Breathing during Pregnancy: The Pregnancy Walk

Pregnant women all over the world walk throughout their pregnancies. Most of the time it’s to get from here to there but occasionally, a woman slows her pace and slows her mind and walks with her breath, which she shares with her baby.

A breath walk is a walking mediation, much like monks practice. It can be done anywhere but I suggest choosing a quiet place to minimize distraction. Do not carry anything in your hands – they need to swing freely. Wear a backpack on both shoulders if you need to carry water or a sweater. This walk will not make you sweat so dress appropriately.

To begin, stand with your feet about should-width apart. Let your weight spread evenly across your heel and ball of your foot. Relax your jaw and shoulders. Close your eyes and take several deep breaths, in a four-part rhythm:
1. Inhale slowly for a count of four
2. Hold your breath for a count of four
3. Slowly release your breath for a count of four
4. Pause again for a count of four
5. Repeat four times.

On the fifth inhale, step forward, pause, step forward with the other foot on the exhale and pause again. Do that four times.

If you like the slow pace, keep walking this way (though do open your eyes). If you feel impatient, increase the speed by breathing normally and walking in rhythm to your breath. Try both of these paces:
1. Take one step with each foot for each inhale and one step on each foot for each exhale.
2. Take four steps (two each foot) for each inhale.

Play with changing the length of your step. Let your arms hang and swing in reaction to your body movements. Moving mediations require a different way of being in your body. By practicing how to keep your upper body and jaw relaxed while you focus your awareness is on your breath and walk in rhythm, you are practicing for labor and taking care of an infant.

Most women can talk and move comfortably through their early contractions. Do a breath walk with your partner around the block. You could also use your breath to move to music (your own inner choir or a piece you’ve practiced dancing to already).

By learning how to stay present to your breath while doing something else, you are learning to mindfully multi-task, a skill that will serve you well as you learn to care for a newborns’ needs.

Enjoy the walk.

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About The Author …
Anna Stewart, B.A., C.M.T., C.H.T., mothers three young children, one with special needs. In her classes, workshops and services, she weaves her expertise as a professional writer, creative artist and student of rhythm dance. Her intention is to provide a safe environment for women to explore their personal experiences and feelings as mothers. Her skills as well as her passion to bear witness to others provides a solid base for compassionate understanding of the individual and the larger community.

Anna offers a number of classes in the Boulder, Colorado area. She can be reached at 303-499-7681 or via e-mail at anna@motherhands.com. Her website is http://www.motherhands.com.

FULL WAVE BREATHING FOR PREGNANT WOMEN

Each person finds a place to lie down. Pillows prop up the pregnant women. Their partners settle next to them. Danae Shanti puts on a tape, The Cosmic Waltz, and tells us to breath.

This isn’t a stress reduction class, although it could be. It isn’t a relaxation class, although it could be. It isn’t a technique for childbirth either, although it could be that too. Danae Shanti teaches the Full Wave Breathing, a technique of consciously directed breathing.

“Full Wave Breathing is a life-enhancing system because it not only re-educates the body to breath naturally in a full, open way, like a newborn,” says Shanti. “It also integrates a lot of subconscious matter that’s stored from a lifetime of experiences.”

We lie on the floor and breath. In. Out. Through our mouths. Deep inhales. Complete exhales. It’s simple but not simplistic.

At first it feels unnatural and forced. It’s hard to sustain the rhythm that the music echoes. Then a shift happens. It’s as if the breath takes over, the body breathes without thinking about it. Full Wave Breathing facilitators say the breath takes us beyond mind to the transpersonal realm.

“What that means is greater self-connectedness, more emotional clarity and immediate clear communication with your partners in life,” explains Shanti.

Tom and Caron Goode of the International Breath Institute developed Full Wave Breathing in 1992. Only recently has it been used specifically with pregnant women and their partners. It can also be applied to new parents and their children.

After an hour of breathing, we come back into a circle and share our experiences. “I feel clear, calm and relaxed,” said one father.

“I feel like I connected with my baby and that I can trust my body to birth,” said a mother-to-be.

“Having other children at home, I haven’t felt like I’ve had time to be with this baby,” said a pregnant mother. “Even though it was only an hour, I feel connected and present with my baby.”

Women who have practiced Full Wave Breathing, even if only a few times, report using the breath instinctively during labor and delivery. It’s a powerful tool that goes beyond Lamaze or Bradley breathing techniques. The breath doesn’t focus on pain or even the act of childbirth. Rather, the intention is to breath in the qualities of joy, peace, harmony and balance.

“Full Wave Breathing helps to process and clear fears or anxieties around pregnancy or birth,” says Shanti. “It helps to prepare the body by exercising the muscles of breath and it oxygenates the body and the baby. Oxygen is the best food you can offer your unborn child.”

The women in the group sessions all felt a connection with the soul of their baby. We felt attuned to our babies and our bodies. The breath seemed to open up pathways of relationship between our babies, our mates, and us.

For Shanti, the breathwork has given her a way to cope with life and all its experiences. “Life can be extremely challenging. It takes a lot of work to live, let alone to bring forth our dreams. The breath is the most natural method that brought me the most positive dramatic results of anything I’ve tried. It gave me a way to be present in my life,” she said.

Many in the group went on to private sessions, some alone and some with their partners. Even though we may not be practicing Full Wave Breathing daily, it’s deeply affected all of us.

“People find it hard to believe that this breathwork can do so much for them,” Shanti summarized, “but it can.”

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Anna Stewart, B.A., C.M.T., C.H.T., mothers three young children, one with special needs. In her classes, workshops and services, she weaves her expertise as a professional writer, creative artist and student of rhythm dance. Her intention is to provide a safe environment for women to explore their personal experiences and feelings as mothers. Her skills as well as her passion to bear witness to others provides a solid base for compassionate understanding of the individual and the larger community.

Anna offers a number of classes in the Boulder, Colorado area. She can be reached at 303-499-7681 or via e-mail at anna@motherhands.com.