Attuning To Body & Baby Using Dance/Movement Approaches

"I can feel my baby kicking!" "He is pressing against my belly!" "She is moving at this side of my belly now." When a mother starts to feel her baby's movement in the womb, it is like a magical feeling, to feel and sense the little miracle within. Probably she can't wait to see, carry, feel, hug and communicate with her baby physically. Is it possible to interact with her baby when he/she is still in her womb? With Dance Movement approaches and Fetal Notation using Kestenberg Movement Profile (KMP), a mother is able to experience and learn how to attune to her unborn baby and learn to listen to the changes in her body and prepare for the delivery and coming of her baby.

Every pregnant mother will feel the changes of her body undergoes the moment the embryo is implanted in the womb. One mother's experience differs from another. The growth of the fetus in each trimester brings about not just changes, but the wonder of the day the fetus beginning his/her first movement in the home of the womb. A new phase, a new life, a new experience. A new mother or an experienced mother, usually carries the feelings of joy, excitement, probably some fears and even anxiety. Each pregnancy is often different and unique as each mother and her unborn baby is special.

In Dance Movement approach, mother will move and learn how to listen and attune to her body and her unborn baby in her own space and time with herself and the baby within her. It can be in the form of dance with music where she will dance with her unborn baby or just being still with him/her. Her feelings, sensation and visualization can also be done in drawing and in her journal. The focus and theme often begin with what is the needed for the mother where every mother in the group will share their feelings, encounters and experiences and usually express them in movement.

Mother is also taught the 10 rhythms from KMP and to move in the rhythms. The rhythms are founded by Judith Kestenberg based on the development phase of the baby. Mother will also learn the KMP massage where it will help her to proceed into fetal notation. In fetal notation, she will notate the movement of her baby in her womb and she also learns how to attune and communicate with her hands in return. In this way of attuning, the communication between mother and child has already begun. The continuity of the attunement will follow through in birth and after.

In addition, mother learns how to pay attention and listen to the changes in her body and how to soothe the discomfort such as tension and strain by breathing and doing exercises using lengthening, widening and bulging. These help her to ease the tension and strain which may result as the gestation moves into the later phases.

Isn't it a wonder to be able to communicate with your little ones even in the womb and begin the journey the moment you know you are expecting? To listen and attune not only to yourself but also with your little miracle in the home of your womb. The journey thus begins... You and Your unborn baby!

By Elizabeth Rutten-Ng, dance movement therapist, Article published in Today's Motherhood Online Magazine, January 2010 Issue.

*The sessions for Embody Your Body & Baby  commences on 3 Nov, email dancetherapy.kmp@gmail.com for sessions details outline and registration form.*