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Relaxation Helps During Pregnancy and Birth

Learning relaxation techniques during pregnancy serves you well.

If you condition your body now it will be much easier to slip into a relaxed state during labor and birth - and even after your baby is born these techniques will serve you well.

I highly recommend you find a guided relaxation audio to work through. Make time each and every day to listen if it's possible.

If you work perhaps you can listen in the evenings after you've taken a few minutes to get comfortable at home.

If you have other children use their naptime to practice. Or let them play around you in a child-proofed room while you close your eyes. This may be a good time to bring some rarely-seen toys in for them to play with.

Find Out How a Few Minutes of Relaxation a Day Gave Me a Perfect Natural Birth

Start with Awareness

To learn to fully relax you need to be aware of two things: your breathing and the tension in your body.

It sounds simple, but for many people it's tough to slow down enough to notice these things fully.

Begin by finding a quiet, relaxing place to lie or sit down. Close your eyes and focus on your breathing. Try and quiet the rushing of your mind. Notice your breath going in and going out. You can focus on your chest rising and falling.

Get used to consciously noticing your breathing. When you are going about your day take time to focus on how you're breathing every now and then. If you're upset or frustrated purposefully calm your breathing.

You don't want to take exaggerated breaths. But you do want to take deep, calming breathes. As you first notice your breathing you may want to take one very deep breath - a cleansing breath. Then begin your rhythmic breathing in and out.

Your Body

Learning how to relax your body can be incredibly hard. Start with a simple exercise. Ball your fist and hold it tightly. Notice the tension in your hand. Do this deliberately with the muscles in your forearm. Now with the muscles in your upper arm. Feel the tension.

You can do this with the muscle groups all over your body. Go from the top of your head down to the tips of your toes. Become aware of each group of muscles you can voluntarily control - even the ones you never think of.

Now go back and do the same thing. Ball your fist again. But this time hold your fist in a ball for a few seconds - then release. Let go of all the tension, let it melt out of your hand so that your hand is hanging soft, limp, and partly flexed.

Do this with all those muscle groups you just got acquainted with. By doing this exercise, you learn what your body feels like tense, and what it feels like in a totally relaxed state. Some muscle groups (your forehead, your neck, and your shoulders perhaps) may be very hard to relax. You may be so used to holding tension there that you really have to focus to let it out. Keep working at it.

As you did with your breathing be aware of yourself throughout the day. Notice how you respond to certain situations and how you tense your body.

Practice letting go. If you tense your neck and throat when you get frustrated practice letting go of the tension as soon as you notice it beginning

Combining Breathing and Muscle Relaxation

Begin by getting comfortable. You can do this sitting, such as when you are collecting your thoughts at the office or while your children are playing quietly. Or when you lie down.

If you're going to be lying down be sure that you're on your side, and use pillows to support your body and your belly if you need to.

• Start by noticing your breathing. Close your eyes if you can. Notice your breath going in and out. Notice the expansion and contraction of your lungs and chest.
• After you've given a few moments to noticing your breath and calming it into a deep, deliberate process, begin to relax.
• Start with the top of your head. As you breathe in focus on the top of your head. As you breathe out, release all the tension that you have there. Take another breath or two if you need to.
• Next move on to your forehead. Breathe in and focus on it. Breathe out and let the tension go out with your breath. Continue this process downward to the tips of your toes.
• Progressively relax each part of your body. If you're alone and it's quiet you may fall asleep. This is a good thing ;) In fact, if you're having sleepless nights they are a great time to practice this relaxation.

Make the time to do this every day. If you're caught in traffic and getting frustrated - start your breathing and relaxation. If you're angry - start your breathing and relaxation. If you're scared - start your breathing and relaxation. You get the idea!

You'll begin to condition yourself to relaxing. Your body will be very used to it, and in labor it will come naturally - simply because you've trained your body to relax. The calm, deep breathing is also excellent breathing to use throughout labor.

I again recommend finding a good guided relaxation. A great book for learning more is Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way, which details relaxation and gives lots of step-by-step practice for pregnancy. It has helped me prepare for each of my three natural births.

One Last Tip - Put it on Ice

In the remarkable (and recommended) book Birthing From Within, Pam England gives a chapter of extensive pain relief options for natural birth. In the book she recommends practicing the pain relief techniques using an ice cube.

Hold an ice cube in your hand while you attempt to calm your breathing and relax your body. It's a whole lot harder isn't it! The ice is a constant distraction, and can even be painful, as you try to relax. It's effective practice for labor.

If you find that you master having the ice in your hand, have a helper hold it behind your ear as you try to relax. Breathe and let go as the cold throbs behind your ear and icy water slides down your neck! It's an excellent exercise!

Are you mastering relaxation? Comfortable with your breathing and beginning to understand where you hold tension? Learn how to understand all of your body and take control during pregnancy, labor, and birth. Pick up The Pink Kit to gain complete understanding of your unique birthing body and learn the skills you need to be in control of your labor and birth.

Click Here to Find Out How a Few Minutes of Relaxation a Day Gave Me a Perfect Natural Birth

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