cat and cow and then she said her mind quietened and she was remembering to breath deeply and stayed on all fours and was circling her hip circles and rocking back and forth. that's when she felt like she needed to go to the toilet....
as soon as she got up and went to leave the room to ask for toilet, the midwives realised she was in labour and the second stage, and so rang the partner and within a hour baby was born! (father did make it)

So I'm sharing this with you as my client was left alone and did what her instincts guided her to do, she was calm, centred and quite at peace. and this is the perfect state to be in for the first stage of labour to be smooth, quick and pain tolerable. My client said she did feel some pain, but because they told her she wasn't in labour she kept thinking well if this aint labour i wonder what it's like, i'll just do my own thing and she did and it served her well...

from a physiological point of view what my client did without knowing is, she shifted her consciousness to a deeper meditative part of her brain, her primitive brain and hypothalamus which releases hormones and helps you to make correct survival decisions - we all know instinctively what to do i.e pull hand away from fire... the hypothalamus and primitive brain also regulates sleep, appetite and body temperature. she wasn't coming from her intellectual thinking brain, she was guided by instincts to do yoga, to breath, to rock, to move - not lie still as she was told to do so. she turned inside and away from the external stimulus of staring at a ceiling and lights...


Preparing for your birth
Now I'm not recommending you all do yoga,  in the sense of sun salutations, however you can remember a few guides to support and nurture you.

when your labour begins the best thing you can do is..

• pause, breathe, smile, accept
• make the room dim lighting as possible with as little distractions  - make sure you dont feel observed
• try to turn inside, be quiet, come into childs pose on the floor as then you feel the earth beneath you and can close your eyes. or come to all fours and rock or circle your hips, find a rhythm in your breath and moving and the breath in your rhythm...
• if child's pose isn't for you sit facing a dinning room chair with a high back that you can rest your forehead onto and arms rest on top or hold the sides. your pelvis will be open as you straddle and this is great for gravity for birth
• turning inside, becomes more meditative, instinctive, and stop stimulations from the active thinking brain, and its the active thinking brain that can cause fear and inhibitions.
• think of animals, they have animal instincts, when the female animal gives birth she does it alone, in a dark space without distractions... now I am not saying be alone that is your choice, just pause and allow the thinking to slow done and turn inside
• when your Hypothalamus takes over the release of hormones, opiates, endorphins (feel good hormones and pain relieving hormones) are released
• trust your divine feminine instincts - you are powerful beyond measure and can guide the labour by allowing your instincts to take you deep inside yourself where you can experience the journey of your labour unfolding
• if you use a birthing pool use it for a short period, take a duvet to hospital so it is there to keep you warm at any stage.
• when you are fully dilated get out of the pool, this action of putting your foot on earth is a gravitational reflex for the baby to be born - also have the duvet handy in case you are cold from getting out the pool you must feel comfortable and warm to support the birth process

for me all of this above is like meditation, obviously with no baby coming but i hope you see the meditative state of being i am describing....

Meditation and Thinking

Meditation is a where a person attempts to get beyond the reflexive, "thinking" mind into a deeper state of relaxation or awareness. it has been proven that it is useful in mitigating the pains when a woman is in labour. To meditate is just to observe and not react

Benefits of meditation in labour pains

When when a woman is in labour, meditation helps you to relax, shift away from pain to focus to a more joyful state of mind - remember Yoga is the union of the body and the mind and the bridge for this union is the breath. the more you breathe and become aware of the breath as your focus you let go of other distractions and this in turn allows the endorphins to release...

How to practice Meditation to Ease Labour Pains 

Practice this before so that when you give birth you can calm yourself and should be ready for the labour pains : you can make your journey to work on a train meditative, by closing your eyes and observing within... rather than looking at everything and everyone on a train for example 

step by step

• Find a place to sit down and try to close your eyes to relax. Be comfortable.
• The place should be quiet or it does test you more to turn in
• become aware of your breath, inhaling and exhaling in a rhythmical flow inhale for count of 3 or 4, exhale out for 3 or 4, smooth and steady
• just observe the breath and feel, listen
• if thoughts come in, let them pass by like clouds in the sky. if you think of the sky focus on the vast blueness of the sky rather than the clouds passing by in the form of thoughts 

Use my guided mediation to help you - here's the link for guided meditation - found at this page http://www.yogarelax.co.uk/freedownloads (the volume is loud so you can so turn down so its relaxing) this meditation was part of a promotion i did with  Holland and Barrett so is not specifically for pregnancy or labour, its a guide for you

well hope that's helped you a little,

remember be quiet, breath and be grateful - it's a blessing you are about to bring into the world, how wonderful and miraculous is that!

Om shanti

michelle x

www.yogarelax.co.uk