Soothing a Racing Mind in Stressful Times

How to Tame Spiraling Thoughts

Pregnancy itself brings with it an avalanche of information, worries about finances, doubts about how you’ll cope and don’t forget the never ending conflicting advice from well meaning friends and family and now throw a pandemic and raging hormones into the mix and even the most chill parent can end up feeling anxious and overwhelmed.

If you’re still going commuting to work outside of the home you’re probably a little more mentally preoccupied than most right now but there will be times when the big ‘what ifs’ sneak in and you step onto a train of thought to Covid town. Our Calm During Covid playlist will be essential listening over the coming months. Start by a simple exercise you can do right now. Set a timer for 1 minute and just focus on the feeling of your breathing in your body…and notice how many times in that 60 seconds your mind wants to race off to thoughts and to dos that it feels are more important right now. Catching yourself hopping on a train of thought to stress town will significantly reduce the time you spend there!

For anyone working from home right now you may find there’s a weird mental paralysis happening… motivation has left the building, you can’t focus, you find yourself scrolling through your phone repeatedly with the TV ‘breaking news’ on in the background. These are normal responses to the unpredictability of what’s happening in the world right now but they’re probably making you a lot more stressed.

Here’s a few strategies I find helpful (most days).

• Chew mint gum - gum is associated with a reduction in anxiety and even pain in labor.

• As your mind starts to spiral, look around you - can you find 3 things in your field of vision to be grateful for? Even better if you have any special memories about what you’re looking at….milk those memories and feel good hormones as often as you can.

• Another approach when you notice your mind is on an unhelpful train of thought is to ‘find’ your feet. This simple mindful approach gets you out of your head and into your body which interrupts activity in the emotion processing center of the brain. Notice the temperature of each foot...how they feel on the ground...wiggle your toes. Just a few minutes of this can be very helpful.

• Mindfulness is a really important addition to your hypno practice right now - I’d suggest Mountain Meditation for ‘wobbly’ days and the Self Compassion playlist. Both will reduce stress and promote oxytocin release quickly.

• Brush your teeth mindfully, have a mindful shower, take a mindful moment while the kettle boils.

• If you have young children at home from school right now you have unlimited opportunities for mindfulness practice so don’t stress about not getting to use the app as much as you would probably like during this time during the daytime.

• Talk to your baby (yes before they are born) - reassure them that you will keep them safe in your arms.  Think of it as bathing your baby in loving hormones. Imagine holding your baby,  counting those tiny toes…….watching them take their first steps, hearing their first words. Bask in those feelings as often as you can in the coming weeks. The brain can’t tell the difference between something you’re experiencing and something you’re vividly imagining.

• Control the controllables, be very deliberate in reducing social media consumption and news shows. The ‘Urge Surfing’ session in your GentleBirth app helps to reduce the power of that urge to keep checking the news. The brain has a bias towards ‘bad news’ so this practice will help override those impulses (and you’ll feel so much better watching less of the news).

• Use your Fear Release and favorite hypno sessions every night - don’t forget to encourage your birth partner to use the birth partner sessions too.

• Choose where you put your focus over and over again (use the golden rule of “is what I’m reading, watching, listening to right now making me more excited or more anxious”).

• Slow down – If you are in an area where you can still go outside try this notice the trees, the cracks in the pavement, the temperature of the air. How does your body feel as your pregnant hips sway. Which areas of your body are tense…which areas are soft? When you shift your focus down into the body it acts as a circuit breaker for spiraling thoughts.

• Be your best friend – not your worst enemy.  Speak to yourself kindly, each time you pause and take a deep breath today - place your hand over your heart to offer yourself some comfort throughout the day. Treat your pregnant body kindly you are growing a new human during very stressful times how amazing is that.

  
  Be good to yourself in the coming weeks.

  Tracy