The Mind-Body Connection and Your Sweet Spot
The human body is a miraculous thing. Especially a birthing human body! We create an entirely new person from our own body basically from scratch! Ok, there’s a little more science behind that, but the point is that the process of being pregnant and birthing a baby is nothing short of incredible.
The focus of and on pregnant people during pregnancy, labor and birth is very much physical, and for good reason. There are a lot of physical changes happening that need to be closely monitored to ensure the health of the birthing person and the baby, and giving birth is an intensely physical experience.
But what is the mind's role in all of this? How can the mind help or hinder the process of labor and birth? These are questions we asked ourselves during our own pregnancies. We found that the mind has a very important role during labor and can actually be trained to help reduce anxiety, cope with pain and help labor progress. Whaaaat?! We felt these things were so important, we were compelled to create a program for pregnant people that focuses solely on mental preparation for labor. And so, Mental Push Plan was born...
But let’s get back to this idea of how the mind can help or hinder the process of labor and birth. What it boils down to is the mind-body connection. You may have heard that phrase in passing, but what does it actually mean? Turns out there’s a lot of science to back it up.
We’re going to get a little nerdy on ya real quick. Your autonomic nervous system is the system which controls all of your unconscious bodily functions. Think heart rate, blood pressure, digestive system. And this system is split up into two sub-systems, your sympathetic nervous system and your parasympathetic nervous system. When your sympathetic nervous system is activated, your body is in “fight or flight” mode, for example if you are running from a bear. Your heart rate increases, your stress hormones are released, your muscles are tensed. When your parasympathetic nervous system is activated, your body goes into “rest and digest'' mode. For example, settling down on the couch on a Saturday afternoon after a long brunch with friends. You’re relaxed, maybe sleepy, your heart rate and blood pressure decrease and your digestive and reproductive organs are switched on (afternoon delight anyone?).
During labor, you may get overwhelmed, stressed or even afraid, especially if this is your first go-around. If your sympathetic nervous system takes over, your labor could stall, because your body is thinking there is something dangerous happening around you and is trying to keep your sweet babe inside and safe! How can we get things moving again? You guessed it - activate that parasympathetic nervous system. How do we do that? We gotta calm our sh*t down. Do you think that’s going to be easy to do when you're having super intense contractions and somebody tells you to “just relax”? That’s going to be a big HELL NO!
Ok, so there’s actually some tricks you can use to activate “rest and digest” mode that will help get that baby moving in the right direction, which alas, brings us full circle back to the mind-body connection. Things like consciously slowing down your breath and purposefully letting your shoulders soften send signals to your brain that you are safe, there is no immediate threat and so it’s time to set that parasympathetic nervous system into motion.
You may be wondering, so is my parasympathetic nervous system the only system I want to activate for labor and birth? Not necessarily. The sympathetic nervous system has some important roles to play during this process, ideally you would have a balanced mixture of both systems switched on. You want to be confident and focused, but not overwhelmed or stressed. In the sport psychology world, we call this your optimal state of arousal, or where your level of arousal is appropriately matched to the task at hand, also called “flow”.
At Mental Push Plan, we call this your sweet spot. That mental state where you feel most empowered, most badass, most ready to birth that sweet babe! We talk a lot about this sweet spot in the Mental Push Plan program including what it is, how to find it, and tools to get you dialed into it. The more time you spend focusing on your sweet spot and practicing mental tools to achieve your sweet spot outside of labor and birth, the more prepared you'll be to do this during the rigors of labor.
Take Zoey for example.
Zoey grew up playing sports, but was passionate about track and field, and ran the hurdles throughout high school and college. There was one track meet in particular that still stands out for Zoey. She was running the 300m hurdles and felt so focused and in tune with her body. She didn’t notice the background noises of cheering or even that she was the leader of the pack. It was like time stood still. That day she ran her personal best, while also beating another runner she had fallen 2nd to the entire season. She felt on top of the world! She looks back on that experience with immense pride in her commitment to training, her focus and her body’s ability to carry her through to the finish. This is Zoey’s sweet spot.
Years later, when Zoey became pregnant, she recalled this memory and the “top of the world” feelings it brought her, and called on them during labor. When contractions really started rocking, she concentrated on her breath and at one point, even visualized crossing the finish line in that race. She thought to herself, “I did it then, and I can do this now.” This became the mantra that carried her through labor and the birth of her beautiful baby.
That sweet spot can look different for everyone. While some may think of a physical accomplishment like completing a marathon or summiting a mountain, others may think of a big presentation at work that they rocked or an article they wrote that was accepted by a highly regarded journal. The point of the sweet spot is that you recall the feelings you experienced during that special moment in your life. Remembering those feelings can bring you into a place of personal power so you are mentally working with the physical sensations of labor. That doesn’t mean it will be a walk in the park, but you know you have the ability to take on hard things. And that is the mind-body connection doing it’s finest work - getting you through labor to the birth of your baby!
Why do we call it your ‘Sweet Spot’? It has a little nicer ring than ‘finding the perfect balance of your autonomic nervous system to reach your optimal state of arousal and mentally handle the intensity of labor and birth’! Everything you find in Mental Push Plan is backed by science, but that doesn’t mean we have to use all of the long science-y words that are more likely to put you to sleep than help you during labor. We like to have fun. We’re not regular moms, we’re cool moms.
Whether you like to learn the ins and outs of how your nervous system works or you're more of a cliff notes kind of person, all birthing people deserve to feel confident in their innate abilities to handle childbirth. Mental Push Plan is meant to give you the tools to achieve that.
Check out Mental Push Plan today to find your sweet spot and get the mental tools needed to rock your birth experience!
