Early Pregnancy Practice

A practice for very early pregnancy, when it's too soon to know how it's progressing. This is a practice designed for those who feel stressed and anxious about the future and may have had challenges conceiving and/or have experienced past pregnancy losses. This guided practice will support you in grounding yourself in the present moment and your body and evoking a sense of trust in your journey.

Transcript

Welcome to your practice.

This practice is for women very early in their pregnancies who are feeling stress and anxiety as they wait to see how this pregnancy unfolds.

You may have had challenges conceiving,

A history of loss,

And you're finding it challenging to find space around the fear that this pregnancy won't stick,

Feeling challenged to be here without yet knowing.

This practice is one that you can do resting with your eyes closed,

And it's also a practice that you can use while you're doing other activities with your eyes open.

I invite you to find what is going to work best for you in this moment,

To have an opportunity to ground and feel some trust in your body and heart and mind.

So as you either settle yourself into a place of rest,

Either seated or lying,

Or go about an activity in your life,

I invite you to start by noticing where your body is making contact with what's beneath it.

That may be the back of your legs,

Bum,

Back in a seat or on a couch or bed.

It may be the soles of your feet against the floor.

From whatever position you're in right now,

I invite you to turn some of your attention to what's beneath you right now,

Feeling all the places where your body is touching the support.

I invite you to notice how this support feels against all the places it touches your body,

Feeling the texture and temperature of whatever it is that is beneath you against your body right now.

And as you feel into these points of contact to the support beneath you,

I invite you to feel the solidity of it,

Feeling this solid structure supporting your body unconditionally in this moment.

I invite you to become aware of how this structure beneath you is also supported by what's beneath it,

And how that structure is supported by what's beneath it.

You can follow these structures of support beneath your body right now,

Down to the support of the earth.

Feeling this solid earth beneath us all that is continually providing unconditional support,

Always there beneath us.

And as you feel the sensation of this support in your body,

Can you let yourself settle into the support any amount.

Allow yourself to feel this unconditional support physically in your body.

I invite you to take a couple deep breaths now,

With each inhale really tuning into where your body is making contact with the support beneath it.

And as you exhale,

Just letting yourself be supported even a little bit more by the support beneath you right now.

And as you let this body be supported by what's beneath it,

I invite you to tune into the strength and capacity of this wise body.

This wise body that has carried you through your entire life until now,

That has known exactly what is needed to keep you strong and alive,

And moving towards health.

Becoming aware of all these miraculous processes happening in your body right now,

That happen automatically.

Your body knows exactly what to do,

How to breathe,

How to digest food,

How to care for its reproductive health.

And in this moment right now,

Even as you don't yet know how things will go for this pregnancy,

Can you find even the smallest amount of celebration that your body does know how to conceive,

And that it can conceive,

And that your body knows exactly what to do for your well-being in each moment?

Can you find even the smallest amount of trust that this body is doing exactly what it needs to do,

That we can give it space to do its job the easier it is for it?

In this strong,

Wise,

Capable body of yours,

I invite you to tune into your beating heart.

Can you sense and imagine this heart in your chest beating strongly,

Keeping your body alive,

Helping your body to feel?

And once you feel this heartbeat,

Feel the strength of this heart.

I invite you to feel into this emotional center of your body,

Acknowledging not only your heart's job of keeping you healthy and alive,

But also how it allows you to fully feel all the parts of our experiences,

To feel the love and longing and joy,

And to feel the grief and pain and heartache.

Acknowledging all that this heart has endured and felt and moved through in your entire journey so far,

And feeling the space for the heartache,

For the sadness and the grief and the longing.

Also feeling the space in this heart for the smallest amount of excitement,

Of hope,

And of gratitude.

Can you let your heart have space to feel all of it,

All of the complexity of its experience?

Acknowledging how well it's been doing to support you,

And have gratitude for your opportunity to experience all the facets of being alive.

As you give some space to your heart,

Taking a couple deep breaths if that feels good,

Feeling your heart held in this body,

This wise,

Wise body,

And feeling this body held by all the structures of support beneath it,

And ultimately by the vastness of the earth.

Letting yourself feel the space and feel the support in this moment,

Right here,

Right now.

And in this moment,

Right here,

Right now,

With all that you've lived through behind you,

And all that you will live into before you,

I invite you to find a sense of honoring this body,

This heart,

In this journey of yours,

This amazing body that has carried you through your entire life until now.

It's allowed you experience and feel and do and connect in all the ways you have your entire life,

And that has created the space for this conception,

For this heart that can feel so deeply,

That can feel longing and desire,

And that knows what it wants,

And for this journey that has unfolded in so many unexpected ways,

And that will continue to unfold in ways that none of us can know.

Honoring this body that is in this moment right now,

Never knowing what will happen tomorrow,

And still knowing exactly what to do right now,

And as you find any amount of honoring and gratitude for this body,

For this heart,

And for this incredible journey that you're on,

I invite you to turn your awareness to your breath,

And just noticing how your body is breathing,

And there's nothing that you need to do to breathe,

Feeling how your body breathes in and out,

And in and out,

And out.

This body that knows how to take in exactly what it needs to nourish and fuel,

And to let go of what it doesn't release.

And this body that knows exactly how to balance,

And that is always in a place of balance,

Of in and out,

And in and out,

And in and out.

Becoming aware that your body knows exactly how to balance,

Your body knows how to receive,

And knows how to release,

Feeling how this continual process of breath is always in balance,

That there's nothing that you need to do,

It's naturally balanced.

Can you let your mind ride the breath for a few breaths?

Riding the inhales and the exhales,

The inhales and the exhales,

Inviting your mind into this place of trust,

That your body knows,

And your breath knows,

And that is only possible right here,

Right now.

As your mind continues to follow the natural flow of your breathing,

Let it feel any increase in nourishment with each inhale.

As you follow and feel the exhale in your body,

Seeing if there is any little bit of tension or fear or worry,

And you can soften or release in this moment,

Allowing yourself to draw in a little bit of a breath here,

Allowing yourself to drop a little bit more into the groundedness of your own body,

This knowing,

Wise body,

And remembering that this breath is always here.

In any moment where you might start to forget,

About the wisdom in your body,

Start to feel overwhelmed by the prospects of the future,

Your mind can come back to your breath right here,

Right now,

And the structures that are supporting your body unconditionally.

And if your eyes have been closed through this practice,

I invite you to begin to softly open them now,

And invite you to relax your eyes in their sockets,

Feel the softening in your eyes move through your forehead,

Cheeks,

Mouth,

And jaw,

And with these soft eyes begin to take in what's around you,

What you can see in your space in this moment,

Letting yourself look for what might be pleasant or nourishing in the space around you,

It might be a cup or blanket or piece of clothing that you love,

Plant,

Tree,

A flower,

The sky,

The sun,

Someone in your life,

Softly taking in this moment right here,

Right now,

This place and space that your body is in,

As you feel the ease in your eyes,

Looking for whatever ease you can find in the space around you,

Whatever ease you can feel in your body,

And feeling any amount of groundedness,

Trust,

Honoring,

And gratitude that you've been able to tap into through this practice in your body,

In your heart,

In your mind,

Knowing that this body will continue to carry you through this unknown journey,

As it continues to unfold.

And this heart will continue to feel and to open and close,

This beautiful heart that is able to feel it all,

And this strong mind that knows how to respond when it's grounded in the body,

In the moment,

And all the depth of wisdom that you have within you.

May you continue to deepen your knowing of this deep wisdom,

Keep deepening the trust and honoring of this journey,

Able to breathe and feel each moment as it flows into the next,

And supports you in meeting each step of the journey each step of the journey in your beautiful life.

As we complete this practice,

I invite you to take a final moment to honor yourself for making the choice to practice today,

Making the choice to honor where you're at,

To honor this body and this heart and this mind that will keep carrying you through each step of the way.