Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Me and my hippy-trippy ways...

I've never thought of myself as much of a new-ager (except maybe very briefly in college when I thought it would be cool to be a wiccan), yet as I look at what I'm doing during this pregnancy to help me through and prepare myself for childbirth, I wonder. I wouldn't change what I'm doing, yet I have to admit that I'm showing my hippy leanings.

First (and most tame) is the prenatal yoga. I love it, and if the yoga studio I went to offered it every day, I'd probably go every day. But it seems like nearly every pregnant woman does prenatal yoga so if it was that alone, there'd be no cause for name-calling.

Then we add acupuncture. I've been going since before getting pregnant, first to help with the process and to alleviate some of the anxiety I was feeling after losing our first baby, then once I got pregnant to help prevent a miscarriage and to relieve symptoms, and now we're in the process of getting my body ready to give birth. This involves putting some random putty substance on my inner ankle and warming it (while at my acu. sessions), plus burning a smudge stick at home that smells suspiciously like a certain illegal substance and using it to warm those same ankle-spots once a week. Really, the smell of the smudge stick alone is enough to label me a hippy.

And now we have hypnobirthing. Which contrary to what you might think from the name does NOT involve someone waving a pocket watch in front of my eyes and telling me I'm getting very sleepy. It's really just a method of natural childbirth using deep relaxation and meditation to ease yourself into the birthing process. Everyone I've talked to who has used this method raves about it so I am willing to give it a try. Though I should clarify that while I am willing to give it a try, I'm not so willing to pay the extra $225 for the hypnobirthing class being offered by Lowell General. I'm reading the book and will use the practice cd to learn these deep relaxation techniques and see how it goes. Since I've been doing yoga for a number of years and since I spend most of my acupuncture sessions trying to put myself into a state of deep relaxation, I think I've got a good head start on these techniques.

But I know in my heart I'm too practical to be truly new-agey, so I'm not worried about myself just yet. ;-)

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