Who is Calm Birth for?

Birth is 90% mindset. Learning to calm the mind is an essential skill that all birthing people need to master. The thinking mind has an in-built negative brain-bias which helped humanity to evolve and survive. The thinking mind automatically creates thoughts (just like the heart pumps) and our thoughts create emotions, affecting our behaviour and due to the body-mind connection can interfere with the body’s instinctual ability to give birth (as all mammals do).

 

This feedback loop changes the way that our brain perceive the birth sensations, from being intense but copable/even pleasurable vs a feeling of intense pain and suffering.  If we let ourselves get lost in the negative fearful thoughts we also waste valuable energy that can be better spent connecting to the body and baby, allowing for collaboration. Shifting from mind to awareness is an essential skill all human beings and especially birthing people need to master if the aim is empowerment and centeredness. But if you always feel zen most of the time, even in challenging situations, then you probably won’t need this training ;-) 

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What does calm in birth really mean?

“Calm” doesn’t mean passive: it means centered and grounded. You can be centered in your breath and your body during any kind of movement, or even any kind of emotion. You can bring calm to any situation, even if things look chaotic! These self-care meditation practices work with Western or alternative medicines. You can bring them to any kind of birth. You learn to breathe vital energy, the most complete kind of breathing. This empowers you to face any challenge centered in yourself, and connected with your body and baby.

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How is Calm Birth different from other childbirth methodologies?

Calm Birth is unique from other childbirth methodologies in its application of ancient and modern meditation science to the pregnant and birthing body. No other methodologies teach complete breathing, channeling vital energy from the air into the body of parents and child. While most childbirth methodologies are focused on natural birth, Calm Birth applies to all types of childbirth. Additionally, while other childbirth methodologies end with birth, Calm Birth offers tools to empower parenthood and life itself.  Some techniques like self-hypnosis separate you from your body and your sensations of pain. While this works for some people, it’s not something you can do to deal with stress in everyday life... and it’s not ideal for people who have had trauma. Calm Birth teaches a way to be fully aware of yourself and to transform challenging sensations and emotions so you can work with your body and your body for an empowering birth experience.

 

When to start?

It is never too late or too early to start the practices—from preconception to active labor! Starting early in pregnancy increases the benefits for the entire family, but benefits will still be received no matter when you start. If you came upon Calm Birth very late in your pregnancy and can not fit in a 4 week program (ideal), 1 or 2 x 2.5h crash-course sessions could also help you. (book a session here)

 

Is there homework? Would I need to do anything else other than rock up to class? 

Yes. Your mind was conditioned a certain way for many many years. Through reading the prescribed book, in-class-practise and repetitive listening to the audio’s (as your "homeplay") we will playfully change that for the better so you can stay calm in any storm. Also, you are bonding with baby during this time which enables your baby to feel safe and freeing up inner resources for growing and learning. Furthermore, you are laying solid foundations for a connected parenting journey, the #1 protective factor in adverse teenage behaviour, seriously! 

So for best results, during each weekly class you will be prompted to gradually implement a meditation practice as part of “Homeplay” (I don’t believe in homework, this is play!) We take our play seriously and hope for the best outcomes possible, you do too :-)

The Calm Birth audios include 3 prenatal practices as well as 5 postnatal meditations too. 

Below is the daily time required if you follow the recommended homeplay: 

• week 1: 26min pd

• week 2: 28min morning + 26 min later in day

• week 3: 28min morning + later in day - 3 days 26min (when resting/falling asleep) and 4 days 13min

• week 4: and until the birth 28min morning + later in day - either the 26min (when resting/falling asleep) or 13min practise

 

How does this help my baby?

A pregnant woman’s meditation practice always has dual benefits. The woman communicates psychologically and energetically, influencing the child to produce beneficial neurohormones and neurotransmitters. She also communicates hormonal benefits through her bloodstream to her child. The body will not work well if it is constantly overexerted and overstressed. The Calm Birth meditation practices are an opportunity to replenish the body’s stores, regain strength, rest and heal. Furthermore, the prenatal practices are all created with baby’s aware and sentient consciousness in mind, fostering deep connection and bonding as pre & perinatal psychology informs us of immense benefits from prenatal bonding, e.g. enhanced visual, auditory & motor development + linguistic skills, better sleep, higher levels of being alert, confidence, contentment than infants not stimulated, stronger attachment bond, better family cohesion, higher IQ, better neurological & mental development, better muscular tone.

 

Is this mindfulness?

Mindfulness teaches you to be aware of your sensations and your surroundings in the present moment. Calm Birth’s meditations teach that, and more: they teach you how to be aware of the energy that connects all beings, and how to use it fully.

 

What if I have many strong fears/unresolved emotional energies/have had a difficult birth experience before/had a painful childhood? Will this even help me?

Absolutely.

A fearful and/or traumatised mind in birth creates tension in the body which makes the birth sensations feel stronger due to the fear-tension-pain cycle, increasing risks & complications. We all have conscious & unconscious birth fears to some degree based on our beliefs, our cultural programming (how your family & friends speak about birth, the media and the drama in birth they like to emphasise) unresolved unconscious limiting beliefs & emotions from being born ourselves as well as other life traumas/losses. Furthermore, anyone’s fears in the birth room affects the birth since we are all connected.

The good news is that you can transform and clear your fears and traumas and increase your chance for a positive, empowering experience :-)

The Calm Birth method teaches you to face suffering or fear, in yourself or someone else, with the ability to transform it into healing through consistent practice of the audio’s in class and in your “home-play”. This alone is enough for many people.  

• But for those of you that feel you may have a higher volume or more severe level of fears and/or unintegrated emotional energy from your past and that you would like a more direct method of dealing with them, I use 2 powerful methods which you can easily add as Extras when booking. 

  • Certified in the Birth into Being method I work with individuals:

    • Seeking emotional healing & self-empowerment 

    • But also future parents seeking to conceive or prepare for birth by clearing out their emotional closets as well as healing their own births

    • The rich method involves movement, music, breathwork, visualisation, role-play, altered states, journaling, tapping, touch by working with the body and all 3 parts of the brain and subconscious.

    • It was used to prepare families holistically to birth in the black sea in Russia in the 80’s as part of the conscious birth movement where no medical support was available. The fact that no complications ever occurred is testament to the fact that it works. When we have resolved emotional energies from the past, including our own births, we can birth (or live creatively) more freely and decrease our risk for complications and the traumas are not passed on to the next generation.

    • The amount of sessions needed will depend on your needs & background and can be done online/in-person. You also do not need to know the details of your conception/birth to recode it.

  • Trained as Fearless Birthing professional with the headtrash clearance method, I work directly with the subconscious through a therapeutic energy psychology technique of reflective repatterning used to directly remove the fear, anxiety, emotional imbalances and stress response in the body-mind using the law of neutrality and the law of opposites.

    • The method brings rapid results for mild and deep-rooted fears

    • Mild fears (e.g. fear of unknown) often from media/culture & being misinformed etc) can be alleviated via proper education 

    • Deep-rooted fears (causes a subconscious reaction in body) can not be alleviated via just education:

      • requires engaging with the subconscious mind (which rules 95% of our behaviours)

      • traditional talk therapy is not enough

      • needs newer alternative methods e.g. energy psychology working with the subconscious and the body (aka the “body-mind”

    • In clearance sessions you will hold specific points to activate the body-mind program and after energy-testing I will repeat certain phrases to clear. Minimum time needed for 1 piece of clearance is 1.5h

    • You can also learn to do it on your own once you are able to pinpoint your fears. Can do a clearance in 3-20 min depending on strength of fear. (some fears need more unraveling especially if connected to a trauma). Can even be used in between labour waves/surges (contractions) to clear fears/blocks coming up.

    • It is also possible to work with your fears without having to tell them to me as long as you know what they are and can identify them.

    • The amount of sessions needed will depend on your needs & background and can be done online/in-person.

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