Pregnancy is a time you want to enjoy. According to some mothers, pregnancy is a time when you live on a pink cloud; for other mothers, on the contrary, pregnancy is a time when fear of childbirth itself takes over. This is a great shame because stress during pregnancy is not good for yourself or your unborn baby.
Therefore, in this article, I discuss how meditation can support pregnancy and childbirth.
Meditation during pregnancy
Meditation and other mental techniques to relax during pregnancy already have good effects on the health of your child and on the duration of labor. This is according to a meta-study conducted in 2008(1).
This study compared many outcomes of mental treatments during pregnancy for effectiveness.
Unfortunately, there was no one-size-fits-all treatment in all studies, yet scientists were able to conclude that pregnant women benefit from techniques to help them relax and be able to place thoughts.
This was because these techniques improved mood during pregnancy. Birth weight was higher with treatment than without and that labor was shorter than if women did not use meditation or relaxation techniques during pregnancy.
For example, research shows that daily yoga and meditation helps to maintain weight, make birth easier and reduce medical complications in newborn infants(2).
This is due to direct and indirect influences of meditation. For example, meditation helps to reduce anxiety and stress, meditation makes you produce more endorphins, more melatonin and improves DHEA hormone function and blood pressure.
In the process, meditation strengthens the bond between mother and child and there is less need for a cesarean section or other complications.
Reducing anxiety and stress and its effect on pregnancy and childbirth
Anxiety and stress are common during pregnancies. This is very unfortunate because it undermines the normal function of your body and immune system. Through meditation, you reduce anxiety and this can actually lead to optimal weight of your baby(3).
- In fact, anxiety during pregnancy produces the following "side effects":
- Underweight
- More complications during childbirth
- Increased risk of miscarriage
- Increased risk of birth defects
- It can lead to premature labor
- An increase in prescription medication (which your unborn child will then also receive)
- More pain during childbirth
In the process, other family members may also experience more stress from an anxious mother-to-be.
Meditation lowers anxiety, allowing your body to function normally. In doing so, anxiety also contributes to a lower pain threshold. So the less anxiety you have, the more pain you can tolerate.
Effect of endorphins during childbirth
Endorphins are natural painkillers. Through meditation, you can increase endorphin levels in your body. Therefore, if you meditate during your pregnancy, it will ultimately have a pain-relieving effect during childbirth.
Melatonin during pregnancy
Meditation also helps with the production of melatonin. Melatonin is known as the sleep hormone, but that's not the only thing it's good for. In fact, this hormone makes you feel comfortable. It has a calming effect and gives you peace of mind.
This allows you to relax properly, therefore it naturally helps you fall asleep.
The melatonin also reaches your baby in the womb. As a result, you can both enjoy a calm pregnancy.
Improved action of DHEA hormone
The DHEA hormone are several hormones that have a variety of health-promoting properties. It is a prehormone that is important for the production of estrogen, testosterone and androgen, among others. These and other hormones with this base substance are important for:
- Your immune system
- Vitality
- Youthfulness
- Lowering stress and anxiety
- A good mood
- Proper function of the brain
- Enhancing the senses
- Blood pressure
Reduced complications during childbirth
Meditation thus provides greater relaxation and a higher pain threshold, including during childbirth. As a result, complications are less likely to occur and you need to use less medication during labor itself.
- If you meditate during pregnancy, the risk of a cesarean section is reduced by half.
- Meditation during pregnancy also lowers the chance of using the epidural by more than 80 percent.
Meditation exercises for during pregnancy
Now that you've read all the benefits of meditation during pregnancy, you're probably dying to start meditating. There are several meditation techniques you can use during pregnancy(5).
Note that at some point the baby is as aware of its surroundings as you are. Vibrations, such as moods, he/she can pick up on.
You obviously want your child to have a relaxed pregnancy as well, the following exercises are for relaxing you and eventually your unborn child.
Breathing meditation during pregnancy
First, you can meditate sitting down, focusing on your breathing. By feeling and controlling your breathing, you can relax. You can place your hands on the bottom of your abdomen to feel your breathing.
If you find it easier to perform this exercise lying down you may do so as well.
There are several ways you can meditate while being mindful of your breathing. First, you can observe your breathing. This involves becoming aware of your breathing, but not controlling it.
This exercise serves the purpose of recognizing yourself and your current state. You can often tell how you are feeling from your breathing. For example, when you are tense you often have breathing that is more from the chest than from the abdomen.
Next, you do get to control that breathing. You start breathing from your belly. Your chest then no longer has to move for breathing. You can try in this case to give the inhalation and exhalation the same length of time.
To clear your head of worries, counting your breath allows you to focus entirely on yourself. The point is not to have as many breaths as possible per meditation session. Therefore, count up to the tenth breath and then start over.
Love, peace and happiness meditation with your child during pregnancy
Once you have mastered this, you can focus on sending loving thoughts or energy to your child. You spread your awareness from your breathing to your womb which is a safe haven for your baby.
As your baby grows, it will become easier and easier to be aware of the pregnancy. For his/her presence will literally be felt, for example, when he/she starts moving his/her legs.
You inhale deeply, visualizing how love fills your body and passes through your blood to your baby. On the next breath, you visualize how peace fills your body and how peace is transported through the placenta to your baby.
Next in breathing is happiness, how the breath causes you to be filled with happiness and how that also reaches your baby.
You can alternately transport these three feelings of love, peace and happiness to your baby via breathing until you are completely relaxed and feel a connection with your child. It doesn't matter if this doesn't work right away, practice makes perfect (no pun intended).
Muscle relaxation meditation during pregnancy
Being relaxed and sending loving feelings to your child is obviously a lot of fun, but pregnancy sometimes brings with it practical discomforts, such as tense muscles.
First, lie down and make sure your back is well supported. You can use a pillow for this. Next, first breathe calmly as in the first meditation exercise in this article.
Next, start by tightening and relaxing the muscles in your feet. Then your calves, shin muscles, thighs (the front and back), abdominal and chest muscles, the back, your arms, neck and the muscles in your face.
You can compare this to the mindfulness body scan and body pose in yoga.
Meditation exercises during childbirth
Meditating even during childbirth will ensure more relaxation, and it will also allow your child to enter the world more relaxed. Therefore, it can be important to inform doctors of your meditation exercises, as children can come out of it very relaxed which can seem a little odd.
This is because meditation causes you to react less negatively to stressful situations, that less negative reaction is also passed on to your baby. You actually begin proper parenting before birth.
In the process, after 32 weeks, your baby also gets your hormones in his/her blood. Those hormones give your baby an indication of the environment he/she is going to be in. If you have a lot of stress hormones it can mean that your baby thinks he is going to a scary world, while with less stress hormones you give more the impression of a safe environment of security.
Meditation creates that lower stress hormone level in your blood. In the process, you can also tolerate more pain when you meditate. Which is very helpful if you have to give birth.
Want to learn more about mental techniques you can use to make exciting moments in your life more enjoyable? Then check out the Hypnosis Institute Netherlands' courses or come to a seminar.
Sources:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1552-6909.2008.00218.x/full
http://www.innovareacademics.in/journals/index.php/ijpps/article/view/3586
http://www.momjunction.com/articles/amazing-benefits-of-meditation-during-pregnancy_0098592/
http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-24858/5-things-i-always-tell-pregnant-women-about-meditating.html
