Mindfulness in Birth

In my practice of mindfulness, it is the opportunity we provide ourselves to treat ourselves with kindness over and over again. Mindfulness practice helps me to accept reality on reality’s terms, to respond to stress instead of reacting, and to approach the people around me with greater compassion.

I’ve read a lot of books about pregnancy, birth, and parenting. So far, one of my favorites has been Mindful Birthing by Nancy Bardacke. I highly recommend it to clients and will probably end up bringing it to all of my prenatal visits. Many expectant parents have the most fear surrounding all the pain associated with labor. Their minds swim with “what if?”, and the fear spirals into a painful reality where the fear of pain is realized in the dread! One of my favorite parts of the book explores the mind-body connection. Our parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems often work against each other in labor, and mindfulness practice provides many families relief and assurance, resulting in a satisfactory labor (even if it’s complicated!).

If you would like to do a quick exercise to see if mindfulness may help you in your birth journey, I invite you to do this Ice Cube Meditation twice. The first time, complain the entire time (one minute), and with the second focus on counting your breaths until the minute timer goes off. How does your perception of the discomfort change between exercise one and two?