Dear All,
this is maybe the second or third time only to join in the discussion on the forum, but the topic (PAIN) is very close to my heart... also, sorry about the mistakes in my letter, English is not my first language!
As a mother of three, a doula and independent birth preparation facilitator in Hungary, I very much agree with Francoise's cautiousness about anything that artficially stretches the perineum: flexibility does not equal stretched muscles! Honestly, the idea is plain horrid to me.
But Kim's comments about the sensation of pain and how little we address the question (kind of a taboo in our society --along with babies' cry: at best we ignore or hush / supress the thing).
I think it is a very good point that Kim makes about how this device, regardless of its other use, helped her lady in her breath awareness.
I think it would be beneficial to think, or brain storm about techniques that pregnant ladies could do in class to release their conscious and unconscious fears, and that would help them to see and accept that labour is labour: WORK--which by nature we are designed to manage. In labour yoga mums will use the Golden thread and other techniques on the real stage, rather than in a pleasant, relaxing, but to a certain extent somewhat misleading environment of a yoga class. This might be a problem to some if not emphasised at the right moment!
So, if anyone has any tips, or ideas, I am very happy to read!
In the meantime, I am also happy to share what I do in our classes: in this I owe some respect to Kundalini Yoga techniques, and also to Pam England and her famous book: Birthing From Within.
The exercise is simple, but painful. In brief:
there might be need for some preparation, since it is less of a physical than mental/concentrational type, and because it helps to get a flavour of the altering states of consciousness that women go through in their labour. An instructor can present it as a certain game where there is only one rule: we raise our arms 60 degrees above and keep it there as long as it starts to get ......... what? painful? There are all kinds of experiences for this, pain can only be one of them: just as it is in labour too.
I normally use nice music, and help them go through it as a meditation. This is important! If the instructor just lets them do it, they might just stop, or won't even start... There are so called "non focus awareness techniques" (check Pam England for some of these) we use, partly to avoid concentrating on the negative mind, and to go into neutral, partly to actually face the pain but from a neutral mind's perspective. Music helps. Breathing helps: and there is no question about it: anyone who tries this exercise (we do it as long as 35 minutes!!) will experience how much aware you have to be about your breath -- otherwise you just catch yourself with you arm falling down without even knowing what happened.
If all this is fo interest to anyone, please say.
And I would be happy to hear some comments too!
With all best wishes to the community,
Reka