Who you are in labor and as a mother is merely an extension of who your are in the rest of your life.  So if you want to be present and strong in birth, you need to practice that way of being in your everyday life.  the patterns of your life are all cut from the same cloth.  Eating is something you do everyday, so practicing eating in awareness can prepare you for birthing in awareness.  The way you are able to be present in ordinary day to day activities sets the stage for how you will be present while giving birth.  Thich Nhat Hanh is a Vietnamese Buddhist teacher and poet.  A friend once asked him why he wasted his time growing lettuce when anyone could grow lettuce, but so few could write poetry the way he could.  Thich Nhat, Hanh’s response to this compliment was if I do not grow lettuce mindfully, I cannot write poems.  You may wonder how this teaching of Thich Nhat Hanh’s teaching applies to your prenatal diet.  His view of life has helped so many women realize the difference between eating mindfully and eating anxiously to meet daily nutritional requirements.  As eating mindfully becomes an integral part of your life, meeting your baby’s nutritional needs will happen more naturally and pleasurably.  Rules can offer a sense of security while pregnant.  If nutritional rules help you to feel more comfortable, why not make some that will work to your advantage.  For example, rather than create rules to restrict your diet, why not make rules restricting your rule making?  Flexibility, not rigidity, characterizes a safe natural healthy birth.

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