Pregnancy Meditation

Benefits of meditation during pregnancy

Pregnancy is a unique time when women are focused on their health and motivated to look after themselves. Many women are more reflective during pregnancy, as they undergo great transformation. Meditation can support these changes offering mental and emotional benefits. It is a method of learning to be grounded and panic free, which can help in birth and parenting. It is an opportunity to experience tranquility, increased awareness of present moment and stress relief.

Meditation can help women to prepare for labour. Classic yoga texts suggest that the aim of yoga during pregnancy is physical strength and mental control. Practicing yogasana with ujjayi breathing, pranayama and meditation will help create a relaxed and confident mind, able to manage labour and produce a sedative effect on the mother.

Birth is a process that women are physiologically and naturally designed to perform. All we need to do is “shut down the front part of the brain – the chattering, thinking, planning, worrying part of the brain – to allow space for the back part to take the lead” (Croft, 2011). This is easier said than done! But, meditation is practice! It helps us to train the mind to switch off. We can practice during pregnancy so that when challenges arise we already have the skills and abilities to draw on.

It is also suggested that anxiety, depression and stress during pregnancy can have implications for child health (Schetter and Tanner, 2012). Too much stress and anxiety can be related to low birth weight, preterm birth and children with attention deficit, anxiety or behavioral problems (Auzeen, 1991). Thus, if meditation can help to reduce stress during pregnancy it might improve child health post pregnancy.

Meditation is an integral part of Yoga for Pregnancy classes…

Why not join Yoga for Pregnancy 6-week course? All classes include a mixture of physical yoga exercises (asana), specific breathing practices (pranayama), meditation and relaxation. Learning over 6 weeks will help you develop and practice breathing and meditation such that you can more easily adopt these practices during labour. For more information, contact Norah.