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.

What is a Healthier, Happier Life Worth to You?

Imagine that you are an energetic being living in an energetic world. Imagine also that Joy is an energy that balances your system, stimulates your repair functions and positively influences everything in your life. You’d want more of it, wouldn’t you?

Now imagine that Joy is your nature and that it got covered up, buried in the expectations of others—your parents, teachers and culture. Where did it go? Nowhere? It is still within you!

Your task and function is now to uncover it. The good news is that it isn’t lost. You can use your Full Wave Breathing to recover it.

For the next month, dedicate at least one Full Wave Breathing session to your joy. Intend it, feel it and make it real in your body. Imagine that you are breathing it in to your heart and distributing it throughout your body.

What results can you expect? Let’s start with feeling better—about yourself and your life. Also you can expect that the high frequency energy of Joy would transmit to others around your without effort. Would this improve your life? You bet…and don’t take my word for it. Put the practice into action and see for yourself what happens.

It will either work or it won’t. When it does, you will have a method for managing your thoughts and emotions that produces a reliable result. If it doesn’t work, you will be able to conclude that you are wasting your time with the process and can look for something else. (Hint—it will work if you do.)

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Dr. Tom Goode is the co-founder of the International Breath Institute, which was created in 1991 to teach people how to enhance their health and prevent premature aging. He is also an inspirational speaker, workshop facilitator, and author of five books, the latest of which is The Holistic Guide to Weight Loss, Anti-Aging and Fat Prevention.

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. 

DON’T JUST EAT: NOURISH YOURSELF

Nourishment is about more than eating. It is about intention.

Not everything you put into your mouth is nutritious. Many processed, treated, and refined foods lack any nutritional value at all. They are laced with chemicals and preservatives. They are high in salt, sugar, and unhealthy fat. In other words, they offer a lot of what you don’t need and very little of what you do.

Since these foods are typically void of nutrition, we eat them to fill other needs. Their consumption is often rooted in cravings. These cravings may be for a certain taste, emotional comfort or because we are thirsty. It is important that you acknowledge these alternative reasons for eating. Observe yourself and your diet to identify any patterns. Do you eat when you are happy? Sad? Bored? Lonely? Do you crave sugar? Salt? Spices? Are you confusing thirst with hunger? Pinpointing these patterns will help you to develop strategies for coping with them. In turn, these strategies will be your guide to a lifetime of good health and feeding your body with intention and nutrition.

Overcoming Cravings
Taste.

There are five types of taste. Sweet, sour, salty, astringent, and bitter. At different times, the body will seek them all out. Many people are familiar with the desire for something sweet after a meal or a salty snack in the afternoon. These cravings are based in taste, not nutrition. Scientists have proven that on an average, cravings last approximately fifteen minutes. Even though you feel as if you won’t last another second without a cookie, it simply isn’t true. If you can occupy your mind with deep breathing or another activity until the craving passes, you will survive.

The Ayurvedic lifestyle also offers a strategy to deal with taste based cravings. According to these ancient teachings, the best way to solve the problem of eating for taste is to include all these sensations in every meal. Look for natural sources of each taste and combine them to satisfy your food cravings before they begin. Your meals should include a variety of foods from all the taste groups. This includes sweet fruit, astringent herbs, sour yogurt, salty cheese, and bitter spinach. This may require that you begin to see foods differently, but that is an inevitable byproduct of feeding your body with intention. Food becomes fuel, not an answer to a craving.

Thirst.

The human body is 70% water. Therefore, it is imperative to your health that you remain hydrated. Most people don’t drink enough water and when this occurs, the body sends you a signal. Often this signal is misinterpreted as hunger. So before you hit the food, drink a glass of water. This may be just what your body needs. And giving your body what it needs is the basis for proper nutrition.

Comfort.

Many cravings are emotionally based. Throughout your life you may have associated food with a number of situations. These associations, in turn, became automatic responses. If as a child, you were treated to a bowl of ice cream when you were sad, chances are as an adult you will repeat this pattern. The ice cream made you feel better then, so you assume it will make you feel better now. It often does, for a little while. However, in the end you are still left with an unresolved situation or emotion. The only thing you fed was your sweet tooth, and as we all know what it wants is hardly ever nutritious.

Our world is a highly stressful one and many people turn to food as an escape. Like the emotional eating described above, eating to release stress is only a temporary fix. It does not offer you valid emotional or nutritional value. Therefore, instead of reaching for the chips, reach for a pad and pencil. Help yourself learn to deal with your emotions by making a list under the heading, Emotions I Would Feel If I Allowed Myself To Do So. Write down any emotion, positive or negative, that you feel you are holding back. Your list may include anger, joy, guilt, sadness or love. When you eat out of stress or for comfort, you are using food to stuff these emotions back inside.

Now go down your list and allow yourself to really feel each emotion. Use deep belly breathing to help yourself focus and center. This process teaches that these emotions are a part of you with a need to be expressed. You owe it to yourself and your health to freely express your emotions without fear or shame. Once you accomplish this, you may find that open communication is more satisfying than cookies, cake or any other food stuff you would have previously reached for.

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Dr. Tom Goode is the co-founder of the International Breath Institute, which was created in 1991 to teach people how to enhance their health and prevent premature aging. He is also an inspirational speaker, workshop facilitator, and author of five books, the latest of which is The Holistic Guide to Weight Loss, Anti-Aging and Fat Prevention.

BREATHE FOR WEIGHT LOSS

Ever tried shed a few pounds? It’s not easy.

According to the National Institutes of Health, 97% of dieters who lose weight gain it back within five years.

This statistic illustrates what most dieters already know. Permanent weight loss is frustrating and often seems unobtainable.

What most dieters don’t know, however, is that they carry a powerful weight loss tool with them at all times: Breathing. Proper breathing is the one exercise that helps your body do what is necessary to lose weight. In fact, some weight loss programs maintain that proper breathing is more important than exercise or diet when it comes to burning calories.

• Oxygen is required for nutrient absorption and enhanced oxygen boosts the metabolic rate.

• Converting food and fat into energy requires an alkaline pH and deeper breathing helps to keep the cells oxygenated and the pH in an alkaline state.

• By moving the lymph, deeper breathing increases toxins as much as 1500%!

• An oxygenated bloodstream calms the central nervous system and reduces pancreatic production of fat-storing insulin.

All of us are aware that oxygen is necessary for life.  When we are born into this world we are blessed with an innate awareness of this fact. We are also predisposed to proper breathing techniques. Infants breathe fully, which in turn supplies their young bodies with the oxygen necessary for proper functioning and growth. As we age, however, our breathing becomes more shallow. This change results in a lower oxygen supply, which slows all bodily functions, including our metabolism.

When you improve your breathing and increase your flow of oxygen, the body responds with enhanced performance . The extra oxygen moves through the bloodstream and causes chemical reactions in your body to take place faster. This enables you to burn more calories and more fat.

At this point, many of you are probably wondering what constitutes better breathing. Most of us are chest breathers. We have a shallow inhale and our breath travels only as far as our chests. Proper breathing or Full Wave Breathing™ begins with a full inhale that reaches deep into the abdomen. From there it expands into the stomach and moves into the chest. This process is much like a wave rolling through your body. At first this may seem awkward. With just a little time and practice it will become second nature.

Before beginning your breathing exercises:

• Find a spot that is pleasing and a position that is comfortable. You can either sit upright or lie down with a pillow under your knees.

• Let your mouth drop open and your jaw relax completely.

• When you first start to retrain yourself, mouth breathing is best.

• Nostril breathing will come later when you are more comfortable with the process and have mastered a complete breathing pattern.

Full Wave Breathing Basics

• Step One:  Abdominal Breathing. Inhale through your mouth and expand your lower abdomen. Make your inhale long and deep. Visualize the air moving through your body to your abdomen. Place your hands on your abdomen and imagine it filling as if it were a balloon. Exhale completely and gently through your mouth. Let your muscles go soft and allow the exhaled air to leave the body on its own without pushing or effort. Place your hands on your abdomen. Notice how it has naturally returned to a flat state.

• Step Two: Middle Body Breathing. Inhale again through your mouth and breathe into your abdomen. Then using your muscles, expand your lower ribs. Fill the middle of your body from your belly to your solar plexus with air. Place your hand on your lower ribs. Notice how they expand as you use your muscles and diaphragm. Exhale gently and completely through your mouth.

• Step Three: Chest Breathing. Inhale again through your mouth and breathe deep into your abdomen. Once the abdomen is full and round, let your middle body fill with air and your ribs expand. Then allow the breath to move into your chest. Exhale gently and completely through your mouth using no pressure or effort.

• Step Four: Smooth Breath Flow. Connect these three separate steps into one smooth flow of breathing. Move from one breath to the next with no pauses between your inhale and exhale. You can follow your breath by placing your hands on the abdomen, belly, and chest. Soon, you will begin to feel the air move through your body like waves nurturing your very being.

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Dr. Tom Goode is the co-founder of the International Breath Institute, which was created in 1991 to teach people how to enhance their health and prevent premature aging. He is also an inspirational speaker, workshop facilitator, and author of five books, the latest of which is The Holistic Guide to Weight Loss, Anti-Aging and Fat Prevention.