Pregnancy & Labour is a great time to meditate!
The great news is that learning how to meditate is not as difficult as you may have heard! Better still, once you get the hang of it, it gets even easier!
Deep relaxation (meditation) requires little ‘equipment’ but the most important thing to remember is to find (or create) a comfortable, quiet peaceful space, either inside or outside( weather dependant) away from all disturbances.
Posture
You can meditate while sitting on the floor, on a chair or lying down (I always fall asleep if I try to meditate lying down!) The important consideration here is to ensure your head and spine are straight. Use pillows for support e.g place a pillow in the small of your back if sitting up (For more on using pillows for support click HERE)
Breathe.
The first step of meditation is breathing. Start ‘warming up’ by closing your eyes, and take in a few deep breathes. Once you’re feeling more relaxed, begin to slowly breathe out through your nose while focusing on the movement of your belly as you inhale and exhale.
If your mind wanders, try changing your breathing technique to the following:
- Slow Deep In- Breath: Tip of tongue on back of teeth (top of mouth) where the tooth meets the gum. Breathe IN through your mouth, slowly…
- Slow Deep Out-Breath: Tip of tongue on back of teeth (bottom of mouth) where the tooth meets the gum. Breathe OUT through your mouth, slowly…
Continue slow relaxed focused breathing. Allow yourself to feel calm and peaceful. It’s natural for thoughts to come into the mind, but, just let them go, focus on your breathing. When you feel the body relaxed and the mind ‘quiet’ stay in that space, and remember, just focus on your breathing……
Very Easy Guided, Visualisation Pregnancy Meditation
Many people panic when asked to ‘visualise’ something. But it’s really easy too!
If you closed your eyes and were asked to imagine a lemon, you could say a lemon is:
- An oval kind of shape with 2 knobbly bits (one at each end).
- It feels waxy to touch, but is not smooth.
- It is cold, and solid but not hard.
- If you were to dig your nail into it, it would be much softer inside, cold and wet in the middle.
- It is bright yellow, and if you were to bite into the lemon it would taste sour/ sharp.
Could you taste that lemon? I always screw my face up when I imagine biting into a lemon!
So now you can visualise, go back to the relaxed breathing.
Once relaxed, begin to ‘see’ a calming, relaxing yellow light surrounding your body.
With every breath see the light become even brighter, more beautiful, and even more relaxing. With every out-breath, release any stress.
Feel the positive, calming effects of this light. Do this for as long as needed.
Remember see this peace and light not only surrounds you, but your baby as well, remember he experiences everything that you do. Send him love directly, imaginine meeting and cuddling him: remember your baby feeds off your emotions and feelings,if you are feeling relaxed and amazing he will feel amazing and relaxed too!
Three Important Points To Remember:
- There’s no set schedule for meditating, do it whenever you need too.
- Meditate using safe posture.
- Keeping yourself calm helps to keep the baby calm.
