Is there a difference?
I
have attended a childbirth education course for my own knowledge and learning
purposes and went through yoga sessions for a period of time in my younger
days. I observed yoga sessions which my parents conducted. It came to my
knowledge that there are pregnancy yoga classes available nowadays as well. I’m
delighted that more and more awareness is being shared in the area of preparing
for parenthood by professionals such as midwives, doula and even yoga pregnancy
instructors. However, I have come to realize that they focus more on the
anatomy of the body and providing support in preparation for the delivery. Don’t
get me wrong. I am not suggesting that these classes are not beneficial. I
would still strongly encourage every parent-to-be to attend childbirth
education and pregnancy yoga classes. I find they are important and one of the
ways to prepare for pre-, during and post- delivery. The instructors are
trained in their expertise and I am in fact very impressed with their work.
They also touch on breathing and relaxation techniques and preparing mothers to
have a positive childbirth experience. The also stress on how fathers can
support them during the delivery.
Aletha
shared, “One does not become a parent at the birth of a baby, but rather at
conception.’ As maternal emotions can influence babies before birth and
besides, pregnancy itself can bring physical problems as well as powerful,
unfamiliar emotions (Aletha, 2001).
However,
I do come to recognise that issues from childhood and a mother’s own
experiences at birth can be triggered off if these were traumatic. In classes
like child birth education and yoga classes, therapy is not addressed. In order
to do so, one has to be formally trained as a psychologist, psychotherapist or
therapist. I believe in early intervention and prevention. With existing
childbirth education and yoga pregnacy classes, I have reflected and pondered
whether that would be sufficient. Questions like how I can, as a dance/movement
therapist, support and help parents especially mothers to develop a keen sense
of awareness towards self and their baby in their womb as they journey towards
parenthood, along with the possibilities of some issues that may emerge. I
observed and participanted in the course of my fieldwork with the pregnant
mothers how the therapist worked with them. And I have also worked with some
mothers-to-be. Pregnacy is a process and emotions can be evoked in mothers and
even fathers. This is so even after the birth of the child.
Besides
that, using dance/movement psychotherapeutic approaches and the kestenberg movement profile, the
parents are given the opportunity to re-discover the movement patterns of
babies, which differ a great deal from adults movement patterns (Kestenberg,
1980). The difference between this and other pregnancy classes is that
parents are not only prepared for the birth process but also initial
development of the relationship between parent and child (Kestenberg, 1980).
Kesterberg describes the
results of this training process:
‘This
training not only brought them into a type of communication with the fetus, but
it taught them to consider the fetus as a partner, an idea which then pervaded
their deliveries. They were aware of the fetal movement during labour and had a
feeling of continuity fom the inside to the outside by observing the movement
of the baby as soon as it was born. The expectation that one can recognise the
baby by the way it had moved inside of the mother strengthened the feeling of
belonging mothers develop after the initial estrangement from the infant.
(1080, p.59). '
Mothers,
therefore, will develop an intution and attunement towards the babies in their
womb using fetal notation based on the kesternberg movement profile. In doing so, they
also learn to listen to their own responses, feelings, body sensations in the
process and to trust them. The uniqueness of the sessions is that they are not
just grounds for learning, but also support groups being contained in a safe setting and space where mothers
come to share. They may also work on current tissues brought in by the mothers
who attend.
To
conclude, I would encourage mothers to go for childbirth education and
pregnancy yoga classes to prepare the body for a positive childbirth experience
and to further enhance the attunement and awareness of self and towards your
fetus. Attuning to body and baby using dance movement psychotherapeutic approaches sessions will
provide that necessary support for mothers.
Article on Attuning to Body and baby using Dance/Movement Approaches can be found here.
References:
Loman, S. 1980. The Prenatal Project. Child development Research News, 2(1).
Loman, S. 1992. Attuning to the Fetus and the Young Child: Approaches from the Dance/Movement Therapy. Keene, New Hamspire: Antioch New England Graduate School.
Solter, A, J. 2001. Aware Baby, revised edition. Goleta, California: Shining Star Press.
*Note: Some issues that surface may need a personal individual therapy beside a group session.*
