I hope I have convinced you that the successful implementation of movement as a Yoga-Based Birth Skill will effect your childbirth experience in a myriad of positive ways.
Movement is the very definition of birth, it is the process that initiates, prepares, propels, and accomplishes all the necessary actions that make up the birth process.
The process of birth mostly entails the use of involuntary muscles and the utilization of these muscles are out of your conscious control, this is important for the survival of our species. The right knowledge is to just let your body do its thing.
Don’t waste valuable energy trying to control what is not yours to control, instead put all of your energy into using voluntary movement—recognizing it as an invaluable birth skill—one that works in conjunction with the birthing process by enhancing labor progress.
Voluntary movement is yours to control and this is just one of the many attributes that make Movement the amazing birth skill that it is.
The decision to sign up for Prenatal Yoga classes at The Yoga Whole means you will develop a practice that will enable you to take the movement of voluntary muscles off of autopilot and back into consciously directed control.
In addition to those benefits, the choice to utilize gravity, remaining upright, and moving will give you a sense of control, which in turn increases both your comfort level and your sense of satisfaction with your overall experience.
Birth is a doing. Movement is a doing. Yoga is a doing. They are not “think about” doings.
One of the main goals of the physical practice of Yoga (Asana) is to move the mind from thinking mode to doing mode.
That being said—sometimes birth can become complicated and it might become medically necessary to limit your range of motion or you might even need to turn gravity on its head for awhile.
But just because you are in bed does not mean you can’t use gravity, that you can’t slide your legs along the mattress, that you can’t move your arms, that you can't use your breathe or mantra or meditation etc.
Movement works with the labor process, with the body, with birth hormones and NOT against any of them.
I am with WHO in their statement that mobility represents a form of intervention that is beneficial, essentially harmless, cheap and easy to implement.
Not bad for a physiological process that you already use everyday and all the time. A lot of bang for very little buck.
The great news is that Birth Skill #1 Asana (Movement) works even better when combined with Birth Skill #2 Pranayama (Breath Control). Which is were we will move next.
