I’m still sifting through my experiences and learnings, but I thought I’d better share the big ones before I get too busy with work (and my needy garden!) Here’s the first of many…
Karen Strange talked about the importance of sequences in newborn brain development and how brain function can be damaged if these natural sequences are disturbed. The most important ingredient for baby’s optimal brain development is that they feel SAFE. When baby’s feel safe their brains can grow.
A baby’s brain chemistry is being wired prenatally, so if mothers feel safe their babies will feel safe as well. Most mothers in our culture are being bombarded with fear stories and offered fear-based interventions throughout their pregnancies–how many babies are actually able to achieve their full potential in such an environment? I think we really need to examine and change how we treat pregnant women in our society if we wish to reduce the incidence of anxiety, depression, suicide, autism and other mental/emotional disorders. And pregnant moms need to look at and change how they treat themselves during pregnancy.
Karen also talked about how we can help babies repair themselves when they have experienced trauma, big or little–and some trauma is unavoidable in life. Trauma may be prenatal–whatever happens to the mother, affects the baby. She said that babies are always showing us what happened to them and if we pay attention and follow her Simple Tools®, we can give babies a chance to release their distress and heal.
Here is an paraphrase/excerpt from her Simple Tools®:
(the trauma)
• Share an apology/empathize with your baby
Karen suggests incorporating a settling and connecting time with your unborn baby throughout the day–perhaps when drinking a glass of water (6-8 times a day!) This can be a time to do some repair work with your baby if you’ve been stressed and/or experienced a trauma.
In a later post, I will talk about how to do Matrix Reimprinting™ to clear your own birth and prenatal traumas.