Mindful Birthing audiobook

2022 update: I attempted to use these methods at my second child's birth, but found it's less applicable to precipitous labor. You're on your own for that one. (Though to be fair, it's a much quicker experience.)I gave this book 4 stars until I remembered that the techniques I read within helped me have give birth without an epidural. That alone was worth the extra star. The chapter on breathing through contractions, and the mindset to have while having contractions, are clutch. I don't know how many minds I blew afterwards explaining that labor wasn't that bad. It was uncomfortable and parts of it were painful, but it was tolerable and I knew I could do it. This book showed me how.(Pushing was a different story. That hurt. That was painful. There were times when I was wondering why they weren't offering forceps, not having the extra strength or mental energy to ask why they weren't offering forceps, and then realizing that I was going to have to do it myself. That took strength I didn't know I had, and let me tell you: it felt powerful and it hurt like hell. The pain disappeared the moment my son came into the world. I have never felt more like a woman and like part of something bigger than myself, a sisterhood of every woman who has ever gave something of herself for a greater good, be it in childbirth or elsewhere. I wouldn't trade the experience for the world.) Additionally, the mindfulness techniques really helped me towards the end of my pregnancy as my (now nine months unmedicated) anxiety roared to life.

So I’m saying I “finished” even though technically I didn’t. I went into labor at 36 weeks so I hadn’t actually finished the book yet!I LOVED this book and can say the strategies and mindset laid out in this book transformed my pregnancy and the birth of my daughter. This book while very useful for an unmedicated or “natural” (although, aren’t all births “natural”) helps you deal with whatever your pregnancy and birthing experience hand you. The author supports all birthing methods. In pregnancy, this book helped me deal with each symptom as they came, each challenge as it came. Teaching while pregnant was exhausting and difficult for me, this book helped me take one day at a time. In birthing, I wanted to be unmedicated, but it didn’t work out that way. My water broke early (36 weeks) and I ended up being induced. I ended up with an epidural, and eventually a c-section. The mindfulness practices in this book helped me through contractions, the choice to get an epidural, pushing and pushing, the need for a c section, and then having to be put partially “under” from the c section due to complications so that me and my baby could be healthy. I honestly will probably finish reading this book as the principals of mindfulness helped me through pregnancy and birth can carry over into parenthood and postpartum (postpartum with an incision is no joke!)I highly recommend this book to any Mom to be!

This book helped me get through the pain of labour and childbirth. I highly recommend it.

I love this book and the guided meditations that I purchased with it online. It has had a profoundly positive effect on my mindset in daily life, not just childbirth prep. Hopefully I can carry these through to help me with our home birth when the real deal comes in a few weeks!

This is a good book if you are worried about the pain of childbirth. It helps distinguish the difference between pain and fear and also how they feed on one another. The meditation lessons help you learn to control the fear and pain by focusing on the present moment and not worrying and thinking about the past or the future. This book and its methods aren't even specifically for birthing; it's for men and women in everyday life.

Ok so full disclosure: I am pregnant and haven't given birth yet (and won't for much of this year!). Friends recommended this book to me and I bought it as soon as I could.I have to say though that since reading it I feel much more at ease, not just with the idea of birthing but with pregnancy too. As someone who has a long history of meditation, I was surprised to find out that it has a direct and beneficial application to one of the most transformative moments of life.My husband is now reading it, and we will start training together once he's finished it. My own training has already started, in informal practices of discomfort, annoyance, pain, and even itching!Once I've been through and have come out the other side, I will come back and update this review if necessary. Right now though J can say that it's a highly recommended read.

Such a great book! Makes me wish I had attended the birth classes it’s based on/accompanies

I read this very slowly over the course of my pregnancy (started around 15 weeks, finished yesterday at 35 weeks). I haven't given birth yet, and I'm not committing to formal mindfulness practice as part of my birth preparation, so I don't think I can fully speak to how effective or not effective mindfulness is as a birthing tool; but I did want to remark on the aspects of this book that I have found helpful so far in influencing my mindset about birth. Here are my favorite takeaways:1. The concept of "transformational pain." I really love this concept. In most circumstances, pain is our body's way of alerting us that something is NOT right, and that we're in danger (perceived or actual). If I bump my knee into the coffee table, pain is a very handy way for my body to communicate to my brain that I need to stop and go a different way to avoid injury. But some very specific types of pain are not related to injury or disease; they are directly related to change and growth. A baby teething is one example, and childbirth is another example. These types of pain are still painful, but they are necessary and not inherently bad. 2. "In the absence of fear or anger, pain is just a physical sensation."Going along with the first point...the unpleasantness of pain is not just the physical sensation, but our emotional reaction to it - the immediate fear and/or anger we feel when we're in pain, which in the case of actual disease or injury are important for our protection. But if we are able to separate the physical experience of pain from the emotional experience of pain, it is suddenly SO much more bearable. Because transformational pain is important and necessary, separating fear/anger from our experience is important. I tried this when I slammed my finger in a door recently...my initial reaction (along with pain) was to be pissed, but as soon as I purposefully let that go and just calmly allowed myself to experience the pain without any anger, it was actually not even that bad. Just a physical sensation.3. "Horticultural time vs. Industrial time." Industrial time is time measured by the clock and calendar, and horticultural time is time measured by the slow changes of the earth. In most of the world, we have to live our lives in industrial time. I have to wake up for work at 5:30am, not at sunrise. Today is September 6th, not three days til the new moon. But we can't force industrial time onto horticultural things. I can't tell the tomatoes in my garden, "I need 2-3 of you to ripen each week between mid-June and the last weekend of September." That's not how the growth and change of the earth works; it's on it's own time, which is horticultural time. My baby is due on October 8th, but that's not how growing babies works. My baby will be ready on the day he's ready, and that might be a week or two before or after his "due date."4. "Being Mind" vs. "Doing Mind." I am so guilty of being a "doer." I don't feel fulfilled or satisfied with my day unless I have accomplished something, been productive, checked items off my list. I live most of my life in "Doing Mind," but I know that will have to change after I have a baby. I need to learn the practice of "Being Mind"...just being present in the moment, letting go of my need to accomplish things, and being mindful of myself and my baby as we allow ourselves to just "be."5. "Lovingkindness." This idea of purposefully sending well-wishes and hope for peace, happiness, and safety to yourself, your baby, your loved ones, your acquaintances, strangers, and even people you dislike or actively hate....for some of these groups of people, this takes SO much discipline. But it's so important for mental health. Harboring feelings of negativity toward yourself or other people primarily just hurts yourself.I am giving this book 4 stars instead of 5. My critique is that a large chunk of the book felt like an advertisement for the MBCP course, and I think the author focused too much on her description of that specific course and the people in it rather than the concepts they learned. Sometimes I felt like she was trying to sell the course to her readers, and over-doing it with self-praise for how well her course works. But this is a relatively small complaint. As a first-time expectant parent, I found this book a very valuable source of information to reframe my perspective about birth and early parenting.

Even though I never managed meditating I still found this book useful.

Great read for parentsThis is great for expectant and current parents alike. I started it during my last month of pregnancy and now, seven months later was actually able to finish it. I was able to use a lot of the practice during childbirth and I made it through 26.5 hours of labor naturally and even with a few complications during transition. My midwives said I was the calmest mother they had ever encountered, particularly given some of my challenges. Regardless of one's birth experience, the mother and baby's health are paramount. Coming back to the book reminds me to continue to employ the breath in all that I do and to be mindful and grateful for every moment we have. This is particularly so for the precious years we spend raising our children that only happen once, but also for ourselves and loved ones and any others we encounter. Life is a journey and we are along for the ride. Enjoy it, don't just get through it. Although this book is told from a first person perspective as it takes us through a course the author taught, it also gives us perspective and teachings along the way. I find it useful to understand different perspectives of those that went through the course in addition to the author and teachers teachings.

A great book for someone preparing for birth, especially if you have concerns about labor, or are interested in mental coping strategies for dealing with pain. This book not only deals with birthing though, it also examines how to be more mindful in every day life, which can ease daily anxiety and improve relationships with spouse and children. I want to read more books on becoming mindful because I truly believe that a full undestanding of this topic coupled with a spiritual faith in God can help remove a lot of the barriers that separates one from deep relationships and true contentment. I like this quote that is mentioned in the book- "Not causing harm requires staying awake. Part of being is slowing down enough to notice what we say and do. The more we witness our emotional chain reactions and understand how they work, the easier it is to refrain. It becomes a way of life to stay awake, slow down and notice. " - Pema Chodron

This is definitely a must-read for any Buddhist Mother keen on incorporating practice into birthing & post-birth care. I practice Tibetan Buddhism but I found these mindfulness practices complimentary to my existing practice and Nancy's midwivery background tied in beautifully with the information I was already being provided by my midwife. What's even better is the Mindfulness Birthing app that you can download for your iphone / ipad. The audio guided meditations were a great support to the practices detailed in the book. I'm so glad I found this book and I feel more confidant about my own birth to come in the next few weeks. Thank you Nancy Bardacke! This was just what I needed.

I read this to gain insight for the pending birth of my niece, and for myself in the future when my time comes to have children. I wish I could be a part of Nancy's class! I loved that as a reader you are following along with a class's journey and the variety of perspectives and experiences that were addressed. She wrote this book heartfully, easily, and compellingly, and it was very informative and fascinating.It made me even more excited to be a mother and maybe even to experience birth itself, and I will revisit its principles when it is time! A lot of reframing thoughts around pain in general, which is significant and helpful for me. I loved that she included partners as much as she did, too. The mindfulness is just as much for fathers to learn to be supportive partners (both ways) and parents. Overall there is so much more to pregnancy, birth, and parenting that need the mindset of mindfulness including your relationship with your partner and even extending loving-kindness towards all people, and I thought that made this book very honest and holistic to the entire pregnancy/parenting experience in a special way.This was my first read on mindfulness and part of my positive experience of this book was introducing me to invaluable concepts like beginner's mind and meditation being kindness > escape towards your sensations and emotions. My interest is piqued on the topic of mindfulness for sure!