For expectant mothers and those expecting to be expectant mothers – Pamela Hickein and Wennie Sun from Right Brain Kids have the following message to share…
Five Gifts of Love and Insight for Mother and Child
As a right-brain prenatal educator for over 20 years — and as a mother of four children myself — I have joined in the bliss of many prenatal experiences.
Over time, I’ve documented these experiences in a quest to discover how to best help mothers connect with babies in the womb.
I sometimes wonder why this phenomenon has not been more widely shared. When completely relaxed, pregnant mothers are highly intuitive, and can sense clear messages from their babies. These messages can consist of strong feelings of emotion and, at times, vivid mental pictures of things that children wanted mothers to read, or eat, or think about, or do — like more walks in the garden, and communion with nature.
With each month of pregnancy, intuition can become more heightened, and the messages more detailed.
It has been in my heart to share five gifts of insight — key concepts and abilities that are present during pregnancy. These gifts are precious and considered sacred to me, and all mothers who have utilized them. They are vitally important to know as you begin your prenatal journey.
INSIGHT #1: Your Baby Has a Voice
Every baby in the womb has a voice and has something to say. It may not be verbally expressed. But it’s there. You can hear it if you “listen.”
As a newly pregnant mother, I couldn’t believe how powerfully connected I felt to my baby. Yes, I could feel the tiny movements — the flutters, the kicks, and later the stretches and shifting.
But I could also feel strong impulses of feeling: bliss, fear, joy, playfulness, approval and disapproval.
Looking back, I can see the beginnings of their very distinct personalities present in these early experiences. Others have, too.
— BABY CHEF —
Sandra was a chef who had married late in her career. So when she became pregnant, she was eager to cook delicious, nutritious food for her developing baby. She began right brain prenatal classes when she was only four months pregnant, and each week she shared amazing new stories of how her baby would direct her to use certain foods, and to avoid others, while she cooked for herself.
Some of her most favorite foods were left untouched on the shelves during pregnancy because she could feel that her baby would not care for them.
“How do you know your baby won’t like them?” we asked.
“Well, as a chef, when I think about a recipe, I can already sense the taste in my mind.” She smiled, “Then I feel either a happy, excited feeling about eating, or I hear or see a big ‘No!’ in my mind.”
Not all of the mothers were convinced that this was the baby’s communication, because as pregnant mothers, all of our tastes had changed. It wasn’t until much later, when her child was in our toddler classes, that we remembered these earlier conversations.
At 18 months of age, Sandra’s daughter’s favorite foods were still the ones she had “chosen” during pregnancy.
INSIGHT 2: Your Baby Communicates with Frequencies
The right hemisphere of the brain is known as the “imaging brain.” It thinks with pictures and emotion.
In Right Brain Education, this translates to abilities such as photographic memory, speed reading, musical pitch and intuition — the ability to recognize, record and recall energy frequencies through a unique resonance function.
Dr. Celeste A. Matthews, Professor of Early Childhood Education in the United States, writes, “The right brain function is based on the notion that all things exist as subatomic particles that vibrate at ultra-high frequency. Thus, the physical body is continuously bombarded by frequencies which are emitted from every object, thought and feeling in our environment.
The right brain is somehow equipped like a tuning fork to receive and process these frequencies which are perceived as thoughts, images, feelings and sensations, but not necessarily at the conscious level.”
As we have discovered in TweedleWink classes, infants are able to utilize this resonance function very early in their development. Mothers and children form an intimate bond of telepathy — a wordless communication using mental images, thoughts and feelings and messages back and forth. When this begins in the womb, a wonderful bond is made — from mother to child.
— COLORFUL OPINIONS —
Camella was six months pregnant when she joined class, and already she said that her child had strong opinions about music.
When she went out with her husband, the baby would kick and she would see “red” when certain music was played in a store or restaurant. She had to leave in order to feel peaceful once again.
“Do you see a color when your baby is happy?” one of the mothers in class asked.
“Yes!” she emphatically replied. “Different colors for different *kinds* of happy feelings.”
I wish that I had written down the colors and asked what each one meant — and now that class is 18 years in the past — but color-association is a strong message system that many mothers use when experiencing back-and-forth communication with their babies.
In a prenatal class, there is one indicator which shows us how successfully a mother will be able to intuitively connect with her baby, and that is her ability to visualize.
When a mother finds visualization to be a challenge, we use a Wink technique called “Mental Imaging.” Mental Imaging can help enhance your ability to visualize effectively — especially when you are encouraged to use all of your senses to create a multi-sensorial mental experience.
INSIGHT #3: Your Baby Feels Loved When You Respond
Prenatal communication *IS* possible. It happens whether or not we are actually aware of it. Our babies will communicate, and we will respond. The level of back-and-forth response can be heightened by our awareness, acceptance and desire to really work with what we perceive.
— MEETING FEAR WITH LOVE —
Betsy was six months pregnant with her second child. She had been communicating with her baby in the womb during our weekly classes.
During one class, she shared that during the previous week, her husband had purchased a new vacuum cleaner for her, to make her housework light during pregnancy. She was very appreciative of the gift. She excitedly plugged it in and turned it on.
Suddenly, her baby startled and began to kick violently. She immediately turned it off.
She could feel a heightened sense of fear — although she said that it was not her own. She immediately closed her eyes and sent love to her baby, rubbing her tummy, singing soothingly: “It’s OK, baby. I’m sorry about that.” She kept singing while rubbing her tummy and sending feelings of reassurance.
Gradually a sense of peace came over her and she felt that her baby was calm.
Mentally, she asked her baby, “Are you OK?”
She felt a happy “Yes!” feeling come back.
The first step in communicating with your baby is to become aware, and recognize how your child communicates with you. Every parent-child bond is unique. If your baby doesn’t respond at first, it doesn’t mean that you are not intuitive or that you cannot establish a clear flow of communication — you may need to just step back, relax and find your own personal “language.”
Babies will emit frequencies of thought and emotion.
How you perceive these frequencies depends upon your personal set of “intuitive interpreters.” Intuitive interpreters are simply learning styles.
Here’s what we mean:
– SEEING
If you are a visual learner –> You may sense mental pictures, visualizations, colors and symbols.
Visual learners need to see pictures or videos to best understand.
– HEARING
If you are an auditory learner –> You may sense mental thoughts (words) or ideas.
Auditory learners need to hear a detailed oral explanation to best understand.
– EXPERIENCING
If you are a kinesthetic learner –> You may sense physical sensations and feelings, or you might be “moved” to follow impulses.
Kinesthetic learners need to practice something in a very hands-on way to best understand.
Once you understand your own learning style, the next step is to meditate. Become quietly acquainted with total stillness.
In that stillness — eventually — impressions will come. We like to remind mommies not to expect results. First, focus on your level of peace and love for your child.
INSIGHT #4: Your Connection Grows Through Practice
The process of being able to listen to your child takes time and practice. And if we combine this with games and activities that open our own right brain pathways, we can heighten our sensitivity and awareness.
Once contact has been made — however subtle — the love felt from the womb spills over into the everyday.
Young children, of course, can sense these frequencies much more easily than adults. Not only that, they are also MUCH more ready to play with what they perceive! We can learn from *them*.
— BABY GAMES —
When Janice was pregnant with her fifth child, her older children loved to come to her tummy to talk to the new baby. They would sing songs and read stories to their new baby.
Toward the end of the pregnancy, they would play games and the baby would respond!
The first game they played was a simple math game. They tapped on mommy’s tummy one to three times, and waited for a response. The reply — each time — was an exact match of taps or pushes back.
The second game they played was a touch game. The children would hold their hands, very still, over different parts of mom’s tummy. Soon, baby would push her hands or feet (or even her head) back at that very same point.
This playful interacting set the stage for a sibling bond that has lasted over time.
Prenatal communication is pivotal in the raising of your child. Prenatal communication is the empowerment of the child right from the start. When your baby can convey his needs and be understood, he learns early on that he is an important part of a working universe… a universe of love.
INSIGHT #5: If You Can Communicate, You Can Educate
Once you begin to experience and communicate with your baby in this way, you can start to have strong impulses. You can become inspired to read novels, or listen to specific pieces of music (or composers), or learn a new language.
Whenever you feel a strong impulse of delight — take note. Your baby is talking to you!
— A CLASSICAL CONNOISSEUR —
During class one day, I played Schubert’s Ave Maria sung by Maria Callas. All the mommies, including myself, were comfortably seated with eyes closed — just basking in a moment of relaxation.
When the piece had concluded, Tina — a new mother in class — shared that her baby had moved back and forth to the music during the entire piece. Tina had joined class just weeks before her due date, so her baby was already quite large and filled the womb. She said that she could feel the motions of her baby, great emotions of bliss and went to a transcendent state during the playing of the music. She even saw rainbow colors in her mind.
After class, Tina asked to borrow the CD. She had not really listened to classical music and she could feel that her baby really enjoyed it.
She wanted to continue the experience at home. Over time, she created a collection of pieces and charted her baby’s responses. Later, after he was born, she used different songs to soothe him for nap or excite him for learning.
You can use this same technique for world languages, instructional CDs and videos, books and flashcards!
Don’t know where to start?
Sometimes specific images appear during this meditation, or fun exercises like this:
PRENATAL MEDITATION: Connecting with Your Child through Art
1. Sit comfortably. Relax. Take three deep breaths. Put your hand on your heart. Feel it’s steady rhythm.
2. Next, place your hands over your tummy. Say hello to your baby. Invite him to share images with you — anything that he loves, what he wants to become and what tools — material, educational or spiritual — he will need to fulfill his reason for being or reach his best potential and passion.
3. With magazines, picture books, photographs, postcards, etc. on hand, start cutting out any pictures you are intuitively drawn to. Choose using your emotions, not your thoughts. It’s a good idea to have a variety of topics, areas of interest.
4. Tape or glue (non-toxic) the pictures onto a large piece of paper. Write words that come to your mind under, over or on top of pictures which evoke a certain phrase or inner meaning. Go with the flow — allow your creativity to flow.
5. When you are finished, place this collage in a wonderfully private place where you may meditate on it without having to explain it to others. This piece of art is very special — something very much worth treasuring and saving to look upon in later years.
Right Brain Kids have a Prenatal Meditation series available.
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