Calm breathing for labor and life

The things our bodies need to do to keep us alive generally happen without conscious effort.  For example, we breathe about 22,000 times per day on average. Since it is an automatic process, breathing does not usually receive the attention it deserves until there is an issue. However, there are tremendous psychological and physical benefits to consciously and mindfully slowing down and carefully taking notice of how we breathe. We can certainly take advantage of those benefits during labor and birthing.

One of the first techniques pregnant parents learn when they attend hypnobirthing classes is how to utilize the power of their breath. There are three types of breath, each important for a different stage of labor and birthing. The first one they learn about is calm breathing. 

Calm breathing is a slow and peaceful way of inhaling and exhaling into our bellies. This uninterrupted and relaxed action is very important in the early stages of labor. Breathing relaxes the body's muscles and ensures that the body receives a continuous and optimal supply of oxygen—the most important fuel for the muscles and uterus. Additionally, when relaxed, the body secretes endorphins, natural painkillers, and relaxants that help pregnant parents have a peaceful and calm birth.

How to Practice Calm Breathing

Calm breathing is very simple to learn. It is a combination of imagery and physiology. Simply relax comfortably in your chair and imagine your belly as a deflated balloon. Take a slow and full breath through your nose and send it into your belly as you inflate the balloon. Exhale through your nose twice as long as you inhale. Repeat.

During calm breathing, the mind will want to do what it normally does: think about all sorts of unrelated things. We will give it something to do to prevent it from bringing up our daily to-do lists and random unproductive thoughts. As you inhale, count to four silently to yourself; when you are ready to exhale, silently count to eight. The mind will focus on counting and forget to think about 1,000 thoughts simultaneously. Notice what happens to your body after a few breaths; most likely, you will feel relaxed and more centered. 

To see if you are doing the breathing correctly, place one hand on your belly and the other on your chest. The hand on your belly should be moving out and away from your spine when you inhale and toward the spine when you exhale. The hand on your chest should barely move.

Our Wonderful Nervous System

Calm breathing is not only beneficial for pregnant parents in hypnobirthing classes. It is known in different fields under many different names: yoga practitioners call it pranayama, university and medical researchers call it diaphragmatic breathing, and most people simply call it deep, abdominal, or belly breathing. 

The human nervous system is a very powerful and well-connected structure of nerves highly specialized in regulating our bodily functions. It is in charge of all the physiological processes in our bodies- some of which we can control (mostly motor skills) and others we cannot. The whole nervous system is branched into different subsystems, each in charge of specific bodily functions. The two systems that are most important to us when practicing calm breathing are the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. These two systems control the same processes but in opposite directions. The sympathetic system puts us in a heightened alertness state, while the parasympathetic system brings that state down to calmness. A sympathetic response is known as a “fight or flight” or “emergency room” response, and a parasympathetic response is known as a “rest and digest” or “healing room” response. 

When we feel stressed or threatened, our breathing becomes rapid and shallow. This is a natural “fight or flight” response. It is a healthy and appropriate response when people are in unsafe situations because the body prepares itself for the arduous task of making sure we survive. This system makes us do superhuman things: jump unnaturally high, run really fast, or make parents lift up a car or move a boulder if their children are trapped. When the brain and body detect a threat, the sympathetic nervous system redirects blood from the organs that are secondary to survival to the organs that will be used in fighting or running away, such as large muscle groups and the heart. 

After the danger has passed, the parasympathetic system takes over and calms the body down. Its job is to normalize physiological processes and begin a healing sequence where it is needed. The whole body returns to its normal state in a relatively short period. In the parasympathetic state, the normal amount of blood returns to the organs, and bodily functions return to working at their most optimal. Processes such as digestion, immunity, and cardiovascular and reproductive functions return to homeostasis.

When we slow down and mindfully take abdominal breaths, we automatically stimulate a parasympathetic response. When we take deep breaths, the diaphragm—a muscle located underneath the lungs— pulls on the lower lobes of the lungs. This creates more space for oxygen to come in. Oxygen then travels to the organs and muscles for optimal functioning. At the same time, the diaphragm also stimulates the longest nerve in the body, which is called the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve requests the brain to release chemicals and neurotransmitters needed to relax and repair the body.

What Happens When We Mindfully Take Calm Breaths?

Esther Sternberg—a physician, author, and researcher at the National Institute of Mental Health—compares calm breathing to the brakes on a fast car. She explains, “Think of a car throttling down the highway at 120 miles an hour. That's the stress response, and the Vagus nerve is the brake. When you take slow, deep breaths, that is what is engaging the brake.”

Putting the brakes on our overworked bodies is very healing for us. Study after study shows just how much we gain from taking the time to simply breathe—from quicker and more complete recovery in athletes to lowering blood pressure and stress to improving symptoms and quality of life in people with chronic inflammation.

Medical practitioners everywhere echo the sentiment that when we breathe from the abdomen, something major happens. Cardiologist and Harvard researcher Herbert Benson proposes that ”you can use the mind to actually change your body, and the genes that we're changing were the very genes acting in an opposite fashion when people are under stress.” Physician Mladen Golubic echoes the message and says that by breathing mindfully, ”you can influence asthma; you can influence chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; you can influence heart failure.”

Calm Breathing in Labor and Birthing 

Abdominal breathing is our natural way of breathing. Babies naturally breathe from their bellies when they are content and happy as do adults. However, somewhere along the way of growing up, deep and restorative breathing is replaced with shallow and quick breaths. To our bodies, that equals stress and anxiety. In fact, one of the first physical signs of anxiety is a change in breathing, which causes tension in the body. Tension in the body sets off the “fight or flight” response. When our bodies are tense, we experience fear and our minds zoom in on survival only. More fear means more tension, and fear and tension combined equal pain. In labor, it leads to long hours of discomfort, pain, pushing, and exhaustion.

The uterus is a muscular organ, and like any other muscle in the body, it can tense up or relax. It needs a constant flow of oxygen and blood in order to function properly and optimally. Since the uterus is not considered one of those organs that are directly responsible for survival, when the “fight or flight” response is activated (when the pregnant parent is scared, for example), the uterus tightens, blood is redirected from it to the heart and limbs, and any normal physiological process is suspended. Since labor is not considered crucial for survival, it either pauses until the environment is calmer or we experience what is called “failure to progress.” This is when labor freezes. To make things worse, the body creates the same response to perceived threats as well, not just actual ones. So even thinking about unpleasant experiences such as anticipating painful labor, sets off the same fight or flight response. 

One of the simplest things we can do to prevent anxiety and discomfort in labor—no matter if the baby is birthed naturally or via C-section—is to continue calm breathing throughout the process. This allows our bodies to stay relaxed and oxygenized. When we are relaxed, oxygen and endorphins flow freely in the body and the uterus is allowed to go through the natural process of labor at its own pace. When the uterus has an ample supply of oxygen and blood, the baby receives everything she needs to carry her through birthing. The baby’s heart rate stays strong and stable, oxygen levels are at the normal level, the parents remain calm and in control, and everyone goes through the process in a healthy and calm manner.

Conclusion

Pregnancy and birth are events that we will remember for the rest of our lives. The best way to prepare is to learn what truly natural birth looks like. We are conditioned to think that labor and birthing are the most agonizing event in any parent’s life. It is as if screaming, pain, and pushing are considered rites of passage that every pregnant parent has to go through in order to earn the privilege of welcoming their baby. However, the opposite is true. Birth is supposed to be—and can be—calm, peaceful, intimate, and loving, no matter if the baby is birthed naturally or via c-section, at home, at a birthing center, or hospital. The best way to have a healthy and calm birth is to unlearn the myths that surround it and breathe. This is one of the very few instances in life when we can have the best outcome if we do nothing except let go and let our bodies do what they are naturally meant to do. 

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