Mind-Body Medicine Techniques For Birth

This class is a five hour segment of the larger birth doula certification program offered by Natural Resources in San Francisco. The class focuses on the functioning of the parasympathetic nervous system in birth and how the mind-body connection impacts it.

The mind-body connection is examined in principle as well as a range of techniques which can be used by the birthing woman and her support team to help her stay in tune with the natural functioning of her body.

This class has been modified for training Labor & Delivery nurses, doctors and as a class to doula groups.

Mind-Body Medicine Techniques for Birth: Class Syllabus

Introductions

Personal connection to birth work?

Overview---of mind-body connection

  1. Broad subject, taking in everything from doula comfort measures, support, childbirth preparation, stories, images, movies to specific modalities such as hypnosis and meditation

  2. Birthing From Within conceptual models of childbirth preparation—two diagrams

The Power of Intention: invitation to reflection and uncovering desires

Hand-outs: Quotes from Goethe, Chopra, Shannon’s Intention

Why Natural Birth?

  1. Sarah Buckley MD article and book: Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering

  2. Movie: It’s My Body, My Baby, My Birth Movie

Stories as educational tool

  1. The Power of Stories: James Hillman, Joseph Campbell, Robert Coles

  2. Birth Stories

  3. Movie: Birth Day

Specific Tools

  1. Introduction to hypnosis: what is hypnosis, how and why it works.

  2. Do Garden hypnosis

  3. How hypnosis is utilized in birth

Baby’s Perspective

  1. Brochure—Nurturing Human Potential--review

  2. Movie: What Babies Want

Working together with your baby: Labyrinth exercise

  1. Spiritual Perspective

  2. Breathing and Energy Field

  3. Breathing exercises and tantric breathing

Two Buddhist meditation practices for birth:

  1. Calm Birth

    Teaching book and CD

  2. Mindful Birth--overview

    Movie: Amber's Birth

The Culture----Fear

  1. Birth plan

  2. Give tools for cracking into fears

  3. 2 types of fear: general and life circumstances. Stories to illustrate

  4. Holding the space—discussion of the meaning of that phrase

The Great Mother Guided Visualization

  1. Active Listening exercise

  2. Questions and recap