Empowered Birth: Lessons from Sport Psychology for Your Maternity Journey

Giving birth is often compared to a marathon, requiring grit, endurance, pacing, patience, pain management, and motivation. Sport psychology can help pregnant women use mental strategies commonly adopted by sports people to help focus on their strengths and see childbirth as a positive challenge. Psychological strategies covered in the book include setting and adapting goals, imagery, self-talk, breathing and mindfulness-based strategies, engaging social support networks, and focus strategies such as routines.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 180 pages
Publication date: 12 June 2023
Publisher: Sequoia Books

Giving birth is often likened to a marathon, a long and challenging journey that demands resilience, endurance, strategic pacing, and unwavering patience. Despite the abundance of information available, women and their birth partners may not always feel fully prepared for the unexpected twists and turns that can occur during the maternity journey. Now, imagine how sport psychology can assist you in this incredible journey?

Dr. Carla Meijen, a renowned sport psychologist, sheds light on how pregnant women can leverage mental strategies commonly adopted by athletes to transform childbirth into a positive challenge rather than a daunting threat. Dr. Meijen provides an overview of the fundamental principles of sport and endurance psychology, demonstrating how these principles can be applied to the pregnancy, birth, and postpartum experience.

In this book, Dr. Meijen guides you through the process of setting and adapting goals, employing imagery, engaging in self-talk, practicing mindful breathing and mindfulness-based strategies, leveraging your social support network, and implementing focus strategies such as routines. By drawing on and enhancing your existing mental skills toolbox, you can approach childbirth as a positive challenge, potentially without even realizing it.

The book includes insightful interviews with Olympians, world champions, personal trainers, and non-competitive exercisers, offering a glimpse into how women from diverse backgrounds have benefited from sport psychology during labor. Regardless of your level of athletic prowess or involvement in competitive sports, this book is designed to empower you throughout your maternity journey and beyond.

Pregnancy and the postpartum period can be a turbulent ride, but with the guidance provided in this book, you can develop and learn mental strategies to empower yourself at every step of the way. Embrace the power of sport psychology and embark on a transformative journey that will equip you with the tools you need to navigate the complexities of motherhood with confidence and resilience.

Weight: 278g
Dimension: 152 x 229 x 16 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781914110245