Mindfulness for pregnancy and early parenthood
Pregnancy and early parenthood can be an intense and anxious time. Yes, we may be feeling a huge amount of joy and excitement but with it often comes an equal amount of anxiety, exhaustion and emotional turbulence. Let me assure you, this is normal, acceptable and to be expected. So often though, as parents, we respond by simply 'getting on with things' and viewing the challenges as something we just need to get over. Or worse, we begin to see them as symptoms of our own incompetence or failure. Parenting a child is one of the most difficult jobs in the world. It's also one for which we received the least training. That doesn't seem fair! The Before and Beyond Birth courses guide you to nurture your emotional wellbeing and develop mental coping skills to help maintain strength and balance during one of the most challenging and transformative times in human life.
The Beyond Birth Guide
This course follows the Beyond Birth Guide, written by Sophie Burch, The Mamma Coach. Sophie is a Hypno-CBT therapist and complementary therapies practitioner. She's also and Mum of four boys. Sophie is hugely passionate about raising awareness of mental health challenges faced in pregnancy and early parenthood. She is dedicated to educating parents and health professionals how to build resilience and strength during this time. To that end, Sophie founded the Beyond Birth Collective, a cohort of perinatal and wellbeing professionals who all share her passion for education and support. I am honoured to be a member of the collective and share Sophie's mindfulness course with my own clients.
Nurturing you as you nurture your baby
The Beyond Birth Guide is an incredibly valuable resource in providing for and facilitating the emotional, psychological and soulful nourishment we yearn for when parenting a baby.
- Dr. Sophie Brock
Course content
Both the Before Birth and Beyond Birth course cover the same core themes with the focus being on awareness and preparation in the Before Birth course and reflection and implementation in the Beyond Birth course.
Both courses consist of six classes each covering one of the core themes below. Within each class we will consider the theme and what it means for us in our current lives. We will discuss experiences and challenges within the theme and learn ways to recognise, cope and build resilience. In each class there are journalling exercising, self-care practices, meditations and breath work. All equipping you with a toolkit of techniques to take away and help in your day-to-day as new parents.
Nurture​
Sleep, self-care, self-compassion,
inner voice, support.
Emotions​
Vulnerability, crying, attachment, visualisation, anchors, self-soothing, grounding, language.
Connections​
Babies, heart to heart, love, attachment, loneliness, endorphins.
Healing & Recovery​
Becoming a parent, shame & guilt, forgiveness, compassion & kindness, gratitude, empathy.
Nourish​
Biorhythms, language, sound, sight, taste, smell, touch & feel.
Transformation​
Identity, birth, movement, parenthood, fear, acceptance, intuition & instincts, words.