Kinesiology for Pregnancy
The journey of pregnancy has a profound effect on women’s overall health & wellbeing. During this time focus is often on the physical body, although equally the mental, emotional & spiritual bodies can also experience similar levels of imbalance.
I am currently 37 weeks pregnant with my first baby, and across the last 8 months of my journey I have used my own pregnancy experience and knowledge as a holistic Kinesiologist & Mind-Body Medicine practioner to explore how Kinesiology can be used to support pre-conception & pregnancy.
Preconception.
The overall condition of our health plays a fundamental role in the preconception period. Kinesiology can be used to assess certain aspects of a person’s health and gather insights to the condition of the mind-body. Using client centred counselling, Kinesiology is a completely safe and non-invasive approach to addressing pregnancy or attempts to conceive. While it is certainly important to address presenting symptoms, Kinesiology looks at the bigger holistic picture of a person’s wellbeing, that is, finding the root cause of imbalances. The way that we behave & interact in the world, our relationships and lifestyle choices are commonly found to be the source of imbalances in health. These areas of our health include the physical, emotional, mental, nutritional, biochemical, energetic & spiritual. Kinesiology can help to balance these areas to assist conception by working on:
Pain – physical
Stress – emotional
Beliefs and internal dialogue – mental
Hormones and endocrine system – nutritional
Nervous system – biochemical
Chakra system – energetic
Spirit & Intuition – spiritual
Pregnancy.
During pregnancy there are changes in the body in all 4 elements of wellness: physical/structural, emotional/mental, nutritional/chemical, & energetic/spiritual.
1. Structural/Physical – The body will change like no other time in your life during pregnancy. Acupressure, meridian massage, posture re-balance & muscle release techniques can all be used to stabilize the energy flow so the body can better manage the drastic physical & structural changes. It is important to note that there are forbidden acupressure points during pregnancy listed at the bottom of this post.
2. Emotional/Mental – Emotional & mental health can become sensitive during pregnancy. During this time undesired thoughts may come up, emotional regulation may become more challenging, or sometimes we may just need to prepare ourselves both mentally & emotionally for the uncertainty ahead. Counselling, mental re-programming, emotional releasing & relaxation techniques can all be used to help clear old or new stresses that are impacting pregnancy.
3. Nutritional/Chemical – Pregnancy causes changes in both hormones & nutritional needs. Environmental changes may also need to be considered when working on balancing this area of health. Gentle muscle monitoring can be used to: 1. Better understand where the source of these changes are coming from and balance the energy that may be stagnate or over stimulated & 2. To help identify nutritional deficiencies.
4. Energetic/Spiritual – As those primal instincts begin to kick in, so may the connection to deeper spiritual aspects of the self. Pregnancy is a heightened state of intuition, & there is a tendency to feel more energetically open & vulnerable during this time. Energetic balancing with the support of pregnancy-safe oils, flower essences, crystals, sound, breathwork & visualisation techniques can all be used to explore, centre, and ground the energy & spirit during pregnancy.
As a form of complementary medicine, seeing a Kinesiologist during pregnancy is safe and nurturing for both baby and mother, and can provide deep insights into the changing needs of the mind-body that occur during this time. Kinesiology can gently support you in each of these elements and help you feel stronger and more empowered physically, mentally, emotionally & spiritually through your pregnancy journey. When your body is in balanced, you (and your baby) will also be able to experience the best version of self.
Forbidden acupoints during pregnancy:
At no time: LI4, SP1, SP2, SP5, SP6, BL60, BL67
