“Most of us have two lives. The life we live and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands resistance”
MINDFULNESS. WHY YOU NEED TO INCLUDE IT IN YOUR LIFE…
A moment-by-moment awareness of your thoughts, feelings and your emotions. Allow them to just come and go. Don’t do anything with them - accept what they are. In this acceptance, you will learn what motivates you, what brings you down, what keeps you stuck and what keeps you moving. The more you practice mindfulness the more you will come to understand the influence of your own thoughts, feelings and emotions - even how they affect your mood, which in turn, affects how you interact and respond with the world. Start where you are.
Mindfulness- The in’s and out’s - WHO? WHAT? WHY? WHERE? WHEN? HOW?
Don’t you love research?! Or maybe you don’t and that’s all good! For those of us who don’t know where to start, don’t really know how to read research (but won’t admit it) or simply can’t be stuffed, I have taken the hard work out of this one for you. Research proves to us time and again many things. I am so thrilled to be able to write that research has proven the benefits of mindfulness and here are some of the goodies that follow from the practice of mindfulness - all with research links!!!! All you have to do is click.
Emotional Balance - Everybody is affected by emotions. In times of emotional disturbance, mindfulness helps restore our sense of wellbeing: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2016.00451/full
The Art of Practising Mindfulness daily for 25 minutes, for three consecutive days, has been shown to increase resilience to psychological stress (https://www.heysigmund.com/different-ways-to-practice-mindfulness/)
Reduces Depression as well as the recurrence of Depression http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/article-abstract/2517515
Improve Sleep (we all need this!) and helps reduce fatigue (we need this too!) https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2110998
Improves Concentration Mindfulness can improve executive attention, increasing the ability to concentrate and ignore distractions. This is crucial for academic success for all children, particularly those with ADHD. (Findings presented by Dominic Crehan and Dr Michelle Ellefson (University of Cambridge) at the British Psychological Society’s Cognitive Developmental Psychology Annual Conference at the University of Reading 2013.) referenced from : https://www.heysigmund.com/different-ways-to-practice-mindfulness/
How you can apply mindfulness to your life - remember, start where you are!
Whether you think you can or you think you can’t you’re right - Henry Ford
Wherever you are, be there totally - Eckhart Tolle
Our life is shaped by our mind, for we become what we think - Buddha
Everything is created twice, first in the mind and then in reality - Robin Sharma
Worrying is like a rocking chair; it gives you something to do, but doesn’t get you anywhere - English Proverb
Mindfulness for Labour and Birth
How can mindfulness support you during labour and birth?
Mindfulness Approaches to Childbirth and Parenting research link read here
Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right! Ahhh…. the famous quote which so resonates with me when chatting to mothers-to-be about their desire to have a drug free, natural, physiological birth. And it truly starts with mindset and mindfulness. However, it is not as simple as just ‘plopping the thought in your mind’ and will all unfold as it should. It takes time and it takes practice. We don’t make the time and we choose not to to make the time to practice - so, herein lies the issue.
Make the conscious choice EVERY day to:
Put 5 minutes aside to stop, breathe and visualise how you see your ‘ideal birth’ unfolding. Right down to visualising your support people and how they are helping you through, to your environment, the resources you may have (e.g. aromatherapy oils, candles, closed curtains), to your LMC discussing your progress and how well your labour is going…. Visualise that you are coping with each contraction and you are able to rest fully in between - just totally relaxed. Build up to 10 minutes per day to 20 minutes per day if you can.
How does this work you ask?
Visualise this. You have been running up a hill to get home in a hurry and it’s really hot, the sun is shining, there is no breeze and you are incredibly thirsty. You haven’t got far to run, but you are tired and so desperately need that cold water. Not water from the tap, but that cold sparkling water you have in the fridge that always quenches your thirst. Now, you are puffing and have made it to your letterbox, not far to go before you pour that nice cold drink. You open the fridge and pour your cold drink into the glass. Visualise the first few gulps before you take a breath and pause before you drink any more. Absolute relief! What have you done just then? Well, a bit of reading of course, but I do hope you visualised and got my point! Could you picture being that thirsty? Has this happened to you before? The mind visualises and the physiological responses occur.
In HypnoBirthing, we cover a visualisation which has the participant close their eyes and visualises slicing through a really juicy lemon, they inhale the scent of the lemon and taste the lemon. It’s a giggle when looking at people’s faces, because as they visualise taking a bite into the lemon, they screw their faces up! And they aren’t really biting a lemon, but their mind wouldn’t know the difference!
So: visualise, visualise, visualise. See it unfolding as it should. See how you are coping, notice how you are breathing.
How can visualisation help me when birth doesn’t go to plan?
As with before, when you have got the hang of 5 minutes per day of visualisation to 10 minutes per day visualisation etc… then when you feel you can, take yourself through a ‘what if’ scenario. For example, your dream is to have a drug free water birth at home. But, when labour is prolonged and there is concern about baby’s heart rate, your care provider is now talking about a transfer to hospital. How will you respond? What thoughts may be going through your mind? What if an ambulance has to be called? Can you visualise this happening swiftly but in a calmly matter? Can you visualise yourself remembering to breathe?
Why would you want to visualise something you don’t want to happen though? It doesn’t make sense?
Remember, walk yourself through some '“potentials”, so that IF something were to occur, your mind has walked through this, it has been there, it has seen (in your minds eye) a situation and you will be able to approach it more mindfully. It doesn’t take away disappointment, it doesn’t take away all the fear, but I do reassure you that walking yourself through the up’s and downs of what could be is preparation, and time again, preparation falls in the ‘didn’t get around to do’ basket. Don’t spend the majority of your time going over the what if’s, but do touch on it, do help yourself by preparing mentally.
Books for Mindfulness:
HypnoBirthing - The Mongan Method - Marie F. Mongan
Mindful Birthing - Nancy Bardacke
Mindful Pregnancy & Birth - Riga Forbes
Mindful HypnoBirthing - Sophie Fletcher
Childbirth & Mindful Birthing - Erika Young
HypnoBirthing - Siobhan Miller
Read more about HYPNOBIRTHING HERE
