Physiology Before Force℠ can be an approach to prenatal care; just as it is the Spinning Babies® approach to labor and birth.
Dr. Dennis Hartung, OB, greets each new pregnant person with the question, “How may I help you?” and then truly listens. This simple act invites his clients to consider their own needs and creates space for openness and trust.
Accessing Innate Knowledge through Active Listening
Pregnant people have innate knowledge within them. This inner wisdom communicates best in physical form when tissues are supple and responsive allowing hormone balance and a full range of movement in the muscles, joints, and fascia of the birthing pelvis.
As providers who educate, we create and share materials to enliven the interior life of the pregnant and birthing people we serve. Visual aids help and, when beautiful, inspire. We can lecture, but that is a one-way conversation. Listening has more power than we know.
The active listener, who reflects without leading or judging, allows the pregnant or birthing person to hear themselves. They hear what is true and what is no longer true in their verbal story and can then make active decisions with support and integrity.
Each of us know in our bodies, and we are supported in our knowing (or not supported) by the community we keep. As providers, we can share our enthusiasm for prenatal activities that assist in shifting to the birth paradigm of Physiology Before Force. Pregnancy groups such as prenatal yoga, centering pregnancy, and natural birth preparation classes can support both the physiological and social aspects that help birthing people access their own innate knowledge.
Let’s listen more and lecture less this week. The birthing person, the emerging parent, the goddess, the sister, is waiting to be heard. Awake in delight to the message within them!
Thank you for doing what you do.
Enjoy this post? You also might like:
- Supporting the Birthing Family’s Perspective
- Women Are Women Where Ever We Birth
- Two Women’s Labors and the Quality of Care
- Preparing Strength with Vulnerability
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