Mindfulness-Based Childbirth and Parenting (MBCP) Course
To enable honest feedback, anonymous feedback was requested and pseudonyms are used *
I have felt increasing self-confidence in managing the ups and downs of my pregnancy and impending birth.
I feel like I can go with the flow a bit more and understand rather than react to these changes.
I have always known that mindfulness practice is helpful and beneficial for me and my mental health
but some days it can feel like a chore or an effort (when I am so tired and just want to crawl into bed).
During this course I found it felt more like a need and want rather that a chore. It's something I looked forward to and benefited from
I feel that overall my stress management has improved and the course and mindfulness based practice has certainly contributed to this …
given the vast changes we have experienced in the last few months, the course has definitely helped manage this (Sarah*).
I really appreciate how the program doesn't give too much information/direction/overwhelm with knowledge and choices.
This is something that could easily occur with such a large topic such as pregnancy birth and parenting!!
Rather it helps to develop internal skills such as mindfulness, intuition, confidence, assertiveness.
When it does come to deciding on a certain action,
I feel I will make a clear decision without letting other pressures interfere (other professionals/well-meaning family/partner etc
The course helped us both to understand our own stress signals and develop mindfulness as a tool to regulate ourselves and support each other.
We tend to have less intense arguments and calm down quicker.
We have also been able to talk about parenting and how we want our family to look and feel (Jane*).
I feel that our communication has improved and we are more considerate of each other.
Perhaps we are better at seeing each others perspective in a situation.
Remembering the benefits of meditation and mindfulness practice.
Recognizing that I had become avoidant over time so as to not challenge myself to improve.
This has improved my sense of self worth. (John*).
Mindfulness in Pregnancy (MiPP) Course
Becoming more at peace with myself, learning to control emotions and stress and letting go of things I cannot control,
learning to move on from emotions that would normally weigh me down (KN).
… having a feeling, recognising it, just sitting with it, thinking about it, just letting it pass quickly. Once you recognise you've got a feeling about something,
stress or anger or sadness or something, the stress kind of goes away. You learn to deal with the stress a bit quicker, and relax and think it's all going to be okay (JV).
… it was quite helpful during the labour. How to better understand pain. … like the contraction and then the break in between.
wasn't that worried. I wasn't so stressed in between the contractions (DF).
… What I do enjoy the most is the compassion session, where it's yourself and your partner and the baby (MM).