THE UNCONSCIOUS MIND AND BIRTH! ECOTRAIN QUESTION OF THE WEEK
My body knows exactly what it needs to do. My body knows exactly what it needs to do. I just need to let go and surrender.
When I was growing up, birth was depicted as being a very dramatic and painful medical experience. No one ever talked about it willingly and the only real insight I had was from the television. That vision of a woman screaming in pain, threatening to kill her partner for getting her pregnant in the first place. These images where tucked away in my unconscious mind along with all the other insights I received when I was a child.
When I was a teenager the idea of birth terrified me, those memories imprinted so well. How we think, how we respond to situations really goes back to our childhood. Sometimes we do not even understand why we react the way we do, why certain sounds or situations trigger us.
All of this comes from our experiences as a child, the world we are born into, that is the world we react too. How we are raised, what we are feed, these are the building blocks of who we are. Up until the age of 8 everything is taken in by the unconscious mind, there is no filter, no critical thinking that may reject certain ideas or experiences. I guess that is why they say that young children are like sponges. They soak everything up ,the good and the bad. So that later on, you react to certain situations without thinking.
So many people are fearful of birth, having heard so many negative birth stories. Yet women's bodies were designed to birth their young. Of course our bodies are also changing a lot, no thanks to all the crap that some put in their bodies, so unfortunately for some birth may be a difficult experience.
But just imagine if we viewed birth differently, if children were to hear a lot more positive birth experiences. If the way it is so wrongly depicted in the media was changed. Imagine now, how the unconscious mind sees birth and the effect it has when women are deciding where and how to give birth. Instead of the initial fear response , we have one that is more confident and comfortable with the idea that their bodies know what to do and if not then assistance is available. Just imagine.
When I decided I wanted to have a home birth, there was at first an uneasy feeling within me, I remember having dreams where I was screaming in pain and so fearful for the safety of my unborn baby. So many what if's, would pop into my head. I really felt like I had to unschool myself from this fear, that was imprinted in my mind, from these thoughts that would always try to unnerve me. This fear that was engrained in me. Yet I was so determined, I spend hours talking to myself, reprogramming my mind and pushing out this deeply engrained thoughts of what birth was.
And when the time came, it was to my unconscious primitive mind that I really needed to connect with again, in order to birth my baby. Because when we are born, we are born knowing, that our bodies know what to do. We have no fear, we trust our bodies, we are so much more connected to the whole. We see and we do. The primitive part of the brain controls the processes that occur automatically in our bodies such as breathing, digestion, blinking your eye, heartbeat. Birth is something that can happen automatically, when we actually allow our bodies to do so without interference. But their are so many factors at play today that prevent this from happening.
Our unconscious mind plays a huge part in our self belief and self confidence. Birth can be such an empowering experience and it it is for so many, yet our unconscious mind can hold us back because of the fear that is engrained in us. In the belief that our bodies are incapable of birthing without medical assistance. I am not saying that you should have none, but only that we as women are stronger than many believe.
This is my response to the EcoTrain question of the Week - The Unconscious Mind .
8 Pillars of TribeSteemUp
Yup, so true. The horror stories have engrained so deeply throughout the years.
I once had a discussion with a doctor about the subject of birth. I asked him what it means when a person experiences pain in the modern medical world. He replied: "It indicates that there's something wrong. Everyone knows that." So I asked: "If everyone knows that, then why is it that people seem to think that childbirth is equal to pain." He was quiet and it made him think about that.
He is now an advocate for natural birth and would rather tell women to go and have a homebirth than come to the hospital...
great question and what an amazing outcome from asking it. I remember asking the public health nurse what they put in vacations, she had no clue only that it was all safe ha, oh the lies they tell us xx
YES!!! The sad thing is that most of the nurses don't even have a clue. They just go from what the doctors, big Pharma and media is telling them, and don't do any research unless they have experienced some bad reactions in (their own) children. Most of them are kept in the dark (and brainwashed) as much as the public. My sister is a nurse, psychiatric nurse, but still. I told her a story of a friend who had a bad experience with the birth of her twin sons, and confronted the OBGYN after it, asking him why he put her through so much suffering. He looked at the monitor of his PC and said: here's the graph, and no, you weren't in too much pain, I can see it here... My sister replied to that: Yeah, they have machines that show that... As if ANY machine could ever show ANYTHING a woman feels during birth. But my sister believes it to be true (has never had children. so that doesn't help) and she pretty much believes that the doctors are gods.
wow that is really full on, where is the human touch in all of this, like you said how could a feckin machine show how much pain a woman is in. it is really scary how all this is seen as acceptable xx
Yes, it's sickening to think these things are now acceptable. The funny thing was though, that my friend told the OBGYN that she'd love for him to hook himself up to that machine, kick him in the balls and then compare this to what the machine came up with...😂😂😂 But even though I thought this response is priceless...this is really something they should do! They should be made to feel and compare...so they know what it's like. But these doctors and the ones who support them, will never understand anything like that. Not until they open their minds and hearts.
There's no question all those negative birth stories and images have a powerful impact. In my childbirth class we had to read and watch lots of positive birth stories. It's so important to counter that message and really magical to consider what it would be like if we didn't have to.
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I know so much healing it would provide, so much is tied into how we enter the world xx
And also so much power denied to women at this amazing, empowering time.
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This is very true.
I had three children at the hospital, three children at home... Except my youngest (who had a traumatic entrance, despite everything), the first two at home were the nicest, most straight-forward births. Unmedicated, etc.
Thanks for sharing.
thank you @viking-ventures xx
couldn't agree more with this post.. and the same for menstral pain and that kind of thing. Its good to see SO many women dealing with these issues today.. things are changing! Yes our bodies know exactly what to do if we let go and surrender! <3 x x
thanks Alex, yes menstrual cycles is another huge mis education, something that is engrained from a very young age. Birth was the first thing that came to mind though, but there are so many other things as well xx
oh yea the way it is depicted is horrible, something really painful.
That is why, children should be kept far from these subjective experiences when they are little because it creates emotional trauma and memories inside them.
my oldest was very close by when I birthed my second, she could hear me and came straight away once her sister was born, she has a great insight into birth and really understands that a woman's body is more than capable to birth their young. It is important for them to experience natural births xx
Wow must be such an insightful experience for her to see how her sister came into the world <3 :)
Great to read your positive attitude towards birth. You said it very correct our unconscious makes us take the right decision on time.
My son is now 2.4 years, I still have the pain in my c-section area and surely some in my heart. People does not react positively on this.
We should raise our child to be sensitive to other's choices and surely give them some positive vibes regard Birth.
Stay Blessed!
thank you @rem-steem, yes it is important that our children understand that we like other animals have been birthing our young since the beginning of time, it is natural, of course there can be times when assistance is needed but it is so important that they know that our bodies do indeed know what to do.
The deep unconscious knowing is never more obvious than when a woman give's birth - we DO just KNOW!!! Lovely contribution to the challenge, my dear.
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thank you @artemislives, we really do know x
Love that you could get past that ingrained fear that so many of us have, to have a positive birthing experience! Thanks for sharing your story and I agree with you that there should be more of these positive birthing stories told!