The Gentle Birth Method: The Month-by-Month Jeyarani Way Programme

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Baladi choornam (my Ayurvedic formulation) is very good for vata mothers.

Herbs

The following herbs can balance vata:

Black pepper

Dill seeds

Cumin seeds

Basil leaves

Parsley

Ginger

Music

Relaxing and calming music is very good for balancing vata.

Chanting is beneficial. Many cultures and different religious persuasions use chants (see pages 82-3 for some mantras). The Gayatri Mantra is nondenominational.

If you are religious, and depending on your religious leaning, you may like to recite prayers, such as the rosary, or Buddhist or Benedictine chants that instil peace and harmony.

Physical Treatments

Massage with oils can be amazingly effective in reducing excessive vata.

Self-massage or being massaged by your partner on a regular basis, for 20-40 minutes, is recommended. Suitable oils are virgin olive oil, or sesame oil.

Essential oils can also be used to reduce vata – try lavender, rose, or jasmine oil. Use from 4 to 10 drops in 20ml of a base oil. This can be used for self-massage or by a practitioner during general or Creative Healing massage.

Reflexology reduces vata, calms the mind and gives mental clarity. It also improves digestion and speeds up gut motility, thereby relieving constipation.

Vata Labour Issues

Factors to consider during delivery:

The pelvis is usually smaller.

The nervous disposition of vata mothers means they may experience more pain if not prepared effectively for birth.

Lots of preparation, both mental and physical, is needed to avoid surgical intervention.

Lots of low-back massage as preparation for labour will facilitate a manageable labour and gentle birth.

Vaginal oils and stretching techniques as preparation for birth are invaluable in preventing instrumental delivery.

Vata mothers need continuous massage during labour. Oil massages on the back, neck, shoulders and lower limbs are very beneficial during labour.

Vata mothers are more prone to having a retained placenta. This is not a big problem and doctors routinely administer an injection that forces the body to expel the placenta. However, many of my mothers – aiming for a natural birth – are not keen to submit to drugs at this late point in their baby’s birth, so in my self-hypnosis classes in London, I talk the mother through a hypnotic sequence in which she visualizes her body producing a surge of oxytocin (the hormone that encourages contractions) 15 minutes after the birth of the baby, thereby expelling the placenta. I have found this technique to be very effective on my vata mothers. If you are a vata mother, you can guide yourself through a short visualization of this hormonal occurrence – one or two minutes a day will be enough. You don’t need any medical expertise to do this – simply by suggesting this automatic hormonal production whilst your mind is deeply relaxed and receptive, you can pre-condition your body to expel your placenta within 10-15 minutes after the birth.

Vata mothers can have longer labours due to poor expulsive forces during labour i.e. poor uterine contractions, or uncoordinated uterine action, which can lead to slow dilation of the cervix.

Pitta Mothers

Typical characteristics

Skin redness

Medium-size body frame

Slightly oily skin

Fluid retention

Angry

Mentally irritable and edgy

Quick tempered

Intolerant of others’ behaviour

Experiences skin burning sensations

Feels too hot all the time

Can’t tolerate hot weather

Hates closed environments

Prone to feeling faint

Prone to increased sweating

Good memory

Sound sleeper

Pitta in balance: perceptive and intense

Pitta out of balance: angry, impatient and frustrated

During Pregnancy

Prone to bleeding in early pregnancy

Prone to post-partum mental problems

Excessive appetite

Can have semi-solid stools

How to Counteract Pitta

The remedy is to cool and calm everything down.

Exercise and Lifestyle Changes

All gentle forms of exercise, e.g. gentle swimming or gentle tai chi, would be beneficial. Pitta mothers must take care not to increase their heart-rate by more than 110 beats per minute as this can aggravate pitta.

Walks with your partner. Walking in the moonlight is specifically recommended in the Ayurvedic text because it cools you down.

Pitta mothers need a lot more love and affection than other mothers.

Food

Avoid hot and spicy foods like pepper, chillies, garlic, vinegar, salad creams, pickles and sour things in general.

Acidic foods are heat-producing as a general rule and this aggravates pitta.

No alcohol as it causes your system to heat up, aggravating pitta.

Avoid foods that are too hot in temperature.

Avoid cheese as it is very difficult to digest.

Most vegetables are good – cucumber, marrows and pumpkins are ideal; beetroots and carrots are very cooling and recommended.

Eat melons as a separate meal – they need special enzymes from your pancreas to digest them. Eating them with other food puts a huge strain on your digestive system.

Eat grains such as rice, millet, corn and oats in moderation (not more than 1 small cup of any of these cooked grains per meal).

Try to cut out tomatoes. If you must eat them restrict it to only once a week. Tomato is very acidic and can cause aches and pains. Cooked tomato is worse than raw tomato.

Coconut is very good for reducing pitta. The white kernel and coconut milk, which is extracted from the white kernel, can be used for cooking. However, use only small amounts of coconut in your cooking, as it is high in fat.

Apples are very good.

Avoid citrus fruits as acidic food increases pitta.

Having a banana once a week can reduce pitta. As a general rule I do not recommend them as they are too fattening and mucus retentive.

Vegetable soups with herbs are very soothing.

Congee, an overcooked broth of rice with water and salt, is very easy to digest. To make it more interesting, a little garlic or ginger and a few vegetables can be added to it.

Milk is cooling and is good for reducing pitta. Ideally it should be goat’s milk – try to avoid cow’s milk unless it is labelled with the A-2 protein as opposed to A-1. The A-1 proteins that are found in the herds of some cows produce undesirable effects in the human digestive system and have been associated with gut problems (specifically colon cancer), coronary disease, diabetes mellitus (Type I), multiple sclerosis and autism. In the near future, it will be possible to segregate the cows that produce A-2 milk from those that produce A-1 milk. This will be done by a simple test on a hair of each cow. (A-2 milk is already on the shelf in Australia and New Zealand.) Closer to home, Guernsey cows produce A-2 milk. However, Jersey cows produce A-1 milk, so if you are buying milk look for pure Guernsey cow milk. (This was reported on BBC Health News, 9 April 2001.)

Herbs

Choose cooling herbs like coriander in food.

The herb Bala (Cida codifolia), a main ingredient in my Baladi Choornam drink, is very important for keeping pitta under control.