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Stay tuned for upcoming courses in April
“Preparing for a conscious birth”
A specialised course on advanced meditation techniques tweaked for modern childbirth.
-----
FROM WHO?
Meditation techniques and knowledge provided from founder of Meditation Minimalism, and full-time meditation teacher, Edward Mark Vero.
Practical advice, professional birth methods, and relevant application by birth expert, and professional doula, Shanay Hall.
-----
FOR WHO?
This course is for you if ...
- You realise that childbirth requires preparation – not just more information.
- You realise childbirth and pregnancy could be a rich opportunity for personal growth.
- You realise that clever childbirth deserves a more than just learning how to push ...
-------------------------------
WHY?
-------------
Shanay and I are good friends working in very different fields, until we realised how relevant meditation was to childbirth:
We found that meditation, spirituality, and sensible, practical advice were needed for modern mothers to make pregnancy and childbirth their own. To make their childbirth a memorable, empowering, (and yes, even enjoyable) experience.
After a few in-depth discussions, Shanay and I wrote the following – it’s what we believe about your childbirth, it's how we found the name, and it’s how we believe this course is relevant to modern mothers:
--------------
PREPARING FOR A
------------
You hear epic childbirth stories. Friends emote deeply and tell you how difficult it was for their mother, or for themselves. And although the friends, doctors and mothers are trying to help you with these passing anecdotes, they frame one overall message, a clear warning: be prepared.
Yet nobody actually tells you how to prepare. You are consistently reminded that your biological clock ticks towards the most fantastically intense and beautiful experience of your life. And nobody actually tells you how to prepare.
And maybe they shouldn’t. It’s your birth, it’s your body, and it’s your experience. Why listen to somebody else’s soppy interpretation of your experience?
Preparing for a conscious birth doesn't tell you how to prepare – it teaches you how to prepare.
We give you tools to prepare and interpret your childbirth for yourself. Tools which help you interpret your own childbirth (and your own life) in your own way.
This is the connection between childbirth and meditation minimalism
– It’s your own story, we’re just here to teach you the tools. –
TL;DR
Your childbirth is your own opportunity.
And we’d like to give you the tools to make the most of it.
----------
CONSCIOUS
-----------
I teach meditation full-time. And I write about meditation when not teaching it. I have no children, and I know little more about childbirth than what Shanay tells me.
I do know is that our culture has forgotten how to let go, forgotten how to transcend pain, and forgotten how to give in fully to the present moment. At this, I’m a specialist and a professional.
And that’s why Shanay asked me to help.
---------
BIRTH
--------
Shanay’s work and passion is the field of childbirth. She’s a professional doula*. Her focus is the preparation and support of mothers before, during, and immediately after, the whole birth process. Her speciality is to make your childbirth (through her clever, considered, methods) easier, more meaningful and more memorable.
Shanay will lead the course through her tried and true methods for smooth and easy childbirth. She’ll offer support to the spiritual content of the course with hardened experience, clever definitions and practical know-how. (She’ll also cut the course with a mother’s knowing humour, making the course fun, light and funny – if the meditation teacher gets too serious.)
(**What’s a doula? A doula is someone who provides continuous physical, emotional and informational support to the mother before, during and just after birth. Doulas recognise birth as a key experience to the mother that she will remember all of her life. Doulas understand the physiology that birth brings and meet women's emotional needs in labour. By supporting and nurturing the labouring woman it gives her a chance to birth within and let go . I'm also here to offer emotional , physical comfort measures and an objective viewpoint)
WHAT GOES INTO THE COURSE
-----------------------
- Meditative practices
- Training in pain coping techniques.
- Training in classic meditation techniques.
- Training in “spot”, on demand and in the moment, meditation techniques.
- Training in classic mindfulness and mindfulness specialised for birth and pregnancy.
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) -
- Stress coping techniques.
- Reframing techniques – talking about how you talk about your childbirth.
- Critical thinking techniques – recognising irrational thought, cognitive biases and self-fulfilling prophesies.
- Negative feedback loop – avoiding being caught up in a spiral of negative thoughts.
- Hang out with other mothers -
- Talk and share beliefs and experiences.
- Laugh and have fun.
- Learn how much you already know about your childbirth.
- Realise what childbirth means to you.
WHAT YOU PUT IN:
(price in euros)
- 120 for two day course with free follow-up session.
WHAT YOU GET OUT:
- Smart preparation makes childbirth easier, safer and healthier.
WHAT ELSE YOU GET OUT:
- Childbirth is a deeply human experience, not a mechanical one
Stay tuned for upcoming courses in April
“Preparing for a conscious birth”
A specialised course on advanced meditation techniques tweaked for modern childbirth.
-----
FROM WHO?
Meditation techniques and knowledge provided from founder of Meditation Minimalism, and full-time meditation teacher, Edward Mark Vero.
Practical advice, professional birth methods, and relevant application by birth expert, and professional doula, Shanay Hall.
-----
FOR WHO?
This course is for you if ...
- You realise that childbirth requires preparation – not just more information.
- You realise childbirth and pregnancy could be a rich opportunity for personal growth.
- You realise that clever childbirth deserves a more than just learning how to push ...
-------------------------------
WHY?
-------------
Shanay and I are good friends working in very different fields, until we realised how relevant meditation was to childbirth:
We found that meditation, spirituality, and sensible, practical advice were needed for modern mothers to make pregnancy and childbirth their own. To make their childbirth a memorable, empowering, (and yes, even enjoyable) experience.
After a few in-depth discussions, Shanay and I wrote the following – it’s what we believe about your childbirth, it's how we found the name, and it’s how we believe this course is relevant to modern mothers:
--------------
PREPARING FOR A
------------
You hear epic childbirth stories. Friends emote deeply and tell you how difficult it was for their mother, or for themselves. And although the friends, doctors and mothers are trying to help you with these passing anecdotes, they frame one overall message, a clear warning: be prepared.
Yet nobody actually tells you how to prepare. You are consistently reminded that your biological clock ticks towards the most fantastically intense and beautiful experience of your life. And nobody actually tells you how to prepare.
And maybe they shouldn’t. It’s your birth, it’s your body, and it’s your experience. Why listen to somebody else’s soppy interpretation of your experience?
Preparing for a conscious birth doesn't tell you how to prepare – it teaches you how to prepare.
We give you tools to prepare and interpret your childbirth for yourself. Tools which help you interpret your own childbirth (and your own life) in your own way.
This is the connection between childbirth and meditation minimalism
– It’s your own story, we’re just here to teach you the tools. –
TL;DR
Your childbirth is your own opportunity.
And we’d like to give you the tools to make the most of it.
----------
CONSCIOUS
-----------
I teach meditation full-time. And I write about meditation when not teaching it. I have no children, and I know little more about childbirth than what Shanay tells me.
I do know is that our culture has forgotten how to let go, forgotten how to transcend pain, and forgotten how to give in fully to the present moment. At this, I’m a specialist and a professional.
And that’s why Shanay asked me to help.
---------
BIRTH
--------
Shanay’s work and passion is the field of childbirth. She’s a professional doula*. Her focus is the preparation and support of mothers before, during, and immediately after, the whole birth process. Her speciality is to make your childbirth (through her clever, considered, methods) easier, more meaningful and more memorable.
Shanay will lead the course through her tried and true methods for smooth and easy childbirth. She’ll offer support to the spiritual content of the course with hardened experience, clever definitions and practical know-how. (She’ll also cut the course with a mother’s knowing humour, making the course fun, light and funny – if the meditation teacher gets too serious.)
(**What’s a doula? A doula is someone who provides continuous physical, emotional and informational support to the mother before, during and just after birth. Doulas recognise birth as a key experience to the mother that she will remember all of her life. Doulas understand the physiology that birth brings and meet women's emotional needs in labour. By supporting and nurturing the labouring woman it gives her a chance to birth within and let go . I'm also here to offer emotional , physical comfort measures and an objective viewpoint)
WHAT GOES INTO THE COURSE
-----------------------
- Meditative practices
- Training in pain coping techniques.
- Training in classic meditation techniques.
- Training in “spot”, on demand and in the moment, meditation techniques.
- Training in classic mindfulness and mindfulness specialised for birth and pregnancy.
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) -
- Stress coping techniques.
- Reframing techniques – talking about how you talk about your childbirth.
- Critical thinking techniques – recognising irrational thought, cognitive biases and self-fulfilling prophesies.
- Negative feedback loop – avoiding being caught up in a spiral of negative thoughts.
- Hang out with other mothers -
- Talk and share beliefs and experiences.
- Laugh and have fun.
- Learn how much you already know about your childbirth.
- Realise what childbirth means to you.
WHAT YOU PUT IN:
(price in euros)
- 120 for two day course with free follow-up session.
WHAT YOU GET OUT:
- Smart preparation makes childbirth easier, safer and healthier.
WHAT ELSE YOU GET OUT:
- Childbirth is a deeply human experience, not a mechanical one
Oxytocin, Endorphins, and Adrenalin
These hormones play a major role in regulating the process of labor and birth, and learning about them can help you understand what will happen during labor and birth. Childbearing women and their caregivers can take actions to support or disrupt their effects, so, understanding how they work and how they are affected is important for making informed decisions. Oxytocin is often known as the "hormone of love" because it is involved with lovemaking, fertility, contractions during labor and birth, and the release of milk in breastfeeding. It helps us feel good, and it triggers nurturing feelings and behaviours.
Receptor cells that allow your body to respond to oxytocin increase gradually in pregnancy and then sharply during labor. Oxytocin stimulates powerful contractions, which help to thin and open (dilate) the cervix, move the baby down and out of the birth canal, expel the placenta, and limit bleeding at the site of the placenta. During labor and birth, the pressure of the baby against the cervix, and then against tissues in the pelvic floor, stimulates oxytocin and contractions. So does a suckling newborn. Oxytocin has been nicknamed the “bonding hormone” and the “cuddle hormone.” We produce it naturally when we love, are loved, nurture another, give selflessly, or engage in affectionate touch. It is not the neurochemical behind lust or burning sexual desire, although it is associated with sexual responsiveness.
Low levels of oxytocin during labor and birth can cause problems by:
Endorphins
In response to stress and pain, your body produces calming and pain-relieving hormones known as endorphins. The level of this natural opiate substance may rise toward the end of pregnancy. In unmedicated labors, it continues to rise steadily and steeply through the birth of the baby
Low levels of endorphins can cause problems in labor and birth by:
Adrenalin
Adrenaline is the "fight or flight" hormone that humans produce to help ensure survival. Women who feel threatened during labor (for example by fear or severe pain) may produce high levels of adrenaline. Adrenaline can slow labor or stop it altogether. Earlier in human evolution, this disruption helped birthing women move to a place of greater safety.
Too much adrenaline can cause problems in labor and birth by:
What steps can I take to help ensure that these hormones work well?
You can promote your body's production of oxytocin during labor and birth by:
You can enhance your body's production of endorphins during labor and birth by:
You can keep adrenaline down during labor and birth by:
It can be many different things, and its up to each of us to define that for ourselves. For some women their bodies are on high-speed auto-pilot and their mind is wiped clear by the pure intensity of birth, so there are no conscious thoughts, and the part that is “conscious” is the way that they prepared, how they chose their team and what choices they made in the flow of their births.
Another way of looking at conscious birth, which is what I’m going to discuss in more depth, is how a woman shows up for the experience, body, mind and spirit. Its when she recognises that her response to the circumstances and sensations is really the only choice she has in the moment.
When we try to be in control, we are resisting what is unfolding right in front of us, within us or around us. In a conscious birth, the mother is fully present, aware of her body, baby, breath and thoughts, and chooses to remain connected to her chosen focus. (And often here the doula’s and/or partner’s role is to help bring her back to this intended focus anytime it is lost). Each of us will find a different focus, and all of those focal points are valid.
Many women become tense and bend over because of pain and fear. The consequence of this is that the pain increases and the body reacts with resistance to the birth process. And when the pain increases there will be panic, and the body will become even more tense which means she cant open and let her baby come out!
(This article was found on bellybelly.com.au)
These hormones play a major role in regulating the process of labor and birth, and learning about them can help you understand what will happen during labor and birth. Childbearing women and their caregivers can take actions to support or disrupt their effects, so, understanding how they work and how they are affected is important for making informed decisions. Oxytocin is often known as the "hormone of love" because it is involved with lovemaking, fertility, contractions during labor and birth, and the release of milk in breastfeeding. It helps us feel good, and it triggers nurturing feelings and behaviours.
Receptor cells that allow your body to respond to oxytocin increase gradually in pregnancy and then sharply during labor. Oxytocin stimulates powerful contractions, which help to thin and open (dilate) the cervix, move the baby down and out of the birth canal, expel the placenta, and limit bleeding at the site of the placenta. During labor and birth, the pressure of the baby against the cervix, and then against tissues in the pelvic floor, stimulates oxytocin and contractions. So does a suckling newborn. Oxytocin has been nicknamed the “bonding hormone” and the “cuddle hormone.” We produce it naturally when we love, are loved, nurture another, give selflessly, or engage in affectionate touch. It is not the neurochemical behind lust or burning sexual desire, although it is associated with sexual responsiveness.
Low levels of oxytocin during labor and birth can cause problems by:
- causing contractions to stop or slow, and lengthening labor
- resulting in excessive bleeding at the placenta site after birth
- leading providers to respond to these problems with interventions.
Endorphins
In response to stress and pain, your body produces calming and pain-relieving hormones known as endorphins. The level of this natural opiate substance may rise toward the end of pregnancy. In unmedicated labors, it continues to rise steadily and steeply through the birth of the baby
Low levels of endorphins can cause problems in labor and birth by:
- causing labor to be excessively painful and difficult to intolerant
- leading providers to respond to this problem with interventions
Adrenalin
Adrenaline is the "fight or flight" hormone that humans produce to help ensure survival. Women who feel threatened during labor (for example by fear or severe pain) may produce high levels of adrenaline. Adrenaline can slow labor or stop it altogether. Earlier in human evolution, this disruption helped birthing women move to a place of greater safety.
Too much adrenaline can cause problems in labor and birth by:
- causing distress to the unborn baby
- causing contractions to stop, slow, or have an erratic pattern, and lengthening labor
- creating a sense of panic and increasing pain in the mother
- leading providers to respond to these problems with cesareans and other intervention
What steps can I take to help ensure that these hormones work well?
You can promote your body's production of oxytocin during labor and birth by:
- staying calm, comfortable, and confident
- avoiding disturbances, such as unwelcome people or noise and uncomfortable procedures
- staying upright and using gravity to apply your baby against your cervix and then, as the baby is born, against the tissues of your pelvic floor
- engaging in nipple or clitoral stimulation activities before birth and giving your baby a chance to suckle shortly after birth
- avoiding epidural analgesia.
You can enhance your body's production of endorphins during labor and birth by:
- staying calm, comfortable, and confident
- avoiding disturbances, such as unwelcome people or noise and uncomfortable procedures
- delaying or avoiding epidural or opioids as a pain relief method.
You can keep adrenaline down during labor and birth by:
- staying calm, comfortable, and relaxed
- being informed and prepared
- having trust and confidence in your body and your capabilities as a birthing woman
- having trust and confidence in your caregivers and birth setting
- being in a calm, peaceful, and private environment and avoiding conflict
- being with people who can provide comfort measures, good information, positive words, and other support
- avoiding intrusive, painful, disruptive procedures.
It can be many different things, and its up to each of us to define that for ourselves. For some women their bodies are on high-speed auto-pilot and their mind is wiped clear by the pure intensity of birth, so there are no conscious thoughts, and the part that is “conscious” is the way that they prepared, how they chose their team and what choices they made in the flow of their births.
Another way of looking at conscious birth, which is what I’m going to discuss in more depth, is how a woman shows up for the experience, body, mind and spirit. Its when she recognises that her response to the circumstances and sensations is really the only choice she has in the moment.
When we try to be in control, we are resisting what is unfolding right in front of us, within us or around us. In a conscious birth, the mother is fully present, aware of her body, baby, breath and thoughts, and chooses to remain connected to her chosen focus. (And often here the doula’s and/or partner’s role is to help bring her back to this intended focus anytime it is lost). Each of us will find a different focus, and all of those focal points are valid.
Many women become tense and bend over because of pain and fear. The consequence of this is that the pain increases and the body reacts with resistance to the birth process. And when the pain increases there will be panic, and the body will become even more tense which means she cant open and let her baby come out!
(This article was found on bellybelly.com.au)
Birth without Fear! Many woman end up with interventions because they are scared of birth and dont trust that amazing body of theirs. We need to take a step back and really take a look at how woman today are choosing to birth their babies. Its very important as a woman to have the right to choose birth your way and to know every accept and step you are taking while in birth. Educate yourself as you wouldn’t have a wedding without planning it right? So why not plan your birth as well. Do your research and hire the right people, go to birth classes, get a doula and midwife, , create a real birth team!
Berry Smoothie with a side of Placenta
Many Woman don't no but Encapsulating your placenta is very beneficial for your body after birth! I did this, i found a lady that did it and she happened to do services with my doula so what happened is, i gave birth to my placenta, my midwife made me a berry smoothie with a piece of it in there,I laid in bed with my new baby and got a well deserved nutritious drink! You cant even taste it! Anyways, my doula took my placenta home with her and then my placenta lady Alexis picked it up the next day and then 3 days later she came over my house and had homemade placenta capsules. As well as a painting of my placenta and iylas umbilical cord made into a heart shape! Very Very sweet.
Many woman are probably cringing at the thought of this but this is natural it came from your body! The placenta has so many good nutrients that you can put back into your body, after you loose so much when you have a baby. It helps with milk production, post natal depression and many other things. I never had a problem with milk production and i never once felt depressed . I think Iyla was about 1 month old and i went to go take my daily dose and i couldn't stomach my pill anymore, it tasted different, like i didn’t need it anymore? I thought how odd i still have some left. Mine cost $300 In New York to do this service and well worth every bit!
http://motherwiselife.org/2013/02/25/why-choose-placenta-encapsulation/
Many Woman don't no but Encapsulating your placenta is very beneficial for your body after birth! I did this, i found a lady that did it and she happened to do services with my doula so what happened is, i gave birth to my placenta, my midwife made me a berry smoothie with a piece of it in there,I laid in bed with my new baby and got a well deserved nutritious drink! You cant even taste it! Anyways, my doula took my placenta home with her and then my placenta lady Alexis picked it up the next day and then 3 days later she came over my house and had homemade placenta capsules. As well as a painting of my placenta and iylas umbilical cord made into a heart shape! Very Very sweet.
Many woman are probably cringing at the thought of this but this is natural it came from your body! The placenta has so many good nutrients that you can put back into your body, after you loose so much when you have a baby. It helps with milk production, post natal depression and many other things. I never had a problem with milk production and i never once felt depressed . I think Iyla was about 1 month old and i went to go take my daily dose and i couldn't stomach my pill anymore, it tasted different, like i didn’t need it anymore? I thought how odd i still have some left. Mine cost $300 In New York to do this service and well worth every bit!
http://motherwiselife.org/2013/02/25/why-choose-placenta-encapsulation/
" I was certain that every woman giving birth deserved to be treated with love and tenderness and that such treatment would go a long way toward preventing bad things from happening "
Ina May Gaskin
Ina May Gaskin