Natural Therapies

Meditation Techniques for Your Childbirth
Whenever we are absorbed in thoughts on a single subject, whether it be a person, a task or a project, we are unconsciously meditating on that thing. Conscious meditation is simply using and directing that same mental energy towards a chosen topic for a certain period of time. Breath is integral in all meditation practices and is the source of energy which allows one to control and focus the mind.

Meditation during pregnancy can be an invaluable experience, bringing internal peace and a deep connection to the growing child within you.

Breathing
Breathing is essential to life and is the key to health, harmony, and peace of mind. While you are pregnant and during childbirth, you are breathing for yourself and also for your baby, so it is important to ensure that you are breathing well. Spending a little time each day practicing deep breathing and focusing your awareness on your breath will help you to find your inner center and to calm yourself to make the most of the good times, and to use your resources to cope with any difficulties that may arise. Deep breathing also brings your body into harmony with gravity, making you feel grounded and enabling you to release tension.

Close your eyes and concentrate on your breathing. As you exhale, relax your whole body. Place your palms on your lower belly and observe the rhythm of your breathing. When you are ready, begin to focus on the inhalations, breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth (or, if it feels comfortable to you, breathe in and out through your nose). Inhale slowly, keeping a grounded feeling in your pelvis. Allow the breath to come in lightly and effortlessly on its own accord. Sense the inhalation rising from the deep roots in your pelvis and traveling all the way up your spine to the base of the skull, creating space and lightness. At the same time, feel how your belly expands toward your hands as pressure in the abdomen increases. Sense the exhalation as if it were starting at the top of your spine and moving down the column of vertebrae to your tailbone, continuing downward as if it were sending roots deep into the earth below your sit bones. Feel how your belly empties away from your hands as the pressure in your abdomen decreases. Pause for a second before inhaling again.
Continue breathing in this way, feeling the waves of inward and outward breath caress the spine with a smooth and natural rhythm. You should be able to feel the fluctuating movement of the breath in the abdomen with your hands, while your chest remains calm and still. After 5 to 10 minutes, place your hands palms upon your knees. Focus on the wave of your breath and sit in silence for a while. Keep your awareness on your breathing, concentrating on slow exhalations and deep yet effortless inhalations.

Baby Meditation
Sit comfortably with your eyes closed. Breathe deeply and relax, allowing yourself to become quiet, calm, and centered, and to focus inwardly on the presence of your baby. Taking your time, visualize your baby's tiny body - the head, arms, legs, and even the fingers and toes - perfectly formed inside your womb. See if you can tune into the consciousness of your unborn child and imagine what he or she is experiencing. Imagine how the warm amniotic fluid must feel on the sensitive surface of your baby's skin and what it must be like to move and somersault free from the effects of gravity. Imagine the sounds that your baby hears - your voice, the reassuring regularity of your heartbeat, and the gentle rumblings of your digestive system. Your baby also hears music, voices, and other sounds from outside the womb.
The psychic and emotional connection between you is established long before birth so that your moods, feelings, and even dreams, may enter the consciousness of your unborn child. While meditating you can consciously communicate with and send loving messages to your baby. Spend some time just being with your baby and then open your eyes, retaining an inner awareness of your child's presence as you return to your daily activities. Meditate in this way for a few minutes every day.

Preparation for Birth
While some discomfort and pain may be experienced during childbirth, it is our learned reactions to those feelings that make all the difference in the outcome. The following meditation is one example of how we can direct our energies and reprogram our responses for what is to come. The more such meditations are practiced, the more effective they become.
Using the same breathing technique as described above... imagine that an expansion is beginning and that it will last for 60 seconds. Know that each expansion is like a wave. As the expansion becomes stronger, the focus on your breathing becomes more intense. Your breath is like the wind that will sail you smoothly over the wave. Use your energy to focus on your breath, allowing the rest of your body to completely relax. Feel your whole pelvic floor and cervix opening, allowing for your child to come through you. When a minute is up, breathe easily and normally for two minutes before another expansion takes you over the next wave. Each wave is bringing you closer to the shore where you are holding your baby beautifully in your arms.

Herbalism

Herbalism uses plants, drawn from a wide spectrum of fruit and vegetable species, for their cleansing and healing properties and is perhaps the oldest natural therapy we know.  Herbs take up substances that your body needs from the earth and can benefit your health generally, stimulating your vital life force and your ability to heal yourself.  You can use them safely and successfully to treat a wide range of common ailments.  Individual remedies are made either from whole plant or from just a part of it.  This ensures against the unpleasant side effects that sometimes occur when an active substance is isolated and prescribed in concentrated doses, as in modern medicine.

During  pregnancy

• Dandelion tea is a mild diuretic and will help with edema.
• Chamomile or peppermint tea will ease heartburn.
• Dandelion leaves, nettles, chives, sorrel, and coriander leaves are rich in iron, which will prevent anemia.
• Chamomile, fennel, burdock, and ginger are gentle laxatives, safe for preventing constipation.
• Lavender, vervain, and lemon balm will soothe the nerves and relax muscles.
• Nettles, meadowsweet, and celery seeds are rich in calcium, which can help to prevent cramping.
• Lemon balm and chamomile tea can help prevent nausea, as can ginger and fennel.
• Slippery elm helps to soothe the digestive tract, and can help morning sickness and weak digestion.
• Hops can be used for treating severe vomiting and lower elevated blood pressure.
• Peppermint and cleavers can be drunk as an infusion to improve circulation and treat varicose veins.
• Chamomile, catnip and vervain can help with insomnia.

During Labor

• Blue cohosh can be taken throughout labor to tone the uterus and help keep contractions strong.
• Hops help to lower elevated blood pressure.
• Raspberry leaf, black cohosh and motherwort can help during the second stage of labor.
• Angelica root and raspberry leaf can help with the delivery of the placenta.
• Chamomile tea can help soothe and calm.
• Ginger may be used to speed up a slow labor.

Post-Partum

• Good pain relieving herbs include pulsatilla, black cohosh, lavender, and wild yam.
• St. John's wort and calendula can help in healing.
• An infusion of calendula or a comfrey compress can aid in the healing of the perineum, along with Witch hazel to soothe pain.
• Golden seal and myrrh are excellent for dispelling uterine infections.
• Cramp bark will help with uterine infections, pain, and cramping.
• Nettles, chickweed and coriander will act as tonics for fatigue.

Homeopathy

As it is known today, Homeopathy was developed by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843).  He first experimented with a Peruvian bark known as Cinchona that contained quinine and was said to cure malaria due to its astringent properties.  Upon ingestion of Cinchona he began to develop similar symptoms of malaria, but without the fever.  Symptoms would subside as soon as he stopped taking the remedy.  Upon further `provings' with a variety of substances taken by different people, he developed the Law of Similars.  This new system worked on the principle that a substance and a disease that produce similar symptoms can negate each other, resulting in the full health of the patient.  He called his new system "homeopathy," from the Greek words homios, meaning like and pathos, meaning suffering.
Soluble substances, such as plant and animals extracts, are dissolved in a solution of alcohol and water which are occasionally shaken and stored from two to four weeks.  Once strained this becomes the `mother tincture' which is then repeatedly diluted in 1:10 (x) or 1:100 (c) ratios, anywhere from 2 to 200 times or more.  The more diluted the solution is, the more effective the remedy.
Homeopathic medicines are very safe.  Even in highly toxic substances with a dilution factor of 6X there is only one part of actual medicine to a million parts of the sugar.  One would have to ingest an improbably huge amount of granules or tablets in order to get any toxic effects.  Even children playing with the bottles and taking the medicines are not in danger from them, and any symptoms developed after repeated ingestion would clear after stopping the medicine.

More on specific remedies to come....