A Courageous Time to be Pregnant
Written by Verana Faye
Medical science is catching up with the mind/body connection that many of us have known intuitively for decades. Our minds and our bodies are deeply connected. We all know that when there is stress in our lives, our bodies respond, sometimes in acute aches and pains, and sometimes in more chronic disease or illness, which can have lifelong effects on our health and well being, and, in turn, all our relationships. When we take the time for quiet and stillness, we can train ourselves to feel into our bodies. Often, stress and overwhelm can feel like heaviness, stiffness, or like something is stuck. We can imagine these as blocked channels where energy cannot flow with ease.
Conversely, when we feel calm and relaxed, often, our bodies feel soft and open (which is precisely what we need during birth!). We sleep better, and we digest better, we move with more ease and agility. Overall we have more healthy nervous systems, and we can adapt to change and transition with more ease and grace. When our minds feel calm and free of worry, stress, and overwhelm, our bodies feel safer to relax and open. Our quality of life feels healthier, and our relationships with our loved ones (and with all of life) feel nourishing, supportive, and enlivening.
Pregnancy adds an enormous layer to this mind/body connection. During pregnancy, the body is undergoing an extraordinary amount of changes and transformations. Cells duplicate, hormones surge, and the beautiful pregnant body becomes fatter and riper with growing life. In many ways, these changes happen, whether we are ready for them or not. Ideally, the mind doesn't have to try to figure this out. It can surrender to the body's wisdom, to the rhythms and cycles that are happening on the inside. This is an extraordinary time for the body to lead the way and the mind to surrender and trust in the process unfolding inside.
It is not easy to relax the mind while pregnant in the year 2020, amidst our global pandemic. We all feel the tremendous intensity and challenge of this time, individually and collectively. It is a shared reality that our collective nervous system is more vigilant than ever before. With the internet swarming with information and opinions about pregnancy, birth, and postpartum, now we are parsing through the information that seems to be changing every day; while doing all that we can to keep ourselves and our families supported and safe while extending our hearts to the world around us.
