So fear can hold us back in life and during birth, do you fear your own power, strength and ability? Do you understand what I mean by “your power”?
Do you find yourself holding back, or feel apprehensive about moving forward in a way that feels right for you? Do you believe in yourself? Are you inclined to wait for permission or expect approval from someone, or maybe you don’t feel you can speak your truth?Sometimes we think about what we can’t do rather than knowing that we can. This is not being in “our power”.
You are extremely capable and birth can be an opportunity for you to step into your power and realise just how gentle yet strong you are.
It’s understandable that in a situation that’s new to us we seek direction and knowledge from others. Generations ago wisdom would have been passed down to us from our ancestors. Now we’ve lost the close communities we used to live in, we’ve also lost some of that connection, some of that knowledge and in some cases we have allowed our minds to be filled with images from the media of birth, we have allowed ourselves to hear and believe that a negative birth experience for one woman overrides the celebration of the next woman who had a positive birth. We’ve created in our mind a story about birth that is biased.
I empathise with women that have had a negative birth experience, it can be a real blow to our self esteem and start as a mother. It can live with us for a long time and influence how we feel about our bodies and our abilities as a woman or a mother. I was one of these women with my first birth and there are sadly many more.
However, this doesn’t mean we should shy away from listening or sharing positive birth experiences, of which I’m happy to share my second birth which was basically, perfect and beautiful and I was awesome! Haha! 🙂 These stories will inspire other women, let them know what’s possible, let them know they can feel the most empowered they have ever felt in their lives. It can let other women know they are perfectly designed, they have created life, it can help more women understand their capabilities and not be scared. We can encourage the next generation of women to trust in their abilities and strengths as woman if we allow ourselves to celebrate our successes. Share the knowledge and rewrite the blueprint in our minds about birth and ALL that we are capable of.
If we consider how a lot of women are fearful of birth before even experiencing it, does this seem rational? It’s because we’ve learnt to fear birth from what is going on around us. We fear pain because what we don’t understand is that if we feel pain during birth we don’t understand what our body is doing and these sensation, tightenings, your muscles contracting are all positive! This is your body doing something INCREDIBLE!!
The more you allow yourself to relax and let your body do what it needs to do the less “pain” you will feel. The more you can allow your body and mind to accept the process, the more you surrender to the way your body is birthing and tune in to the signals your baby and body are sending to your primitive brain the easier your birth can be. Being relaxed, practicing breathing techniques to ease your baby into the world can enable you to feel empowered. Your body is capable of more than you realise, we are the only mammal not to trust our bodies.
The waves, contractions, surges you experience can sometimes feel overwhelming at first however if we remember that this experience, these sensations, these tightenings, this intensity is all within you, the power you feel is not greater than you, the power you feel is you!
Feel the power you have, be in awe of it, revel in it, feel liberated by experiencing your power!
Yes, we are powerful beings. You are what I call in my Pregnancy Yoga classes a “gentle warrior”. The perfect balance between softness and strength. Perfect.
The same is true in life and yet we seem to have forgotten. We are powerful beyond measure. When we truly step into our power as women and trust what our body, heart and mind tell us, we are capable of anything.
When we give birth, no matter how we do it we are bringing humans into the the world and we are frickin’ amazing and we must remindful that we each have our own journeys into motherhood.
So, regardless of the type of birth experience we have had or may have, always remember that we are perfect, we are amazing human beings, perfectly designed just as we are, we are mothers, we are women. We must stop fearing our own power and embrace it.
With love
Clare
xx