Non-Attachment as Labor Prep.
I remember when I was planning for labor in the months before Hunter’s birth.. I was planning on utilizing the birthing tub and thinking that my regular prenatal yoga practice would be the support I needed to cope with pain.
What I didn’t realize is that labor isn’t pain exactly… yes, it’s intense, and sure it could be painful. But to desribe it as painful isn’t really describing it in all it’s intensity and wildness.
For me the most intense part of the experience was the inner grappling with myself that had to be done. I met myself and I had to remind myself that this was my choice and that I was here for a reason, that I chose to give birth at home and in this moment I had the choice to head to the hospital for therapeutic rest or to keep going. I actively chose to keep going.
There was no way around the intensity of it. There’s no ‘fix’. The external pain management tools were, at one point, useless. There isn’t any changing the bigness of it all. And there’s very little anyone else can do other than provide their beautiful and invaluable support.
There was only doing the work of grappling, of facing myself. Of being bare and raw in the grittiness of labor and birth.
And while I was in it, in the hard and intense, I learned more about who I am than I ever expected. I was able to allow my maiden die and then I was able to be reborn into a mother.
Non-attachment is a CRUCIAL practice for labor and birth.
Non-attachment to your birth plan.
Non-attachment to pain and pleasure.
Non-attachment to this current version of you.
Join me in this 13 minute meditation to visualize your birth experience.
Exploring your inner world and envisioning your birth is a crucial part of preparing for your birth.