Ten Mindful Steps to an Empowered and Positive Pregnancy & Birth Experience

Take these ten steps during your pregnancy to prepare your body and mind for the experience of a lifetime and a birth you will remember with joy.

1. Prepare your Body with Yoga

Yoga is the optimum physical practice for pregnancy. Working on every level of the being from the physical to the energetic, there is no better way to exercise, develop body awareness, discover breath work and  deepen your connection to yourself than with yoga. Practice at least once a week to reap the benefits. Attend your local Pregnancy Yoga class, and then between classes incorporate a little yoga into your day a couple of days a week - some ideas here on my youtube channel for Pregnancy Yoga online.  Your body and mind will thank you for the time and care you show yourself and your emerging pregnancy, you will be fit and centred as you approach the birth and you will have prepared your body to stretch and open during the birthing process.

2. Prepare your Mind with Meditation

Learning to meditate is the single greatest gift you can give yourself this pregnancy. Meditation is not about creating peace of mind  – though that is an inevitable consequence – it is about learning to be with experience, however it is, without needing to change, fix or avoid it. Meditation enables us to become more self-aware, calmer and better able to cope with the challenges Life brings our way. Ten minutes of meditation every day will literally transform your state of mind. Here's a short pregnancy yoga meditation and breathing practice to try.

3. Learn to Live Mindfully

Whilst Yoga and Meditation will bring you greater self-awareness during practice, Mindfulness helps you to live in that way beyond the meditation cushion and the yoga mat. Learning how to bring a more Mindful attention to your experience will create a liberating space between the stimulus you experience and your response to it – whether it is the intense sensations of your labour contractions or the distressing cries of your new-born baby.

4. Be Ready to Work outs your Fears

Few pregnancies will pass without moments of fear or doubt, whatever your mindset and preparation. Pain is entirely subjective and it is definitely compounded by fear. Usually, if we have not learned otherwise, we tend to avoid feeling the powerful emotion of fear. So learning to work with Fear itself will transform your birthing experience. Similarly exploring the nature of Pain and unique Labour Pain will empower you to trust and surrender to the process as it moves through you. My hypnobirthing classes allow you to recognise fears you have, conscious and unconscious, and work with them to have a calm and positive birth experience.

5. Learn Your Birth Rights

This should be a cornerstone of contemporary birth education – and essential for every woman serious about birthing without intervention. First you need to learn your legal Birth Rights, then find out what the NICE guidelines are around your unique situation (aged 40, Strep B, VBAC, Post-dates etc). Finally explore your hospital’s policy on the key aspects of the labour and birth process. Now that you know the system you are birthing in you can see how it sits with your own birth preferences and calmly asses the risks and benefits of the choices you make from an INFORMED position. The phrase Am I Allowed is anathema in modern child-birthing. I give or do not give consent is the appropriate language to use. It reminds you whose birth this is and, in the end, who is personally responsible for the child in your womb.

6. Choose Your caregivers Wisely

As you move through pregnancy and learn more about the birthing world your choices will become clearer to you. Once those choices emerge make sure that your birthing environment and the people around you will support you in fulfilling them. From the place you birth in to the caregivers you have. Ask questions until you feel satisfied. And if you are not happy with your caregiver – then change them. It is your right to do so. Another key aspect of this step is to prepare your Birth Partner. Some fathers and partners fare better in the birthing room than others. First of all make sure that your partner really wants to be there. It means an open and honest conversation. If he or she does then make sure you do some practical birth prep work together so that he or she knows what being a good birth partner means and how best to support you on your birth journey. We look at this a lot in my Hypnobirthing Course, so that your partner can be the most amazing birth support, and you can become a real birthing 'dream team' together!

7. Discover Your Pelvis

Practising pelvic floor exercises or kegels is really important, in pregnancy and for the rest of your life too. But there is more, the pelvis is not only the gateway to life outside the womb for your baby but it is also the source of your feminine essence and sexuality. Pregnancy is the time to discover how you feel about this part of your body.

Pelvic massage, perineal massage, developing pelvic awareness through visualisation, stretching and toning the soft tissue of the pelvis using body work and awareness exercises. Learning to breathe right down into the pelvis is really important.  In this way by the time you come to birth your baby you will feel comfortable, relaxed and connected to your birthing body.

8. Read Plenty of Positive Birth Stories

They offer a far more effective birth education that any expert’s opinion will. They report from the front line of the most awesome experience. They convey the truth of the birth experience most directly and crucially, they show you how women cope with the experience using the skills they have. Here's s great website where you can take you fill of positive birth stories.

9. Write your Birth Plan and a Postnatal Plan

As you approach the end of your pregnancy, the birth plan (or birth preferences or birth choices, whatever you'd like to call them) becomes a document of all that you have learned and discovered along the way and the informed choices you now make as a result. Even though you know that birth often does not go to plan this document is an essential record of your preferences and of how you would like to be supported during labour. Taking the time to write a postnatal care plan is also an essential investment in what can often be a very vulnerable time. We look at both Birth and Post Natal plans in my Hypnobirthing classes. and I give you a worksheet all about each of them too to support you.

10. Learn Relaxation Skills and Practices for Labour

From hypnotic visualisation and positive affirmation, to touch and massage, to acupressure and aromatherapy there are a plethora of relaxation tools and birth skills available to those couples who are ready to learn them.

Find the movements and positions which will make you more comfortable through the various stages of labour and discover how sounding in labour is the most natural and effective global birthing practice. Feel confident that you are equipped, realistic, open-minded and ready mentally, physically and emotionally to embrace the birth journey you find yourself on.

I hope you have enjoyed learning more about a mindful approach to pregnancy childbirth with this Ten Step Guide, and that you feel empowered to take the journey toward creating a beautiful and empowering experience for you and your family.

Mindful Hypnobirthing courses - complete birth preparation with Susan Bradley - full details here

A ten hour course, with *loads* of amazing extras costs £225 (this includes all Course materials, plenty of MP3's and a place for your birth partner too)

Next Group Hypnobirthing Course Dates:

January course - Saturday 20th and 27th January 2018. 9.30am to 2.30pm

February course - Saturday 17th and 24th February 2018. 9.30am to 2.30pm

Course Venue: Tadcaster Road, York, YO24 1GS

One to One courses available at time to suit you.

Find full details on my Hypnobirthing courses here

Find more about my Pregnancy Yoga classes in York and Harrogate here.