Editor’s note: This blog was ready for release precisely when George Floyd was murdered and the world changed forever. We put this on the back-burner to focus on our commitment to anti-racism. However, the covid crisis hasn’t gone away, and it’s expected to get worse in the fall and winter. Preparing for it now will help us in the future.

The covid crisis is making things that were once easy harder… and making things that were already hard seem nearly impossible. Nowhere is this more true than in the transition to parenthood.

Access to literally everything is in question. This includes income, medical appointments, and birth support. Requests for home births have gone up, and access to doulas in hospitals are seriously limited. These are really stressful times for pregnant people. And unfortunately, lots of prenatal stress can have serious health impacts, including preterm birth and low birth weight. People who were exposed to lots of stress when they were in the womb end up more likely to have health outcomes like heart attacks, obesity, anxiety, and depression.

Isn't this something that people just love to hear?-- “Don't get stressed, because stress is bad!”

But what are you supposed to do instead of stress out in these weird times? There are no easy answers, and it's not a big focus in normal childbirth education courses. But the problems are going to be there, even when we’re not experiencing a global pandemic.

One thing that's been proven to help relieve stress for many, many people is meditation. Tens of thousands of research studies have shown that meditation can do things like lower blood pressure, boost the immune system, and sustainably help with anxiety and depression. It can even help strengthen positive traits like resilience, compassion, and a sense of empowerment. All of this would be great for these times and for being a parent in general, right?

Meditation can look like a lot of things. Some of us have this vision of complicated mantras and candles and figurines, and that's certainly true of some traditions. It can also look like sitting quietly and focusing on your breath. Or it can look like walking. It can even look like breathing through contractions. We teach Calm Birth to people from all types of backgrounds. It can help help people manage hugely intense stresses in labor and in life. There's something about meditation that teaches you to find solace in yourself. And, when you are all you've got, that can be pretty important.

We train birth professionals to teach this technique to their clients, and since covid, we've been getting more requests than ever before. It's amazing how, when all of our resources are in question, we realize we still have ourselves.

Of course, meditation isn't a silver bullet, but it is a tool to help create equity and health in birth. It's cheap, it can be used in any situation, and it has direct health benefits. It's important for these times, and for any time. Because addressing the challenges that covid presents is going to take a while. Meditation is a tool we have now, and it should be available to anyone who needs it.

It sounds simplistic, but access to meditation actually could help people have healthier births and to handle the challenges of pregnancy… and of our changing world. Sorry to say it, but with a pandemic, systemic racism, political unrest, and climate change to deal with now and in the future, life isn't going to get any less intense. People are going to keep having babies, and they deserve the healthiest start we can give them. Let's understand the present situation as a learning opportunity. Let's incorporate stress reduction into prenatal education to help deal with the challenges of the present… and the future. Contact us at info@calmbirth.org to learn about how to become a prenatal meditation instructor and benefit the health of your community with a simple, but profound technique.

Blog – Calm Birth

Calm When You're All You've Got

Calm Birth Meditation