The Intention + Creation of Sacred Pregnancy

by Brittany Bushaw

Editor’s Note: A version of this post first appeared HERE. 

When I became pregnant with my first baby, I felt a powerful shift begin to happen – not just within my physical body, but also within my heart. I desired to experience my pregnancy with intention, present moment awareness, and trust for my body, baby, and birth. I desired a sacred pregnancy in hopes that it would flow into creating a sacred birth experience.

Already a yoga instructor and massage therapist, I was familiar with the connection between mind, body, and self awareness. I was imperfect and practicing the art of listening to my heart and inner desires, and then choosing to communicate them honestly with family and close friends. Numerous struggles arose because I had to break through the barriers of my own conditioned belief systems in order to recognize and work through insecurities. Pregnancy was a big step forward for me in the process of open and honest communication. I chose to openly share my faith and trust for my entire pregnancy and birth process without allowing other’s fears become my own. You bet this was going to be my first lesson in mothering.

When announcing my pregnancy, I also announced that my husband and I chose to have a home birth. Our announcement was met in a variety of ways: short questions, awkward silence, fear, and support. I was very open about our choice and loved answering questions and engaging in discussion. During each interaction, I reminded myself that each person’s experiences have shaped the lens through which they see the world. Knowing this helped me to stay in my truth and to communicate honestly without taking their responses or reactions personally. This allowed for beautiful dialogue and understandings to take place, and for there to be space for my family and close friends to process our choice. Most importantly, my honest communication reflected confidence, openness, and a meaningful process. I was communicating that this was sacred for me – that my body was an extension of nature – and as much as I trust the process of a seed being planted, growing, and blooming, I trust the process of pregnancy and birth. To me they are all synonymous.

Moving forward into my pregnancy, I expanded my yoga practice, and I wanted to learn more about the pregnant woman’s body. I had a desire to take space for myself and to be engulfed by a community of women and learning. That’s when I discovered Blooma. I enrolled in their prenatal yoga teacher training in October 2011 and loved every moment of my experience there. I dove into myself in every yoga class, experienced the power of being surrounded by other pregnant mamas, and felt the bliss of truly feeling supported without judgment. My confidence in myself, my choices, and my communication was emanating out of me in response to all of the inspiration and abundance. I was actively recognizing my needs and desires and manifesting them!

As I openly shared my inspiration about pregnancy and birth with those around me, naturally, some of my closest friends became inspired to contribute to my journey. My dear friend, Sandie Fish, held a three part circle ceremony:
I. Welcoming a new mother
II. Welcoming for baby
III. Welcoming a new father.

With the greatest of intention and communication, we created a circle with the wiser and older women in my life whom could share their journeys as women and mothers. We created quilt squares and tied the quilt together to wrap the baby in our wisdom and love, they brought me beads to assemble a necklace to surround me in their energy, power, and wisdom during labor and mothering, and they showered me with intentional gifts for my birthing alter. Every time we gathered I experienced a shedding and releasing of old thoughts, beliefs, and stories that were no longer serving me. The circle ceremony allowed all of us space to let go of our egos and to become present with our deeper selves. We felt connected, alive, and valuable in our life journey, struggles and all. I felt (and still feel) from these women and ceremonies an incredible amount support, love, and laughter that will forever stay with me. I was indeed experiencing a sacred pregnancy. Like a flower gently rooted into the earth, I was feeling vulnerable yet strong in my process of growth.

My spirit sister Amy and good friend Steph were inspired not just by pregnancy but by life itself. They planned and created a Celebration of Life gathering for our close group of friends to be intentional in their support for my process. Everyone brought a blessing, poem, song lyrics, or their own writing to share what life means to them. We lit candles and gathered around the table. So much giggling, love, and intentional conversation was happening. Celebrating with delicious, wholesome food along with beautiful energy of acceptance and understanding. It made my heart sing.
We created artful affirmation signs for me to hang on my wall for the labor and birth. Words like flow, breathe, power, trust, exist, now, rest, and focus were created. It was a peaceful, calm time in the evening as everyone allowed for an opening for creativity to flow. Through art, we cultivated our intentions and love.

The affirmations were a powerful addition to the energy of our home as we began to make active preparations in creating the sacred birth that I knew in my heart was possible. These affirmations still exist within my home to remind me in my mothering (and in life) to flow like water, to breathe, exist, and to trust the process of struggle and inner work.

At the end of pregnancy when the baby showers began to take place (I had four of them), it was very apparent that my desires were being heard. The women throwing these baby showers made them bright, fun, and filled with life. My gifts were hand made, bought with intention, or things that I truly needed (cloth diapers). Like the Minnesota River after the snow has melted, I was bursting at the banks and over flowing with abundance and gratitude. Feeling the deepest connection I had ever felt with those closest to me, and to myself, I was ready whenever the BABY was to move into the next phase of sacredness and connection. I was ready to give birth.

After the birth of my daughter Abyl, I spent time reflecting on the power that exists within us, not just as women, but as human beings. Abyl was part of this entire process and was taking my lead the entire time. By inviting beautiful energy, support, and trust into my experience, I also shared it with her in the womb. The sacred pregnancy I set the intention for, sought out, and actively manifested (with the help of my loved ones) flowed beautifully into experiencing a sacred birth. My amazing friend Amy, supportive husband Adam, and attentive midwife Rachel all supported me gracefully while I experienced a labor full of struggle, opening,shedding, letting go, peace, and in the end, pure joy and love.

Ease the Ride with Thai Yoga Bodywork for Pregnancy

by Cori Levin

 

Along with a yoga practice, eating healthy and sleeping often; it is helpful for pregnant women to incorporate monthly bodywork.  Bodywork can include Thai massage, traditional massage, Reiki, acupuncture, chiropractic care, and many others. With all the shifts happening in a woman’s body while growing her baby, a feeling of imbalance may arise as her style of life changes. Our culture lacks in teaching us how to slow down and take time for self-care: we are do-ers and achievers.  Challenge yourself to be mindful of your breath and teach your baby a calm rhythmic breath by incorporating bodywork sessions in your busy life! 

 

Thai Yoga Bodywork (TYB) is a healing art that combines holding yoga poses, breath work and ancient healing wisdom. The practitioner begins with a breathing exercise and assessing the client’s energy body with a pendulum. It is similar to a massage however a client (pregnant or not) is on the floor with clothes on, lying on a mat with pillows supporting her while being stretched and pressed on.  In this tradition, it is believed that by stimulating the acupressure points, the body aligns itself and heals ailments.  TYB is thought to help balance the body energetically and emotionally. It feels uplifting and calming.

 

Tremendous physical changes happen to the female body during pregnancy, birth and beyond.  The hormonal shifts affect a woman’s state of mind while her nervous system goes for a ride. Thai Yoga bodywork can help minimize pregnancy ailments including nausea, sleep issues, fear of birth, restless legs, and back issues.  It also has many benefits for the postpartum stage and into motherhood assisting in helping women tap into their intuition allowing women to feel strong in making decisions throughout their journey as parents.

 

 

Cori Levin is the mother of two girls; a Thai Yoga Bodywork practitioner at Enlightened Mama, Reiki-master trained , creator of “Heal Fast” postpartum bath herbs, Birth Doula and Registered Yoga teacher. She can be reached at levincori@gmail.com and https://www.facebook.com/PachaMamaDoula

Website coming soon http://www.pachamamacori.com

Somatic Bodywork for Pregnancy

Editor’s Note: Today we have a post from Collective member Mandy Herrick, who explains how a somatic bodyworker approaches working with a pregnant mama. 

by Mandy Herrick, RSMT, GSP

We all know pregnancy is a time in a woman’s life that is full of new awareness, whether it be aches and pains or breath and bliss. Either way, it’s a time to relish in the self. To nurture, to savor, to behold. And to get some bodywork.

Not many of us remember our own self being born. But here at our very own birth we start a relationship with ourselves that continues through our life. How we relate to our body. How we relate to others and our environment. And through our hectic, adventurous lives we develop patterns – not just lifestyle patterns – but physical movement patterns that can intertwine with energy levels, emotional well-being, and musculoskeletal discomfort. The way we sit, stand, lie down and move around can all impact the balance of our tensegrity, the natural 3-dimensional tension system our bones and fascia create within our body.   There are several ways to approach these symptoms from a Somatic Therapy standpoint. And in the context of pregnancy and postpartum, these approaches can be very helpful in understanding your body – the main tool you will need to birth and nurture your baby.

Hands-on Healing

The body is a marvelous dynamic system full of muscles, bones, organs, fascia, fluids, ligaments, nerves, hormones, and energy that all communicate together in an interwoven network. My goal for clients is to find healing by attuning to the interdependence of all these systems. I combine Craniosacral Therapy, energy healing (Reiki and Vibrational Aspects™), gentle massage, and breath to find relief and restoration from sore and tight areas, stress and anxiety, and just feeling “off.” In pregnancy, the ligaments and fascia in the pelvis and sacrum are stretching and re-adjusting as the bones move to make room for baby. Here, energy work and “embodied massage” can be very relieving. Embodied massage is a term I use for hands-on palpation of a certain area that integrates the bone, the nearby joint, the ligaments and the fascia to allow the muscle to not only restore balance and fluidity, but for the tissue to have an inner awareness, or a mind, that can communicate what it needs. This is where the body/mind connection comes in – that to trust the body is in fact to trust the intelligence of our muscles, bones and organs. For pregnancy, birth and postpartum, it is essential to be reminded of our body’s wisdom and the wisdom of our baby, who swims in utero and spirals out into the world.

Other hands-on modalities I practice include Reiki, Vibrational Aspects and Craniosacral Therapy. Reiki and Vibrational Aspects work together to access the body’s delicate energy system, finding healing by channeling energy or vibration into tissues, organs, or a more global area of the body that calls for equilibrium. Craniosacral Therapy is a modality that uses very light pressure to work with the craniosacral system – brain, spinal cord, dural tube, cerebralspinal fluid, and sacrum. Relief is found by navigating the nervous system and allowing the natural healing process to unfold. Pregnancy is a wonderful time to receive both of these modalities as they seek to support body, mind and spirit.

Alignment Techniques

I recently participated in a webinar called “Finding your Root: Balancing Your Foundational Core and the Pelvic Floor Muscles” by Yoga Practitioner, Leslie Howard who stated that “sitting is the new smoking.” It turns out our bodies are not a bunch of bones stacked atop one another with muscles fixed to them.  The way we align ourselves in basic positions and movements throughout the day can affect our musculoskeletal integrity.  Sitting, for example, is an action that, these days, if practiced for long periods of time in inefficient postures (i.e. slumped over) can impact not only our low back and pelvic floor, but also our energy level, mental clarity, and general well being. And the epic proportion of people that follow the rhythm of Sit Sit Sit Sit all day (sit in the car to work, sit at work, sit in the car back home, sit on the couch) is growing exponentially in our country.

A pregnant woman’s body is in constant counterbalance. As the belly widens and reaches out into the open, the tissues and muscles living on the back of the body are contracting and pulling to regain balance as the mother walks, sits, reaches down, stands up, or even rests upright in meditation. We are subject to gravity, there’s no way around it. As a Somatic Therapist, I am interested in a base level how my clients:

• Use their Breath

• Relate to their Spine

• Relate to their Pelvis

• Integrate their whole body

Together we find landmarks of the spine or landmarks of the pelvis that help the client find anatomical neutral – where the body is aligned most efficiently. Landmarks such as our ‘sitz bones,’ pubic bone, kidneys (to support the back of the spine), heart (to support the front of the spine and opens the chest) all help in gaining more awareness to our body. And with more awareness, comes self re-aligning and re-patterning and ultimately healing.  

I also integrate the surrounding organs, not only as physiologic systems, but as complementary support structures for the bones. And we notice how the fascia, a weblike system of tissue with innervating nerves, moves and envelops around the bones, organs, and areas of imbalance. With nerves weaving in and around our every structure, there is no way we cannot attribute a ‘mind’ to our tissue. So we trust the body.

Movement Re-patterning

With every motion, there is an attention the body takes with itself and its environment. We learned this in our earliest movement explorations inside our mother’s womb. From playing with our earliest toy, the umbilical cord, to mouthing our tiny hands, to pushing against the strong intrauterine walls (sometimes into our mother’s rib) thereby understanding our boundaries, we have experienced the crucial developmental stages of becoming a human. Post-birth, we enter the world of gravity, and our strong and supple newborn bodies continue to repeat all the movement we learned in our comfy amniotic ocean. We then learn more advanced developmental movements that eventually lead us to crawling, standing, walking.  And although these small movements started early (we were moving even as embryos), they can contribute to the functionality of our brain, our emotional capacity, and the optimal capability of our movement potential.

In a nutshell, if baby is allowed free movement of limbs, these out-of-womb reflexive stages look like this:

• Breath

• Yielding with gravity into the earth (aka the floor)

• Exploring core to extremities relationship

• Exploring head to tail relationship

• Exploring upper/lower body connection

• Exploring body half differentiation (symmetrical)

• Full integration of all the above

As we grow older, we may learn that some of these reflexes need more integration within our bodies. It may not be obvious because as adults we are operating with our cerebral cortex, our high brain, as we “successfully” live our fast-paced life. Practicing and re-integrating these developmental movement patterns can reawaken the low, reptilian brain and can potentially restore the needed physiologic experience into what is most essential for our complex body/mind connection: consciousness within ourselves tied with a gentle awareness to our outer environment.

I can’t think of a better time to get back into our reptilian brain other than pregnancy. It’s the brain that will lead us in to birth, that will guide us to our instincts.

So as you imagine yourself being born, coming into the world fresh and new, tap into that tiny newborn self. The part of you that might need skin to skin touch, swaddling, holding, or affirmation that you are you. In pregnancy and birth, consciously experiencing your own body can be a transformative endeavor. And you may not like it.  But it’s here where we open ourselves to the unknown.

Mandy Herrick is a Registered Somatic Movement Therapist specializing in pregnancy and birth. She is also a Global Somatics™ Practitioner, Prenatal Yoga Practitioner, dance artist and mother. For more information visit www.mandyherrick.com

Using Traditional Chinese Medicine in Pregnancy, Birth, and Postpartum

by Julie Colby

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is an ancient healing system that has been extremely effective in treating women on their journey through pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum phase.  Three commonly implemented modalities in modern day practice are:  acupuncture, herbal medicine, and dietary therapy.  The underlying premise of TCM is that energy (Qi) is a life force that everyone and everything  are made from.  We all require Qi to survive and maintain.  When disharmony manifests, whether physically emotionally, or spiritually, we practitioners of TCM say that there is a disturbance in the flow of Qi.  Pregnant mamas throughout the ages know that pregnancy, birth, and postpartum cause our Qi to travel far off the beaten path. As TCM postulates that we are all unique, dynamic beings, the roads down which the childbearing years take us depend on many factors (age of conception, underlying disposition, lifestyle choices, just to name a few).  The point of departure, as well as the paths we veer off on our healing journey, are known as our pattern according to to TCM.   That is a rudimentary synapsis of TCM theory.  Let’s get to some of the juicy specifics of what TCM can address:

 

Pregnancy is when the Palace of The Child (the uterus) is growing and nurturing a sweet babe.  As sacred and miraculous as this critical life event is, TCM views pregnancy as Qi blockage for women’s bodies to function optimally. Let’s face it, week-by-week, the growing uterus expands and pushes the internal organs upward, where space is less than abundant.  Conditions such as: heartburn, nausea and vomiting, round ligament pain, urinary tract infections, itching, back and sciatic pain, and carpal tunnel are quite common.  Other common issues that arise in pregnancy are:  positional concerns (breech and occiput posterior are  the most common), postdates (babies gestating beyond the traditional forty weeks), and anxiety.

 

Acupuncture, herbal medicine, and dietary therapy are all helpful in reducing the severity of these conditions and have almost no side effects.  In contemporary clinical practice, disposable surgical steel needles are placed in various acupoints along pathways (also known as meridians or channels) of the body and retained for 20-40 minutes.  The intent of acupuncture is to access and manipulate Qi that needs to be redirected.  Some describe the sensation as tingling, itchy, heavy, relaxing, or warming.  Herbs and foods also can be prescribed according to one’s individual pattern.  TCM employs an amazing model called the Five Element System (Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, and Wood).  Each herb and food belongs to a particular Element and possesses a particular thermal (Hot, Warm, Neutral, Cool, and Cold) property.  Knowing which ones work for you and why is helpful in making practical decisions when going to the grocery store and considering what’s cooking for dinner.

 

Most TCM practitioners, particularly those that focus on pregnant women, know that regular acupuncture treatments throughout pregnancy and especially in the last month keep Qi flowing throughout the body.  Harmonious Qi flow often has powerful outcomes for labor encouragement and we see better outcomes in birth.  In fact, acupuncture can be a remarkable tool during labor itself for:  relaxation, fatigue, positioning, and progression.  In the immediate postpartum, acupuncture can be used to:  promote urination, reduce bleeding, encourage birth of the placenta, and to strengthen a woman’s overall Qi.

 

TCM has a gorgeous protocol for postpartum women known as The Golden Month.  During these forty days, women stay home (preferably skin-to-skin) and bond with their precious newborn babe.  Cold foods and beverages are forbidden and warm, nourishing foods are served.  Visitors are kept at bay, family (often a mother, grandmother, aunt, or sister) attends to all household chores, and mama’s activity and attention is focused on recovery and breastfeeding (if this is her wish). Women given this incredible gift of healing in the postpartum phase have amazing outcomes in:  establishing a successful breastfeeding relationship, nurturing emotional health, healing tears or lacerations related to birth, and overall, navigating life with a new member of the tribe.  Another powerful tool that TCM suggests is placenta encapsulation.  The placenta contains nutrient rich medicine that reharmonizes the overall Qi of the body.

 

Above all else, making intentional decisions regarding our own health is empowering.  To pause, reflect, and make informed decisions about how we birth, how we live, and what goes into our body and our healing is a very normal thing that should be rooted in personal preference and evidence-based research.  Being a TCM practitioner, mother of three, and embracing these principles throughout my own birth journeys has propelled me to commit my life calling to trusting in women’s wisdom and particularly in knowing a little can go a long way.  A little insight into The Five Elements and thermal properties can make some revolutionary changes for many.

 

Julie Colby is a Licensed Acupuncturist, a Birth and Postpartum Doula, and an Aspiring Midwife.  She owns Lady Slipper Wellness Center in NE Minneapolis and loves fielding inquiries regarding health.  From time to time she teaches classes or holds workshops on TCM and Women’s Wisdom.  She can be reached at ladyslipperwellness@hotmail.com.

Birth Matters: A Midwife’s Manifesta, by Ina May Gaskin — A Book Review

By Hope Lien CD(DONA)

In her influential new book, Ina May Gaskin, the godmother of natural childbirth and world renowned midwife, writes of the harsh realities of the maternity care system in the United States– with some of the highest maternal morbidity in the developed world. She compels readers to consider that every woman should have the right to positive and safe birth. Gaskin’s evidence -ased work, rigorous examination of past, present, and future maternity practices, and intimate writing style all made this a delightful read.

There were many parts of this book that resonated with me, both as an advocate for women to receive better care, and personally as a female consumer. In the beginning of the book, Ina May reflects on the way she reminds women to trust their bodies to birth. “Let your monkey do it,” is a phrase Gaskin refers to in the book, and often encourages women to remain in a sort of primal state that their body will best progress in during labor.  By staying in tune with their natural birthing state, and when placed in a comfortable environment, such as their home, women are able to avoid many interventions imposed on them by the obstetrical system today.

Birth Matters is peppered with birth stories from the Farm Midwifery Center where Ina May lives and works as a midwife. These tales of the great strength of women who have birthed their babies without the use of pain medication or surgical measures give power to the opinions expressed throughout her book. Gaskin devotes an entire chapter to discussing technological advances in the obstetrical realm and the ways in which women may have been better off without. She educates readers about the effective and safe options that were previously available before the invention of ultrasound to predict a baby’s weight, widespread c-section for breech babies, and electronic fetal monitoring, to name a few.

One of my favorite sectionsof the book speaks directly to fathers-to-be. In this section, Gaskin gently encourages partners to be familiar with the sphincter law, the idea that the cervix opens best in privacy and to follow a mother’s cues to show you how to move through the labor process. She also suggests how to help the laboring woman tune into her “monkey” or most primal state, and keep her adrenaline or fight or flight response low, while boosting her oxytocin and beta endorphins which keep labor moving and reduce pain levels. Gaskin does an excellent job of encouraging fathers and reminding them that birth is a normal process, although the media may tell you otherwise.

At the end of the book, Ina May shares her vision for subsequent births here and around the world. She maintains a hope that one day medical personnel will be more properly educated to assist birthing women, and that maternity care standards would be revised. Most importantly, Gaskin is optimistic that we can develop a better way to keep track of all maternal deaths taking place in the US, and that we could develop better practices based on the outcomes.

Birth Matters is a persuasive and enticing look at birthing standards in the US, with many traditional and non-invasive ways to improve upon them. It is certainly one of Ina May’s most far-reaching call to women and maternity care specialists everywhere to improve the care we offer to expectant mothers, both here and around the world.