HypnoBirthing – A Blessing for Pregnant Women (Parentous)

(This article was originally published by me on Parentous.com)

“Hypnosis” as known to all, has been a controversial treatment and often gives goosebumps when suggested. But a lesser known fact is that hypnosis for pregnant women has worked wonders, if practised correctly. Practising hypnosis during pregnancy is termed as “Hypnobirthing”. Framed in simple words, it is a relaxation technique which helps pregnant women have a painless delivery.

What is HypnoBirthing?

Relaxation, being peaceful & stress-free and a having positive mindset is of utmost importance

When a woman is pregnant, everyone around her offers advice, gives instructions and some of them even scare her about the painful delivery phase. Most of her life, she is made to believe that pregnancy and delivery is very painful. But most of the advice given by people would be based on things they have heard and not experienced. So it’s important for every pregnant woman to get the instructions verified by a certified expert. Also, it’s well-known to all of us that getting scared and stressed during pregnancy is the biggest enemy for women. Relaxation, being peaceful & stress-free and a having positive mindset is of utmost importance. Hypnobirthing helps you exactly with this. It is a technique which if practised correctly and regularly, trains the pregnant woman to experience normal delivery without the pain.

How does HypnoBirthing benefit?
A pregnant woman could easily get stressed out, angry, irritated or emotional. It’s often difficult for her to control her emotions even if she wishes to. But these emotions if over-experienced, could affect the baby and result in unwanted situations. Hence it’s absolutely necessary to keep yourself and your little one calm and peaceful. Practising hypnobirthing regularly could keep your mind fresh and calm. In this technique, a woman learns to hypnotise herself with deep breathing and thinking of the positive things. She lets confidence, peace and positivity inside her and removes stress, anger and uneasiness sheltered within her.

 

You must be wondering if confidence, peace and positivity can really help in birthing. Well, there’s a direct connection. Lack of these positive emotions result in tightening of muscles which in turn interferes with the birth. So, being stress-free helps in releasing stress hormones leading to comfortable birth, lesser chances of Caesarean section, chances of lesser time taken to experience labour and lesser use of pain relief medications. And the most important benefit: as your have been practicing HypnoBirthing throughout most of your pregnancy, your baby will be more peaceful and composed in nature.

Use the right terms!

The whole motive of HypnoBirthing is to maintain a positive environment and a peaceful mind

It is human tendency to associate words with emotions. So a term like ‘Cervix Dilation’ could create panic. HypnoBirthing teaches you to replace it with a milder version like ‘blossoming’, replacing the phrase “Time for Delivery” with “Time to meet your baby” and many more such replacements. The whole motive of HypnoBirthing is to maintain a positive environment and a peaceful mind.

Where can you find it?
HypnoBirthing has not really become popular in India and you might find very few places where you can actually find experts teaching this technique. But you can always opt for videos and practise it regularly during your pregnancy days after consulting your doctor for healthy birthing and peaceful baby.

World Heart Day - Is your Heart Healthy?

Ideally, there shouldn't be a World Heart Day. After all, the heart has to be taken care of every moment of our life. The modern day eating habits, busy schedules, stressful day doesn't permit our heart to stay healthy.

The World Heart Day is not the only day when you have to take care of your heart. It is the day on which the awareness should be spread by each one of us.

Some simple healthy routines if followed, will keep our heart pumping with joy. The first step towards a healthy  heart is to do a check up and see how healthy your heart is. Believe me the health checkup report will give you the confidence and the necessary boost to keep yourself healthy.

Here are few tips which you can follow if you really care for your heart.

Get prepared for Mumbai Marathon 2014

Finishing a marathon is an accomplishment that less than 1% of people in Mumbai will achieve. If you have registered, be proud to be one of them.

Source: theguardian.com

If you have went through the upcoming Mumbai Marathon 2014 registration, then you have certainly thought of preparing for it. Because be it half marathon, full marathon or dream run, preparation is a must. Even a 6 km walk needs some effort for a person who workout regularly, although the homework required for them would be lesser. So if your schedule is set for early morning or during sunset hours, you have to follow few healthy guidelines to move in the proper direction for getting ready for the marathon rather than getting yourself injured just enough to skip the great event. Oh! by the way, Mumbai Marathon 2014 date is 19th January.

Here are a few tips which you shouldn’t miss:

• Ensure your stomach is not full before you go for the walk/jog
• To avoid injury, increase your time and distance gradually. Walking for 10km on day 1 is not an achievement.
• When you are not in mood/too busy/very sleepy etc etc, take a small step and cut short your training time but avoid skipping it completely.
• If at all you have missed out a day or two of workout, do not cover up for it. Instead go a level back and get your body prepared again for the workout.
• Choose a good jogging track or smooth road with least people on your path, so that you can look straight while you walk/jog and go on in a regular speed without dashing others and without hurting your foot. Being a Mumbaikar, it’s difficult to avoid but try to go for roads with least potholes.
• Do not walk to look good, walk for the goal with your own comfort.
• Wear a comfortable outfit so that you concentrate on your workout and not on what you are wearing.
• Breathe as deeply as possible while you are on your feet
• Let your hands be empty while you workout
• Have a short warmup exercise before and after the walk/jog. This relaxes your muscles.

Buy Pepper Spray - Self Defence for Women

I walked into a pharmacist shop and asked if they have a pepper spray. In return I got a shocked look and 5 seconds of silence. In another store, the person at the counter made me repeat thrice "Do you have a pepper spray?.. pepper spray.. small can of pepper spray!". Answer I got was No.

Looking at the number of rapes in our country in the year 2012 i.e. almost 600 in delhi, more than 200 in mumbai, 50s to 100s in kolkata, chennai, bangalore, hyderabad, we know how important it is to carry a pepper spray can for self defence for women. It’s not just meant for females, but it’s for old aged people too. An attacker is always stronger when our mind is in a sub-conscious state i.e. we are thinking something or are disturbed with something.

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lype/6376366675/

  

Pepper sprays are meant to affect the attacker temporarily, hence doesn’t cause any permanent damage. If the spray is applied on a person with asthma or any other breathing problem, it can lead to death. It is illegal to posses the spray without a valid license in many countries across the world, although in India it’s legal. You can buy pepper spray easily nowadays. If you are an online shopper, healthkart.com is a good source with fast delivery.

Some basic features of pepper sprays regardless of their brands are:

• Small in size; generally 30-40g weight. This make it easily portable. 
• Can be sprayed from 5-10 feet of distance 
• Knocks off the attacker for 15-30 minutes and sometimes even for hours. 
• Sprays could be in the form of stream, fog, cone or foam

Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2013 - Are you coming?

20^thJanuary is the Mumbai Marathon 2013 date. With the fast approaching Marathon event, I am sure many of us are getting prepared for the event, although with our busy life, it's difficult to get prepared practically.

Reference:Sulekha.com

The medical director of the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon has suggested fitness schedule for the 2 weeks prior to the event:

Full Marathon preparation:

WEEKS TO GO	MON	TUE	WED	THURS	FRI	SAT	SUN
2	Rest	5	8-10	X-TRAIN(45 min)	Rest	6	10-14
1	Rest	5	5-7	Rest	5	Rest	RACE DAY

Half Marathon preparation:

WEEKS TO GO	MON	TUE	WED	THURS	FRI	SAT	SUN
2	R	7	5	X TRAIN (45 MIN)	R	5	16
1	R	7	5	REST	5	R	RACE DAY

Dream Run preparation:

WEEKS TO GO	MON	TUE	WED	THURS	FRI	SAT	SUN
2	R	2-3	4	X TRAIN (45 MIN)	R	5	60 min run/walk
1	R	2-3	4	REST	4	R	RACE DAY

Distance in Kilometers, R-Rest, X Train- Cross Training, e cycling, swimming

Some facts about Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon:

• Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon turns 10 this year.
• Distance to be covered for Full Marathon runners is approx. 42 Kms, for Half Marathon runners the distance is 21 Kms, Dream run it's 6 Kms and Senior Citizens run the distance is 4.3 Kms.
• Registrations for the event was on from July-November (varied for Full Marathon, Half Marathon, Dream Run and Wheelchair / Senior Citizens run).
• Running number Bibs and runners kit collection has been scheduled for 11^th - 13^th January 2013 (11am – 7pm), at it's usual location – BKC, Bandra.
• An email confirmation is required for collecting the kit and bib. It could be in the form of print out or the email on your phone. Hope you prefer the email on phone option :)
• If you are unable to collect the bib and kit personally, then your representative can collect it for you. How? Visit their FAQs.
• Marathon race start timings vary for different race i.e. Full marathon, half marathon, dream run etc with the earliest being full marathon 5.40 am.
• Varied prize money and medals are awarded to the winners and runner ups.

I will be there at the event for Dream Run.

Are you coming?

First Step Toward Fitness

There were days when I couldn’t even imagine getting up before 8 am. But now, being recently turned health conscious, my phone starts jumping out of the 6 am alarm. To initiate, I opted for the easiest technique to stay fit – a morning walk.

So, with polo t-shirt, track pants, sport shoes and a music player I begin the hard work at a park near my place. Brisk walking – that’s what I plan for, however it doesn’t really work out. Brisk walking along with the numerous park visitors is quite difficult.

Like me, I see many health conscious people – senior citizens, middle aged and young people as well. All have their method of staying fit. Some guys jog with t-shirt and shorts on. That’s so much more effective technique to stay in shape. Some people walk while swinging their hands at 180 degrees. I usually stay away from them fearing I’ll end up having a punch! Some people prefer to go for physical exercises and yoga instead of walking while some go for meditation.

Apart from the walking, exercises, yoga etc another activity that health conscious people opt for is attending the laughter club. Of course this activity is also a type of Yoga, called Hasyayoga. People, usually senior citizens, form a ring and start laughing rigorously. Although initially it is self-activated, gradually it turns out to be a natural one. A good view for me :)

I am not sure how much this little effort of morning walk will affect my health, but a slight transformation has definitely come in my life with a fresh day and bright mind.