Birth is a Rite of Passage
A woman is the full circle. Within her is the power to create, nurture and transform.
Throughout pregnancy, women experience profound change: physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. These changes occur in a pregnant woman’s body, brain, hormones, and her heart.
Pregnancy and birth are profoundly transformational experiences in which a woman becomes a mother, and her life is never again the same after birth as it was before. Birth has long been considered by many cultures to be a sacred rite of passage in which the power of the transformation shapes both the baby, mother, family, and the entire community.
Communities the world over have created ways of honouring and celebrating womanhood, pregnancy, birth, and the newborn through physical, social, and spiritual rituals and ceremonies for healing.
When we recognise that birth is a rite of passage, then how you choose to treat your pregnancy, birth your baby, and care for your newborn helps establish the foundation for their life and for yours too, as a mother.
Your Brain During Birth
One of the ways in which we can better connect to the limbic system is through self-awareness, this is THE MAIN principle of yoga and it's one of the reasons why a prenatal specific yoga practice throughout pregnancy can be of immense benefit - not just to prepare the body and connect with your baby but more so to prepare the mind! By increasing our self-awareness through practices of pregnancy yoga, pranayama (breathing techniques) and meditation practices we become better attuned to our inner landscape, connecting with and becoming aware of different sensations on a deeper level and thus preparing us to move into the limbic part of the brain during the birth of our baby.