Labor Support - The Somatic Body

Birth is much more than physical. There are many layers and today Elizabeth will introduce you to the somatic layer. In this talk, she will not only explain with words but also lead you on a guided meditation so you can have a felt sense in your body of how the five senses create a physical (or somatic) response. Elizabeth will explain how unconscious or past traumatizing event might stop the process of labor and in the same token how the five senses can be used to uplift, calm and settled the nervous system to support the pregnant person to feel safe and strong during a vulnerable time.

Transcript

Hello and welcome.

My name is Elizabeth Bachner and I am a licensed midwife,

A doula.

I have a background in pre-imperianatal psychology and I'm also a somatic therapist.

So I want to give you a taste of what the somatic body is.

It's not woo-woo.

It's really simple.

It is the senses in your body.

See,

Hear,

Smell,

Touch,

Taste,

And how your body reacts to this.

I've witnessed a lot of people give birth and I see it over and over and over again.

When the senses are triggered,

It can be a way that can result in a labor slowing down or the cervix contracting.

This is a form of protection in our body to do this.

Before I've seen a smile light up on the pregnant person's face and the labor progress in a way even I couldn't have imagined.

So what I'm going to do is I'm just going to take you on a little bit of a guided meditation so you can have a felt sense of your somatic body for yourself and then I'm going to talk a little bit about it afterwards.

So what I would like you to do is get really comfortable.

Find a place to sit,

A couch,

A really comfortable chair,

Lying in your bed,

Wherever that is,

I want you to get comfortable.

So taking a nice deep breath in and out and just feeling your seat on the couch,

Feeling where the couch meets your bottom and your thighs and your thighs and your bottom meeting the couch,

Feel that place of support and then feeling where your back is resting,

Feeling where it rests against the back of the chair or the couch or maybe you're lying on the bed and feel the support coming up to meet you and feeling your body relaxing into that support.

Beautiful.

Now with your imagination I want you to imagine that magically in your outstretched hand the most beautiful heavy Meyer lemon lands in your outstretched hand.

The color is this perfect gorgeous lemon yellow and as it lands in your hand you can feel the weight of the juice on the inside and as you start to touch the silky smooth skin the lemon oil gets released and it's the most fragrant lemon flower smell and you bring it up to your nose to inhale.

Oh my god it is just so delightful those oils and you just know that this is going to be tasting incredible and it's so juicy this lemon and magically a cutting board appears and a safe sharp knife appears and you slowly cut this lemon in half and as you do so you can see on the inside that this yellow color is just as incredible inside as outside and you start to see all the juice dripping down out of it as you start to slice it safely in half and again a waft of this lemon smell this flowery lemon oil comes up to your nose as you look upon this beautiful yellow skin of this lemon.

So gorgeous and as you place this half on top of the cutting board you slice it again making a quarter and as you do so this juice just starts to drip down and you're seeing that yellow color both inside and outside and you're smelling that lemony smell and you're touching that smooth skin and you start to take one of those quarters you bring it up to your mouth and you open up to take a bite and what's happening right now what's happening in your body are you salivating the way I'm salivating because I am over here and my my face is a little scrunched up also and now open up your hand and look at it there's no lemon there your body has reacted somatically see hear smell touch taste your mind has been making up the see hear smell touch taste of a beautiful lemon and your body is reacting as though you were about to bite on a lemon isn't that amazing that's the somatic body so imagine that you are in labor if you're just focusing on the physical you're missing out at a good 95 percent of what birth is about and how to support you to have the birth that you want and have the connection that you want so imagine that you are in your birthing brain which is the primal brain it's not the thinking brain that we're having the conversation from right now you're in your primal brain and you're in the zone and you're oh and it's all happening and all of a sudden through the door walks a nurse or the midwife assistant and she's got red hair and your whole body contracts and it like stops labor because when you were 13 years old you might have been betrayed by a redheaded girl you might have had tons of therapy around this you might know about it you might not know about it but your body is reacting in a way that's going danger danger betrayal betrayal now the person who has walked through the door door she's not going to betray you that's not her agenda she's here to support you but your somatic body sees the red hair goes back to a memory of where you were betrayed or threatened by someone with red hair and all of a sudden your body contracts and what direction is it going when it contracts it's going up because your body's protecting and saying absolutely no way are we letting a baby out into the world when it is unsafe so it's shutting down the cervix is closing up the labor is stopping as a protective mechanism because your somatic body is going no okay how does that work in the other way well we can use your somatic body to bring in more support so let's talk about the senses let's talk about bringing in pictures of a time when you are on holiday you were on a vacation and you were just so relaxed and so happy and seen and heard and my gosh bring pictures in of that time or a family member that just brings so much joy to you and makes you feel supported and and loved and if your eyes are closed during labor have someone in the room describe that picture to you so that your mind's eye in the way I describe the lemon to you your mind's eye can see that scene and feel those feelings of love or support of relaxation you're starting to relax with me you're getting this smells essential oils everyone's loving essential oils these days they're great but why not get essential oils that bring up a memory a happy memory from the past cookies baking vanilla lavender your bubby's perfume that you used to love right bring in the sense that bring you back so mad at me to a time when your body was joy filled or relaxed happy seen and heard hearing music everyone talks about music yeah you can bring in the spa music and the meditation music in the end yeah that's great but what happens if it gets to be a bit much why not bring in the 90s hip hop my personal favorite because oh my god did I have so much fun in the 90s dancing making up the words and listening to 90s hip hop I mean there's a huge smile on my face just thinking about it now what is the music that brings you joy what is the music you can disappear in and really get into your primal brain and how do your thinking brain think about that music what uplifts you maybe it's spiritual music maybe it is chanting from your church I don't know what it is for you it's different for everybody but think about the music that makes you feel good relaxed brings a smile to your face helps you feel safe seen and heard touch touches that's a big one I am one of those people who loves touch I am that person who is always petting the cat or the dog when I go to people's homes it's just instinctual for me I also when I go to a birth I always on have on like a cashmere sweater something soft that I can touch and I can rub and that soothes me relaxes my nervous system so if you are that person maybe you want to do most of your laboring at home with one of your pets maybe you want to have a home birth because of that maybe you want to bring the dog to the birthing center I don't think there are many hospitals that allow you to take your dog there but I know that a lot of birthing centers do so thinking about that with the touch and let's see see hear smell touch taste the final one taste so what tastes help you feel good I am not talking about meals I am talking about tastes maybe it's the taste of a vanilla pudding because you like the cool softness maybe you have a favorite smoothie that you always drink at a certain time maybe when you were a little girl you know someone in your family used to make a certain kind of meal with a certain kind of like maple syrup of it just having a bite of that not talking a meal just a simple bite of that brings back memories that are comforting to you okay so as you're moving forward thinking about your birth or the birth for your child don't forget the somatic body so if you want to hear more about this I'm really hoping to do more classes here on insight timer but you can always go to graceful.

Com where you can find more information where I teach childbirth ed from this perspective really I hope you have an enjoyable day and thank you for spending some time with me bye bye.

Reviews

What she described happened to me 100%. I was progressing in labour naturally with a fabulous nurse. Then I got another during a shift change who improved with feedback but I started clenching and moaning so hard and she kept telling me to get an epidural which I eventually gave in to because I labored for 30 hours with very little progress (1-3 or 4cm). I had no epidural in my birth plan because of a medical trauma experience where I was trapped. I am still happy as I birth right now and thank you for reminding me that my body actually WAS doing what it’s supposed to - to keep my baby and me safe as I originally felt so defeated by it.

My first baby is due at the end of January & im having a home birth! This perspective is amazing & definitely something I’m going to come back to again & again to help prep my mind & body for labor & birth. Gratitude to you 🤍👐🏼

Thank you so much! I would love to learn more ✨

Wonderful❤️Kind, clear and most helpful🙏🏼Thank you ☺️

Thank you, for giving me an new perspective.