Elvis, Emotions and Birth
Those of you who know me well will know that my mind has a unique (some might say slightly odd) way of connecting things together, if I remember rightly from English lessons at school that is called juxtaposed. So here goes…Elvis, the expression of emotions around childbirth.
As I write today is 8th January, Elvis’ birthday. What those of you who know me well will also know is that I LOVE Elvis. Thanks to my Mum who has always been a fan I grew up from a young age with Elvis being the soundtrack to my life and he has become a kind of old friend to me, my go to when I need a bit of re setting/processing of the emotions I am feeling. I love the way music can help with that.
Music is a personal thing, for me Elvis offers such a diverse mix of music and I love it all, but especially the songs where he tells a story about emotions and feelings, as that is what I am all about at the core. I’m emotional and sensitive, but understanding the way people feel and how this affects us is what my work is all about.
The mind and body are linked, what we think and feel has a direct impact on the body. As a homeopath I am looking at this and making the links to see where particular symptoms come from and so much of the time that is about the events of our lives and the emotional responses to them.
As a hypnobirthing instructor I am supporting women to understand what they currently think and feel about birth and helping them to work through any fears or worries, as well as giving them all the tools they need to keep calm and relaxed.
What a woman thinks and feels about her birth experience matters, it will stay with her for the rest of her life. How am I going to link that back to Elvis????
Well you may or may not know that Elvis was a twin, his brother Jessie was stillborn. Elvis was born in 1935 in very poor conditions at home. I’ve read lots of books about Elvis and it was a huge question for Elvis why he was the twin that lived and went on to be who he was, so you could say his own experience of birth impacted his life. His Mother Gladys, understandably never got over the loss of her baby and was an extremely anxious Mother, which had a direct effect on her health and emotional well being as well as Elvis in his early years.
What a woman experiences during labour matters, it isn’t just about having a healthy baby or in Gladys Presley’s case one healthy baby. Women need to be able to talk and share openly everything they feel about birth, especially when it doesn’t go the way they hoped in the birth plan or they have a miscarriage or lose a baby. Yes these are uncomfortable things to talk about, but by not allowing women to talk about them those unspoken uncomfortable conversations can become a lifetime of emotional pain.
Humans are emotional beings. Therefore I cannot understand a healthcare system or approach to birth that doesn’t take emotions/the way someone feels into account.
When a woman is pregnant we need to consider how she feels about giving birth, give her the space to express any fears and help her work through this, support her in making choices that feel right for her. The same goes for during labour and birth, she is more than a physical being and the way she feels and what she experiences emotionally during birth is a big deal.
It is my hope that through teaching hypnobirthing I can help women to feel confident in their ability to birth their baby in a positive and calm way, sometimes this isn’t always completely natural, but if a woman feels heard and understood and is supported afterwards emotionally the way she feels is completely different to when her emotions are not allowed to be expressed.
I’d love to know your thoughts on this random place my mind went to today….