Your motherly intuition is so incredibly valuable. It is one of our best skills as new and experienced mothers. It’s how we know whether our baby is hungry, not feeling well, or just wants to be held. It is magical and almost always spot on.
One of the ways we can encourage and practice this intuition is to spend a few minutes at a time checking in with our bodies and our babies. It is best to do this exercise when your baby is being active, but anytime spent bonding is better than none. [You can also try Kick Counts.]
I personally enjoy using aromatherapy with visualizations and meditations to help me ‘drop’ into the activity quicker as I practice. After a while you begin to associate that smell with relaxation and bonding with your baby. Good scents also lend a fantastic vibe and feeling to the experience. Many essential oils are proven to be mood elevators or help with relaxation. My suggestion would be to pick a scent that evokes an uplifting feeling.
Do make sure that you pick an essential oil that is okay to use during pregnancy. My favorite essential oils to use are: orange, lemon, lime, lavender or spearmint. If you don’t have any essential oils, you can still do the same thing with a scented candle that you love. Vanilla can be a very delicious scent for meditation.
HOW TO BEGIN Open your favorite uplifting essential oil and wave it in front of your face to smell, or light a scented candle and just allow the scent to linger. If using a roll-on scent, you can roll a little bit in your hands and then rub your hands together to warm the oil and disperse the scent.
Place your left hand on your heart and your right hand on your belly (where your baby is).
Take a deep breath through your nose, filling your lungs. Hold it for a second, then slowly blow air out of your mouth. Take three long breaths.
Now take a minute to check in with your body. How am I feeling right now? Is there anything I need?
Then bring your awareness into your belly. Take a minute to check in with your baby. Can you feel them stretching or rolling? Is there anything that your baby needs? Just sit and connect.
If you like, you can talk to your baby during this time. Maybe send prayers of well-being or talk about what is to come.
When you are finished, imagine that love is pouring out from your heart into your left hand, traveling across your arm and your middle back, into your right arm and out of your right hand (making an ‘S’ shape spiral) filling your belly with as much love as you can muster.
Take another deep breath, shake out your hands and go about your day.
<3