Is Giving Birth more mental than physical?

Every woman I work with ends up saying the same thing—giving birth is more mental than physical. I am now beginning to understand why that feels true! Your body was designed perfectly to give birth so the most powerful tool you can strengthen during pregnancy is actually your mind. Meditation teaches your nervous system how to stay regulated in moments of intensity. Research on mindfulness meditation shows that it can reduce the way the brain processes pain, helping you experience sensations without the same level of fear, resistance, or suffering attached to them.

During birth, this matters because expansions are powerful sensations — but your relationship with those sensations changes everything. A mother who has practiced meditation has spent months training her brain to default to safety when pain arises. This does not mean birth will not have intensity. It means you are building the capacity to move through intensity with more awareness, trust, and surrender. And the best news?! It only takes 20 minutes a day to begin changing your brain. 

One study by researchers at Wake Forest University found that mindfulness meditation reduced pain intensity and pain unpleasantness by changing the way the brain interprets pain signals. Your meditation practice during pregnancy is the greatest preparation. Every time you meditate, you are creating new neural pathways that remind your body: I am safe. I am grateful. I can trust myself. 

Your dream birth begins with the relationship you build with your own mind.