~Peggy Vincent

If I could tell you the most important thing that you could know about natural childbirth it is that your birth will be what you imagine and allow it to be!  The physical act of natural childbirth is quite simple and natural; it is only when our minds get in the way that it becomes difficult. In this article I will share with you how you can shape your perception to allow the release of harmful thoughts and to embrace natural childbirth in a way that can open up the doorway to experiencing a truly amazing birth!

Go Beyond the Skewed Perception of Natural Childbirth

For most of us, before we got pregnant the thought of birth and what it’s going to be like rarely entered into our minds. Now suddenly it consumes our thoughts, and all we want to know is, “what is it going to be like?” Since most of us have never actually seen or experienced what a natural childbirth is really like and scince we have nothing to compare it to, this is a difficult question to answer. So we tend to draw from the only sources of reference we’ve had: Movies, TV shows and the chatty women at the office.

But little do we know that what they are telling us is not the truth. The picture of birth as a long scary and painful process is only a false idea that has been wrongfully passed along for too long!

“We must not allow other people’s limited perceptions to define us”

~Virginia Satir

 If we wish to reclaim birth, then we must break free from the restraints of fear and realize that it is us that makes the choice!  How we  experience natural childbirth will greatly depend on what we expect and allow ourselves to experience. If we continue to see birth as something undesirable that is happening to us and allow ourselves to be sucked into that fear then we are allowing our perception of birth to be fogged over and all we will be able to see and experience is pain and struggle.

But when we allow ourselves to see through that fog of misconception suddenly the doorway opens to realization that birth is the most amazing act that we will ever get a chance to be a part of. And that is when the potential for an amazing natural childbirth becomes limitless!

“If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear as it is – infinite”

~William Blake

Birth is the ultimate gift, the ultimate act of creation. It is the power of God manifesting itself through you to bring new life in existence. It is a bridge that finds you and your baby linked together straddling the gap between two worlds with the common purpose of life. It is a powerful, pure, and magnificent force!

Birth is a journey, birth is beautiful, birth will transform you, birth is work, birth is a reflection, birth is life, birth is LOVE!

How to Shift Your Perception to See How Amazing Natural Childbirth Really Is

 You realize very quickly when you become pregnant that it suddenly seems that everyone has an opinion and is dying to share it whether you ask for it or not. Let me tell you there will be no shortage of bad information and negative stories flying your way!

I don’t think that these people truly realize how harmful fear can be or else they might think twice before saying some of the things they say. But despite all of their bad advice the most important thing to remember is that it is completely up to you what beliefs you choose to embrace! Do not allow negative ideas to have power over you. If it does not serve you let it go!

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

 ~ Albert Einstein

For a Positive Natural Childbirth Fill up with Positives

If you wish to have a great natural childbirth you must focus your thoughts and attention on experiencing a great birth! Here are some tips to help you.

Watch Positive Natural Childbirth Videos

 If you wish to have a great birth you must take control of what images you allow to enter into your mind. Stop watching movies and TV shows that depict birth in a negative light and start replacing those images with positive images of natural childbirth.

No more TLC  birthing stories, no more Hollywood drama, instead start filling up with real live natural childbirth videos, the kind that shows birth in its full glory! Utube is a great source to watch natural childbirth videos, there are also a number of natural childbirth documentaries that show how inspiring and empowering natural childbirth can be when we allow it. Also my birth video is on this sight under the “my birth video” tab if you want to check it out

Practice Hypnobirthing

Hypnobirthing is a quite popular and effective way of getting rid of negatives and reprogramming birth into your mind as a positive and enjoyable experience. For more about hypnobirthing check out this article: http://mynaturalchildbirth.org/hypnobirthing-secrets/

Positive Natural Childbirth Affirmations

Another helpful tool is to practice natural childbirth affirmations. Take some time to think about and write down some affirmations that you can repeat to yourself everyday that remind you of how capable you are, and how much you trust birth. Tape them on your mirror and read them first thing upon waking up in the morning and last thing before going to bed.

Through affirming to yourself every day how powerful, capable, and amazing you are, how perfect your body’s knowledge of birth is, and how peaceful and loving your child’s birth will be you are actually recreating that reality inside of your head. You are actively filling your mind so full of positives that there is simply no more room for negatives to linger about. Birth then no longer becomes something that you fear but rather something that you look forward to embracing. With this mind-frame it will be much easier to relax and allow your body to do it’s work without interfering.

“Just as a women’s heart knows how and when to pump, her lungs to inhale, and her hand to pull back from fire, so she knows when and how to give birth.”

~Virginia Di Orio

How I Used My Perception to Create an Amazing Natural Childbirth

“There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle.”

~Albert Einstein

While I was pregnant I opened my mind to the significance of birth, not only for me but for my child. I saw in natural childbirth a chance to discover myself, a chance to discover my capabilities, my strength, my power. This was my time to reach beyond fear into the inner most depths of my soul to guide my baby into life with perfect love.

This was a rare opportunity for us to experience something amazing and powerful together, and one that I would not allow to be waisted. She was dependant on me to allow her the peaceful entrance into this world that she so rightfully deserved and I was not going to disappoint her!

“There is no way out of the experience except through it, because it is not really your experience at all but the baby’s. Your body is the child’s instrument of birth.”

~Penelope Leach

With no way out the only option left was to go into it, fully and completely, and so that’s what I did! When I did that my entire perspective shifted, and I began to view and experience birth not as pain but as an amazing and powerful act of energy. This is a picture that I drew when I was pregnant of  how I had imagined my birth would be.

It was turning out just as I had imagined it! With every pressure wave I imagined pure white energy spiraling through the universe and traveling amazingly through my body expanding me in every sense of the word, opening up a beautiful pathway for the energy to pour out of me bringing my baby right down with it and out into the world.

It was a very powerful feeling, and I knew that if I allowed myself to fall victim to fear for even one moment those magnificently powerful sensation would very quickly and easily turn to pain. So I kept it in my mind as the ultimate act of love and a gift that I was giving my child. I embraced it and it was Amazing!

 Remember that what you focus on with your thought and feelings is what you attract into your experience. Learn to become still and take your attention away from what you don’t want, and place your attention on what you wish to experience. Set a goal so big that if you achieved it, it would blow your mind! Imagine yourself experiencing an amazing natural childbirth and then make that your reality! Happy Birthing Mommas!

~ 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!

~Rumi

Secret Doorway #2 to having an amazing natural childbirth is through your breath. The simple act of breathing is surely the most natural, primal, and universal human experience, quite similar to birth.

When used to its’ full potential your breath can open up a whole new way of natural childbirth,  that can not only be free from fear and pain, but can actually emerge as an amazing and truly enjoyable experience!

In this article I will share how to use the power of  breath to assist you in remaining calm, flexible and relaxed during your birthing time, to effectively focus the energy of the birthing waves, to minimize discomfort, and allow you and your baby a much more comfortable and enjoyable natural childbirth.

Through Breath Lies Everything You Need to Give Your Baby a Great Natural Childbirth

“You know that our breathing is the inhaling and exhaling of air.  The organ that serves for this is the lungs that lie round the heart, so that the air passing through them thereby envelops the heart.  Thus breathing is a natural way to the heart.  And so, having collected your mind within you, lead it into the channel of breathing through which air reaches the heart and, together with this inhaled air, force your mind to descend into the heart and to remain there.”

~Nicephorus the Solitary

Because we are always breathing, like most things, we tend to take it for granted, and fail to recognize the infinite store of potential that lies within the power of our own breath!

We each hold within us everything that we need to bring our babies into the world: personal power, love, strength, confidence, passion, wisdom and determination.

When you breathe with conscious awareness into your heart it activates all of these systems, as you inhale it gathers them together, and then on the exhale pours them out over your birthing time.

You must understand that when you are operating from love and strength there is simply no room for fear, they cannot share the same space at the same time.  And in the absence of fear there is no limit to what you can achieve.

Your Breath Sets the Tone for Your Natural Childbirth

Your breath sets the tone for your entire body. If your breath is relaxed your body is relaxed.

So the goal is to get your breath to be a mirror of what you are trying to achieve in both body and mind during your birth. So the goal of your body is to remain relaxed, and to be open and expansive, but at the same time your mind must be calm and strong. So then these are the things to encompass in your breath, these are the things that you should focus on incorporating into your practice.

Natural Childbirth Exercise: Mastering the Breath of Birth

As you focus your awareness on your breath take the time to notice each one of these qualities,  Go down the line and activate these things within your breathing, relaxed breaths, open breaths, expansive breaths, calm breaths, strong breaths. There is no need to change the way you breathe, or to breathe in a certain way. Your breathing already encompasses these qualities,  your job is to simply bring your awareness into your breath and to be aware of these qualities that already exist within it. Be the “watcher of your breath” so to say.

Proper Breathing for Natural Childbirth and for Life

First you must relearn how to breathe correctly:  Which is through your abdomen, as you inhale you abdomen rises, and as you exhale it sinks. We were all born breathing this perfect way,  but as life and stress compound we learn to take short shallow breaths through our chest. This way of shallow breathing really limits the potential of our breath and tends to disconnect us from the primordial connection with the one universal breath or flow. In order to embrace the power and strength of your birthing time it’s essential to reconnect with this powerful primal breath , because this is what reconnects us with the powerful breath and energy that propels birth.

Spiral Breath

Throughout your practice and birth always maintain a relaxed jaw and wide open mouth. Inhale and exhale through your mouth, this encourages the opening of your body’s sphincters. As you breathe in and out feel your breath flowing into and out of you. Now do it again, but this time there is no pause between the inhale and exhale,  just imagine it flowing into and out of you in a continuous flowing spiral. Good Job!

The Amazing Secret To Using Your Breath is to Gather, Compress, and Disperse

As you inhale imagine gathering energy or “chi” as a beautiful light… picture it flowing into you through your breath… as it flows into your body it begins to gather and activate all of your gifts:  your personal power, your love, strength, confidence, passion, wisdom, and so on… it then compresses, and as you exhale they flow through you carrying out all negative, dark or stagnant energy and dispersing it.

Focusing the Energy of the Birthing Waves and Dispersing Pain

During your birthing time you use this same Gather, Compress, and Disperse to handle the intensity of the pressure waves.

• Gather- as you inhale you gather and allow the pressure and intensity of the birthing waves to flow into you,  gathering and activating your calm inner strength, love, confidence, and personal power
• Compress- you then allow the intensity to combine with your personal power, and as it compresses the  energy is focused downward
• Disperse- as you exhale you take all of the intensity, energy, discomfort etc. and allow it to completely disperse back into the earth clearing the way for the next pressure wave to come.

Renewing Cleansing Breath

One of the most powerful qualities that lie in your breath is the amazing cleansing ability that it has. Every breath is all new. And even if with your last pressure wave you got pulled into a place of fear, that’s OK because each and every breath is a chance to start over fresh.

Every breath is a choice. With every breath you must choose relaxation. With every breath you must choose pleasure over pain, love over fear. With every breath you must choose to gather and bring forth your calm inner strength, with every breath you must choose to embrace birth, to embrace the energy, to embrace the magnificence, and to embrace the power of it.

You must allow yourself to breath openly, and freely.

Although the body is moving, the mind remains centered with the steady flow of breath creating a dynamic since of tranquility and internal strength. With this on your side birth is more enjoyable on every level! It can emerge as a painless, empowering, and amazing act of love that can give you and your baby an enjoyable natural childbirth without fear!

We will be entering each one of these doorways through a natural childbirth technique that will be shared each week. Every one of the 5 components is equally special, powerful and important on its own, but when used all together can make a huge difference in the quality of your birth!

In order to achieve a great birth you must work on opening the doorway to your “true state of being.”  This is where you must reside throughout your birthing time, in the “seat of yourself “so to say;  the place inside of you that knows how powerful you are, how strong, capable, wise, loving, and masterfully designed you are for natural childbirth.

The best way to prepare yourself to operate from that place during birth, is to practice accessing that place while you are still pregnant. I’ll share with you some of the exercises that I used to do that. These exercises teach you how to access and use your energy to work in accordance with the birthing energy, which makes birth a lot easier and more comfortable.

Secret Doorway #1 To An Amazing Natural Childbirth-

Enter through The “Universal Spiral”

Natural Childbirth and the Universal Spiral or “Golden Mean”

A great mathematician by the name of Leonardo Fibonacci became aware of the “Universal Spiral,” or when broken down into math terms is called the “Golden Ratio.” This is the idea that many if not all things in our world come into existence through the same universal spiraling motion.

Here’s a video that explains it a bit more:

So if it is true that possibly all things come into the world within this spiral then it would seem to make sense that we would follow this same pattern of movement when bringing our babies into the world.

The Benefits of Spiraling for Natural Childbirth

The spiraling that is practiced for natural childbirth is an actual physical movement where you spiral your hips in big flowing circles, it is a very empowering movement that can open the doorway to the primordial connection that exists between your body and the universal birthing energy.

Lack of movement during your birthing time enables the intense energy of the rushes to build and compound in the abdomen which causes a great deal of unnecessary pain. But if you allow your body to glide along this spiral, then the intensity of the rushes is being actively moved and spiraled downward which prevents pain, focuses the energy in a useful way, opens your pelvis and encourages your baby to travel downward.

Natural Childbirth Video – “Birth into Being” an Awesome Documentary that Embraces the Act of Spiraling during Birth

When I was pregnant I watched this amazing documentary. This is where I was first introduced to the idea of spiraling during birth. There are some really beautiful natural childbirth stories in this film. It’s a must see!

Wow! If spiraling was going to allow me to have an amazing natural childbirth like those ones, I was going to spiral my little heart out! So I began practicing it as often as I could. It felt so amazing that I would practice it many times a day!

Natural Childbirth Exercise: The Practice of Mastering the Art of Spiraling

You may sit on your birthing ball, on your hands and knees, or you may stand.

Close your eyes, and begin to bring your awareness to your breathing….. Feel yourself taking full, controlled breaths…. inhaling and exhaling completely….feel the flow of the breath spiraling into you and out in a continuous flowing cycle…

…Still your mind and go to a place of peace within yourself….. Now begin to move your body in Big Circles like you’re outlining a large sun with your hips… circling your hips around and around….. …Just relax and allow yourself to flow into this movement……

…As you are doing this,  imagine gathering energy from the heavens, and as it enters into your body it fills you with this beautiful white light that is flowing through in a downward facing spiraling motion.

This feels wonderfully rejuvenating!  The effects of this exercise works on many different levels to remove harmful blocks within your body’s meridians or (energy centers), and to refill with a  light and refreshing energy.

What makes this exercise successful is the combination between breath, movement and imagination.

My Natural Childbirth Story - Spiraling My Way To An Amazing Birth

As soon as I felt the first rushes of my birthing time I immediately went into this place of calm inner strength. I focused my awareness on my breathing and allowed it to channel the intensity of the birthing waves down through my body. This was working well, but as the intensity began to build I felt a very primal urge to move my body.

I instinctively began this spiraling motion. I moved my body in wide opening circles and imagined the birthing energy just as I had during my practice, as a white light, but this time it was intensified 100 fold. I visualized all of the power of the cosmos pouring powerfully through my body. It was a magnificent feeling that I welcomed into me!

I kept spiraling and felt like I was grabbing a hold of the intensity of the rush and was able to focus on spiraling it downward and then releasing it through my breath.

At one point I stopped spiraling just for comparison, this time when the rushes came in, instead of being spiraled downward they began to compound and build in my abdomen and was becoming pretty painful. The moment I began spiraling again the pain dispersed.

My Natural Childbirth Video-

Here is the video of our birth, where you can see the spiraling motion that I did throughout almost the entire birth.

I hope that you enjoy practicing and exploring this beautiful spiraling movement, it can make an incredible difference in the quality of your natural childbirth.

Next week we will enter through Golden Doorway #2   using the  “Breath of Natural Childbirth”