~ Sheryl Feldman

Mothers throughout the ages have shared a very primal connection to creating sounds during natural childbirth.

The act of natural childbirth calls to a sacred and powerful place inside of us that we may not have even known existed before. When we embrace this we begin to witness ourselves acting within our full source of power. Without any thought or preparation sounds begin to permeate from inside of us releasing in a intrinsic expression of hums, moans, chants, song and even animal noises. These sounds create a certain harmonic within our body that helps to release pain, keep us focused, and in general makes birth easier and more manageable.

What most of us aren’t aware of is just how significant these sounds are, or the enormous effect they have on us, our babies and the birth as a whole.

Through the right kind of vocalization a wonderful doorway opens up that can connect us with the harmony of birth and life in a profound way!

In this article I will share with you just how significant vocalization is during natural childbirth, and give you tips and techniques that will help you to use your voice to bring forth your personal power and create an amazing natural childbirth for you and your baby!

To Understand the Significance of Sound in Natural Childbirth You Must First Understand that Everything is Sound!

“In the beginning was the word… or in Sanskrit, “Nada Brahma,” the world is sound”…

I had heard this mentioned in reference to biblical text before, but had never quite understood the meaning until I stumbled across the science of Cymatics, which draws on the principles of the ancient Greek philosophers Heraclitus, Pythagoras and Plato, and cosmologists Giordano Bruno and Johannes Kepler’s theories that all matter is made up of sound.

Since we ourselves are made of matter, and so are our babies I found this idea very intriguing!

“Each celestial body, in fact each and every atom, produces a particular sound on account of its movement, its rhythm or vibration. All these sounds and vibrations form a universal harmony in which each element, while having it’s own function and character, contributes to the whole. “
-Pythagoras (569-475 BC

“What makes us feel drawn to music is that our whole being is music: our mind and body, the nature in which we live, the nature which has made us, all that is beneath and around us, it is all music.”
Hazrat Inyat Khan (Sufi Master) (1882-1927)

 I have to say that these videos, though a bit old are pretty amazing! You’ll be able see with your own eyes matter being formed and manipulated from sound waves vibrating at different rates, frequencies and pulses creating the illusion of solid objects and revealing that…

…“All is vibration!” ––Novalis

The Vibration of Natural Childbirth

During natural childbirth a dramatically increased charge of vibration travels through your body. Not only is the individual vibration of our bodies at work, but we also have the vibration of our baby’s body at work, as well as the power and vibration of birth.

This magnificent harmony of increased vibration is what brings life over the threshold and into the world. How we choose to work with this energy can be the difference between whether birth will be a struggle or an act of magnificence!

In order to have an amazing natural childbirth you must open to this energy and allow it to not only enter into you but to flow out of you.  If this influx of energy is not given a path to release itself it will build inside of us and turn into pain. Vocalizing is one of the body’s most primal ways of providing an outlet for this energy to flow through so that it can maintain balance.

How Vocalizing Effects You and Your Baby During Natural Childbirth

“In the germ, when the first trace of life begins to stir, music is the nurse of the soul; it murmurs in the ear, and the child sleeps; the tones are companions of his dreams- they are the world in which he lives”
~Bettina Skrzypczak

The sounds that are created during birth cause very real physical and molecular change within our bodies.When vocalizing  during birth, remember that your baby is living in a world comprised of those sounds. Do not allow yourself to loose control and get caught up in sounds of fear such as screaming or yelling that frighten the child and can cause physical changes in the babys heart rate, blood pressure and stress levels. Avoid harmful sounds that can trigger pain such as saying OW, instead remain focused and tuned in to your body. Use sounds that encourage calmness, peace and opening.

Using sensual sounds as we do when making love encourages us to release into the intense energy flow of the birth; and sounds like OM, AH, or WOW that require us to open our mouths wide encourage the opening of our bodies.

There is no set way to vocalize during natural childbirth and every woman will have her own unique birth song. The important thing to remember is to try and tune in to the energy and harmony of the birth and match your harmony in accordance.Listen to your body and do what feels good!

For an Amazing Natural Childbirth- Release Your Fear, Step Outside of Your Comfort Zone and Free Your Voice!

The best way to become comfortable with vocalizing during natural childbirth is to practice it often while you are still pregnant. In the local community classes that I teach we do chanting, which is pretty much universally awkward and uncomfortable at first, but once we get into it and we feel ourselves breaking out of our shells we start to realize what an amazing and powerful force we truly are! And then the awkwardness fades and we become very tuned in to that primal force that exist within us, it is then that we become empowered and ready for natural childbirth.

Amazing and Inspirational Natural Childbirth Videos

Here are some great examples of empowered women embracing the sound of birth and vocalizing amazingly! I encourage you to draw upon these videos for inspiration in your practice and during birth. If you would like you can even use this  first video during your practice, just play it and follow along with her vocally. There are also plenty of videos on utube of chants that you can follow along with.

In this video you can see the amazing and beautiful effects of some of these tones. Enjoy!

The magnificence of sound brings forth life, and will  bring forth our babies in perfect harmony! If we can allow ourselves to connect with birth on this very primal level allowing the vibrations to flow through us then natural childbirth will happen like a song!