Mindfulness During Pregnancy
Being Present and Aware
Expectant mothers have a great opportunity to develop a wonderful tool during pregnancy. In Yoga we call this tool mindfulness. Mindfulness is described often as a way to establish more awareness in one’s life. This can include awareness of breath, posture, thoughts and actions. It can also include deeper awareness of internal sensations in the body, how food is interacting with one’s digestion and energy levels.
You can apply mindfulness to just about every aspect of life and it will provide a great tool to help you manage the many changes of pregnancy. My first pregnancy had a few hiccups that really forced me to cultivate mindfulness. I can remember developing a very bad case of hives during my second trimester. Naturally, I wanted to find an instant cure to get rid of the itch. It took me several weeks to realize I needed to cultivate some mindfulness in my daily life. I started to observe my food intake to see if the food I was eating aggravated the rash. I looked at my sleep habits, my detergents and soaps I used on my skin. I began to observe my work life to see if there was anything that needed to be tweaked to reduce my overall stress. I was able to discover that I had not delegated a manager for my business for the time I would be out on maternity leave. This was not an apparent stressor for me. In fact, I was surprised to realize I had ignored it for several months and finally my body decided to give me a very big clue.
As you begin down this beautiful journey of pregnancy, start to develop a little time each day to observe your thoughts. Our thought life has a huge impact on how we deal with stress and the many changes of pregnancy. If your thoughts immediately go into negative autopilot mode, take a moment to observe them and practice letting go of the negative or anxious thoughts. Try to replace them with one or two positive thoughts. This sounds very simple and may seem even silly but thoughts do have power to lift our spirits or sour our hopes and dreams. Studies have shown that our thoughts even release specific chemicals in the brain. Negative thoughts send out chemicals that speed up the aging process while positive thoughts can increase our overall sense of well-being and joy.
You can also practice sending positive thoughts to your baby. Taking time every day to connect in this way will help you feel more connected to the beautiful life growing inside of you. We can all easily get caught up with our day-to-day “to-do” list activities even when we are pregnant. Certainly we have daily obligations that need our attention. However, to cultivate mindfulness, you have to take time to stop and observe. You must take a moment to slow down and check in with your body, breath, thoughts, emotions and actions. By taking that moment to slow down, you have decided to be a conscious participant in your own life. You have decided to be fully present!
Practicing mindfulness teaches us how to stay in the here and the now. Being present will help you to be present for your baby throughout his or her developing years. Mindfulness is a great gift to our selves. When practiced daily, we learn how to create a well-balanced life. We learn how to be our authentic selves. We no longer are willing to just survive life –going through the motions or just try to get through one more day. We no longer have to wait until tomorrow to be happy or joyful. Mindfulness teaches us how to be happy and joyful right now!
Give yourself and your baby the gift of mindfulness and start reaping the rewards today.