Vision, perception and birth

Being able to see is a gift and yet, often taken for granted. How we see and what we see is regulated by the way the neurons fire together primarily in the visual cortex. Our vision also is influenced by our perceptions and our intentional/attentional networks. What we pay attention to influences what we see.

Graphics of the brain, like that above, while useful for showing the general region of activity of various parts of the brain, miss out on the myriad links and neuronal connections that influence and modulate the brain's activities.  Neurons are amazing. 35,000  neurons fit under a pinhead and each has anything from 60-60,000 connections. The neurons don't actually touch - they communicate and connect through chemicals and electrical signals.

The longest axons goes to our big toes! So everything is connected. The more connected, the richer and deeper our experiences. So too with vision.

Many years ago, a friend was at our place and waxing lyrical about his experiences with LSD - a popular drug at the time. He was trying to explain to me how the drug affected his ability to see things much more deeply and clearly. In an effort to get his message across, he told me with some exasperation that 'red was really red!"  I remained unimpressed and thought that his words were the ravings of an idiot - my impression of anyone who took drugs.  My friend's words came back to me about two decades later when I was driving across the Nullabor after a seven day residential meditation course. To my amazement, everything seemed brighter and more colourful. I finally understood what my friend had been trying to tell me all those years ago. Mind altering substances and mind altering experiences of meditation can have the same effect; that of opening up more connections in the brain enabling deeper, richer experiences.  The meditative strand is controllable, the drug induced experience much less so. Neuroscience tells us that it is our brain that sees, not our eyes and that our brain cannot tell the difference between what we imagine and what is actually in our visual field. Neuropsychologists have found that we don't see the world as it is, but how we 'are'.

Buble et al (2010) have found that when people are depressed, their colour differentiation is contracted, less vibrant. That finding makes sense to me when you think about attentional networks, neural linkages and moods, all of which are interconnected and all of which profoundly affect the way our physiology works. The greatest teacher the world has known said 'without vision the people perish'.  When we can't see beyond our current situation, our view contracts.  The ability to visualise or engage in 'imagineering' - seeing in our mind's eye what we desire to have happen or experience affects both mood and body physiology.

A midwifery student wrote a note about her experience of helping a birthing woman to use visualisation to change her labour trajectory.  The student has given me permission to repeat  her story and I do so here as I think her words demonstrate even more clearly what I'm talking about in this blog:

"Just HAD to tell you all of my experience in birthing suite last week!  Arrived at 7am to a primip (sic nullip) who had been having irregular pains all night following spontaneous rupture of membranes the day before.  Not coping well with these pains as the baby was in a posterior position, epidural was being inserted as we arrived, followed by Syntocinon infusion.  Unfortunately, we did not believe that established labour had begun, and the CTG showed little evidence of uterine activity.  Four hours post VE (showing barely 3cm at 7am), another was attended, and showed 4cm, posterior lie and thick cervix.  The midwife with me explained her concerns that this labour would probably end in a caesarean. Syntocinon was as high as it could go.  There were some typical decelerations noted on CTG.  She decided to let this woman know that labour did not appear to be progressing 'as it should', and that she should prepare herself for the possibility of the caesarean if no further progress occured.  While left alone with this lady (who had a big cry at this point with her supportive hubby), I suggested that she close her eyes and imagined her baby moving down and changing position, reassurring her that this was a powerful strategy to use.  We dimmed the lights and I left the room to allow the couple some space together.  At 1pm the obs registrar attended another VE and we were all elated when he announced it was time to start pushing!!  The look on the woman's face said it all.  Wow! I don't know who was more surprised - me, the midwife or the woman - who managed to birth her baby beautifully some 20 minutes later, cord tightly around neck, but Apgars 9,9 regardless.  Never underestimate the power of the mind OR the ability to birth well!"

For anyone who is concerned about a nuchal cord, which is the baby's cord around the baby's neck, let me refer you to the wonderful post of midwifery lecturer and independent midwife, Rachel Reed.

What do you think about all that? 

Bubl, E., et al. (2010). Seeing Gray When Feeling Blue? Depression Can Be Measured in the Eye of the Diseased. Biol. Psychiatry 68: 205-208. DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2010.02.009.

Mind Movie for Pregnant Women

A mind movie is a visualisation tool that enables a person to provide multisensory input and provide positive suggestions to the subconscious mind about a particular and desired outcome. Quantum physics informs us that we are forever in a field of possibilities. Neuroscience has discovered that the human brain is a quantum processor, making our tomorrows out of our todays.

If we want to create something wonderful in our life, we have to imagine it, in full technicolour, with surround sound and 'be' completely at one with whatever we wish to create.

The experts tell us that imagining/visualising our ideals first thing in the morning and last thing at night is what powerfully impacts our subconscious minds, providing a template for our inner intelligence to express itself through.

Many women do not have experience with birth, other than what they see on that master of suggestion, the television. Unfortunately, what is presented on television is invariably sensationalist, negative, alarming and often, inaccurate or only partially accurate and ultimately distressing. That is particularly true of the birthing process. The birth of our precious babies has been corrupted by false advertising through mainstream media and the ensuing horror stories. That corruption of birth has lead to unbelievable levels of fear and trauma in our society for both mothers and babies. Unmitigated fear is toxic to body and mental function and the reason that is so is explained by our physiology.

Mediated by the nervous system and our 'perceptions', our physiology has two primary modes of 'being'. One, the parasympathetic mode is 'on' when we are calm, relaxed and happy, in love and optimistic. In this mode, the whole body is well perfused with oxygen rich blood, the immune system functions well as do all the other growth and repair functions of the body. In this state, the brain functions optimally, thinking is clear, we are creative and our emotions consist of the positive hormones, such as oxytocin, endorphins and relaxins.

The other mode is switched on when we perceive a threat in our environment, this is the fight, flight or freeze response, the sympathetic branch of our nervous system. When this system is activated, blood is diverted from those parts of us that are not considered essential for immediate survival when attack appears imminent and our life threatened. The parts of us that are deprived of the normal blood flow at these times include our gut and digestion, our reproductive systems and its components, including, for pregnant women, the uterus and baby, plus other maintenance and repair systems. The blood is sent to our arms and legs for fighting and fleeing. The hormones associated with this biobehavioural state are adrenalins, noradrenalins and cortisol. Cortisol is great for helping a person lift a car off someone trapped underneath, we've all heard those kind of heroic stories of unbelievable strength in dire circumstances. However, in day to day life, activation of the sympathetic aspect of our nervous system disrupts cellular and immune system function and shuts down our rational thinking, leading to road rage, neuronal death and illness. It also leads to a self defeating, self reinforcing cycle of negative experiences.

Pregnant women are well advised to avoid horror stories, television dramas and any negative representation of birth, parenting and babies. Pregnant women benefit by being immersed in positive stories, images and surrounding themselves with loving, supportive and encouraging people. Pregnant women also benefit by having someone, preferably a midwife, with whom they can talk though their fears and apprehensions, so that they approach the birth of their precious babies in a loving, confident and calm manner. In this way, women's physiology works optimally and prenates grow well.

A mind movie is designed to provide and develop a positive view and orientation to pregnancy, labour, birth and breastfeeding for pregnant women, their partners and their families.

A woman can make her own mind movie. She can make it in her imagination, or by making a real life video. Either way, collect in your mind or physically, lovely photos of birth, babies and other images that remind you of your body and mind in harmony, working well. Add your favourite music to the mix and every morning and night, soak your mind in the ideas of birth to come, remembering to think about the birth occurring at the perfect time in the perfect way with the perfect people in the perfect place when the baby is fully grown, ready for birth. Imagine the whole process, including the birth of the placenta, your feelings on seeing your baby for the first time, being skin to skin with and breastfeeding your baby. Imagine yourself joyful after the event.

You will be amazed at how effective this process is for helping create a wonderful birth experience for you and your baby.