Overcoming Fear in Birth

Overcoming Fear in Birth by Bardsley and Newman
summary by Teresa Howard

Emotional fear goes to the thalamus and to the sensory cortex causing PTSD or it can take the short road to the amygdala where the immediate response is emotional- fear (the amygdala is the part of the brain that is responsible for arousal, controls autonomic responses associated with fear, emotional responses and hormonal secretions).

We need to bring our fear to a conscience level, process it and bring it down into our body out of our brain to begin to process it in a productive way.

The left side of the brain handles the cognitive, rational, explicit, verbal parts of our thinking and is very goal oriented. This is about what controls the areas of what we feel, our sight, touch, hearing, tastes, smells and temperature.

The right side of the brain controls the artistic, creative, impulsive, nonverbal parts of our thinking. It is about what we think, our beliefs, memories, culture and feelings.

IS, AM and ARE are belief words. We must balance it with knowledge, attention, evaluation and moods.

Using opposing handwriting or journaling allows us to bypass the left brain and go to the belief side of our brain. It helps us to move past the rational and create a new truth to guide us in our birth experience.

Mantras, metaphors, myths, symbols, and phrases will help us along our journey.

There is a need to make a distinction between mind and awareness. We need to plant the intention to stay in the presence and not have us to think ahead. Staying in our heads produces cortisol and stresses us- meditation balances our body and mind

Awareness is free of fear and anxiety. Our mind loves to suffer. So we need to stay out of our mind. Our awareness manages the pain and develops courage.