Moving/Being

Reflections on Pregnancy

Among the meanings of the word "reflection" are two that are interesting from the standpoint of wellness. One meaning is that of having someone give you feedback on something you are doing, and the other is that of taking time to consider some aspect of your life. A teacher reflects to a student how they are doing something, and the student reflects on what that feedback means and how to use it to improve.

As a body awareness teacher, these two facets of "reflection" are part of my everyday practice, and they apply in all areas of life. One example of this process of reflection is helping pregnant women achieve greater comfort as their bodies change during pregnancy. Many women experience awkwardness and strain in their movement during pregnancy (and afterwards as they pick up and carry their new babies), and most people figure this is just how pregnancy has to be. However, back pain and awkward movement can be prevented or greatly reduced through greater body awareness. Self-awareness is a powerful tool for wellness.

The discomfort women feel generally stems from three sources: excess muscular tension, holding the pelvis and spinal column in an alignment which does not efficiently support the weight of the head and torso, and using the back rather than the legs as the power source for large body movements.

Finding comfort and ease in movement starts with learning to relax tense muscles, moves on to rebalancing the pelvis and spinal column as the body changes during and after pregnancy, and culminates with learning to move in more biomechanically efficient ways. Learning more efficient breathing and posture will also help women manage more comfortably the pain of delivery and the emotional stresses of raising a child.

One example of the body awareness training is learning to sit with comfortable postural support. Having women experiment with the movement of slumping and sitting upright gives them the opportunity to discover how to arrange the support column of the head, neck, spine and pelvis so that the weight of the body falls squarely onto the surface they are sitting on.

This new awareness of pelvic balance can be extended into larger movements such as standing, walking and lifting. As one example, most pregnant women counterbalance the forward and down weight of their growing bellies by leaning their head and shoulders back. You can observe this same process by asking someone to pick up a weight and hold it out at arm's length. However, that creates a swayback curve and compresses the lower back, which creates strain and pain. Instead, using the pelvis rather than the head and shoulders to act as the counterbalance to the forward weight opens and lengthens the back and frees up the hips and legs. It also allows movement to be initiated by the leg muscles rather than by the back. All this results in reduced back strain as well as easier and stronger movement and better balance.

Body awareness is important to every pregnant woman. Moving correctly will help pregnant women avoid strain and injuries in tasks ranging from gardening to computer use to driving cars. In addition, when women first experience what it is like to use their bodies in a relaxed, architecturally integrated, and powerful way, they usually light up with enthusiasm and exhilaration. Pregnant women who carry this sense of bodily enthusiasm with them through their pregnancy feel much better about themselves, their ability to move and work, and the pregnancy itself.

Paul Linden, Ph.D., is a specialist in body and movement awareness education and co-director of the Columbus Center for Movement Studies (www.being-in-movement.com), at which he teaches Aikido, Being In Movement ® mindbody training and the Feldenkrais Method ® of somatic education. Paul is the author of Comfort at Your Computer and Winning is Healing: Body Awareness and Empowerment for Abuse Survivors. His work focuses on the applications in daily activities of an integrated mindbody state of awareness, power, love and freedom. Copyright © 2002 by Paul Linden.