Seed Exercise

Excerpt from Painless Childbirth: An Empowering Journey Through Pregnancy and Birth

Connecting with Mother Earth

If you are familiar with yoga, you are familiar with the child’s pose. Begin on your knees, sit on bent legs, and let your body fall forward, forehead on the floor, while your arms are stretched alongside you. Close your eyes and imagine you are a seed, deeply embedded into the earth. Take a deep breath in and allow yourself to visualize what it would be like to sprout tiny roots into the soil and slowly emerge into the beautiful plant your are meant to become. Get into the feeling of being a seed growing toward its future.

Cherish every moment of being a seed, and make sure that each element of your sprouting body supports the rest of the growth. Don’t be impatient and raise your head above the ground too fast, knowing that your stem is too long for the weight of the first two leaves, or that a brisk wind would crush your small body. Allow yourself to grow slowly, just as nature designed. What kind of a plant are you? Are you a tree, or a vegetable that brings joy to someone’s lips? Are you a fragrant flower that will inspire a smile? Ground yourself in your soil and take in its nourishment.

Each day will bring you new insight and bring you closer to the seed that is sprouting inside your womb. This exercise can help you commune with your embryo in its early stage and you may have an understanding of what your embryo is going through.

The more you relate with your baby early on the more you’ll find the time to care for him/her like eating well and taking a nap when you need to.