Reduce Anxiety During Pregnancy

In the JSJ guided mediation, Katie practices a finger hold sequence that is great for relieving mental and physical feelings of anxiety and anxiety-related emotions such as stress, worry, tension, anxiousness, restlessness, overwhelmed, and even anger. During pregnancy, many women experience anxiety or increased anxiety. This meditation is focused on deep breathing (more specifically exhalation), JSJ self-care holds, emotional freedom techniques, and an emotional acceptance process.

Transcript

Pregnant ladies welcome back to pregnancy JSJ meditations today this is it's still a spontaneous meditation but this is take two of the spontaneous meditation I just I thought I just finished recording an episode and I looked at my computer to push the stop button and I hadn't recorded a single word so I have new audio hopefully I'll get a little bit better at using it so that I can at least record a meditation when I'm trying to I still think it's just so funny that I did a whole episode okay as always I like to bring awareness to my exhalation first as I find myself in a comfortable meditative position I will be practicing a finger sequence hold today that helps release anxiety feelings of anxiousness nervousness this is a great finger sequence hold during pregnancy and you can practice these finger sequence holds wherever and whenever today's finger sequence hold is very simple we will be holding six different fingers in a very specific order we will start with taking our left fingers and wrapping them around our right thumb bring focus and awareness to your exhalation when I bring focus to my exhalation help signals to my body that this is a safe time to relax I like to gently guide my exhalation fully and completely out of my belly and lungs you you no judgments no worries just exhaling and holding your right thumb I now move my left fingers to wrap around my right middle finger I invite you to wrap your left fingers around your right middle finger give your body what it needs if you need to wiggle wiggle if you need to yawn or stretch do it whatever you're needing right now in this moment allow your body to feel it to accept it let go of all the effort just be and breathe focusing on that exhalation if your mind wanders through this entire meditation but you still remember to move your hands into the next hold and to exhale at least a few times you will find benefit with these meditations so don't worry about what your brain is doing try not to worry about how your body's feeling just give yourself what you need and listen to the cues when to move your hands and when to exhale you exhale fully and completely as you rest in this moment that you're taking for yourself for your mind and your body and your brand new precious baby and now take your left fingers and wrap them around your right pinky finger so I take my left fingers and I wrap them around my right pinky finger and I exhale fully as I relax in this moment in this space that I'm in I remind myself gently and quietly that I am safe in the space I don't have to do anything I don't have to solve anything I don't have to do anything but lay here and practice holds and exhalation I disentangle from efforting and I reintegrate now I realign with just simply being being present in this moment and not doing anything and I realign now I realign with feelings of letting go feelings of peace feelings of safety I realign with feelings of being whole and complete just as I am realign now I disentangle from my thoughts of worry thoughts of concern I reintegrate now I realign with feelings of trust patience and acceptance and I realign now I now move my right hand my right fingers to wrap around my left thumb now we'll practice the sequence on the other side don't I invite you to take your right fingers and wrap them around your left thumb and bring your awareness back to your exhalation and guide your exhalation so that it is full and complete for you and where you are in this moment there's many emotions feelings associated with anxiety like nervousness worry fear can be associated with anxiety really like hundreds of emotions can be categorized under anxiety so I'd really invite you to tune into yourself tune into your body and without analyzing why the anxiety is here invite this feeling up everything is okay you are strong and capable of having a very wide range of emotions so let's take a look at your emotion that you're experiencing most dominantly now so for me it's feelings of anxiousness and I could list off ten reasons why I think I might feel anxiousness but I'm gonna ignore all the reasons and simply follow along with me with your own emotion again not reasons why so maybe it's worry and maybe you will have very legitimate worries but let's separate these reasons from the actual feelings as we practice this for the next couple of minutes anxiousness I feel you in my body and I allow you to come up right now I know you just want to be heard and I know I keep shoving you down so right now I really allow you feelings of anxiousness I allow you to come to the surface and rise so within my body I bring my awareness to the middle of my chest that's where my anxiousness wants to rise today and if your area is different or you're unsure just use your imagination pick a spot on your body or feel good for that you're feeling to surface you can visualize the feeling surfacing or you can simply feel it but let's let's invite it up hi anxiousness you sure are anxious today but I allow you to come up I feel you anxiousness I feel you I allow you to surface it is safe to come up now I know you want to surface there you are please come up thank you for trying to help me I know you're just trying to help and I allow you to come up so that you can pass through me listeners I now move my right hand to my left middle finger I now wrap my right fingers around my left middle finger if your feelings of anxiousness has increased I invite you to simply say yes yes yes simply repeat in your mind with me yes yes yes our feelings just want to be acknowledged most of the time believe it or not it's just our body physically reacting to try to help us through a particular situation most the time because of our thoughts but we don't have to dig through our thoughts and analyze all the time we really don't we can just accept the feelings thank them and allow them to flow through us and it's when we restrict them and want them to go away that it seems to increasingly get worse exhale fully and completely if you're experiencing physical emotional reactions like crying or maybe you just want to like shake your whole body that's okay you're you're you're intuitively knowing how to release your emotions right now you don't need to be scared you're working through them and you should feel so proud of yourself we're gonna we're gonna bring it in here in the next minute so I invite you to continue feeling what you're feeling for say the next 20 seconds so if you need to shake it out just shake your whole body if you just need to sigh deeply sigh deeply some of you even may want to scream into a pillow do it do what your body needs to do if you need to cry just cry just for the next little bit and then we'll bring it all back in we'll regain our composure and we'll finish out this meditation but you got this you're learning a new way a new way to handle your emotions and that is a lot of the times is to accept them even though that might feel uncomfortable at first you got this however you are and whatever you're thinking I invite you to pause consciously pause pause your brain and let's do three full exhalations together one don't skip this part do it with me two one more three okay now move your right fingers to wrap around your left pinky finger so my right fingers are now wrapped around my left pinky finger I am okay I just practiced something very special and maybe it was new and maybe it wasn't but either way I am so proud of myself for letting these feelings of anxiety surface I am so proud of myself for handling this uncomfortable emotion and I exhale fully and completely in this moment I am strong I am pregnant I am made to create life I got this I am a strong woman I am becoming a strong woman just because I feel feelings of anxiety doesn't make me weak it only makes me stronger I am calm I feel peace in this moment it feels good to accept these feelings of anxiety and then release them and I thank myself for taking the time to practice something that most people don't practice and I think my body and my mind for the strength and for the confidence that is building within with each practice thank you for being listener if you're still feeling feelings of anxiety I invite you to continue laying where you are practicing some deep breathing or maybe turning on some of your favorite music or something that already that you already know that relaxes you and know that you are an amazing woman and just because you have strong feelings doesn't mean anything besides you are a badass you got this thank you for being listener and I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day

Reviews

That was exactly what I needed. I sobbed, but it was so cathartic and needed. Appreciate the thought put into this. Thank you 🙏🏽

Such a kind and loving way of dealing with anxiety (strong emotions). It made me smile. Thank you

Absolutely amazing 🤩

Very very helpful!

wow amazing!

So lovely. I just found out I’m pregnant after having my son at 24 weeks 4 months ago. I have a lot of fear. This is perfect. I might do it multiple times a day. 🙏🏻

This was just perfect. It took me exactly where I needed to go. Thank you!