What NOT to do to prepare for laborpains
❌ go with the flow - you will likely end up on someone else’s flow (likely, your provider’s) if you don’t create your own
❌ follow one program and hope it works - you need a robust toolbox to support ALL of you (mind, body, spirit)
❌ do all the positions constantly without rest - starting off early labor doing too many positions will create exhaustion and lead to lower capacity to manage pain
❌ use all the tools (TENS unit, comb, robozo) - by focusing on only the external things you’re neglecting the inner work that is required to manage pain
Look, there’s no ‘right way’ to prepare for labor pains. But the reasons why these plans to handle labor pains aren’t usually successful is because they don’t get to the heart of it… your perception of pain and your nervous system are the foundation of navigating and managing pain.
From the yoga perspective, pain is an experience that is perceived and interpreted by the mind and in order to release pain, we must be clear that we are attached to the pain.
I know, I know, no one WANTS the pain, so how could it be that we are attached to it?!?
We are attached to it because we are trying so hard to run away from it or fight it or scared of it or thinking about it…
This is why yoga, buddhism, and christianity too, have tenets of non-attachment in their spiritual practices. Non-attachment is to explore releasing attachments to pleasure and avoidance of pain, because without our attachments we can experience bliss.
This ~3000 year old theory essentially explains the modern scientific understanding of pain (gate control theory and the neuromatrix theory) and also gives a pathway for navigating pain.
We can use this yogic pathway to navigate pain and suffering as a way to cope and manage pain during labor.