What you need to know about the mind & body connection in birth…

Story  by Peter Jackson

Did you know the Calmbirth childbirth education program is designed around the mind body-connection? The primary emphasis of Calmbirth is the mind-body connection and how a mother’s state of mind, in fact the couples state of mind, can influence the labour and birth process in many different ways, physically as well as emotionally.

Within the educational content of the Calmbirth course, the physical and hormonal aspects of labour and birth are covered in depth. Couples are also guided through a series of deep relaxation exercises, or what I sometimes refer to inner journeys where we introduce the couples to the inner resources of their minds. These inner resources include the Relaxation Response, the use of their imagination and creative visualization, and conscious breath techniques to name a few. As the course unfolds the couples are introduced to their inner resource of healing, with the emphasis on emotional healing, an element of preparation that is so important in preparing for birth and parenting.

The evidence from contemporary science speaks about how the mother’s thoughts, beliefs and attitudes are turned into chemistry, toggling her between her fight and flight and growth and repair systems. This is important to understand and work with in labour and birth as birth only likes to play with the growth and repair system.

According to the research, a mother’s body contains all the information about her emotions that then regulates her nervous system, hormones and growth factors effecting the way a mother’s body responds to birth and this chemistry transits the placenta regulating and adjusting the baby’s physiology also. This is nature’s head start program [1]“In any event, the unborn baby is in the emotional currents of the mother” [2]

“Our emotions really run everything, they not only run our physiology they run our behaviours and they lead to more choices.”[3]

The healing of old emotional traumas and fears of the mother and her partner has a truly amazing effect on the couple’s birth experience. By helping the couple understand this most important mind body connection, the Calmbirth program builds the couples confidence, dismantles their fears and contributes to the couple’s creation of their birth experience, and also the birth experience of their baby.

This holistic approach to childbirth education and a deep understanding of the mind-body connection is what differentiates the Calmbirth program from traditional programs and the medical approach to pregnancy, labour, birth and beyond.

Emotions are the connecting link between mind and body, it is the emotions moving back and forth between the mind and the body influencing both, this is why attention needs to be paid to the mind-body connection. And this is why emotional healing is extremely important and relevant to prepare couples for this amazing part of their journey together, which is to welcome their baby into the world calmly and confidently.

References

[1]Dr. Bruce Lipton: From the DVD series, “Happy Healthy child series”

[2]Tony Lipson: Geneticist, From his book “Conception to birth, our most important journey” Page 108:

[3]Neuro Scientist Candace Pert: From the DVD “People versus the state of illusion”