Monday, September 10, 2012

Practical, proven tools for pregnant women to manage stress before, during and after childbirth


By Dr. Linda Miles
Psychotherapist, Author and Media Expert


Using simple techniques Moms can learn how easily they can repeat relaxing phrases to their babies during pregnancy, delivery, and post-partum.

Dr. Linda Miles inspires and instructs Moms, using a practical, proven effective method, which calms both the child and Mother while building a stronger emotional and physical bond between the two. Dads can join in, too.
A stressed Mom creates a stressed baby, causing the fetus’ heart to beat faster. When levels of stress hormones are too high for extended periods of time, both Mom and the baby’s mental and physical health suffer. Too much stress during pregnancy can reduce the availability of vital essential fatty acids to the developing brain of the baby.
When Moms are anxious, babies feel the anxiety. According to John Medina of University of Washington School of Medicine, a review of more than 100 studies in various economically developed countries confirm negative effects of stress on prenatal brain development including:
· Infants become more irritable and less consolable
· Infant’s future motor skills are inhibited
· Infant’s abilities to concentrate and pay attention are impaired
Dr. Miles has been working with Mothers for over thirty years to help them learn to relax during pregnancy. Recent research has shown that babies hear their mother’s voice at the end of the second trimester. Babies even respond to TV shows their Moms watched while pregnant. One study exposed pre-term babies to the opening jingle of a soap opera. When the babies were born, they would stop crying when they heard the jingle!

Dr. Miles’ interest in relaxation during childbirth began in 1973 when she used natural childbirth with her son, Christopher Brett. She found Lamaze helpful, but after her pregnancy she wanted to help Moms have even more stress free births for both mother and child.

Quickly, she realized the tremendous benefit listening to individually recorded, soothing music with a familiar voice would have. She had discovered a simple way to remind moms to relax using headphones.

She began working with pregnant women in her Florida psychotherapy practice with recorded music and positive imagery to help them practice relaxation during pregnancy. When they were a bundle of nerves, moms were instantly comforted with just the flip of a switch. She encouraged Moms to share, gently speaking out loud, what she heard with her baby. The relaxation practice brought deep calm to Moms who could put on head gear and tune out the troubles of the day. During childbirth, they were able to use the relaxation training for a more relaxing, less traumatic delivery experience. One young Mom told Dr. Miles that the nurses were curious about why she kept on earpieces and she told them, “We have been rehearsing for this event for months and I am reviewing our notes.”

Moms also reported having fun with the techniques. They sang out loud to the growing child inside and reported that the babies seemed soothed by the calming sounds they had practiced together before birth. Lecanuet reviewed research in 1995 that showed that newborns recognize the sound of their Mother’s voice and turn toward her when she is speaking. This research confirmed clinical observations that Mother and infant had connected when the Mom said relaxed and repeated, “We are calm and relaxed.” Recently, when Dr. Miles grand-daughter Bella was born, she turned toward her grandmother’s voice and stopped crying when she heard the same phrases her Mom had listened to from the CD daily.
A series of experiments in the 1980’s asked Moms to read Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat out loud twice a day during the last 6 weeks of pregnancy. The researchers creatively used pacifiers hooked up to machines that measured strength and frequency of sucking. Results were amazing because the babies appeared to recognize and respond to their mother reading The Cat in the Hat as opposed to different stories. As neuroscientist, Dr. Wayne Drevets observed, “The brain loves the familiar.”

With her initial personal success as a Mommy Whisperer, Dr. Miles studied and has used these relaxation techniques successfully for over 30 years with her clients and friends. After the stress of a complicated and difficult pregnancy with her first child, a client of Dr. Miles used the Mommy Whisperer technique for her second child with entirely different results. She was calm throughout the experience with less stress on her child. She had a peaceful pregnancy and delivery. According to Dr. Miles, “Because Mommy Whisperer's reduce stress on themselves and their child, they can enhance the mother-child bond after the baby is born.”
Using simple relaxation strategies, parents actually affect the physical structure of the baby's developing brain. The patterns we learn affect how we cope with stress and with life. Do not underestimate pregnancy as a time to provide an optimal environment for a child and to introduce the calming effects of music and Mother’s relaxation practice. A fetus can learn to habituate and pay attention to a stimulus over time so give them an early start on the relaxation response.

While soothing her baby, Mom is actually teaching her child to self-soothe. When Moms relax their babies and themselves with calming phrases and imagery, they both begin to develop a pattern of self-soothing that works under stress.

The opposite happens also. If Mom or anyone is loud and reactive under stress, the child develops that pattern and responds that way to stress. The brain loves the familiar, so how we train our children, becomes their coping strategy.

So, whisper to your child, "I am so glad you are here."; “I am glad you are a girl (boy).”; “We are calm and relaxed.” This gives them safety to learn and explore.

Copyright 2012 Linda Miles Ph.D.
Author, Dr. Linda Miles, is deeply committed to helping individuals and couples achieve rewarding relationships. She is an expert with a doctorate in Counseling Psychology, and has worked in the mental health field for over thirty-five years. She has created a CD & mp3 entitled, “Train Your Brain for a Peaceful Pregnancy and Childbirth on her website. http://www.drlindamiles.com/
She has been interviewed extensively on radio, TV, and in newspapers and magazines. Find more relationship ideas and relaxation techniques on her web site and in the award-winning book she co-authored, The New Marriage: Transcending the Happily-Ever-After Myth, and Train Your Brain: For Successful Relationships, CD. http://www.drlindamiles.com/
Dr Linda Miles
Miles and Associates
2100 Centerville Rd., Suite D
Tallahassee, FL 32308
Phone: (850) 321-6612
Email:drlinda03@aol.com
Web: www.drlindamiles.com

Thursday, April 19, 2012

CENTERING IN THE PRESENT MOMENT MINDFULNESS PRACTICE TO REDUCE ANXIETY

Charlotte, a fifty-year-old housewife recovering from anxiety, described how good it felt to get a big whiff of the grass in her yard. Like many people who experience anxiety or panic, Charlotte could not enjoy the world around her. She often focused on fearful thoughts, which made things seem worse than they really were.

QUIET THE BEEHIVE IN YOUR HEAD
Small problems became huge and out of proportion to reality. The day when a small thing, like enjoying the smell of fresh cut grass, made the world real, she felt happy. Charlotte had begun to learn how to quiet the beehive in her head and live in the present. She became aware that she had stopped smelling the grass as a teenager when she had her first bout with anxiety. Charlotte’s life changed as she learned to become aware of her surroundings and live in the present moment, and began to appreciate the small things in her life. She began taking yoga, listening to calm music, and learning meditation.
AWAKEN TO THE WORLD AROUND YOU
When she enjoyed the smell of freshly mowed grass, she knew she was getting better. She was able to shift her focus away from fear and self-doubt to reaching out to the world around her. Her inner world was filled with toxic gas made of past mistakes and future fears.
CENTERING IN THE PRESENT MOMENT
As Charlotte learned to remain centered in the present moment much of the time, she was able to reconnect with her husband. She needed internal freedom in order to move from ego to essence. “Feeling that we are continually falling short is like a toxic gas we breathe, making it difficult to be truly intimate with others and at home in our body, mind
and heart” (Tara Brach).

“OUT OF YOUR MIND AND INTO YOUR SENSES”
Awareness practice allows you to focus on the present moment and fully experience what is happening in your life. Dr. Fritz Perls referred to this as “getting out of your mind and into your senses.” Unfortunately, many people are unaware that they walk around in a state of fear and, therefore, live in the past or future. It is difficult to maintain a well-being if you are not able to experience the present.
You need a practice that helps you stay peaceful and centered so you can travel away from the rooms in your mind that are filled with toxic fumes of guilt and fear.

THE SONG OF YOUR SOUL
Begin a practice of awareness. Focus your attention on simple everyday things and become fully present. Most minds do not live in the present. Most minds abruptly turn
and undermine the chance of humming. (Rumi) Keep focusing your mind on the humming of life around you and away from conditioned reactions. If you train your mind to tune into the hum of life, you tune out the beehive of negative thoughts. Hum the song of your soul.
When you develop a deliberate practice, you can smell, touch, and really experience the moment.

In the depth of winter I finally learned there was within me an
invincible summer. (Albert Camus)

Your Turn
Take a moment and look around your house or yard. What draws your attention? Focus on an object or person. Look at it as you never have before, look for details, and ask yourself what you really see. For example, you may see a plant and allow your consciousness to focus on the color
green and the lustrous leaves or their shapes. See what you see, hear what you hear, smell what you smell, and touch what you touch. Bring your awareness into your senses.
Try a walking practice for a few minutes, allowing your attention to remain focused on the experience of nature around you. Your mind may wander, but that is OK. Redirect your attention to what you see, hear, feel, touch. A practice of awareness is like training a puppy. You keep bringing your attention back from distractions. You notice a wandering thought then redirect attention through your senses. Train your brain to relax and enjoy the world around you. You will find that this focus brings a deeper experience of the moment, and these moments build into a practice of awareness. You might also want to repeat a phrase such as “Be calm.” Say the word “be” as you breathe in and “calm” as you breathe out. Replace your beehive brain with the peace of mind that comes with surrendering to the moment.
How can you be more aware of the touch, smell, looks, and feelings that you have when you are with your partner? Think about how you could increase awareness as a couple. By developing your senses for things around you in the natural world, your senses can expand toward feelings
for yourself and others in the present moment. Feelings of acceptance and well-being expand when you learn to calm yourself, live in the present moment, and accept faults in yourself and others.


Dr. Linda Miles


Dr Linda Miles
Miles and Associates
2100 Centerville Rd., Suite D
Tallahassee, FL 32308
Phone: (850) 321-6612
Email:drlinda03@aol.com
Web: www.drlindamiles.com