Feb 22, 2016

New Directions

New Directions for my blog

After a long hiatus from my blog, and a five-month maternity leave from my practice I return to my work with new focus. My new blog focus is on babies through the lens of bodywork and the mind-body connection. For the time being, most posts will be explicitly and simply about babies, since I am deep in the midst of babyland as I mother my vivacious 5-month-old twins. I don’t have anything new to say, instead, I hope my viewpoint can reach people as nuggets of info on options, possibilities and reasons to consider how we treat and raise our babies, from prenatal and beyond.

What do babies and bodywork have to do with each other?
Bodywork Helps Babies Before they are Born

Babies benefit from bodywork before they’re even born. When women receive massage when pregnant, they have better relationships with their babies after birth, seen in how often they touch their babies. Babies thrive when frequently touched and held.

Bodywork and Better Pregnancies
Bodywork can help a woman be more comfortable throughout their pregnancy, can help not only with pregnancy symptoms, but help prepare the body for labor, deal with the great demands her rapidly changing body as it accommodates a growing baby, adjust and open the pelvic space so the baby can move into optimal positioning for birth.

Bodywork Helps Babies Thrive
Babies themselves benefit directly from bodywork, whether it’s a daily 15-minute massage from a parent, or receiving more specific, therapy-oriented bodywork such as craniosacral therapy from a practitioner.

Thriving continued: Bodywork and Breastfeeding
Babies need to eat. There is no better source of nourishment for babies than breastmilk. Everything should be done to help support a mother to accomplish breastfeeding her little one(s). Bodywork is a very helpful tool to the mother-baby pair with breastfeeding: if a baby is having difficulty latching, if nursing is painful for the mother, or if the baby can only nurse on one side, then bodywork is certainly indicated.

Bodywork helps babies beyond the treatment space: it also has to do with how we hold, care for, engage with and play with our babies. But more on that in future blogs.


sources:

Field, Tiffany phD. Touch. Massachussets Institute of Technology. 2001.
https://www6.miami.edu/touch-research/AdultMassage.html

Mentoring and workshops with Carol Gray. www.carolgraycst.com

Workshops with Leslie Stager. www.Touchforbirth.com

Gail Tully’s website Spinning Babies, www.spinningbabies.com

Jan 12, 2016

First trimester bodywork and massage

Bodywork & Massage during First Trimester Pregnancy


The first trimester of pregnancy can be the most intense phase of pregnancy for many women. We go from being our normal selves to quickly becoming someone we may not even recognize. As our bodies shift to the focus of growing a baby, there is a tremendous shift in hormones, including the hormones being made and circulated by the placenta. These hormones affect how we feel and think about things, changing how we respond to a given situation. A sappy story on the radio makes you cry, that annoying little thing your spouse did last weekend is suddenly the focus of an enraged outburst, you catch every little cold and bug that's going around, you can't eat, you can't sleep, you can't do your normal daily routine because you're exhausted. You want to vomit. You feel like a stranger in your own body, and yet no one around you recognizes what's going on unless you've informed them you're pregnant. Your growing baby is still so tiny, the changes in your body remain subtle to the outside world for weeks to come.
When I was pregnant I was in a constant state of nausea and fatigue. My rational mind took a backseat to surging, confused emotions. I was simultaneously full of happiness and fear. There were many dark thoughts: Was I ready to deal with pregnancy? Were my husband and I in a good place to support a child? What kind of mother would I be? Had I already harmed the embryo when I drank that extra glass of wine before I knew I was pregnant? What if the baby is born sick or malformed? What if I miscarry or have a stillbirth? On days when I did not feel so nauseous and fatigued I feared I was no longer pregnant - ironically feeling horrible indicated to me that everything was ok.

These are such dark intense worries to flounder in, on top of the physical misery of first trimester. But society expects us to be rejoicing and doesn't allow much space for processing a very big change. 

My experience with bodywork and massage during my first trimester

I had booked a session with a mentor practitioner of mine weeks in advance, and thus long before I knew I was pregnant. When I went to see her, instead of receiving any kind of bodywork that day, I spent the whole session talking, ranting and crying. Before going into the session I'd had no idea I could be so emotional, or that there was 'unfinished business' in my heart.b It all just suddenly came pouring out. But the bodywork-turned-talk session' was good for me, and because it was in a therapeutic setting, I could empty out my thoughts and worries without feeling judged.

Although I was used to receiving frequent and various kinds of bodywork, during my first trimester I suddenly had little or even no desire to receive touch. I also did not feel confident or trusting of very many therapists, I became very particular about from whom I got my bodywork. Craniosacral therapy was ok, and the work is inherently slow, works on myriad layers of the self, and at the very least helped me feel more emotionally balanced. 

Surprisingly gentle foot massage, which I received from friends and my husband, helped mediate my nausea. I would've loved to have it everyday. But otherwise I was not interested in relaxation or swedish massage, nor even my beloved myfascial therapy (MFT). This makes sense, since  MFT changes relationships within the body and my body was already undergoing changes; it didn't need any extra external input on how to change, at least during the early stages of pregnancy. In later weeks of pregnancy, MFT may be indicated to help the body more comfortably accommodate the growing baby (or in my case, babies).


How I work with women during first trimester of pregnancy

The most important part of my bodywork in early pregnancy is support for the new mother, as well as focusing a feeling of deep respect and deep sensitivity to the new mother and her growing baby. A pregnant woman needs our extra support in every aspect; emotional, physical, psychological, economic, social and spiritual. Also, every woman experiences pregnancy differently, and every woman will experience each pregnancy uniquely. Bodywork can help a woman connect with her body-self as it changes rapidly as much as it can help balance her emotions and spirit in a time of great and rapid change. A bodywork session may simply focus on relaxing touch or it may include more specific craniosacral and myofascial work depending on what the pregnant client is feeling at the time.