Remember Happy Times During Labor

Now we come to a facet of human relaxation that is inescapable. The relationship of mind to body, or the psychosomatic nature of humans. The mind and body are interacting, one helping or hindering the other. It is probably impossible to relax the body completely if the mind is under tension. Vice versa, it is impossible to relax the mind completely if the body is under tension. This is observed also in animals in their need to concentrate during labor and the temporary viciousness of laboring animals if this concentration is disrupted in any way

We have been stressing deliberate "do nothingness" of the body during uterine contractions. Can you similarly relax the mind, make it go blank and "think nothingness"? No! It can't be done. It's like trying not to think of an elephant. If you can't think of nothing during moments of concentrated physical relaxation, then you must think of something. What should your wife think about, how should she occupy her mind while relaxing her body? Her mother-in-law problem? The fight with the neighbors? The bills yet unpaid? Hardly conducive to relaxation! No, she should select the earliest and most pleasant memory from her childhood and deliberately dwell on this happy little experience. She should relive it in all its pleasant aspects, utilizing every known sensory function in her recall—sights, sounds, fragrances, touch, taste—to make it more real. Early childhood states of trust and total dependence on others were accompanied then by automatic physical relaxation test the muscular relaxation of sleeping children. Recalling and reliving happy days in the mind's eye during uterine contractions help her to dissociate from the pulling feeling in her back and lower abdomen. It is also a wonderful prelude to sleep for her and, incidentally, you. It is an automatic turning off of the mental worries, doubts, and frustrations that beset the day, to allow both the mind and body to relax as efficiently as it did in early childhood—you can sleep "like a baby" if you put your mind to it.

To get the woman's mind off her present discomfort.