To truly practice the yoga principle of Satya, or truthfulness, we need to get clear on what is OUR truth, and what is someone ELSE’s truth.
I grew up hearing “getting that epidural was one of the best moments of my life.” I needed to re-visit this as someone else’s story, but not necessarily mine, to free myself up.
Often, the most confusing place to differentiate our truth from others’ tends to be our family. We have often heard stories since we were young that defined reality for us for a long time.
A good step toward finding your own truth is to ask our families specifics about what happened with you. This part of our Pregnancy Guide can shed light on what you might expect, but even more importantly, it can help you see how different your path might be.
What was pregnancy like for you (as far as you can remember)? Did you have any cravings during pregnancy? Aversions?
How did labor start? What let you know that I was about to be born? What did you do?
Was I born on my “due date?”
Was my father present for the labor? What was that like for you? Did you feel supported?
Was there any intervention (induction, medication, forceps, vacuum)?
Was I given breastmilk? Formula? Why?
What would you have liked to have be different about the experience?
What did you like best?
Were there any previous miscarriages?
What is your best advice (“old wives tales”, if any)?
And then it’s your turn…
May I share with you my ideal vision of my birth, knowing it may or may not go this way?
May I share my vision for the first 40 days after my baby is born?
and don’t forget to end with…
Thank you so much for sharing and listening!
Once you are clearer on the conditions around how you came into the world, it becomes easier to make choices that will support what you hope will be part of your experience, and what you choose to leave behind as someone else’s.
