The Health Benefits of Meditation for Pregnancy and Birth
In the past 30 years, more than 10,000 research papers and books have documented the benefits of noninvasive mind/body techniques for health, among which meditation is the most proven method. Childbirth meditation is the practice of meditation as a health enrichment method during the prenatal period, a calming pain management resource during birth, and a healing method in the postnatal period.
When a mother meditates, she passes elevated levels of health and growth promoting hormones to her womb child through the placenta and through sympathetic resonance. At all times, childbirth meditation benefits are dual, inseparably benefiting both the pregnant woman and her child. With regular meditation practice, a mother can experience the following psychological and physical benefits, imparting them to her child as well:
- Increased perceptual ability
- Enhanced physical motor skill
- Quicker reaction time
- Improved field independence
- Greater empathy
- Enhanced creativity
- Increased self-actualization
- Reduced anxiety, tension and stress
- Decreased pain
- Increased calm and pleasure
- Enhanced immune function
- Improved body image
- Increased vitality and energy
While meditation science has existed for thousands of years, its application to pregnancy and birth are new. MediGrace Inc., a non-profit organization directed by renowned meditation teacher and scientist Robert Newman, has been researching and developing mind/body medicine methods and energy medicine methods since 1991 for applications in various aspects of conventional medical practice. MediGrace devoted seven of those years to developing a meditation practice specifically designed for pregnancy and birth. The result is Calm Birth Advanced Childbirth Methods.
Calm Birth methods raise the level of health in childbirth while reducing the need for interventions or risky medical procedures. Calm Birth methods blend perennial wisdom with proven mind/body science. A woman trained and practiced in Calm Birth methods can expect to:
- Enrich and raise the quality of childbirth
- Optimize oxygenation of the tissues of both woman and child
- Access vital energies in the air for human development
- Deepen the union between mother and child
- Access paranormal experience natural to childbirth
- Reduce fear and anxiety
- Increase tolerance of contractions
- Support natural body processes appropriately
- Increase awareness of natural abilities
- Reduce the need for drugs and anesthesia
- Prevent surgical procedures and other interventions
- Increase calm for the woman, child, and partner
- Increase calm for doctors, nurses, midwives and doulas
- Realize new dimensions of life
- Experience empowerment and increased self-actualization
Calm Birth classes are now being offered in Connecticut. For information, contact Sharon Reilly, Director, Conscious Parenting Resources, Windsor, CT, (860) 688-4703, [email protected]